Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Peter Markham. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Peter, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I come from a working class background and nobody in my family in living memory had ever been a writer or an artist or a musician, at least professionally, as you put it. But I knew from my teens that I couldn’t handle doing a regular job—just the thought of it makes me very depressed. A part of me wouldn’t mind being respectable, but it’s too late for that now. I found that I wanted to follow an artistic path at grammar school in England and that took me to reading Drama for my undergraduate degree. Then, however, I worked in TV and film production. I think I was pretty good at it but it was really depressing and what I really wanted to do was direct. So that took me to the BBC Director’s Course in London and from then on I was largely able to escape the production route. I don’t like to think of myself as a professional though. There’s something about that word that suggests cultural and social conformity, which is boring and a failing I do my best to avoid.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was Head of Directing at the American Film Institute Conservatory, Los Angeles from 2010 to June 2018. Before that, Senior Lecturer in Directing (2003-2010) having begun teaching at the Conservatory as adjunct faculty in 2001—a total of 17 years experience in one of the top film schools in the world. I have mentored some 450 new directors, most of whom I selected for the program, many now working as directors but also as writers and producers, a substantial number of whom have achieved outstanding success within the industry, at major festivals across the world, and the Academy. I have also inspired dozens of new filmmakers in AFI’s prestigious Directing Workshop for Women. I have given courses in Beijing and Shanghai, and for the Rising Voices Program in the US. I am Advisor-in-Residence with Sundance Collab. Prior to my teaching career I directed Second Unit for Martin Scorsese on GANGS OF NEW YORK (Nominated for 9 Academy Awards in 2003, including Best Picture), and for Anthony Minghella on THE ENGLISH PATIENT (Winner, 9 Academy Awards in 1997, including Best Picture). As a director in my own right in the UK, I directed TV drama for the BBC and Granada while my film THE CORMORANT, starring Ralph Fiennes, was nominated for a BAFTA Wales Award. My first book WHAT’S THE STORY?—THE DIRECTOR MEETS THEIR SCREENPLAY was published by Focal Press/Routledge in September 2020. My second book THE ART OF THE FILMMAKER: THE PRACTICAL AESTHETICS OF THE SCREEN was published by Oxford University Press in October 2023.
Born in London, I am a dual US/UK citizen.
“I wanted to talk about Peter Markham who was my teacher at AFI and who was, I would say, the most important teacher I’ve had and one of the most important support systems I’ve ever had. I just can’t speak highly enough about him. He’s a brilliant mind and an incredibly generous spirit. He cares very deeply not only about his students… but also about the medium that he’s teaching. He cares very deeply about cinema and is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about it and I count myself incredibly lucky to have studied under him.”
Ari Aster, while shooting Midsommar, Hungary

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The sense of meaning, contradictory, paradoxical, elusive that comes of telling a story through the language of the screen. The processes that go into that, the grasp of narrative and of all its elements. the task of creating that before the camera and capturing it on the screen, and of forming the screen’s address to the viewer bringing in the craft of editing and soundscaping. Finding and honing the creative tissue that brings an organic unity to a movie is unbelievably rewarding. There is the merciless revelation of the human soul a good fiim offers too. Plus the creative mischief behind all of this! The joy of emotional and cognitve play.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Absolutely none. The point is to travel, not to arrive, and certainly not at a predetermined destination. Goals are for the blinkered. “Ambition is is the death of thought.” (Wittgenstein)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://filmdirectingclass.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/filmdirectingclass/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/filmdirectingclass
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-markham-461943168/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@filmdirectingclass6959
• Other: https://linktr.ee/filmdirectingclass
  
  
  https://medium.com/@pmarkhamca