Joseph Andrew McLean (born 30 November 1979) is a Scottish film and TV producer. He has produced over 60 episodes of the TV drama River City for BBC Studios He has also produced commercials, documentaries, music videos and short films in the UK and USA.

Joseph Andrew McLean
Born (1979-11-30) 30 November 1979 (age 44)
Glasgow, Scotland
EducationSt. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School, Glasgow
Alma materUniversity of Glasgow and University of California
OccupationProducer
Years active2011–present
Websitehttp://www.josephandrewmclean.com and http://www.partickularfilms.com

He founded the Glasgow-based production company Partickular Films and is also the founder of Partick Film Festival.[1]

Early life and education

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McLean was born in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Anne (née Wason), and Alistair McLean. He has three older siblings Alyson, James and Lynn.

He attended St. Peter's Primary in Partick and St. Thomas Aquinas Secondary School in Jordanhill.

Born on St. Andrew's Day, he is named after Scotland's Patron Saint.

He had a love of film from a young age and was an avid cinema goer, frequenting the local Grosvenor Cinema in Ashton Lane and the Salon Cinema in Hillhead.

In 2013 he graduated from the University of Glasgow with a Master of Arts (Scotland) in English Literature and Politics.

Joseph studied screenwriting at the University of California and University of Strathclyde.

Career

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McLean made a number of short films during his time at the University of California and University of Glasgow.

His first feature film script Utopia, loosely based on the events surrounding Jim Jones, the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, best known for the mass murder-suicide in November 1978 of 909 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana was voted runner-up at the 20th Anniversary University of California, Irvine Screenwriting Festival in 2012.

After leaving university, McLean founded his own production company Partickular Films which specialises in commercials, documentaries, films and music videos.[2]

In 2013, he released the short film Sectarian Secret Police about a Partick Thistle supporter who is kidnaped by a special police unit who demand he disowns his favourite football team in favour of Rangers or Celtic. The film screened at numerous film festivals throughout the UK, including Screentest: The National Student Film Festival in London and the Loch Ness film festival.[3]

In the same year he also directed the music video Nothing on Earth for the band Casual Sex, the music video was showcased by SXSW[4] and featured in The Daily Record[5] and The Skinny.[6]

In 2014, McLean wrote a pilot for a TV series called 2014 which revolved around the organisers for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.[7]

McLean was commissioned to write a script for an animated film as part of Deep Roots, Kilmarnock's major Homecoming Scotland event in 2014, charting the history of Dean Castle and the Boyd family, who were lords of Kilmarnock for over 400 years.[8] The 10-minute animation was screened onto the side of the castle to an audience of over 1400 local school children.

His short film Nomad about the Scottish Independence Referendum was inspired by a scene from The Parallax View starring Warren Beatty. The film was screened at the Shorts on Tap Beyond Scotland event at 93 Feet East, Brick Lane, London.[9]

McLean's short film Car Sick (2023) has screened at festivals in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Ireland.

He is a member of BAFTA Scotland.

Filmography

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Film

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Film Year Director Role Project
Behind The Lines 1997 Gillies MacKinnon Actor Feature Film
The Perils of Smoking 2011 Actor Short Film
The Decoy Bride 2011 Sheree Folkson Actor Feature Film
First Impressions 2011 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Short Film
Mausam 2011 Pankaj Kapur Actor Feature Film
The Cookie Monster (USA) 2012 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Short Film
Utopia: The Temple of Paradise (USA) 2012 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Short Film
Sectarian Secret Police 2013 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Short Film
Loch Fyne 2014 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Documentary
Locavore: Pigs in the Park 2014 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Documentary
Deep Roots 2014 Screenwriter Animated Film
Nomad 2014 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Short Film
Glasgow Fish Market 2014 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Documentary
Cows, Cash & Cover-ups: Investigating vCJD 2017 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Documentary
Outlaw King 2018 David Mackenzie Assistant to Executive Producer Feature Film
Slingshot 2018 Robin Haig Associate Producer Short Film
Get Duked! 2019 Ninian Doff Associate Producer Feature Film
Our Ladies 2019 Michael Caton-Jones Assistant to Director Feature Film
The Small Hand 2019 Justin Molotnikov Production Coordinator TV Film
Then Came You 2019 Adriana Trigiani Production Assistant Feature Film
Zebra Girl 2021 Stephanie Zari Production Coordinator Feature Film
Go Home 2021 Razan Madhoon Associate Producer Short Film
Unders 2021 Bert Dijkstra Associate Producer Short Film
Car Sick 2023 David Hayman Jr Producer Short Film

Television

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TV Show Year Director Role Project
Take The High Road 1996 Actor STV
River City 2011 Actor BBC Studios
2014 2014 Joseph Andrew Mclean Producer / Director Partickular Films
Not Safe for Work 2014 Production Assistant Channel 4
Lovesick 2014 Production Assistant Channel 4
CNN 2016 Producer CNN
Antiques Road Trip 2017 Researcher STV
The People's History Show 2017 Researcher STV
Succession 2019 Production Assistant HBO
The Nest (British TV series) 2020 Production Assistant BBC Scotland
River City 2019–2021 Production Management BBC Studios
River City 2021–2024 Producer BBC Studios

References

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