David McGillivray (director)
Encyclopedia
David McGillivray is an actor
, producer
, playwright
, screenwriter
and film critic.
Originally a critic for Monthly Film Bulletin
, McGillivray wrote his first film script, Albert's Follies, for friend Ray Selfe in 1973. Intended as a vehicle for The Goodies
, who turned it down, the film was eventually released as White Cargo and starred a young David Jason
in one of his earliest leading roles.
McGillivray was soon involved in the British sex film industry, writing scripts for I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1975) and The Hot Girls (1974), two films produced by pornographer John Jesnor Lindsay
. As would be the case with many of his films, McGillivray makes cameo appearances in both: in I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight he is “Man at Party” who pulls Monika Ringwald’s dress off while in The Hot Girls he was given the job of doing an onscreen interview with Danish actress Helli Louise
, who according to the synopsis in Cinema X
magazine, talks to him about "working on a movie, and telling a few facts of life about screen nudity and enacting lesbian love scenes."
s of Norman J. Warren
and especially Pete Walker
. McGillivray wrote two scripts for Warren (Satan’s Slave, Terror) and four for Walker (Frightmare, House of Whipcord, House of Mortal Sin, Schizo). McGillivray’s background as a critic for Monthly Film Bulletin and Time Out did not exclude his writing efforts from the (sometimes personal sounding) criticism of ex-colleagues. A Films Illustrated review of I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight laments, “It is depressing to see David McGillivray writing scripts like this,” while a Time Out review of Satan’s Slave opens with: “Another absolute stinker from the withered pen of David McGillivray.”
In 1975 McGillivray was interviewed for an edition of the BBC
programme Man Alive, dealing with sexploitation films, along with Walker, Bachoo Sen and Kent Walton
. However, he later felt that he and his fellow contributors had presented a distorted view of the business, telling Screen International magazine in the same year “thrilled to bits that our opinions were held to be important enough for transmission we had all -may we be forgiven- said what the nations moral reformers wanted to hear i.e. that the films we made degraded us and that we were thoroughly miserable that the public didn’t want to see anything more uplifting. This is not the case. I have never worked with anyone who found it unpleasant or distasteful to do a job which involved standing in close proximity to naked women.”
tax in the early eighties spelling the end for low budget British sex comedies and horror films, McGillivray focused on writing for the stage and providing material for the comedian Julian Clary both of which he continues to do to this day. In 1992 McGillivray wrote the book Doing Rude Things which documented the British sex film genre from its nudist camp beginnings to its demise in the video-era. In it McGillivray admits to a fondness for “the second rate and the downright worthless”. A television version of Doing Rude Things was produced by the BBC in 1995, in which McGillivray was interviewed along with the likes of Donovan Winter, and Pamela Green
. McGillivray has subsequently appeared in several similar documentaries. He also edited Scapegoat (1995), a one shot anti-censorship magazine produced during the second “Video Nasty” furor of the early 1990s.
In collaboration with Walter Zerlin Jnr, McGillivray has written a number of plays, including The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomens Guild Dramatic Society series of 10 plays spoofing local amateur dramatic productions. They are published by Samuel French Ltd
and other directors.
Known for his self-deprecating sense of humour, he refers to himself on his website as a “prolific writer, mostly of hack journalism, but also lowbrow films, plays, and radio and television programmes” who “is becoming increasingly unreliable, grouchy and difficult to work with.”
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
, playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
, screenwriter
Screenwriter
Screenwriters or scriptwriters or scenario writers are people who write/create the short or feature-length screenplays from which mass media such as films, television programs, Comics or video games are based.-Profession:...
and film critic.
Originally a critic for Monthly Film Bulletin
Monthly Film Bulletin
The Monthly Film Bulletin was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a narrow arthouse release. The MFB was edited in the mid-1950s by David Robinson, in the late...
, McGillivray wrote his first film script, Albert's Follies, for friend Ray Selfe in 1973. Intended as a vehicle for The Goodies
The Goodies
The Goodies are a trio of British comedians who created, wrote, and starred in a surreal British television comedy series called The Goodies during the 1970s and early 1980s combining sketches and situation comedy.-Honours:All three Goodies now have OBEs...
, who turned it down, the film was eventually released as White Cargo and starred a young David Jason
David Jason
Sir David John White, OBE , better known by his stage name David Jason, is an English BAFTA award-winning actor. He is best known as the main character Derek "Del Boy" Trotter on the BBC sit-com Only Fools and Horses from 1981, the voice of Mr Toad in The Wind In The Willows and as detective Jack...
in one of his earliest leading roles.
McGillivray was soon involved in the British sex film industry, writing scripts for I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1975) and The Hot Girls (1974), two films produced by pornographer John Jesnor Lindsay
John Jesnor Lindsay
John Jesnor Lindsay is a Scottish former photographer who turned to the more lucrative trade of making blue movies during the late 60s and all the way through the 70s. A former student of the Glasgow School of Art, Lindsay had begun his career as a photojournalist with limited financial success...
