 |
Lance Nielsen (born 1974) is an English screenwriter and playwright. He has directed much of his own work.
|
Lance Nielsen (born 1974) is an English screenwriter and playwright. He has directed much of his own work.
Nielsen was brought up near Kingston upon Thames in South London, though he is adopted. He has little contact with his birth family. The parents who raised him were English and Danish, and he has a strong interest in Danish Culture. Nielsen's interest in the media began with acting in school and college theatre productions. Nielsen worked in the US and Africa teaching disadvantaged children drama and video production and creative writing. While attending Epsom School of Art and Design in Surrey he also worked almost full-time at his local cinema in Kingston upon Thames. He won an industrial tribunal against his former employers which enabled him to produce his first film. He also supports Arsenal and Liverpool football clubs, the latter because of his connection to Hillsborough. Nielsen is a member of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign.[ citation needed ]
Nielsen's early work began in Nottingham, where he and fellow film director Shane Meadows began directing their low-budget film projects in almost the same week. Nielsen was an early supporter of Meadow's short film festival events in 1996 that were held in the city. Nielsen's first film, Death Comes From The Touch Of The Funnyman was loosely based upon his time spent at Esher College. Filming took place over 18 months and used all the real locations where events had actually occurred. The film was shot on a video format, making it unsuitable for broadcasting. He also directed a number of shorts and workshops while in Nottingham with Best Shot Films and assisted with casting and directing a number of other shorts. [1] On his return to London he directed Waiting For Hillsborough about the Hillsborough football disaster. Nielsen, who lived in the south, was compelled to write the play after feeling he was duped by the media about who was to blame for the disaster. [2] [3]
Nielsen moved back to North London in September 1997 and his work began to focus on theatre. He quickly became the writer in residence at the North London arts venue, the Jacksons Lane Theatre, writing and directing two plays a year for the next six years under The Gutted Film and Theatre Company. These included several award-winning productions, among them 11 Years Down the River – The Marchioness Inquiry , Those Who Trespass Against Us – The Victoria Climbie Inquiry , [4] [5] and Sticks and Stones, which was a drama set against the conflict in Northern Ireland. The comedy short play Making Time went on to win a Peter Brook award and was praised by the Evening Standard . [6] He also shot a second feature film, 30, but was not happy with the result and after limited screenings he withdrew it from release. During this time Nielsen also ghost wrote for a number of biographies and did re-writes on a number of other scripts for films and episodes of television. Nielsen spent a considerable amount of time living and working in Los Angeles. During this time he became friends with actress Sherri Howard and they developed a number of script ideas together.[ citation needed ]
In an interview given to the Irish Post, Nielsen announced he intended to take a break from heavy drama, he wrote some comedies and then he turned his hand to musicals writing and directing The East End of Chicago, a musical comedy drama set in the 1920s. The music for the show was written by Richard Erickson. During the production Nielsen was experiencing severe headaches and vomiting. Shortly after the production Nielsen collapsed with a stroke and fit which hospitalised him for three months. It was discovered he had a large blood clot in his brain which left him with minor brain damage and some memory loss. His doctor told him to avoid stress and he did not direct again for two years.[ citation needed ]
Nielsen directed two plays with Tom Hardy's Shotgun Theatre Company in 2006 and early 2007 respectively and wrote Pressure, the documentary drama about the life of Colin Stagg. This is loosely based on a script he wrote six years earlier for the theatre, which even back then advanced the proposition that Stagg was entirely innocent of the offences he was then accused of. Nielsen was also involved in another production with actors Dan Styles and Gideon Turner called Jericho's Walls Are Falling, [7] which he also wrote and directed. Dan Styles was also the producer of the trailer. [8] Although the trailer was produced, funding for the film was found and lost five times during the 2008 crash and it is now in turnaround. Jericho was wrongly called The Band Plays again in an interview on line. [9]
Nielsen directed two plays in 2010, 12 Angry Women, with an all female, all ethnic cast, which was a success and Fragile, co-written by Angela Thomas. Fragile was a financial and critical failure. After this Nielsen briefly left the industry, but in February 2012 was invited by his friend Chris Jones, to attend a weekend of the Guerrilla Filmmakers Network that he was running, which resulted in him meeting Greek film makers Carmen Zografou, Iria Pizania, Kyriaki Fotiadou, Angela Angelidis and Ioanna Petinaraki. The six of them began producing The Journey, which Nielsen was already writing for actor Jason Flemyng. Nielsen also wrote a short for the 48-hour Sci-Fi Challenge, 'By The Lake', which was produced by Adele Kirby. He wrote two other scripts in 2012, "The Last Submarine" and "Gaddafi", which is about the last 90 minutes of the life of the former Libyan dictator. Nielsen directed a short about Londoners views on Gaddafi in August 2012. He wrote the screenplay of "We Are Home", a drama based on the events that led to the underdog Zambian football team winning the African Cup of Nations in 2012. The script includes the background of the Zambian Air Disaster of 1993. [10]
