Allison McGourty is a British film producer and screenwriter.

Early life

Allison McGourty was born in

Bristol, England Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. As a child she moved to

Venice, Italy Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, then relocated to Gleniffer Braes, on the boundary of

Barrhead Barrhead ( sco, Baurheid, gd, Ceann a' Bharra) is a town in East Renfrewshire, Scotland, southwest of Glasgow city centre on the edge of the Gleniffer Braes. At the 2011 census its population was 17,268. History Barrhead was formed whe ...

East Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire ( sco, Aest Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù an Ear) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. Until 1975, it formed part of the county of Renfrewshire for local government purposes along with the modern council areas o ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, where she attended the Cross Arthurlie Primary School. As a young girl she was a competitive horsewoman, qualifying for the

Horse of the Year Show The Horse of the Year Show - also known as HOYS (pronounced /hois/)- was founded to be a culmination of the British equestrian events year. The Show was the idea of Captain Tony Collings and was realised by the then Chairman of BSJA (now British ...

. She enrolled in

Barrhead High School Barrhead High School is a secondary school in Barrhead, East Renfrewshire. The school is over forty years old. Fiona Johnston is the current headmistress, appointed in June-Aug 2020. Associated primary schools Also known as "feeder" schools ...

where she won the History Prize and played clarinet, and

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...

in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland. From 1982 to 1987, McGourty attended

Staffordshire University , mottoeng = Dare to know , type = Public , endowment = £70 million (2015) , administrative_staff = 1,375 , chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford , vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones , ...

in England, gaining a Bachelor of Science degree with honours in

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includin ...

and French. During her degree course, she lived in Paris and worked for

Électricité de France Électricité de France S.A. (literally ''Electricity of France''), commonly known as EDF, is a French multinational electric utility company, largely owned by the French state. Headquartered in Paris, with €71.2 billion in revenues in ...

Early career

McGourty began her professional career working for the international

management consultancy Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultan ...

firm

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

. In 1990, she joined

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was est ...

, where she was part of the launch team for

Reuters Television Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

. In 1995 she accepted a post at the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

, where she managed documentary programming at the

UK Horizons UK Horizons was a television channel broadcast in the United Kingdom, as part of the UKTV network of channels, showing mainly BBC documentaries. Most programmes were abridged for commercial timing purposes. It took its name from the BBC series ...

television channel before being promoted to the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

. In 2003, McGourty founded the British

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

LO-MAX Records. She signed the acclaimed rock band

The Wrens The Wrens were an American indie rock band from New Jersey. The group consisted of Charles Bissell (guitar/vocals), brothers Greg Whelan (guitar/vocals) and Kevin Whelan (bass/vocals), and Jerry MacDonald (drums). They released three albums; a fo ...

to the label after spotting them at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, ...

music festival in

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

. She also signed

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout ...

album '' Oceans Apart'',

Kevin Ayers Kevin Ayers (16 August 1944 – 18 February 2013) was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely ass ...

' celebrated ''

The Unfairground ''The Unfairground'' is a 2007 album by Kevin Ayers, recorded with members of Ladybug Transistor, Teenage Fanclub, Neutral Milk Hotel, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Roxy Music. It was his sixteenth studio LP and his first new set of recordings in f ...

'' and posthumous releases by

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...

. In 2010, McGourty signed the Greenlandic singer-songwriter

Simon Lynge Simon Lynge (born 22 January 1980) is a singer-songwriter who was raised in Greenland and Denmark. Lynge is the first solo musical artist from Greenland to have an album released across the United Kingdom, and the first Greenlander to play the U ...

, whose debut album, ''

The Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

'', reached the top of the Amazon UK Rock Charts on the week of its release. McGourty wrote, directed and produced a short film about Lynge which she shot in Greenland. McGourty founded Lo-Max Publishing Ltd, which publishes Frank Fairfield, Louis Michot of

The Lost Bayou Ramblers Lost Bayou Ramblers is a Cajun music band from Broussard, Arnaudville and New Orleans, Louisiana. Career Lost Bayou Ramblers was born deep in South Louisiana performing old style, predominantly acoustic Cajun music at clubs and festivals acros ...

and Simon Lynge. Lo-Max Publishing's music has been featured on the US television shows ''

Lie to Me ''Lie to Me'' (stylized as ''Lie to me*'') is an American crime drama television series. It originally ran on the Fox network from January 21, 2009, to January 31, 2011. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The Lightma ...

'', '' Brothers & Sisters'' and '' The American Epic Sessions''.

Film career

In 2006 McGourty founded Lo-Max Films and was the creator, producer and co-writer of the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

nominated '' American Epic'' documentary film series. The films covered the first recordings of

roots music Roots music may refer to: * American folk music * Americana (music) Americana (also known as American roots music) is an amalgam of Music of the United States, American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that mak ...

in the United States during the 1920s and their cultural, social and technological impact on North America and the world. The series involved ten years of

field research Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...

and has been sited as one of the best music documentaries ever made. McGourty produced and co-wrote '' The American Epic Sessions'', a musical film, directed by Bernard MacMahon, in which an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

restores the fabled long-lost first electrical sound recording system from 1925, and twenty contemporary artists pay tribute to the momentous machine by attempting to record songs on it for the first time in 80 years. The film starred

Steve Martin Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. He has won five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award in 2013. Additionally, he was nominat ...

Nas Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ...

