Deadline has teamed up with The Brit List to profile some of the emerging writers who made this year’s ranking of the best unproduced film and TV projects. Launched in 2007, The Brit List has previously featured projects such as The King’s Speech and Responsible Child. In this article, we feature Dylan Brady, an actor and writer who made the list with his script for TV series Discretion.
You may recognize Dylan Brady from his “blink and you’ll miss it” performance in Andor (his words), but we are not here to talk about his contribution to Star Wars universe. Brady’s writing career is also beginning to take off, with his entry into The Brit List being confirmation of his burgeoning credentials.
Brady makes the rankings with Discretionand it has an advantage over some of its contemporaries in that the series was picked up for development by Kudos, the British producer behind Scary And SAS rogue heroes. Discretion follows struggling actor Jacob, who is offered a job as a nanny by a high-flying producer and his movie star husband. Jacob plots to seduce his employers and take advantage of their industrial connections, but unwittingly falls into a trap.
Brady tells Deadline that the inspiration for the series came from a real-life friend who took a job as a live-in caregiver for a power couple, before becoming involved in their lives. The project takes references from Fatal attraction, Eyes wide closedAnd Sunset Boulevardbut upends some of these storytelling conventions.
“Erotic thrillers have always been very heterosexual, and it’s the marital unit that is the hero that must be preserved at all costs from a nasty slut who threatens that unit,” he explains. “I thought about what it would look like in 2025. What if the bitch was the hero and there was something rotten about marriage? I wanted to break the mold and put a queer point of view into it.”
Brady’s storyline generated interest, but he opted for Kudos due to his pre-existing relationship with the company. Brady is also working with Kudos to adapt The other half, Charlotte Vassell’s novel about an ambitious young detective investigating the death of a chic socialite, found murdered on Hampstead Heath. Brady calls it a “Gen Z cop show,” which aims to launch a new generation of cop series. The project is in development with the BBC, but nothing has been confirmed yet.
Brady’s previous writing work includes writing an episode of Everything nowthe young adult Netflix series from Left Bank Pictures, which was canceled after one season to the disappointment of everyone involved. He was also supervised by All of us strangers director Andrew Haigh as part of the BFI Flare x BAFTA Cohort programme. Brady says Haigh’s ability to “make everything sound so distinctly like him” provided him with a good lesson in finding his own voice through his writing.
As Discretion And The other half bubble in Kudos, Brady focuses more immediately on his self-financed short film ANONwhich will feature The Penguin And happy valley actor Con O’Neill. Filmed entirely on body camera in Brady’s hometown of Derby, ANON highlights a brief encounter between a closeted taxi driver (O’Neill) and a young passenger, which leads to a frightening exchange with life-changing consequences. It’s far from Andorbut Brady considers it an important part of telling stories that matter to him.
Brady is repped by Knight Hall Agency.