Nielsen is also making a short documentary[ when? ] about the life of Danny Nicoletta who found fame himself by his association with Harvey Milk in San Francisco.[ citation needed ] He is also making a documentary about the life of Cameron Adams, who is better known as Cameron Bay, the porn star infected with HIV. He has completed shooting The Journey with actors Duncan Pow, Dickon Tolson, Mitchell Lewis, Marc Zammit, Lindsey Coulson and Jason Flemyng. [11] The cast also includes Mitchell Lewis in his first major role since Rise of the Footsoldier and Velile Tshabalala from Doctor Who in her first big screen role. [12]
In 2016, Nielsen commenced pre-production on the war film Pegasus Bridge about the capture of the Caen canal and Orne river bridges on 6 June 1944, as part of the Normandy landings during the Second World War. [13]
Nielsen is known for dedicating his work to friends or actors whom he admires. Many of his dedications have been for people who have inspired him, some of whom have died. He has made dedications to regular collaborators Danny Webb and Jason Flemyng. Two of Nielsen's plays have been dedicated to Rebecca Holland. His play Making Time was dedicated to the actress Charlotte Coleman, one of the stars of the movie Four Weddings and a Funeral . He dedicated The Marchioness Inquiry to Michael Williams; along with his own established acting career Williams is known for being the husband of Dame Judi Dench. Williams met Nielsen earlier in his career at Shepperton Film studios and encouraged him to pursue his writing. Nielsen was also good friends with actress Angela Thomas. Thomas, who had asked Nielsen to co-write both a book and a play based on her life, died on 24 July 2009 of a brain aneurism. [14] Nielsen was one of the friends present during her time in hospital where she fought for but ultimately lost her life over a three-day period. In 2010, Nielsen produced their unfinished play, Fragile, which he had to complete without her. It was not a success. The film The Journey is also dedicated to Thomas, and a character loosely based upon her appears briefly in the film, played by actress Charlene Collins. [15]
Arthur Laurents was an American playwright, theatre director, film producer and screenwriter. With a career spanning seven decades he received numerous accolades including two Tony Awards, and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two BAFTA Awards, and a Golden Globe Award.
Aaron Benjamin Sorkin is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. Born in New York City, he developed a passion for writing at an early age. As a writer for stage, television and film, Sorkin is recognized for his trademark fast-paced dialogue and extended monologues, complemented by frequent use of the storytelling technique called the "walk and talk". Sorkin has earned numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, five Primetime Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes.
Jason Iain Flemyng is an English actor. He is known for roles in British films such as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), both for Guy Ritchie, as well as Hollywood productions such as Rob Roy (1995), the Alan Moore comic book adaptations From Hell (2001) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008). He has also appeared in prominent roles in both theatre and television in the UK. Flemyng speaks French fluently, and has made three films in that language. He won the Best Actor Award at the Geneva Film Festival for his role in 1996's Alive and Kicking.
John Houseman was a Romanian-born British-American actor and producer of theatre, film, and television. He became known for his highly publicized collaboration with director Orson Welles from their days in the Federal Theatre Project through to the production of Citizen Kane and his collaboration, as producer of The Blue Dahlia, with writer Raymond Chandler on the screenplay. He is perhaps best known for his role as Professor Charles W. Kingsfield in the film The Paper Chase (1973), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He reprised his role as Kingsfield in the 1978 television series adaptation.
The Glass Menagerie is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his histrionic mother, and his mentally fragile sister. In writing the play, Williams drew on an earlier short story, as well as a screenplay he had written under the title of The Gentleman Caller.
Sir David Rippon Hare is an English playwright, screenwriter and theatre and film director. Best known for his stage work, Hare has also enjoyed great success with films, receiving two Academy Award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for writing The Hoursin 2002, based on the novel written by Michael Cunningham, and The Readerin 2008, based on the novel of the same name written by Bernhard Schlink.
