Karen started out writing stories inspired by her experiences in the music business and her short story, SYMPHONY OF SIGHS, was produced for BBC Radio 4 in May 2015, starring Hugh Dennis, and named “Pick of the Week” in both the Telegraph and Radio Times. She is a full member of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain and her novel, WHEN THE FAT LADY THINS, has recently published on Amazon UK and Amazon.
However, Karen’s love of film eventually led her to the London Film School where she completed her screenwriting MA in 2012. Since then, Karen has been building a portfolio of projects, with a common thread of twisting genres in unexpected directions, often using magical realism and black comedy as disarming approaches to serious issues. A desire to maintain control over her creative vision for her scripts eventually led Karen to directing and then starting up her own film production company – Precious Hack Productions – which is so named because a famous auteur once annoyingly told her LFS cohort that screenwriters are all precious hacks.
Her award-winning first short film, RACHEL, is a serious exploration of the complex relationships between death, family and religion and has screened at many festivals, including three times at the BAFTA qualifying UK International Jewish Film Festival. Her short script, APPROVAL NEEDED was the Audience Award Winner at the 2017 IMDb Script to Screen Awards and she then gained funding from Talkies Community Cinema towards making the film in 2018. This story about a lonely female traffic warden was a response to the rise in racism since the Brexit vote and seeks, through drama, comedy and fantasy, to make the audience empathise with even the most reviled in our society.
Karen’s musical background has a strong influence on her approach to filmmaking. Music is a necessary part of her creative process, absolutely integral to her vision for every project, and she cannot start work in earnest until she has identified the appropriate music to accompany the journey. She is currently listening to a lot of country music as she moves forward with her first feature film – LIVING WITH HONOR – a twisted crime caper/family drama set in an isolated Cumbrian farmhouse, with the short teaser film completed in March ’19 and now heading out onto the film festival circuit.