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Alabama Shakes Alabama Shakes were an American rock band formed in Athens, Alabama, in 2009. The band consists of lead singer and guitarist Brittany Howard, guitarist Heath Fogg, bassist Zac Cockrell, and drummer Steve Johnson. The band began its career touri ...

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of '' Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and ''Stardust'' (1978 ...

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled ...

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975), commonly known as Jack White, is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the duo the White Stripes. White has enjoyed consistent critical and popular success and is widely c ...

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mu ...

Ana Gabriel María Guadalupe Araujo Yong (born December 10, 1955), better known as Ana Gabriel, is a Mexican singer and songwriter from Guamuchil, Sinaloa, Mexico. She first sang on the stage at age six, singing "Regalo A Dios" by José Alfredo Jiménez. S ...

, Pokey LaFarge,

Rhiannon Giddens Rhiannon Giddens (born February 21, 1977) is an American musician. She is a founding member of the country, blues and old-time music band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, where she is the lead singer, fiddle player, and banjo player. Giddens ...

and

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...

. In September 2017 the

University of Chicago Laboratory Schools The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools (also known as Lab or Lab Schools and abbreviated as UCLS though the high school is nicknamed U-High) is a private, co-educational day Pre-K and K-12 school in Chicago, Illinois. It is affiliated with ...

announced a nine-month

preschool A preschool, also known as nursery school, pre-primary school, or play school or creche, is an educational establishment or learning space offering early childhood education to children before they begin compulsory education at primary scho ...

to high school educational program based on McGourty's ''American Epic'' films beginning on 6 October 2017. The school, founded by American educator

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

in 1896, has over 2,015 students enrolled in 15 grades. The program featured McGourty and director Bernard MacMahon as

Artists-in-Residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

. McGourty is a member of the

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

, the

Writers Guild of America West The Writers Guild of America West (WGAW) is a labor union representing film, television, radio, and new media writers. It was formed in 1954 from five organizations representing writers, including the Screen Writers Guild. It has around 20,000 mem ...

, the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers fr ...

, and the International Documentary Association. She is the founder of Lo-Max Films, along with film director Bernard MacMahon and musician

Duke Erikson Douglas Elwin "Duke" Erikson (born January 15, 1951) is an American musician, songwriter, screenwriter, film producer and record producer, best known as a co-founder and guitarist of the alternative rock band Garbage. Garbage has sold more than 17 ...

Awards and honors

Allison McGourty's ''American Epic'' documentary series and ''The American Epic Sessions'' have received numerous awards, including the Foxtel Audience Award at the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Hist ...

, the Audience Award at the

Calgary International Film Festival The Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) is a film festival held annually in Calgary, Alberta, in late September and early October. CIFF is the largest international film festival in Alberta and the sixth largest in Canada. The Festival's ...

and a nomination for a

Primetime Emmy The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime E ...

. McGourty was nominated by the British Academy Film Awards as a Breakthrough Talent for screenwriting, producing and music supervising ''The American Epic Sessions''. On 23 April 2018, the Focal International Awards nominated McGourty for Best Use of Footage in a History Feature and Best Use of Footage in a Music Production.

Filmography

Bibliography

McGourty was the co-author of a collaborative memoir chronicling the 10-year odyssey researching and making the '' American Epic'' documentary films and '' The American Epic Sessions''. The book was co-written with Bernard MacMahon and music historian

Elijah Wald Elijah Wald (born 1959) is an American folk blues guitarist and music historian. He is a 2002 Grammy Award winner for his liner notes to ''The Arhoolie Records 40th Anniversary Box: The Journey of Chris Strachwitz''. Life Wald was born in 1959 ...

. '' American Epic: The First Time America Heard Itself'' was published on 2 May 2017 by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...

. The book was the winner of the 2017

Association for Recorded Sound Collections The Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and study of sound recordings. Established in 1966, members include record collectors, discographers, and audio engineers, togethe ...

Award.

Discography

McGourty was the co-producer of a series of album releases that accompanied the ''American Epic'' films. These albums received widespread acclaim with the 5-CD box set '' American Epic: The Collection'' being named as ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

's'' Reissue of the Year and many critics acclaiming it as being the best box set of its kind ever to be released. McGourty was the editor and compiler of '' American Epic: The Best of Blues'' which

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

awarded with an A grade and made his number 2 Best Album of 2017.

Photography

McGourty was the

unit still photographer A unit still photographer, or simply a still photographer, is a person who creates film stills, still photographic images specifically intended for use in the marketing and publicity of feature films in the motion picture industry and network te ...

for the ''American Epic'' film production and has photographed portraits of numerous authors for their books, including

Charles Shaar Murray Charles Shaar Murray (born Charles Maximillian Murray; 27 June 1951) is an English music journalist and broadcaster. He has worked on the ''New Musical Express'' and many other magazines and newspapers, and has been interviewed for a number of ...

, Cathi Unsworth, and Tony Barrell.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Wald, Elijah & McGourty, Allison & MacMahon, Bernard. '' American Epic: The First Time America Heard Itself''. New York: Touchstone, 2017. .

External links

''American Epic'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcgourty, Allison Scottish film producers People from Santa Monica, California Living people Writers Guild of America 21st-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish photographers Scottish women photographers British women screenwriters Scottish screenwriters Scottish television writers Year of birth missing (living people) British women film producers British women television writers Writers from Paris Alumni of Staffordshire University Scottish equestrians British female equestrians Scottish jazz clarinetists Scottish jazz saxophonists People from East Renfrewshire 21st-century British screenwriters 21st-century British women photographers