Profile: sue whatmough

About This Author

Sue started her career as a casting director in the theatre before moving on to make her name in television. Her first producing project was ‘Blott on the Landscape’, which she packaged, cast and co-produced. She trained in film production and screen-writing in the 1980’s. When, in 1987, a family tragedy irrevocably transformed her plans for the future, she decided her days in the industry had come to an end. It was time to re-start her life elsewhere. So, in 1989, she bought her first house in France. In the calm of the French countryside, she was able to concentrate on writing and completed a feature and two TV series. Screenplays, however, are notoriously difficult to place, no matter how good, and her savings were running out. She needed an income, so she and a friend set up and ran an antique business. A year later she sold her interest in the business and moved to the Lot where she trained in computer graphics and created a small design company. In 2001 she met her present partner, Leaf, and went with him to film his project to build a hostel for AIDS orphans in Malawi. Itching to get back to writing and with the perspective that distance affords, she started work on her autobiography whilst living in Africa. Her memoir, ‘No Copy of the Script’ – the Triumphs and Tragedies of a Casting Director.’ has been published and the sequel ‘Hanging onto Hope – the Long Journey Home’, about her life in France and Africa, is being published and will be available early July 2016. Over the last fifteen years, she has also been a correspondent for The French News and The French Week and is currently a regular blogger for Angloinfo, the worldwide ex-pat website. To date (June 2016), Sue has completed over 360 blog posts and plans to create a series of lightweight guides to life in South West France. With her love of teaching and a passion to help others commit their ideas and experiences to print, she also runs creative and autobiographical writing courses and workshops.