Hugh Campbell
The inspiration for writing a carpe diem (seize the day) screenplay first hit me when I came across the Fisherman’s Parable. The idea that a village fisherman would be encouraged to grow his subsistence fishing into a multinational corporation in order to become rich someday so he could buy the life he was already living, seemed to me a perfect premise for an inspiring feature-length movie. That seed that birthed Catch of the Day isn’t surprising given my life-long interest in film story grounded in spiritual teachings.
After receiving a BA degree from UC Berkeley in 1986, I extensively studied the writings of mythologist Joseph Campbell who famously consulted George Lucas on the Hero’s Journey for Lucas’ original Star Wars movies. In addition, I’ve studied film story structure under Robert McKee and Dara Marks.
The first feature-length screenplay I co-wrote, 65 Roses, is the true-life story of a young female race car driver with Cystic Fibrosis trying to outrace death that was optioned by Hallmark Media. My second screenplay, Bagpipes, tells the story of an Irish transplant, old-world father and his cutting-edge Cardiologist son – both physicians in Boston – who struggle with their humanity in cold, technical modern medicine. And of course, now female-driven Catch of the Day.
Previously I worked as a Writer, Director and Producer in the San Francisco Bay Area on projects for a Who’s-Who of Fortune 500 companies such as Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, Applied Materials, Chevron, SunPower, Genentech, Wells Fargo Bank, and Gap to name a few. From 1997 to 2000, I managed the film and video department at InVision Communications, the largest event and communications company in Northern California.
I am also a dedicated partner to my wife of thirty-plus years and proud father of three now grown children. Both my personal and professional experiences have shaped the types of inspiring slice of life movies I am passionately committed to bringing to the screen.