Sean Gray

Sean Gray (born 15 June 1983) is a British comedy writer, producer and director. He is known for his work on the HBO series Veep, the BAFTA-winning BBC series The Thick of It and Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle and the feature film The Day Shall Come. He is a two-time Emmy-winner[1] and Golden Globe-nominee.[2]

Sean Gray
Born (1983-06-15) June 15, 1983
Occupationscreenwriter, director, producer
NationalityBritish
Alma materOxford University
GenreTV, Film and radio comedy

Early life and education

Gray graduated from Oxford University. During his time at Oxford he wrote for and edited the university magazine Isis, and has explained that this "was basically just an excuse to write funny stuff for an audience".[3] Gray started writing comedy sketches as a student and has cited Peter Cook as the comedian who "opened [his] eyes to what comedy could be".

Television and Radio

Gray began his career in 2006 writing on the Armando Iannucci BBC2 comedy series Time Trumpet.[4] He worked as Assistant Producer on Series 1 of Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle, and wrote for the red button "Stewart V Armando" interview segments with Iannucci.[5] He worked on the BBC comedy The Thick of It, writing or co-writing 14 episodes. For the launch of Series 4, he and fellow The Thick of It writer Ian Martin were interviewed by Kirsty Lang for BBC Radio 4's Front Row, and described how the show's seemingly farcical policies had often been mirrored in real life.[6] Gray also wrote on this subject for the BBC News website.[7]

He is a writer and Co-Executive Producer on HBO's Emmy-winning sitcom Veep, starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The show and Gray won the Outstanding Comedy Series at both the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, two Writers Guild Of America Awards and a 2016 Peabody Award.[8] He is a credited writer on 9 episodes of Veep: "Catherine" and "Chung" (Season 1); "Hostages" and "Running" (Season 2); "Some New Beginnings" and "Alicia" (Season 3); "Convention" and "Testimony" (Season 4); and "Thanksgiving" (Season 5).[9]

He is creator and sole writer of iGod, a Radio 4 science fiction comedy series starring David Soul and Simon Day about a man who accidentally causes the end of the world.[10] The show was described by The Guardian as "very, very funny",[11] and by the Radio Times as "hilarious".[12] He has also written for three series of Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive and David Quantick's One.[13]

Film

Gray directed Peter Capaldi in the award-winning short film Bistro, which he also wrote and produced.[14] The film co-stars Alex Macqueen and won Soho House's international "Electric Shorts" competition.

While working on the Oscar-nominated film In The Loop, he and Iannucci reportedly managed to get into the US State Department using their BBC passes,[15] prompting acting spokesman Robert Wood to later issue a statement,[16] and the State Department to conduct "a complete review of their security procedures".[17]

He wrote for the 2019 black comedy thriller The Day Shall Come alongside director Chris Morris and Jesse Armstrong. He had previously collaborated with Morris on the Season 3 Veep episode "Alicia".[18]

He is currently developing "a comedy about artificial intelligence" for Armando Iannucci to direct.[19] He contributed additional material to the satire Greed for director Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan.[20]

Credits

References
  1. "Nominees/Winners".
  2. "Veep". www.goldenglobes.com.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 30 June 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2015.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. – Stewart V Armando Interviews Archived 3 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "The Thick of It writers: 'We don't have moles', The Thick of It, Cerys Matthews, Lucy Liu in Elementary, Front Row – BBC Radio 4". BBC.
  7. "When life imitates The Thick Of It". 13 October 2012 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  8. "Veep".
  9. List of Veep episodes
  10. – Agent CV
  11. Mahoney, Elisabeth (23 December 2010). "Radio review: iGod". the Guardian.
  12. Guide, British Comedy. "iGod press clippings - British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
  13. Guide, British Comedy. "One – Radio 4 Sketch Show – British Comedy Guide". British Comedy Guide.
  14. Evening Standard Londoner's Diary – Peter Capaldi Gets Shorty Archived 5 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  15. "Ministry of offence: Armando Iannucci takes on the White House".
  17. "In the Loop Director Armando Iannucci on Sneaking Into the State Department". 24 July 2009.
  18. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3259028/fullcredits?ref_=tt_ov_wr#writers/
  19. "Armando Iannucci Talks Death of Stalin and Telling Veep Team to "Just Assume I'm Dead"".
  20. "Resume" (PDF). www.casarotto.co.uk.
  21. "The Hollywood Reporter" 16 April 2011
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