Laith Elzubaidi

Laith Elzubaidi is a British-Iraqi Comedy and Drama Screenwriter, Director and Producer based in London. 

Laith's recent achievements include being selected for the BBC Comedy Collective Supercharged Bursary Scheme, which included paid shadowing opportunities on BBC productions’ writers rooms; winning a bursary at the Screenshot Showcase produced by Sister Pictures and South Of The River Productions. The final was judged by Olivia Colman, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Munya Chawawa, Rosie Jones and heads of comedy commissioning from BBC, Netflix, HBO, Channel 4 and Sky; and winning Soho Theatre's annual playwriting competition, the Tony Craze Award, for his debut play Insane Asylum Seekers, with Olivier-nominated Emily Ling Williams attached to direct. 

Recent credits include An Impossible Homecoming, a Sci-Fi drama inspired by his experiences of being the child of Iraqi refugees, which won a 'Special Commendation' at the Edinburgh TV Festival All3Media New Drama Script Awards and Soho House's script competition, which included live feedback from the Emmy Award winning writers, Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley, following a table read with professional actors. 

His short film, Panic!, which Laith also directed, premiered and headlined at the Refugee Week short film programme at the Southbank Centre to a sold out audience. It was produced by the BAFTA-nominated Sara Sehdev and is the first Sci-Fi film ever written and/or directed by someone of Iraqi heritage.

He was also part of the latest writers room for the BBC's Bad Education. 

He is currently co-writing and Exec-producing a feature film with an Emmy nominated writer and producer. The film centres on a British-Arab community in London as they fight against the gentrification of their area.

Outside of writing, Laith is the founder of the British-Arab Writers Group and part-time producer at the arts charity Counterpoints Arts, which supports creatives from refugee and migrant backgrounds. Laith spearheads their Pop Culture and Social Change programme, including a consultancy programme that connects creatives with lived-experience of refugee and migrant experiences with productions across the globe, examples includes Netflix’s Exit West (Starring Riz Ahmed) and BBC Films’ Matar. 

He produces a series of BAFTA Masterclasses exploring the importance of authentic storytelling of refugees on screen, and the positive impact of collaboration with creatives who have lived experience of migration, in order to build narrative power and create social change.