His first feature film script Utopia, loosely based on the events surrounding Jim Jones, the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, best known for the mass murder-suicide in November 1978 of 909 of its members in Jonestown, Guyana was voted runner-up at the 20th Anniversary University of California, Irvine Screenwriting Festival in 2012.
[6] In 2014, McLean wrote a pilot for a TV series called 2014 which revolved around the organisers for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
His short film Nomad about the Scottish Independence Referendum was inspired by a scene from The Parallax View starring Warren Beatty.
The film was screened at the Shorts on Tap Beyond Scotland event at 93 Feet East, Brick Lane, London.
[9] McLean's short film Car Sick (2023) has screened at festivals in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Ireland.