Frank Cottrell Boyce, father of seven, is an established British screenwriter whose film credits include Welcome to Sarajevo, Hilary and Jackie and 24 Hour Party People. He lives in Merseyside with his family. Frank's first book, Millions won the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2004 and was shortlisted for a number of awards including the Guardian Children's Fiction Award 2004. Millions was also been made into a movie directed by Danny Boyle and was chosen as the Liverpool Reads book for September 2005. Framed, was published in September 2005.

In his own words: "Shortly after leaving university, I had a radio play broadcast and it led to a job at Thames Television (Education Department), where I met Michael Winterbottom who was an editor at the time. We planned to make movies. At the time everyone in England had given up on films. It was after the Goldcrest debacle so it was like saying you wanted to do door-to-door roof thatching or scrimshaw work - a lost art. I supported myself by writing for Coronation Street - wonderful fun and the nearest I've ever got to a proper job. Then we made Welcome to Sarajevo and we've made several films since. Other screenplays that I have written include: The Stranger (nominated for a BAFTA) Butterfly Kiss, Welcome to Sarajevo, Hilary and Jackie (also nominated for a BAFTA), Pandemonium, 24 Hour Party People, The Claim, Code 46 and Millions.

When I met my wife-to-be, she was planning on becoming a nun. Luckily I managed to persuade her to marry me instead. We now have 7 children, ranging from two to twenty years old and we live in Liverpool.

Everyone seems to have had a good English teacher at some point. Mine was Mr Biggs who moonlighted as a Punch and Judy man and managed to persuade me to be his assistant. Throughout my sixth form I spent weekends doing children's parties and parish fetes with him and his dog (the dog used to pass the hat around). After school I took a year off and did it myself. I earned a fortune entirely in small change. Maybe that's where I first got interested in the problems created by user-unfriendly cash!"

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