バイオグラフィー
Born in Glasgow in 1950, he was educated at Hutcheson's Boys' Grammar and Glasgow University. In 1972, he joined the British Film Institute as Deputy Manager of the National Film Theatre, later becoming Feature Films Officer of the National Film Archive, where he was responsible for selecting all films for the national collection. He co-authored BFI publications on Robert Aldrich and Electric Shadows: 50 Years of Chinese Cinema. In 1979, alongside Tony Rayns, he organized Electric Shadows, a groundbreaking retrospective of Chinese cinema that began in London and sparked a global rediscovery of Chinese film history. He regularly contributed film reviews to Time Out, The Independent, Sight and Sound, The Observer, and was a frequent reviewer for BBC and Capitol Radio.
He joined Zenith Productions at its inception in 1984 as Script Editor, then became Head of Development in 1985, advancing to Head of Creative Affairs, Head of Production, and ultimately Chief Executive before leaving in 1998. Over 14 years, he developed, helped finance, and creatively supervised all Zenith features and TV dramas, totaling over 20 features. Zenith received awards from the Evening Standard and the British Film Institute for outstanding artistic achievement. Films such as Insignificance, Prick Up Your Ears, Patty Hearst, Simple Men, Velvet Goldmine, A Gathering of Old Men, The Reflecting Skin, Slam Dance, and Henry Fool (developed by him but not produced by Zenith) were official selections at the Cannes Film Festival, where Prick Up Your Ears, Henry Fool, and Velvet Goldmine won awards. The Hit, Sid and Nancy, Wish You Were Here, and Amateur were showcased in the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs. Trust and Walking and Talking were selected for Sundance, with Trust winning Best Screenplay. The Dead and Velvet Goldmine earned Academy Award nominations for Adapted Screenplay and Costume Design, respectively.
His television work includes Inspector Morse, Hamish Macbeth, Tales from the Hollywood Hills, A Gathering of Old Men, Fields of Fire, A Dangerous Life, Rhodes, Tinsel Town, and hundreds of hours of drama, garnering numerous BAFTAs and international awards. In 1999, he co-founded Deep Indigo Productions with Nigel Stafford-Clark, which also won many awards for its television dramas. He left Deep Indigo in 2005 to become Head of Drama at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, later serving as Evaluation Manager at the Australian Film Finance Corporation. In 2009, he became a senior creative consultant to Screen Australia. He served for many years on the Board of Scottish Screen, chairing the Development Committee, and also chaired the British Film Institute Production Board, acting as a board member of the BFI.
