SCOTT MACTAVISH
Filmmaker, Best-selling Author, Navy Veteran

Scott Mactavish is a filmmaker, best-selling author and proud husband and father of three young men. His national appearances include Fox News, NBC, PBS, MSNBC, and CBS, and he has been a guest speaker at corporations and universities around the country, including Penn State and the University of Virginia. His film MURPH: The Protector was a contender for the Academy Award (Oscar) in four categories.

Born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, he joined the US Navy at age 17. He served aboard the USS L.Y. Spear and Submarine Squadron Six and was stationed in California, Cuba, Norfolk and the North Atlantic. He was Co-captain of the Atlantic Military Championship soccer team and received an Honorable Discharge after four years of active duty and two years reserve duty.

Scott moved to New York City and jumped right into the theater scene, winning acting roles on stage and screen, including Henry David Thoreau and Billy Sunday, the famous evangelical preacher. He then enrolled in film school at New York University, where he concentrated in direction and writing. His thesis film, Flowers for Judith, was optioned for broadcast by HBO. Following graduation, he worked days on dozens of big budget Hollywood films and at night honed his writing skills, churning out screenplays andseveral book treatments which later found homes at major publishing houses.

He founded Mactavish Pictures in 2002 and has written, produced and directed numerous films since the company’s inception and consulted on a dozen others. He served as Executive Producer of Chagas: A Hidden Affliction, which aired on PBS and in theaters around the world. His film Summer Running, featuring an introduction by Oscar-winning actress Sissy Spacek, recently screened as a fundraiser for breast cancer research at the historic Paramount Theater. He also produced and directed Ride for Lance, a documentary based on a coast-to-coast motorcycle rally held in honor of a fallen Navy SEAL. His feature-length documentary MURPH: The Protector premiered at #1 on the iTunes documentary charts in the United States and Canada and stayed in the top ten for over a year.

He’s the author of the New Dad’s Survival Guide (Little, Brown and Co.,) a perennial favorite in the parenting and humor categories, and co-author of Battle Ready: Memoir of a SEAL Warrior Medic (St. Martin’s Press,) which is now in development as a series by Joe Carnahan, director of The Grey and creator of The Blacklist. He’s a contributing writer for Indiewire, Film Threat and Windcheck Sailing Magazine.

Scott divides his time between New York City and Nashville and coaches JV and varsity soccer in his free time. At age 47, he returned to the University of Alabama to complete a degree in Literary History. He served on the Norfolk Christian Schools Board of Trustees and volunteers for several veterans organizations. He holds a black belt in American Kempo.