Sarah Daly
Writer • Producer • Filmmaker • Co-Founder of Hex Studios
Sarah Daly is an Irish writer, producer, filmmaker, musician, and co-founder of Hex Studios, whose imagination has shaped much of the creative identity of the British Horror Studio. A lyrical storyteller with a gift for the uncanny, Daly has been the principal screenwriting force behind many of the studio’s most distinctive works, including Lord of Tears, The Black Gloves, The Devil’s Machine, and The Reign of Queen Ginnarra. Her writing combines Gothic atmosphere, emotional vulnerability, folklore, dark fantasy, and a poetic sense of dread that has become central to the studio’s house style.
Before Hex Studios became a force in independent British horror, Daly’s writing attracted the attention of Joseph Gordon-Levitt through hitRECord. Her script for Morgan M. Morgansen’s Date with Destiny was produced and directed by Gordon-Levitt, premiering at Sundance in 2010, while the sequel, Morgan and Destiny’s Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo, also written by Daly, starred Gordon-Levitt alongside Channing Tatum and premiered at South by Southwest. The project was shown to Robert Redford through hitRECord and received a mention in Rolling Stone, marking an extraordinary early recognition of Daly’s voice as a writer of whimsical, cinematic fantasy.
Daly’s creative reach extends far beyond screenwriting. As the musician Metaphorest, she has released songs and music that blend folk, alternative pop, humour, melancholy, and strangeness. Her work has been associated with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s hitRECord anthology releases, and songs of hers have been performed by major artists including Anne Hathaway and Sia Furler. Her song Telephone, written with Mike Regan Noise, was later covered by Sia, while Daly’s imaginative short-form writing has also found life on stage, including Turnip Head, performed by Gary Oldman.
As a producer, Daly has been central to the survival and growth of Hex Studios and the British Horror Studio, working closely with Lawrie Brewster across more than a decade of independent production. She has helped build a studio model rooted in direct audience relationships, practical creativity, repertory collaboration, and a belief that British horror can be poetic, theatrical, emotionally sincere, and commercially ambitious. Her work as a producer has supported films, artists, locations, campaigns, and communities that would not exist without that mixture of imagination and discipline.
Within the British Horror Studio, Sarah Daly represents the writer-producer as architect: the person who shapes the myth, sharpens the emotional stakes, and gives the darkness its strange beating heart. Whether writing Gothic screenplays, producing ambitious independent features, composing music, mentoring artists, or helping guide the studio’s long-term mission, Daly stands as one of the essential creative figures behind the revival of classic British horror for a new generation.
Before Hex Studios became a force in independent British horror, Daly’s writing attracted the attention of Joseph Gordon-Levitt through hitRECord. Her script for Morgan M. Morgansen’s Date with Destiny was produced and directed by Gordon-Levitt, premiering at Sundance in 2010, while the sequel, Morgan and Destiny’s Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin Zoo, also written by Daly, starred Gordon-Levitt alongside Channing Tatum and premiered at South by Southwest. The project was shown to Robert Redford through hitRECord and received a mention in Rolling Stone, marking an extraordinary early recognition of Daly’s voice as a writer of whimsical, cinematic fantasy.
Daly’s creative reach extends far beyond screenwriting. As the musician Metaphorest, she has released songs and music that blend folk, alternative pop, humour, melancholy, and strangeness. Her work has been associated with Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s hitRECord anthology releases, and songs of hers have been performed by major artists including Anne Hathaway and Sia Furler. Her song Telephone, written with Mike Regan Noise, was later covered by Sia, while Daly’s imaginative short-form writing has also found life on stage, including Turnip Head, performed by Gary Oldman.
As a producer, Daly has been central to the survival and growth of Hex Studios and the British Horror Studio, working closely with Lawrie Brewster across more than a decade of independent production. She has helped build a studio model rooted in direct audience relationships, practical creativity, repertory collaboration, and a belief that British horror can be poetic, theatrical, emotionally sincere, and commercially ambitious. Her work as a producer has supported films, artists, locations, campaigns, and communities that would not exist without that mixture of imagination and discipline.
Within the British Horror Studio, Sarah Daly represents the writer-producer as architect: the person who shapes the myth, sharpens the emotional stakes, and gives the darkness its strange beating heart. Whether writing Gothic screenplays, producing ambitious independent features, composing music, mentoring artists, or helping guide the studio’s long-term mission, Daly stands as one of the essential creative figures behind the revival of classic British horror for a new generation.
“The writer-producer whose poetic imagination gives the British Horror Studio its strange beating heart.”
Selected Works
In the Grip of TerrorProducer
The Reign of Queen GinnarraWriter / Producer
The Devil’s MachineWriter / Producer
Lord of TearsWriter
The Black GlovesWriter / Producer
Morgan M. Morgansen’s Date with DestinyWriter
Morgan and Destiny’s Eleventeenth Date: The Zeppelin ZooWriter