Staff - Edinburgh Napier University

Prof Robin MacPherson
Director of Edinburgh Skillset Screen and Media Academy
Robin is a BAFTA nominated producer and has made many broadcast documentaries as well as short dramas over the past 15 years. The most recent was Rebel Frontier, a 65-minute documentary narrated by Martin Sheen, documenting the labour struggles of Irish and Finnish miners in WW1 era. He was Development Executive at Scottish Screen from 1999-2002 before joining Napier University where he played a key role in establishing Screen Academy Scotland.

Paul Holmes 
Programme Leader, MFA Advanced Film Practice
Paul Holmes started his career more than 20 years ago with the BBC, and he went on to make dozens of hours of film and television as a freelance writer and director.  He joined Screen Academy Scotland in 2006 and teaches screenwriting, directing and production as well as running the MA Film and MFA Advanced Film Practice programmes.  Paul has continued to write and direct film projects:  In 2009 he collaborated with artist-photographer Wendy McMurdo to make the installational film “The Loop”, which screened at the Edinburgh Art Festival.  He is currently directing a documentary,  “The Hungry Ghost” for BBC Alba, and is developing a low budget feature film project based on his own script.

James Mavor
Programme Leader MA Screenwriting

James Mavor leads our post-graduate screenwriting courses. A working screenwriter, James combines teaching with his professional practice. Recent credits include Doors Open (2012), adapted from the best-selling ‘art heist’ novel by Ian Rankin. This screened on ITV, starring Stephen Fry and Douglas Henshall.

Other TV credits include original TV drama Split Second (1999), starring Clive Owen for BBC One, and Reichenbach Falls (2007), an adaptation of an Ian Rankin short story for BBC Four. He has also written for TV series such as Doctor Finlay (BAFTA Scotland Best Series), Redcap, The Bill and Monarch of the Glen.

In 2011, James wrote and co-produced a short film Disco with staff and students from Screen Academy Scotland. This won a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award.

Current work includes The Pro, co-writing with John McKay a TV comedy drama series about crime and golf in development with BBC Scotland and Jeff in Venice, a feature film adaptation of the work of Geoff Dyer.

Oscar Van Heek 
Lecturer in Film Production
Oscar recently produced the feature film Blinded starring Peter Mullan and Jodhi May. He regularly works as a freelance script editor and assessor for Welsh media agency SGRIN and the Irish Film Board. Prior to setting up his own company, Oscar was Director of Development for Scottish Screen, commissioning and script editing screenplays by both new and established writers producers and directors, including Gillies MacKinnon, Craig Ferguson, and Saul Metzstein. During this period Oscar also attended and tutored at several training programs as well as originating, financing and managing FIRST DRAFT - a scheme set up for first time feature writers to develop screenplays with the help of experienced script editors.

David Griggs
Learning Technologist
David has a background in Visual Anthropology, Documentary Production and Web Design. He has produced and directed documentaries in Lesotho, RSA and recently has consulted in Web based productions for Health Online Project and JISC as well as producing a short documentary for Learning and Teaching Scotland. Presently he is involved in the production of 'Word Made Flesh' a series of interviews directed by Devlin Crow for the MS Society. He was the researcher for Media Masters Online and continues his interests in online pedagogy in his role as Learning Technologist. For the last 2 years he has been lecturing on the subject of interactivity, focusing on Virtual Worlds, Alternate Reality Games, Pervasive Gaming and Web 2.0 tools.