Stories built
through
collaboration.

McClean’s route to filmmaking began with Shakespeare, theater, and construction work that kept the bills paid between creative jobs.

After studying Shakespeare in college and training at the Royal National Theater, McClean toured in a children’s theater production of Peter Pan. On the road, he wrote a feature screenplay that became the sample for his first paid screenwriting assignment.

A move west brought a new community of collaborators. Life Tracker became his first independent feature, built through a year of fundraising, favors, and the shared efforts of a cast and crew. The film went on to screen at more than twenty science fiction conventions. The Drama Club followed, drawing together talented friends for a story of reunion, old romances, and unfinished business.

GingerBeard’s work continues to grow through those creative relationships. McClean wrote and produced VIRAL, directed by Blair Underwood and starring Underwood, Sarah Silverman, Jeanine Mason, and Alfre Woodard. That partnership also reaches the page: McClean’s novel Sins of Survivors, presented by Underwood and based on characters created by Tiaka Hurst and McClean, was published by Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins, in 2025.

A member of the Writers Guild of America, McClean continues to develop stories across film, books, and the stage. GingerBeard provides a home for that work and for the collaborators who help each project find its form.