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Chester Dent
Producer/Director


Chester Dent is a top producer/director from the UK with prime-time credits for the BBC, Channel 4 and DCI.

Chester has directed big-budget television drama as well as music videos and commercials. His short film "Revolver" was shown at more than forty festivals internationally and in competition at Cannes.

After a brief sojourn into new media at Apple in the mid-1990s, he re-invented himself as an observational documentarian with two acclaimed films for BBC2's "Trouble at the Top" series. After the success of the BBC hit series "The Monastery" he was hired by Tiger Aspect to direct the US version for TLC.

Chester continues to make signature documentaries in Austraia.
Notable Credits:


Series Director The Monastery

US version of the BBC2 hit series. A critcally-acclaimed observational documentary following five non-believers as they spend 40 days and 40 nights in a Benedictine monastery in New Mexico. More...
Tiger Aspect for TLC (DCI (Discovery).
(5 x 60mins, Self-shot DVCPRO50 SDX900)



Watch now...

"I've never seen a TV show explore spiritual issues in such compelling fashion." Andrew Wallenstein - NPR


Producer/Director Trouble at the Top: Hey Jo

Authored observational-documentary for the prime-time BBC2 strand following bumptious millionaire Dave West on his quest for love and happiness. More...
BBC2 (1x 39mins, Self-shot DigiBeta)


“Witty, and very stylish…. the most enjoyable thing I’ve seen in a long while” Robert Thirkell


Producer/Director Trouble at the Top: Terry & Liz

Highly regarded, documentary classic about shoe designer Terry de Havilland’s big comeback: his surprise return to the world of high fashion decades after most people thought he was dead. More...
BBC2 (1x 39mins, Self-shot DigiBeta)


"A touching documentary with much to say about the contentious interface of art and commerce..." The Sunday Times

"Bitter-sweet and full of humanity writ small" The Scotsman


AIDC Masterclass - Casting Characters for Documentary


A talk given at the invitation of the Adelaide International Documentary Conference including video clips from various of Chester's documentaries. You can see complete episodes and the full-length BBC documentaries here.



Education

1991 National Film & TV School, Beaconsfield, UK
Direction Graduate
Mentors: Stephen Frears, Mike Leigh, Mike Newell.

1983 University College London
BA Hons. English Literature
Tutors: Dan Jacobson, Karl Miller, John Sutherland

1976 Northgate Grammar School, Ipswich, UK


Work History - Film & Television

2012 Producer/Director Boom Town Electric Pictures for ABC1
Observational documentary following millionaires in the world's most isolated city Perth, Western Australia
(6 x 30 mins Self-Shot Sony EX3 Full-HD)


2011 Producer/Director Vet School
Prospero Productions for ABC1
Observational documentary following student veterinarians at Murdoch University in Perth, WA
(6 x 30 mins Self-Shot Sony HDW-F900 Full-HD)
Watch trailer

2011 Director A Colourful Day
Short Film. A mid-summer's day out with Australain artist Duncan James.

Byron Bay Film Festival
Ducan James (8 mins Canon 5D MkII HD)


2010 Director Perch Creek for Screen Australia
Development for an observational documentary following the Perch Creek Family Jug Band. Dungog Film Festival
Screen Australia (17 mins Canon 5D MkII HD)
Watch on Vimeo

2009 Series Director Angels in New York for SBS
Observational documentary following the staging of a new Australian-produced musical on Broadway
SBS (4 x 30 mins self-shot HDX900 DVCPRO
Full-HD)

2008 Producer/Director The Nest - The Wilkinsons.

Freehand Productions for SBS
Formatted documentary about Australian families with adult children living at home
SBS (6 x 60 mins, self-shot DSR570)

2007 Producer/Director Honey We're Killing the Kids - The Bainbridges. BBC3
Intimate ob doc access for the life-changing BBC family format.
TX BBC3 August 20th 2007 (1 x 60 mins, self-shot DSR570 and Z1)

2006 Producer/Director The Monastery, US. Tiger Aspect for TLC
Watch web version now.
Highly-regarded observational documentary following five non-believers as they spend 40 days and 40 nights in a Benedictine monastery in New Mexico. Produced by Tiger Apsect for DCI.
TX TLC/Discovery Oct/Nov 2006. (5 x 60mins, Self-shot on DVCPRO50 SDX900)


2005 Producer/Director Demolition - Housing Oxford Film & TV for Channel 4
C4 series hosted by presenters Kevin McCloud and Janet Street-Porter about Britain’s most unpopular buildings.
TX C4 November 27th 2005. (1x60mins, Self-shot on DSR570)

2004 Producer/Director Trouble at the Top: Hey Jo. BBC2

Mould-breaking actuality with bumptious millionaire Dave West and his quest for love and happiness.
TX BBC2 February 8th 2005. (1x39mins, Self-shot on DigiBeta)

2003-2004 Producer/Director Trouble at the Top: Terry & Liz BBC2

Classic three-act ob doc story about shoe designer Terry de Havilland’s comeback. Intimate observational documentary for BBC2.
TX BBC2 March 11th 2004. (1x 39mins, Self-shot on DigiBeta)

2002 Lecturer in Film & Television Southampton Institute, specialising in screenwriting.

2002 Super16mm Camera Peace One Day

Contributed film footage to peace campaigner Jeremy Gilley’s feature doc for BBC's Storyville.