. As would be the case with many of his films, McGillivray makes cameo appearances in both: in I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight he is “Man at Party” who pulls Monika Ringwald’s dress off while in The Hot Girls he was given the job of doing an onscreen interview with Danish actress Helli Louise
Helli Louise
Helli Louise Brunchmann Jacobson, often billed merely as Helli Louise, is a former actress who appeared in films and television, including The Benny Hill Show, during the 1970s.-Career:Jacobson was born 2 August 1949 in Copenhagen...
, who according to the synopsis in Cinema X
Cinema X
Cinema X was a British film magazine best known for its coverage of sexploitation films. Early issues of the magazine were undated, but it is believed the first issue was published in 1969. The first film to grace the cover of Cinema X was Loving Feeling directed by Norman J. Warren...
magazine, talks to him about "working on a movie, and telling a few facts of life about screen nudity and enacting lesbian love scenes."
Horror
He gained attention with his scripts for the horror filmHorror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
s of Norman J. Warren
Norman J. Warren
Norman John Warren, born 25 June 1942 in London, is a British film director best known for such 1970s horror films as Satan’s Slave , Prey and Terror...
and especially Pete Walker
Pete Walker (director)
Pete Walker is an English film director, writer and producer, specialising in horror and sexploitation films, frequently combining the two....
. McGillivray wrote two scripts for Warren (Satan’s Slave, Terror) and four for Walker (Frightmare, House of Whipcord, House of Mortal Sin, Schizo). McGillivray’s background as a critic for Monthly Film Bulletin and Time Out did not exclude his writing efforts from the (sometimes personal sounding) criticism of ex-colleagues. A Films Illustrated review of I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight laments, “It is depressing to see David McGillivray writing scripts like this,” while a Time Out review of Satan’s Slave opens with: “Another absolute stinker from the withered pen of David McGillivray.”
In 1975 McGillivray was interviewed for an edition of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
programme Man Alive, dealing with sexploitation films, along with Walker, Bachoo Sen and Kent Walton
Kent Walton
Kent Walton , born Kenneth Walton Beckett, was a British television sports commentator and presenter.Despite a transatlantic accent which led many to believe he was Canadian, he was born in Cairo, Egypt, the son of the finance minister in the colonial government...
. However, he later felt that he and his fellow contributors had presented a distorted view of the business, telling Screen International magazine in the same year “thrilled to bits that our opinions were held to be important enough for transmission we had all -may we be forgiven- said what the nations moral reformers wanted to hear i.e. that the films we made degraded us and that we were thoroughly miserable that the public didn’t want to see anything more uplifting. This is not the case. I have never worked with anyone who found it unpleasant or distasteful to do a job which involved standing in close proximity to naked women.”
Books and magazines
With the abolition of the Eady levyEady levy
The Eady Levy was a tax on box office receipts in the United Kingdom, intended to support the British film industry and named for Sir Wilfred Eady. It was established in 1957 and terminated in 1985.- Background :...
tax in the early eighties spelling the end for low budget British sex comedies and horror films, McGillivray focused on writing for the stage and providing material for the comedian Julian Clary both of which he continues to do to this day. In 1992 McGillivray wrote the book Doing Rude Things which documented the British sex film genre from its nudist camp beginnings to its demise in the video-era. In it McGillivray admits to a fondness for “the second rate and the downright worthless”. A television version of Doing Rude Things was produced by the BBC in 1995, in which McGillivray was interviewed along with the likes of Donovan Winter, and Pamela Green
Pamela Green
Pamela Green was an English glamour model and actress, best known at the end of the 1950s and early 1960s...
. McGillivray has subsequently appeared in several similar documentaries. He also edited Scapegoat (1995), a one shot anti-censorship magazine produced during the second “Video Nasty” furor of the early 1990s.
In collaboration with Walter Zerlin Jnr, McGillivray has written a number of plays, including The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomens Guild Dramatic Society series of 10 plays spoofing local amateur dramatic productions. They are published by Samuel French Ltd
Worst Fears
McGillivray recently returned to the horror genre as the producer of Worst Fears, a series of short films by Nathan SchiffNathan Schiff
Nathan Schiff is a Long Island, New York filmmaker best known for receiving a major DVD release of low-budget features he shot in Super 8mm while in his teens...
and other directors.
Known for his self-deprecating sense of humour, he refers to himself on his website as a “prolific writer, mostly of hack journalism, but also lowbrow films, plays, and radio and television programmes” who “is becoming increasingly unreliable, grouchy and difficult to work with.”
