Mike Bullen

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Mike Bullen
Born	13 January 1960 (1960-01-13) (age 48) Bramhall, Cheshire, England
Occupation	Screenwriter
Nationality	Australian
Writing period	1995 – present
Genres	Comedy, drama
Notable work(s)	Cold Feet, Life Begins
Notable award(s)	British Comedy Award for Writer of the Year (2003)
Influences American television

Michael Bullen (born 13 January 1960) is an English-born Australian screenwriter and television producer.

Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Career 2.1 Cold Feet (1997–2003) 2.2 Sunburn (1999–2000) 2.3 Life Begins (2004–2006) 2.4 Amorality Tale (2005) 2.5 All About George (2005) 2.6 Tripping Over (2006) 2.7 Make or Break (2008) 2.8 Undeveloped projects 3 Personal life 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Early life and education

Bullen was born in 1960 in Bramhall to Alex (a chemical engineer) and Joan Bullen. The family moved to Solihull, West Midlands, where he attended the Solihull School. When he was 18 he was accepted at Magdelene College, Cambridge to read economics, though he changed to history of art.^[1] Despite his public school background, he felt out of place among students who did not come from the urbanised West Midlands: "Half the students were debutantes who spent a lot of time brushing their hair; the other half ended up working in Sotheby's."^[2]

Following his graduation from Cambridge, Bullen worked for an advertising company as a media planner-buyer. The job did not excite him, so he quit to go backpacking in South East Asia.^[1]

[edit] Career

Attracted to a career in radio after previously working in hospital radio, he started working for the Dutch World Service before taking a job as a producer with the BBC World Service. Alongside his radio work he wrote spec scripts for the ITV series Soldier Soldier and Pie in the Sky. He did not finish them because he did not believe his writing was right for the programmes.^[3] He sold another spec script to Andy Harries, the head of comedy at Granada Television, in 1994. The script depicted a man proposing to his girlfriend at the FA Cup Final. Harries called it "impressive - cleverly constructed dialogue, very funny, well observed," commenting on the way Bullen's writing characterised people in their 30s. The one-off drama was broadcast in 1995 and starred Con O'Neill, Saskia Reeves and John Thomson.^[4]

[edit] Cold Feet (1997–2003)

Harries was keen to use more of Bullen's ideas and in 1996 another one-off drama was filmed. Bullen wrote Cold Feet in a similar manner to The Perfect Match; dialogue and issues that represented people in their 30s. The programme was constructed as a "boy-meets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-wins-girl-back" story told from both sides of the relationship but using elements of fantasy and flashback to distort events to fit a character's point of view. The programme was broadcast in 1997.^[5] After it won the Golden Rose of Montreux a full series was commissioned that ran for five series, winning over 30 awards. Bullen was awarded the Writer of the Year award British Comedy Awards in 2003.^[6]

[edit] Sunburn (1999–2000)

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[edit] Life Begins (2004–2006)

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[edit] Amorality Tale (2005)

Shortly after moving to Sydney, Bullen made a journey to the Perth Small Screen Big Picture. On the return leg, after 12 hours of seeing nothing but the Nullarbor Plain from the window, he began developing a short subject on infidelity at television conferences.^[7] The short, also Bullen's directorial debut, was a finalist for the first Rosemount Diamond at the Jackson Hole Film Festival.^[8]

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[edit] All About George (2005)

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[edit] Tripping Over (2006)

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[edit] Make or Break (2008)

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[edit] Undeveloped projects

As well as his unfinished Soldier Soldier and Pie in the Sky scripts, Bullen planned a "British version" of the American drama The West Wing, a television series he describes as having "the best writing on television". The programme would have been set in Buckingham Palace or 10 Downing Street. Bullen's planned title was The Firm, a reference to the nickname given to the British royal family. The project never advanced beyond Bullen's original idea; he abandoned it when he realised Downing Street does not have the same reverence from the British public when compared to the American view of the White House.^[9] A series based in Buckingham Palace was developed independently of Bullen by Company Pictures in 2007.^[10]

[edit] Personal life

Bullen met his wife Lisa in 1994 when they were both working for the BBC. They have two children, Maggie and Rachel. The family emigrated to Australia in 2003 and now live in Sydney.^[2] Bullen and his family became Australian citizens in 2005.^[11] He has a sister, Jane.^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Mike Bullen at the Internet Movie Database

v • d • e Cold Feet Episodes Series 1 · Series 2 · Series 3 · Series 4 · Series 5 Main cast James Nesbitt · Helen Baxendale · John Thomson · Fay Ripley · Robert Bathurst · Hermione Norris · Kimberley Joseph Production staff Mike Bullen · Andy Harries · Christine Langan · Spencer Campbell · David Nicholls Related topics Pilot · Cold Feet (U.S. TV series)