Douglas Dougan (MA FHEA)
Lecturer
Availability
Monday to Wednesday
Background
I love working with writers and helping them to create the works that bubble inside them.
Curiously, scriptwriting wasn’t my initial plan. When I left University with a degree in media my thoughts were to get into journalism. However, I quickly realised that mainstream journalism was not for me – morally we were at odds with each other. I sidestepped into arts journalism and spent many a happy day watching and reviewing films. But secretly I hatched my plans to be a screenwriter.
Thanks to a competition win, I got my foot in the door and began my career writing for series television at BBC, Channel Five, and ITV on series such as Casualty, Family Affairs, The Bill, Holby City and River City. In 2006, I set up my own production company based in Scotland. Our film productions there have included Run, Tony, Run!; Mono; Flap; Waiting for the 42; and Half Way Home, with awards including the Scottish Best Screenplay BAFTA and a BBC Three Film Award.
I work regularly as a script editor and script consultant on UK film and television productions – where I fulfil my love of working with writers and developing their work. My credits as a script consultant include the multi-BAFTA award-winning dramas Margaret, Small Island, Five Minutes of Heaven, Occupation, Killing Bono, Sex ‘n’ Drugs ‘n’ Rock & Roll, and ’71.
As well as my life as a writer and producer, I also have over 20 years’ experience as a tutor of scriptwriting and film. I created the screenwriting programme at the University of Edinburgh and have taught there since 2003. I am currently Lead Practitioner for Moving Image Education in Scotland; an exciting role working with primary and secondary schools to get them using storytelling, film and moving image in the classroom. It is humbling seeing young children’s imagination at work and reminds me to keep it exercised in my own creative brain.
Qualifications
MA Screen Project Development
Fellow of the Higher Education Authority (FHEA)
Responsibilities & affiliations
Course Collection Coordinator (Narrative Arts)
Course Organiser (Access Humanities)
Undergraduate teaching
Douglas teaches Humanities on the CAHSS Access Programme for adult returners to education
Douglas also teaches creative writing Life Long Learning courses
Research summary
Moving Image Education
Current research interests
I am Lead Practitioner for Moving Image Education in Scotland (Education Scotland & Creatice Scotland)Knowledge exchange
A Draft Film and Screen Curriculum for Scotland
In July 2022, Screen Scotland Education Team invited practitioners from Early Years Education, Primary and Secondary Schools, Further and Higher Education Institutions, Film and Screen Educators, the SQA, Education Scotland, the BFI, the Scottish Film and Screen Industry and Scottish Government to attend a symposium to develop the framework for a Draft Film and Screen Curriculum. Facilitated by Screen Scotland, practitioners worked in groups on specific levels of education. Over the following three years, Screen Scotland developed, delivered, tested and evaluated a Draft Film and Screen Curriculum for Scotland.
Testing the Draft Film and Screen Curriculum
Testing and evaluation of the First Edition Draft Film and Screen Curriculum was key to ensuring that its content was appropriate and deliverable in Early Years and School settings This took place across three phases:
Phase One
Delivery and testing in Shetland and Argyll and Bute took place in Early Years and Primary settings, and in Early Years, Primary and Secondary settings in Highland and Dundee delivered by Screen Educators in Residence (SEiRs) in partnership with class teachers.
In parallel with Phase One, a new pilot qualification, the SQA Film and Screen Award at SCQF Levels Five and Six, was devised and developed by SQA, Screen Scotland, education and industry.
Phase Two
Delivery and testing took place in secondary settings Shetland, Highland, Dundee, Argyll and Bute and Edinburgh, Scottish Borders (with Alchemy Film and Arts). Beginning in June 2023, SEiRs delivered the Draft Film and Screen Curriculum to Secondary School Learners in S1 to S6. Phase two included delivery of the pilot SQA Film and Screen Award at each school, at SCQF Level Five and Level Six.
Phase Three
Delivery and testing took place across thirty local authorities in Scotland by teachers who attended the Screen Scotland Summer School, a programme which taught the art of filmmaking, and the skills required to deliver film and screen learning in the classroom. This was completed by a Curriculum Support Programme available to every teacher. A Screen Scotland funded programme of training and evaluation of the draft Curriculum for early years practitioners complemented work in schools in Phase Three.
By the end of phase three in June 2025, the Draft Film and Screen Curriculum had been delivered and tested in 30 local authorities, to over 6,000 children aged three to eighteen. Over 100 young people have successfully achieved the SQA Film and Screen Award at Level Five or Level Six.
Launch event
On 10 September 2025, Screen Scotland, in collaboration with Education Scotland and Scottish Government, hosted a launch event to celebrate the national rollout of the draft Film and Screen Curriculum into the Curriculum for Excellence.
Curriculum Evaluation and Advocacy Networks (CEAN)
All the work of the Draft Film and Screen Curriculum is supported by two Curriculum Evaluation and Advocacy Networks (CEAN). CEAN includes education practitioners and teachers at Early Years, Primary and Secondary Levels, tertiary education colleagues specialising in film, screen and creative education, representatives from education and qualification bodies, industry advisors and key staff from Education Scotland, SQA and Screen Scotland.