Mark Gatiss is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, director, producer and novelist. His work includes writing for and acting in the television series Doctor Who, Sherlock, Game of Thrones and Dracula. Together with Reece Shearsmith, Steve Pemberton and Jeremy Dyson, he is a member of the comedy team The League of Gentlemen.
John Francis Daley is an American actor, filmmaker, and musician. He is best known for playing high school freshman Sam Weir on the NBC comedy-drama Freaks and Geeks and FBI criminal profiler Dr. Lance Sweets on the crime drama series Bones, for which he was nominated for a 2014 PRISM Award. He plays keyboards and sings for the band Dayplayer.
Philip Yordan was an American screenwriter of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s who produced several films. He acted as a front for blacklisted writers although his use of surrogate screenwriters predates the McCarthy era. His actual contributions to the scripts he is credited with writing is controversial and he was known to some as a credit-grabber. Born to Polish immigrants, he earned degrees from both University of Illinois and Chicago-Kent College of Law.
John Lawrence "Jack" Canfora is an American playwright, actor, musician and teacher whose works include Place Setting,Jericho and Poetic License.
Peter Julian Robin Morgan, is a British screenwriter and playwright. He is the playwright behind The Audience and Frost/Nixon and the screenwriter of The Queen (2006), Frost/Nixon (2008), The Damned United (2009), and Rush (2013). Morgan wrote the television films The Deal (2003), Longford (2006), and The Special Relationship (2010). He serves as creator and showrunner of the Netflix series The Crown (2016–present).
Richard Barrington "Rikki" Beadle-Blair MBE is a British actor, director, screenwriter, playwright, singer, designer, choreographer, dancer and songwriter of British/West Indian origin. He is the artistic director of multi-media production company Team Angelica.
Tony McHale is a British actor, writer, director and producer, who is known for starring in Coronation Street and also known as a "stooge" to Jeremy Beadle on Game For A Laugh and later Beadle's About. He trained at the Rose Bruford College. He also enjoyed a long stint as a writer/story consultant/director on the top rated BBC1 soap opera EastEnders from its conception to the mid 1990s. He co-created BBC medical drama Holby City, and served as its executive producer and showrunner from 2007 to 2010. Tony also served as a core writer on numerous other TV dramas.
Giles Stannus Cooper, OBE was an Anglo-Irish playwright and prolific radio dramatist, writing over sixty scripts for BBC Radio and television. He was awarded the OBE in 1960 for "Services to Broadcasting". A dozen years after his death at only 48 the Giles Cooper Awards for Radio Drama were instituted in his honour, jointly by the BBC and the publishers Eyre Methuen.
The Potting Shed is a 1957 play by Graham Greene in three acts. The psychological drama centers on a secret held by the Callifer family for nearly thirty years.
Glenn Chandler is a Scottish playwright, novelist, producer and theatre director. He has written plays for theatre and radio, original screenplays for television and films, television series, and also novels. His best known work is the Scottish television detective series Taggart, which was commissioned by Scottish Television for the ITV Network from 2 July 1985 until 7 November 2010, and which continues to be broadcast around the world. Since the completion of Taggart in 2010, Glenn Chandler has focused on writing for the theatre, with a consistent run of productions in both London and Edinburgh.
Dustin Lance Black is an American screenwriter, director, producer, and LGBT rights activist. He is known for writing the film Milk, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2009. He has also subsequently written the screenplays for the film J. Edgar and the 2022 crime miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven.
Alvin Rakoff is a Canadian director of film, television and theatre productions. He has worked with actors including Laurence Olivier, Peter Sellers, Sean Connery, Judi Dench, Rex Harrison, Rod Steiger, Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner.
Stuart Brennan is a BAFTA-winning British actor, playwright, producer and director. He is an advocate for independent film, helping set up and establish film festivals across the world.
Vincent O'Connell is a British filmmaker and writer of films, theatre, television and radio drama. His films as director include the 1995 film Skin, starring Ewen Bremner, written by Sarah Kane, and his 2000 film, Beyond the Boundary, which won a British Academy Children's Award. His feature films as a writer include I.D. and ID2: Shadwell Army, other full-length films as writer including Sweet Nothing and Criminal, both for the BBC. Criminal won 1993 Best Single Drama at the Royal Television Society.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)