M. J. Bassett
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M. J. Bassett (born Michael J. Bassett) is a British film and television writer, director, and producer. She began her career directing the
cult In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...
s '' Deathwatch'' (2002) and ''
Wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...
'' (2006). She also directed the
dark fantasy Dark fantasy is a subgenre of fantasy literary, artistic, and cinematic works that incorporate disturbing and frightening themes of fantasy. It often combines fantasy with elements of horror or has a gloomy dark tone or a sense of horror and dr ...
''
Solomon Kane Solomon Kane is a fictional character created by the pulp magazine, pulp-era writer Robert E. Howard. A late-16th-to-early-17th century Puritan, Solomon Kane is a somber-looking man who wanders the world with no apparent goal other than to vanqu ...
'' (2009) and the
video game adaptation An adaptation is a transfer of a work of art from one style, culture or medium to another. Some common examples are: * Film adaptation, a story from another work, adapted into a film (it may be a novel, non-fiction like journalism, autobiography ...
'' Silent Hill: Revelation'' (2012). Since 2012, she has worked as a director, writer, and producer on television series such as '' Strike Back'', ''
Ash vs Evil Dead Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non-gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is ...
'', '' Power'', and '' Altered Carbon''. She is
transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...
, and came out in 2017.


Early life

Bassett grew up in Newport, Shropshire, in the
West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
, where she was educated at
Adams Grammar School Haberdashers' Adams is a grammar school for boys aged 11–18 and girls aged 16–18, located in Newport, Shropshire, offering day and boarding education. Current (2021) boarding fees are £12,144 per year and £13,644 per year for overseas stu ...
. Here, she enjoyed a life which she has described as a "safe, unremarkable childhood". Here she developed an obsession with
wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...
and nature; Bassett's fascination with films would not arise until much later. Bassett's childhood aspirations were to be a wildlife veterinarian in
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
. Because of her grades in school, a veterinary career became out of the question, and at the age of 16, Bassett left school and became a wildlife filmmaker's assistant, where she would spend 18 months learning photography and film making.


Career

After her time as an assistant, Bassett decided to go back to school to do
A-Level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
s in the hopes of getting a Zoology degree. Once back in school, Bassett wrote to a variety of TV producers, looking for work as a nature presenter. Eventually, Bassett was contacted by
Janet Street Porter Janet Vera Street-Porter (''née'' Bull; born 27 December 1946) is an English broadcaster, journalist, writer, and media personality. She began her career as a fashion writer and columnist at the ''Daily Mail'' and was later appointed fashion e ...
, shortly after which she began working as a presenter on the children's show '' Get Fresh'',Biography
where she presented the science and nature segments. She left to work on other programs, but as work stopped coming in, she was losing interest. At this point, Bassett realized that she wanted to make films. Since moving into film-making would entail substantial risk, Bassett worked for a year animating and voicing the puppet
Scally the Dog Scally the Dog was a puppet mongrel dog character, who co-presented the Children's ITV afternoon service from January 1989 – March 1991 in the United Kingdom. Children's ITV Children's ITV's bosses had noticed how successful puppet characters ...
on
Children's ITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...
while she considered the career change. Bassett then produced several short films, as well as a 16 mm piece for broadcast television. All the while, Bassett worked on feature scripts which she used to try to catch producers' attention. After a period of years, Bassett's
screenplay ''ScreenPlay'' is a television drama anthology series broadcast on BBC2 between 9 July 1986 and 27 October 1993. Background After single-play anthology series went off the air, the BBC introduced several showcases for made-for-television, fe ...
titled ''No Man's Land'' generated significant interest. Many studios offered to purchase the script, but Bassett was determined to direct the film of her screenplay. Eventually, one production company consented to this, and the film was retitled '' Deathwatch''. She is the current director of ''
Red Sonja Red Sonja is a fictional sword and sorcery comic-book superheroine created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino. Marvel Comics ...
'', after it had been reported
Hannah John-Kamen Hannah Dominique E. John-Kamen (born 7 September 1989) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Yalena "Dutch" Yardeen in the Syfy television series ''Killjoys'' (2015–2019), Ornela in the sixth season of the HBO series ''Game of ...
and
Joey Soloway Joey Soloway (previously Jill Soloway; born September 26, 1965) is an American television creator, showrunner, director and writer. Soloway is known for creating, writing, executive producing and directing the Amazon original series ''Transparent' ...
had departed from the film.


Personal life

In 2017, Bassett came out as
trans Trans- is a Latin prefix meaning "across", "beyond", or "on the other side of". Used alone, trans may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trans (festival), a former festival in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom * ''Trans'' (film ...
. She has two daughters, Maddie and Isabel, and one son, Tom.


Filmography


Film


As a film crew

*'' Shooting Fish'' (1997) (Electronic Press Kit Producer) *''
Waking Ned ''Waking Ned'' (titled ''Waking Ned Devine'' in North America) is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Kirk Jones and starring Ian Bannen, David Kelly, and Fionnula Flanagan. Kelly was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for his r ...
'' (1998) (Electronic Press Kit Director/Producer) *''
Gabriel & Me ''Gabriel and Me'' is a 2001 film starring Iain Glen, Sean Landless and Billy Connolly as the angel Gabriel. It originated from the 1995 British play ''I Luv You Jimmy Spud''. Some outdoor scenes were filmed in North East England including the R ...
'' (2001) (Electronic Press Kit Director) *'' Close Your Eyes'' (2002) (Electronic Press Kit)


Television


References


External links

*
Comingsoon.net movie news
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bassett, M.J. English film directors Living people Newport, Shropshire Year of birth missing (living people) People from Newport, Shropshire People educated at Adams' Grammar School Horror film directors LGBT film directors LGBT television directors English LGBT screenwriters Transgender women Transgender screenwriters British women television directors British television directors