Paul Laverty

Paul Laverty (born 1957 ) is an Irish and Scottish screenwriter and lawyer. He is best known for his collaborations with Ken Loach, including the screenplays for the Palme d'Or winning films The Wind That Shakes the Barley and I, Daniel Blake (2016).

For Sweet Sixteen (2002), he won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay. For It's a Free World... (2007), he won Golden Osella for Best Screenplay. For I, Daniel Blake he won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film and was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Original Screenplay.

Early life

Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, to an Irish mother and Scottish father. He was educated at All Souls' School in Wigtown where he grew up. He obtained a philosophy degree at the Gregorian University in Rome while studying for the priesthood at the Pontifical Scots College. Thereafter he obtained a law degree at Strathclyde Law School, in Glasgow.

During the mid-1980s, he traveled to Nicaragua and lived there for almost three years. He worked for a Nicaraguan domestic human rights organization which provided hard evidence of human rights abuses during the war between the elected Nicaraguan Government (The Sandinistas) and the United States backed "Contras" in which the subject of human rights became highly contested. Every major human rights organization, including Amnesty and Americas Watch, accused the U.S.-backed contras of systematic abuse against Nicaraguan civilians.

He traveled to the war zones and obtained corroborated eyewitness accounts which were passed on to international human rights organizations. He also traveled widely in El Salvador, during its civil war, and Guatemala, too. His interests in Latin American affairs continued much later with long research trips to Chiapas in Mexico, and along the US-Mexican border concentrating on the city of Juárez.

Career

After his time in Central America Laverty made contact with director Ken Loach for whom he wrote Carla's Song (1996), his first screenplay, which starred Robert Carlyle. For his acting in My Name is Joe (1998), Peter Mullan won the Best Actor award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. Bread and Roses (2000), detailing the experiences of migrant labour, was shot in Los Angeles, and featured Adrien Brody in a leading role. Laverty's next script, Sweet Sixteen (2002) won best screenplay award in the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. He won the Golden Osella for It's a Free World... (2007).

They both collaborated on The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) which concerns Irish War of Independence in early 1920s. The film won the Palme d'Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Laverty has written eight full-length feature scripts and one short directed by Ken Loach. Both work closely with producer Rebecca O'Brien. Loach's comedy featuring the French footballer Eric Cantona, Looking for Eric (2009), is a collaborative effort with Laverty, as is his film about mercenaries in Iraq, Route Irish (2010).

Personal life

Laverty has been in a relationship with Spanish filmmaker and actress Icíar Bollaín since 1995, after meeting on the set of Ken Loach's Land and Freedom (1995). The couple live in Edinburgh with their three children.

On August 25, 2025, Laverty was arrested under the Terrorism Act for "showing support for a proscribed organization" during a Free Palestine protest in Edinburgh. According to reports, the reason for the arrest was wearing a T-shirt that said "Genocide in Palestine, time to take Action" that allegedly supported the banned organization Palestine Action.

Filmography

Accolades

In 2002, Laverty won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay for the film Sweet Sixteen. In 2016, he was nominated for the British Independent Film Award for Best Screenplay.