1994-1998 Corporate Producer/Director:
Produced and directed numerous videos through my own company. Notably a highly-regarded video dealing with “Internal Dishonesty” at Marks & Spencer.

1993 Drama Director “Memoirs of an Amnesiac”
(Super16mm). Short film with Jeremy Gilley and Beaty Edney.

1992 Drama Director “Lily from Begonia”

Children’s series shot on location in South Africa and the UK. 2 x 26mins.


Revolver - Liam Neeson 1991 Drama Director "REVOLVER"

Watch on YouTube
Short Film with Liam Neeson,
Winner of a dozen awards, including Critics' Week Cannes, Aix, Chicago, Tokyo, Brest, Munich and the Kino award in Melbourne. Shown at more than 40 festivals world-wide, sold in 15 territories. (NFTS, 35mm Panavision)


1990 Series Director:"Magic"
Shot in English and set in Hamburg, $6 million dollar mini-series “Magic” for NDR International told the backstage stories of the cast of a fictional musical, loosely based on the German production of Andrew Lloyd-Webber's 'Cats'. The musical 'show-within-the-show' was shot on one of Germany's largest sound stages and was composed, designed, constructed, choreographed, and staged in parallel with pre-production and the first weeks of location filming. Principle photography on the series was completed in just 75 shooting days with a full 35mm crew. All episodes were directed by Chester Dent. Script by television veteran Paul Wheeler.
Represented by William Morris in London and Los Angeles.
NDR International (6 x 52mins, 35mm Arriflex)




1988-1992 Commercials Director:
Numerous commercials for agencies, among others Bates Dorland, Saatchi and Saatchi including Clio Award winning Starlight Express commercial.

1988 Documentary Director: “Carrie” following the ill-fated RSC broadway production of the musical based on Stephen King’s book. (Lombard productions, 16mm, 26min)

1988 Music Video Director:
Represented by Eurythmics' production company the Oil Factory. Directed top 10 hit videos for Eurythmics, LondonBeat and others.

1987 Documentary Director: “Super Car” following the development of the Panther Solo mid-engined sports car by a Korean entrepreneur at Panther’s Brooklands factory.(Lombard Productions, corporate, 16mm)

1983-87 Direction Student, National Film School, Beaconsfield. Special tutors included Stephen Frears, Mike Leigh and Mike Newell.

1984 Documentary Camera, Sharpville Spirit (16mm), Loy Films, South Africa (Channel4)

1983 Documentary Camera, Re Tla Bona (We Will See) (16mm), Loy Films, South Africa (for radical South African literacy charity Learn & Teach)

1981 Screenwriter: Sky Blue. Feature based upon a life of my father, artist, game ranger, conservationist and bush mystic Hugh Railton Dent. Moonyeen Lee Productions, South Africa.

1981 Documentary Camera, The Sun Will Rise (16mm), International Defence & Aid Fund (ANC), South Africa/ London

1980 Writer/Director “Funes the Memorious” (UCL Film 16mm) Student short film based on story by J-L. Borges. (Channel4).



Technical Training

2001 Open University
Interface Design (HCI) and Relational Databases

as part of MSc. in Computing for Commerce and Industry

1995 Apple Developer University, San José, California
Multimedia Development with QuickTime VR

Technical Skills

Excellent working knowledge:
Full-HD Self-Shooter
Panasonic HDX900, Sony HDW-F900
File-Based Workflows
Sony PMW-EX3, JVC GY-HM700, Canon XF305
Canon DSLR 5D MkII

Working knowledge:
Final Cut Pro, Avid Media Composer,

Adobe After Effects, Adobe Photoshop
Adobe GoLive, HTML, JavaScript

Health & Safety Accreditation

BBC Safe Management of Productions Part 1
BBC Safe Management of Productions Part 2
BBC Safe Manual Handling Techniques for Camera and Sound Operators
BBC Interactive Health & Safety Training

Memberships

Director’s Guild of Great Britain
Directors UK

Working Visas

UK

USA (I-Visa)
Australia



References

Peter Abbot
Executive Producer
Freehand
+61 2 8514 5400
peter@freehandtv.com.au

Bill Grist
Executive Producer
BBC Popular Features & Business
+44 -7843 - 435 100
bill@gristcommunications.com

Sara Woodford
Series Producer
Tiger Aspect
+44-7932 – 972 624
sarawoodf@aol.com