Will Haynes Back Story

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the tr—-”

Wrong intro*, but like Holden I won’t bother going into all of that, though it all started in late 1980… (technically early 1980, if you’re taking the glint in my father’s eye into account)… 33 years of underachieving later and voila! My own website (a shamelessly narcissistic shrine of self-promotion) that will hopefully give you a more rounded view of my work, and me, in general. However, the text beneath probably says more than enough:

Will Haynes started his career in the UK film industry as a runner on high-profile feature films, before progressing to various supporting roles (such as production assistant, producer’s assistant, assistant coordinator and assistant director – many different terms for fetching coffee from Starbucks), while directing and producing independent music videos and short films, before absconding to travel and write. He has completed one novel ‘Shoot The Runner’ and a collection of short stories.

He is currently undertaking his second novel – while hoping to get the first one published at some point in the not-too-distant future. His short story ‘The People’s Republic’ has recently been awarded both the Excellence in Contemporary Narrative Award and the Diamond Award for the Labello Press International Short Story Competition. Because of this, he is now unbearable to be around.

But, as you might not have bothered to skip that on the home page, I’d better expand upon it and give you a little bit more…

Having always been very passionate about creative pursuits, I studied Illustration with Animation (BA Hons 2:1) at Manchester Metropolitan University, focusing particularly on film for my third year, and so upon graduation I was, some might say, technically unemployable. Determining to stay in Manchester, believing that I might be able to rise faster in the Manchester Film Industry (Manchester doesn’t really have a film industry), I worked for six months as a barman before deciding to go travelling (Grade 1: Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Bali, Home) and got my break in the film industry upon moving to London as a lowly floor runner on the feature film ‘The Good Shepherd’, directed by Robert De Niro. I continued to work on a number of high-profile feature films including Angels & Demons, London Boulevard, The Other Boleyn Girl, Last Chance Harvey, W.E. and Byzantium.

Around the time I started in the film industry, I co-founded Whirlwind Films with Spencer Doane, producing and directing independent music videos and short films (on weekends and in gaps between feature films).

Having had a particular passion for writing above everything else, in late 2012, after seven years of working in the film industry, I decided to leave London (having hit upon the mathematical formula that the cost of living badly in London for one month would keep me living well in India for six) to travel and pursue my writing ambitions as my primary focus. Nearly two years later, I have completed one novel, a novella of linked stories, another collection of short stories, and a cookery/travelogue book, while work is well under way with my second novel and I have won two awards for one of my short stories, which will be published in the Gem Street anthology 2014. Along the way, I have ridden across India on an Enfield Bullet, been run over twice, had my nose broken by a lunatic in Bangkok, been quarantined with swine flu in Mumbai, nearly slipped into a ravine, run out of air 20 metres beneath the ocean’s surface, had a close brush with a rabid dog, staggered lost, alone, paralytic and barefoot through leopard-and-cobra-inhabited jungle, and attempted crowd-surfing at a Guns N’ Roses concert in Bangalore, amongst other adventures, and lived to tell the tale.

And I’ve remembered to do the odd bit of work along the journey.

I hope you will enjoy the content of this website.

Thank you very much if you’ve bothered reading this far.

*The Catcher in the Rye

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