Thomas May Bailey is a London-based director and screenwriter, and co-director of Second Name Productions.

His first short film THE TALENT was nominated for the 2023 BIFA for Best British Short. It screened in-competition at Clermont-Ferrand, HollyShorts, Palm Springs ShortFest, ShortShorts, Busan ISFF, deadCentre, Aesthetica, LGBTQ+ Prize and Manhattan Short, among others.

Thomas wrote and directed the FILMCASE series of micro-shorts for Identity Drama School in association with Netflix, and was Assistant to the Director on PERSUASION (MRC / Netflix).

He began working in film in 2020 after an eight-year career as a theatre director. He was Resident Assistant Director at the Donmar Warehouse (later the Donmar’s first Digital Associate), and trained on the National Theatre Directors’ Course and NYT Bryan Forbes’ Directing Scheme. He directed at the Arcola Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre among others, and also taught and directed at drama schools.