About Me

Before I try to persuade you how amazing I am, gotta let you know, I asked ChatGPT to write my bio. What came out was not me. So, below, is me, no AI (well maybe a little), but mainly, just my own blurb about me. Please enjoy…

Last century, Mum dropped me and cousin Jimmy off at a fleapit cinema so she could go shopping with my Aunt Liz. They begged the manager to let us in. He did. I was six and the movie was ‘Jaws’. I remember it vividly, that matinee changed me forever.

I’m Stuart Fryer, a writer and director drawn to emotionally charged stories that live in uncomfortable spaces. (That was ChatGPT but I like it!)

After graduating from Art School, got a job in an edit house in Soho, London. Can’t remember much, it was the 90’s and it’s a bit of a haze. Though I do remember making a scratch video for the Oasis track ‘Some Might Say’ overnight in an edit suite and sending it to their label Creation Records. They loved it and my career as a filmmaker was born. (Since then they sent me countless free tickets, I’ve seen Oasis 54 times).

My enthusiasm was spotted by a client, he poached me and I became a creative director at advertising agency ‘Cunning Stunts’ (don’t say when drunk). I wanted to make the moving image and we contacted record companies. Slowly but surely my writing and directing flourished and I directed music promos for the likes of Eminem and Robbie Williams, which gave me an early education in rhythm, tone and visual storytelling. (That last bit was ChatGPT).

From there I became one of the early pioneers of viral film. A Volkswagen spoof I directed (for £394, it’s on my site) gained worldwide attention and helped shape the emerging language of online branded content. (Almost got jailed for it, long story).  I’ve spoken on panels at festivals including the Cannes Film Festival and been interviewed on BBC television and BBC Radio 4. I left ‘Cunning Stunts’ signing to commercial production companies Dark Energy Films, Tomboy Films and Bikini Films (now Believe).

But the work that drives me most sits in the social impact space. (Chat GPT line again).

I wrote and directed a multi-award-winning film, ‘Ollie’s Story’ for the National Crime Agency (UK’s FBI) about cybercrime and its effect on young people, which aired on BBC One. My Horror short ‘Bad Dreams’ about childhood abuse and the psychological scars people carry has won awards around the world. My short film Ups & Downs, about two brothers, one with Down’s Syndrome, and their battle for their mother’s attention, was selected for the Emerging Filmmakers Showcase at the Cannes Film Festival. My Down’s Syndrome actor, Otto Baxter, went on to win Best Actor at the Cannes Disability Film Awards and was BAFTA nominated. 

I also ghostwrite commercial scripts and treatments for established feature directors, I can’t name them here but when we chat I can tell you all their names and can send you a link to my password protected treatment site.  

I have two television projects in development. ‘Welcome to Gunchester’  is about the real-life Manchester gangs of the 80s and 90s,  which has interest from the BBC. ‘Algorithm Angels’ is a genre drama about a man who wakes to find his algorithm floating at his shoulder, which communicates with other folks floating algorithms exposing secrets people don’t want known. What starts as a gift turns into a curse.

Being freelance, when not working, both my wife and I have travelled extensively spending time in Cuba, Brazil, Philippines, Vietnam, and Laos to name a few. During our stay in Phnom Penh, we entered a bar, saw two young girls play ‘pat-a-cake’ before one was escorted upstairs by a fat western man. Pedophilia in front of our eyes. 

This had a profound effect on us. We created a film festival in London, the ‘No Egos Required Film Festival’ and raised £30,000 for an orphanage that we went to work at for three months in South India called ‘Odanadi’. It rescues girls from brothels and street prostitution. The girls are all under fifteen.

I can’t ever rid the image of that young girl being taken away by the fat western pedo. 

I was accepted into the UCLA professional program in Screen Writing, where I wrote the low budget feature ‘ISARA’. Right now, I’m seeking finance, it’s a story about a neglected teenage boy who falls in love with a sex trafficked girl. At its heart, it’s about first love, innocence, exploitation and the courage it takes to escape.

Whether working in music, documentary, branded film or scripted drama, the through-line is the same: I’m interested in people on the margins and in telling their stories with honesty, and heart (one last bit of ChatGPT for you).

I made the move from London to live in Laurel Canyon, an oasis in the heart of Los Angeles, with my beautiful wife and son, plus our ugly rescue dog.