Ben Chessell

Writer/Director

Agent

Associate Agent

Annie Shipton

ashipton@unitedagents.co.uk +44 (0) 20 3214 0945

Biography

Ben recently completed shooting The Great (created by Oscar Nominee, Tony McNamara) produced by MRC Studios for Hulu/STAN. Prior to The Great, he also directed the critically acclaimed and BAFTA Nominated, Giri/Haji, produced by Sister Pictures for BBC/Netflix.

After studying Ecology and Medieval History at Melbourne University, Ben graduated from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2001. Palace Films released his acclaimed graduation film, The Only Person In The World theatrically in Australia. Ben was a finalist at the 2002 Dendy Awards, and was nominated for an AFI award, as well as screening at over 20 x festivals (including Telluride and Melbourne International Film Festival, MIFF 2004). Ben went on to make the AFC
funded shorts and wrote and directed a telemovie for SBSi, The Heartbreak Tour. The screenplay was the first to be nominated for the Melbourne Prize for Literature.

A finalist in the Kudos/Red Planet Pictures Screenwriting Prize in 2011 and Ben’s first US credit as a director was the first season of Camp for Matchbox and NBC Universal.

Ben has directed many episodes of Australia television including; Dance Academy (ABC TV/ZDF Germany), RUSH seasons 3 & 4 and the acclaimed Offspring seasons 3 & 4. Ben was also the series director for seasons 2 & 3 of The Family Law for Matchbox / NBC Universal and for Doctor Doctor for Easy Tiger/Nine Network. In addition to directing, Ben has also written many episodes on these shows.

In addition to his television credits, Ben co-wrote and directed his first feature film, Sucker (co-written with Lawrence Leung) which premiered at MIFF 2015. Sucker had its North American premiere at the St Lawrence International Film Festival, winning the Best Narrative Feature Award.

Credits

In Development

Production	Company	Notes
DIRTY OLD TOWN	Producer: Tait Brady	Writer/Director Feature Film
THE CENTURY	Headstrong	Writer Television Series
JERUSALEM		Writer Television Series
WRITING RAIN	Producer: Louise Smith	Writer/Director Produced by Louise Smith Feature Film * Winner Australian Writer’s Guild, Best Unproduced Screenplay, 2009

Television

Production	Company	Notes
DEADLOCH 2023	Amazon Studios for Amazon Prime Video / Guesswork Television / OK Great Productions	Lead/Set-up director.
DOCTOR WHO S14 2023		Director, block four.
SURVIVING SUMMER 2021	Netflix	Lead director.
THE GREAT 2020	MRC Studios	Director. 2 episodes.
GIRI HAJI 2019	Sister Pictures / BBC One / Netflix	Director.
THE FAMILY LAW 2017	Matchbox Pictures / SBS	Director. 10 episodes.
DOCTOR DOCTOR 2017 – 2018	Easy Tiger Productions	Director. Eps 209, 210, 309, 310.
OFFSPRING 2017	Southern Star / Network Ten	Director 60min comedy/drama (episodes 705 and 706)
CAMP 2013	Matchbox, Berman Braun, NBC Universal	Director (episodes 104 and 105)
OFFSPRING 2013	John Edwards & Imogen Banks. Southern Star / Network Ten	60min comedy/drama Director (episodes 406 and 407)
OFFSPRING 2012	Producers: John Edwards & Imogen Banks. Southern Star / Network Ten	60min comedy/drama Director (episodes 310 and 311) Writer (Episode 308)
RUSH 2011	Producers: John Edwards & Mimi Butler. Southern Star / Network Ten	45min police drama Director (episodes 405 and 411) Writer (episode 404)
RESCUE SPECIAL OPS 2010	Producer: Sarah Smith & Julie McGauran. Southern Star / Channel Nine	Director (episodes 311 and 312)
RUSH 2010	Producers: John Edwards & Mimi Butler. Southern Star / Network Ten	Director (episodes 307 and 322)
DANCE ACADEMY 2009	Producer: Joanna Werner. ACTF / ABC TV	Director (episodes 121 and 122)
ELEPHANT PRINCESS (Series) 2007	Prod: Jonathan M Shiff. ACTF and Network Ten	Director’s Attachment with Roger Hodgman
MARX AND VENUS - THE COUNCIL 2007	SBS Television	Writer (episode 110)

Film

Production	Company	Notes
SUCKER 2015	Producer: Jason Byrne & Robyn Kershaw	Director and Co-Writer (with Lawrence Leung) Feature Film * Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay at the Australian Writers Guild Awards
LITTLE DEATHS 2008		Director (segment “Good Vibrations”). 35mm, 80mins Produced by Jason Byrne * Winner Digi SPAA award, 2008
THE HEARTBREAK TOUR 2005	SBSi/Australian Film Commission	Short Feature Writer/Director 35mm/HD, 52 mins * Shortlisted for the Melbourne Prize for Literature Writing Award, 2006

Short Films

Production	Company	Notes
A FAMILIAR LULLABY 2004	Kulturregion Hannover / Nordmedia	Director 35mm, 15mins Writed by Lally Katz
AFTERTHOUGHT 2002		Writer/Director 35mm, 2mins
HEARTWORM 2003	Australian Film Commission	Writer/Director. Produced by Joanna Werner * Screened as part of Accelerator Program at Melbourne International Film Festival, 2004 * Screened at Los Angeles Short Film Festival, 2004 * Screened at Austin Film Festival, 2004 * Screened at Exground Film Festival, Germany, 2005 * Screened at Flickerfest, Sydney, 2005 * Screened at Shorts Film Festival, Adelaide, 2005 * Screened at Prague Short Film Festival, 2005
IS GOD A DJ? 2001		Writer/Director Betacam, 5mins. * Screened at Commonwealth Film Festival, Manchester, 2002 * Screened at Jaffas Down the Aisle Film Festival, 2003
LOOKER 2001		Writer/Director 16mm, 1 min * Screened at Commonwealth Film Festival, Manchester, 2002 * Screened at Jaffas Down the Aisle Film Festival, 2003
THE ONLY PERSON IN THE WORLD 2001		Writer/Director 16mm, 13mins Distributed in Australia and New Zealand Cinemas with Italian for Beginners by Palace Films * Winner Best Short Film at Australian Circle of Film Critics, 2002 * Finalist – Dendy Awards at Sydney Film Festival, 2002 * Screened at Telluride Film Festival, Film Makers of Tomorrow, 2002 * Screened at St. Tropez Film Festival, 2002 * Screened at Ghent Film Festival, Belgium, 2002 * Screened at Hawaii International Film Festival, 2002 * Winner Jury Prize at Exposures Film Festival, 2002 * Screened at Flickerfest, Sydney, 2003 * Screened at St. Kilda Film Fesitival, 2003

Ben Chessell

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