Linlithgow's Misha McCullagh is making a name for herself in the film industry

Misha McCullagh (26) admits it’s not been an easy road and it can be a lonely one too.

So she was delighted to be selected for the third year of Glasgow Film Festival’s New Talent Mentorship Scheme.

It will see Misha team up with Carolynne Sinclair Kidd, who recently produced the BBC Four show Skint, starring Saoirse-Monica Jackson and Peter Mullan.

For Misha, it’s a chance to learn as much as she can about her craft from someone who has already made a name for themselves in the industry.

She said: “I get the chance to meet up with Carolynne regularly for the next six months to discuss projects I’m working on and to make sure that I'm tackling them in the best way possible.

"It’s a difficult industry and when you’re producing it can be quite a lonely role; learning from someone who has so much experience and can steer me in the right direction is an incredible opportunity so I was over the moon to be selected.”

Misha, who is an actor and producer, is currently developing a feature film about prison reform in the 1980s, as well as producing a stop-motion animation with BFI Network.

After leaving the Academy, she secured an HND in acting and performance at Glasgow Clyde College.

She secured a placement thereafter working in STV’s advertising department, building up her knowledge of the industry while also working as an actor and producing theatre and Edinburgh Fringe shows.

Prior to the pandemic, she started working with the Scottish Drama Training Network bringing together creative students with filmmakers in Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

When the pandemic hit, she suggested taking that offering online; subsequent workshops and masterclasses were a huge success.

The first short film she produced in 2021 brought her right back home to Linlithgow.

She said: “It was called the Queen’s Speech and focused on an actress playing the role of Mary Queen of Scots.

"I had been a Palace Guide at Linlithgow Primary so it was like going back home! The editor I worked with on that project was Lindsay Watson and I later found out she was from Linlithgow too – it was so funny when I found out. Everything always leads back to Linlithgow!”

The Queen’s Speech was screened that year at Edinburgh Short Film Festival.

Since then, Misha has worked as a freelance production co-ordinator on the CBBC show Molly and Mack and with the BBC at the Edinburgh Festival and on its 2021 Hogmanay show.

At the end of 2021, she won a place on the Short Circuit Producer Accelerator Course, a fast-track training programme for producers.

Her subsequent short film, Candy, which focuses on being body positive, was screened at three BAFTA-qualifying festivals. It was then picked up by the UN Women’s 16 Days of Activism festival – and won top prize.

The Auld Hole in the Wall may have lost a staff member but Misha appears to be going places...so watch this space!