I wrote, directed and edited my first traditional short film Lockdown Love (7 minutes) in mid 2020, during the Covid lockdown. I directed the actors using Zoom and they filmed themselves at home with their iPhones, based on settings I gave them. They used WeTransfer to send me their files.

I included footage that I shot with my iPhone and edited the film on my iPad. The music was composed by the very talented Nigel Thomas. Then I put the completed film on Amazon Prime, where you can buy or rent it. The film was selected for the Mobile Got Talent online film festival in 2020 (see image).

This page updated 15 October 2025.

I made My Plastic Friend (13 minutes) in 2021. I wrote the script, filmed it with two iPhones and edited on an iPad Pro using the KineMaster app before uploading to Amazon Prime. Music again came from Nigel Thomas and his quintet. This film can also be purchased or rented on Amazon.

In 2022 I wrote, directed and edited my third film, Karma Waters. This time I used a professional crew but I still edited the film on my iPad Pro, using the LumaFusion app. Karma Waters runs 7 minutes.

Nigel Thomas and Simon Robinson created and performed an excellent music track especially for this film.

In June 2023 I was the runner-up in the British Comedy Guide Pro Talent award for directing/writing for this film. Details here. In July 2023 Karma Waters was selected as an official entry for that year’s Lit Laughs international comedy film Festival.

In December 2023 Karma Waters made the semi-finals for best short film at the Lonely Wolf film festival. In January 2024 I received the note shown above from FilmFreeway.

In November 2024 my film was a finalist in the Film Haus awards. And in January 2025 it was named a semi-finalist in Iceland’s YETIFilmFest2024.

In June 2025 Karma Waters was the winner of the best super short film category at the Night of Shorts film festival.

In late 2024 I completed a documentary about the 84-year-old Malaysian photographer Eric Peris. I filmed with an iPhone and edited with my iPad Pro.

The sound track was made with an AI tool but everything else was from a human.

Read more about Eric Peris here.

In mid 2023 I started making films with AI tools. These films can be found at my YouTube site. Since March 2025 I have had fun making deepfake political commentaries. Here are the first 14:

MOVIE SCRIPTS

Since 2019 I have completed 10 screenplays: three feature films and seven short films. Details about some of the latter are shown above.

My first feature screenplay, Art of Revenge, won first prize in the dark comedy category at the Grim North screenplay festival in December 2019.

Logline: A painter starts a chain of revenge when he reneges on a deal he made with the talking cat who created his successful exhibition.

The judge’s comments on the script were positive: “Pablo the cat is a marvellous character – wonderfully devised, neatly developed and wholly credible … A strong voice, and a writer to watch out for in the future.”

My second feature is called Flight Home. Synopsis: A stressed NHS doctor working in London flees to the Australian outback after accidentally causing the death of a child. He works in obscurity as a hospital orderly until a disaster forces him to resume work as a doctor.

My third feature screenplay has the working title Where You Find Love. It is about the friendship between Leonard Cohen and the married Australian writers Charmian Clift and George Johnston on the Greek island of Hydra. The Australians lived on Hydra from 1955-64. Cohen was there from 1960-7. I visited Hydra in 2022 and took hundreds of photos and videos. As an experiment I am creating the film on my iPad using a range of AI tools.

Since mid 2024 I have created almost 20 short films using only AI tools. The Trump satires (can he be satirised, given his appalling nature?) are shown above.

Since late 2024 I have run workshops about using AI tools for making movies in England (Brighton Film School; Bectu; Queen Mary University), the UAE, Africa, India and Australia.

For me the script remains the foundation and blueprint for a quality film. It is relatively fast (and fun) to direct, film and edit with AI tools. Writing a good script takes a lot longer.

BOOKS

Between 1996 and 2011 while working as a journalist and academic I published 27 non-fiction books in Australia, the UK and the US. Two have been translated into Chinese.

While teaching in China in 2011 I had a near-death experience. It took me two years to process this event and change my approach. In 2013 I started writing fiction full time.

I have produced manuscripts for three novels. To date only Chaucer’s Team has been published (2014). That novel takes Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as a model. The 12 members of a travelling cricket team known as the Pilgrims tell their stories to team captain Jeffrey Chaucer in the team pub, the Canterbury Tales. The stories are about love, sex, death, masculinity and life. You can buy the print version from Amazon or as an ebook from Kindle.

My first book of poetry If you can be anything, be kind appeared in October 2018. You can find it on Amazon here.

My most recent non-fiction book was a memoir intended only for my children. A Gift for my Children was self-published in April 2025.

Here are details of all the books I have published, with the most recent at the top.

Quinn, S. (2025). A Gift for my Children. Self published, Melbourne, Australia (226 pages with 102 photographs).

Quinn, S. (2018). If you can be anything, be kind (poetry). MOJO Media Insights, Brighton.

Quinn, S. (2018). CLARITY: A guide to clear writing. Second edition. MOJO Media Insights, Brighton.

Burum, I. and Quinn, S. (2015). MOJO: The Mobile Journalism Handbook Focal Press (Taylor and Francis Group), Boston. Includes companion web site and 13 videos.

Quinn, S. (2015). CLARITY: A guide to clear writing. First edition. MOJO Media Insights, Brighton. 

Quinn, S. (2014). Chaucer’s Team: Performance anxiety on and off the field. MOJO Media Insights, Brighton.

Quinn, S. (2013). Asia’s Media Innovators Volume 3. Crowdsourcing in Asian Journalism Konrad Adenauer Foundation: Singapore.

Quinn, S. (2012) Mojo: Mobile journalism in the Asian Region Third edition. Konrad Adenauer Foundation: Singapore.

Quinn, S. (2011) Mojo: Mobile journalism in the Asian Region Second edition. Konrad Adenauer Foundation: Singapore.

Kaye, J. and Quinn, S. (2010). Funding journalism in the digital age: Business models, strategies, issues and trends Peter Lang: New York.

Quinn, S. and Kierans, K. (2010). Asia’s Media Innovators Volume 2. Konrad Adenauer Foundation: Singapore.

Quinn, S. (2009) Mojo: Mobile journalism in the Asian Region Konrad Adenauer: Singapore.

Quinn, S., Wake, A. and Linden, A. (2008). Australia-United Arab Emirates: Expanding trade and cultural links Focus Press: Sydney.

Quinn, S. (2008). Asia’s Media Innovators Volume 1. Konrad Adenauer Foundation: Singapore.

Quinn, S. and Lamble, S. (2008). Online Newsgathering: Research and Reporting for Journalism Focal Press: Boston. Reprinted 2010 and 2013.

Quinn, S. (2006). Conversations on Convergence: Insiders’ views of twenty-first century news production Peter Lang: New York.

Quinn, S. (2005). Convergent Journalism: The fundamentals of multi-media reporting Peter Lang: New York. Published in Chinese in April 2015.

Quinn, S. and Filak, V. (editors) (2005). Convergent Journalism: An Introduction Focal Press: Boston.

Walters, T. and Quinn, S. (2003). Bridging the Gulf: Communications Law in the United Arab Emirates. Ideas Lab: Dubai.

Quinn, S. (2002). Knowledge Management in the Digital Newsroom Focal Press: Oxford. Reprinted 2003.

Quinn, S. (2001). Digital Sub-Editing and Design Focal Press: Oxford. Reprinted 2005.

Quinn, S. (2001). Newsgathering on the Net Second edition. Macmillan: Melbourne.

Quinn, S. (1999). The Art of Learning University of NSW Press: Sydney.

Quinn, S. (1999). Newsgathering on the Net Macmillan: Melbourne.