Filmography
- Cromwell (film)Cromwell (film)Cromwell is a 1970 film, based on the life of Oliver Cromwell who led the Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War and, as Lord Protector, ruled Great Britain and Ireland in the 1650s. It features an all-star cast led by Richard Harris as Cromwell and Alec Guinness as King Charles I...
(1970) (extra) - Julius CaesarJulius CaesarGaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
(1970) (extra) - The Games (1970) (extra)
- Say Hello to Yesterday (1971) (extra)
- Z cars (197?) (extra)
- Losing Track (197?) (director)
- Oink! (197?) (director)
- Wonders Will Never Cease (1971) (script)
- White Cargo (1973) (script/actor “customer”)
- The Naked Eye (1973) (script unfilmed)
- Bomber! (1973) (script unfilmed)
- The Hot Girls (1974) (script/actor “interviewer”)
- Special BranchSpecial BranchSpecial Branch is a label customarily used to identify units responsible for matters of national security in British and Commonwealth police forces, as well as in the Royal Thai Police...
(1974) (actor “Ernie the projectionist”) - House of Whipcord (1974) (script/actor “Caven”)
- FrightmareFrightmare (film)Frightmare is a 1974 British horror film directed by Pete Walker and written by Pete Walker and David McGillivray. It starred Rupert Davies and Sheila Keith...
(1974) (script/actor “young doctor”) - Tribute to a Writer (1974) (script)
- I’m Not Feeling Myself Tonight (1975) (script/actor)
- House of Mortal Sin (1975) (script)
- Man Alive: X-ploitation (1975) (interviewee)
- SvengaliSvengaliSvengali is a fictional character of George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby. Svengali "would either fawn or bully and could be grossly impertinent. He had a kind of cynical humour that was more offensive than amusing and always laughed at the wrong thing, at the wrong time, in the wrong place...
(1975) (script unfilmed) - Schizo (1976) (script/actor “Man at Seance”)
- Clitoris (1976) (script unfilmed)
- Dead Centre (1976) (script unfilmed)
- Satan’s Slave (1976) (script/actor “priest”)
- Unzipper De Do Dah (1976) (script unfilmed)
- Love Theme (1977) (interviewee)
- Terror (1978) (script/actor)
- Can I Come Too (1979) (actor “critic”)
- Arena: My Way (1979) (interviewee)
- The Errand (1980) (script/co-producer)
- Arena: Failures (1980) (interviewee)
- Dame en de mars Kramer (1981) (script)
- Een Dikke Liefde (198?) (script)
- Park Lane (1984) (script unfilmed)
- Turnaround (1987)
- Seeds (1993) (actor)
- Doing Rude Things (1995) (interviewee)
- Violence and the Censors (1995) (interviewee)
- Sex and Fame: the Mary MillingtonMary MillingtonMary Millington was a British model and pornographic actress. She has been described as one of the "two hottest British sex film stars of the seventies", the other being Fiona Richmond....
Story (1996) (interviewee) - All Rise for Julian Clary (1996) (script)
- Has Anyone seen my Pussy (1997) (script-additional material)
- Prickly Heat (1998) (script)
- In the Presence of Julian Clary (1998) (script)
- The Sexual Century (1999) (interviewee)
- Sex and Shopping (2000) (interviewee)
- History of Hardcore (2001) (interviewee)
- Top Ten: Camp Icons (2002) (interviewee)
- Contact (2002) (actor)
- Oo-er Missus (2005) (interviewee)
- Mrs. Davenports Throat (2005) (producer)
- The Perfect Scary Movie (2005) (interviewee)
- Greatest 80’s TV Moments (2005) (script)
- The National Lottery: Come and Have a Go (2005) (script)
- All Star Talent Show (2006) (script-additional material)
- Bitchest Ever TV moments (2006) (script)
- Adventures of George the Projectionist (2006) (actor)
- Worst Fears (2007) (producer)
- British Film Forever: Magic, Murder and Monsters (2007) (interviewee)
- British Film Forever: Sauce, Satire and Silliness (2007) (interviewee)
- Horror Icon (2007) (interviewee)
- British B Movies: Truly, Madly, Cheaply (2008) (‘thanks’ credit)
Sources
- Keeping the British End Up: Four Decades of Saucy Cinema by Simon Sheridan (third edition) (2007) (Reynolds & Hearn Books)
- Doing Rude Things: The History of the British Sex Film 1957-1981 by David McGillivray (Sun Tavern Fields Books 1992)
- Cinema XCinema XCinema X was a British film magazine best known for its coverage of sexploitation films. Early issues of the magazine were undated, but it is believed the first issue was published in 1969. The first film to grace the cover of Cinema X was Loving Feeling directed by Norman J. Warren...
magazine, 1975, Vol 6. No 7. "The Hot Girls" - Nekrofile: Cinema of the Extreme by Alan Jones (contains the 1975 Screen International quotes), Midnight Media publishing, 1997.