Sean Gray
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Sean Gray (born 15 June 1983) is a British comedy writer, producer and director. He is known for his work on the HBO series ''Veep'', the BAFTA-winning BBC series ''The Thick of It'' and ''Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'' and the feature film ''The Day Shall Come''. He is a two-time Emmy-winner and Golden Globe-nominee.


Early life and education

Gray graduated from Oxford University. During his time at Oxford he wrote for and edited the university magazine ''Isis (magazine), Isis'', and has explained that this "was basically just an excuse to write funny stuff for an audience". Gray started writing comedy sketches as a student and has cited Peter Cook as the comedian who "opened [his] eyes to what comedy could be".


Television and Radio

Gray began his career in 2006 writing on the Armando Iannucci BBC2 comedy series ''Time Trumpet''. He worked as Assistant Producer on Series 1 of ''Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'', and wrote for the red button "Stewart V Armando" interview segments with Iannucci. He worked on the BBC comedy ''The Thick of It'', writing or co-writing 14 episodes. For the launch of Series 4, he and fellow ''The Thick of It'' writer Ian Martin (writer), Ian Martin were interviewed by Kirsty Lang for BBC Radio 4's ''Front Row (radio programme), Front Row'', and described how the show's seemingly farcical policies had often been mirrored in real life. Gray also wrote on this subject for the BBC News website. He is a writer and Television producer#Types of television producers, Co-Executive Producer on HBO's Emmy Award, Emmy-winning sitcom ''Veep (TV series), Veep'', starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus. The show and Gray won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Comedy Series at both the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards and the 68th Primetime Emmy Awards, two Writers Guild Of America Awards and a 2016 Peabody Award. He is a credited writer on 9 episodes of ''Veep'': "Catherine" and "Chung" (Season 1); "Hostages" and "Running" (Season 2); "Some New Beginnings" and "Alicia" (Season 3); "Convention" and "Testimony" (Season 4); and "Thanksgiving" (Season 5). He is creator and sole writer of ''iGod'', a BBC Radio 4, Radio 4 science fiction comedy series starring David Soul and Simon Day about a man who accidentally causes the end of the world. The show was described by ''The Guardian'' as "very, very funny", and by the ''Radio Times'' as "hilarious". He has also written for three series of ''Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive'' and David Quantick's ''One''.


Film

Gray directed Peter Capaldi in the award-winning short film ''Bistro'', which he also wrote and produced. The film co-stars Alex Macqueen and won Soho House's international "Electric Shorts" competition. While working on the Oscar-nominated film ''In the Loop (film), In The Loop'', he and Iannucci reportedly managed to get into the US State Department using their BBC passes, prompting acting spokesman Robert Wood to later issue a statement, and the State Department to conduct "a complete review of their security procedures". He wrote for the 2019 black comedy thriller ''The Day Shall Come'' alongside director Chris Morris (satirist), Chris Morris and Jesse Armstrong. He had previously collaborated with Morris on the Season 3 ''Veep'' episode "Alicia". He is currently developing "a comedy about artificial intelligence" for Armando Iannucci to direct. He contributed additional material to the satire ''Greed (2019 film), Greed'' for director Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan.


Credits

* ''The Day Shall Come'' (additional material) * ''Veep (TV series), Veep'' (Writer, 9 episodes, Co-Executive producer)
The Hollywood Reporter" 16 April 2011 * ''The Thick of It'' (Writer, 14 episodes) * ''Time Trumpet'' (Writer) * ''Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle'' (writer, additional material Series 2; Assistant Producer, writer 6 episodes of "Comedy Extra" segments on red button Series 1) * ''iGod'' on BBC Radio 4 (creator, writer 2010–2011) * ''Bistro'' (writer, director, producer) * ''Armando Iannucci's Charm Offensive'' on BBC Radio 4 * ''In the Loop (film), In the Loop''


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, Sean British comedy writers British radio writers British television writers Living people 1983 births Alumni of the University of Oxford