M A R K  P I C K E R I N G

P r e s i d e n t

A graduate of Cambridge and Columbia Universities, Mark Pickering is a barrister and New York attorney.   

Mark has practiced in London and Paris in the international copyright and entertainment fields. 

Frequently working out of Toronto (Canada), Mark is based in London, UK.

In his early years Mark managed international co-productions at the BBC, including BBC TV’s first foray with a Hollywood studio, Scott Fitzgerald’s Tender is the Night (Mary Steenburgen, John Heard) a BAFTA and Cable Ace nominated success sold in 62 countries.

   Shakespeare is on the left

SELECT CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

In the 1980’s Mark was engaged by the BBC where he was the music copyright adviser (budget £16 million p.a.), and subsequently promoted to manage the international contractual relations working with the BBC’s many co-production partners.

In the 1990s, as an independent producer he specialized in award winning music documentary series, The Art of Conducting (BBC/SFB/Teldec), Royal Philharmonic Society Prize; Gramaphone Award (UK), Diapason d’Or (France) “...the most fascinating programme ever made about classical music...” (The Guardian), The Art of Singing (BBC/ARTE/Warner Music/Ideale Audience), and Callas (La Sept/ARTE).

From 1999 as Head of Business Development for VIDEAL GmbH, a Hamburg based media investment fund, he was responsible for co-financing (and sometimes  producing over 30 US independent films which included actors such as David Caruso, William Hurt, Ray Liotta, Malcolm McDowell, Natasha McElhone, James Spader and Kiefer Sutherland (see archives link for filmography). Since 2003 he has acted independently for VIDEAL productions while continuing to advise producers in the film, television and music fields.

One of Mark’s recent producer credits was The Magic Flute, Mozart’s opera directed by Kenneth Branagh (with an English libretto by Stephen Fry), presented at the 2006 Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. Further to its successful European engagements, The Magic Flute will be released theatrically in North America in 2011. Mark is the author of the property "Fantastic" the macabre romance of the revolutionary composer Hector Berlioz.

Mark’s screenplay Fantastic a fantastically charged, inevitably macabre telling of the life of composer Hector Berlioz, the composer who’s genius, carnally obsessed and hallucinogenic music broke all the rules of his time. The screenplay is set against the French revolution and is in development between Classic Productions Ltd. and Starfield Indie.

G .  P H I L I P  J A C K S O N

Head, Production & Development

Philip has 21 feature films, six TV series (3 of them scripted drama) and some 40 documentaries to his credit as a producer and/or writer or director.

Philip’s recent projects include co-writing and (soon) producing the sci-fi / psychological horror film Senseless Cargo.

He’s the Executive Producer of the Life In The Universe, 6 part 3D science-spectacular mini series. Producer / Co-Creator of the Starhunter television series, he also directed the first production episode, (setting the creative template for the 44 episode series).

Working closely with Mark Pickering and the Starfield Team including writer Peter Horton, Philip is in post production on the feature documentary Inside The Fortress City and the documentary sci-fi hybrid MELTDOWN in the Fields of Negative Energy, (co-writer Nelu Ghiran); and production continues on the edgy theatrical science feature Alien Life, co-directed with Peter Horton.

 For Philip, Starfield is the opportunity to embrace a creatively open approach to development and production. Philip believes high quality in creative and production is central to prosperity in this time.

SELECT CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

It all began at age 17, when Philip sold his first short film to national broadcaster CBC, shot with equipment borrowed from the school board. He then wrote and directed live action and animated short films which sold to CBC, TVO, PBS YLE and many others. These included the 1977 experimental short Statistics which premiered at the second Toronto Festival of Festivals (later the Toronto International Film Festival). By age 21 he was engaged as a writer for CBC TV’s top-rated national children’s program, Mr. Dressup while earning an Honours BA (Film) from York University (Toronto).

Upon graduation in 1978 Philip got a gig as a film editor for CBC in documentary series production. He was also producing and directing TV documentaries and three note-worthy art house features through the 1980’s. These award-winning titles sold worldwide through his distribution house Lightscape International Ltd. Philip sold the company’s catalogue in 1990 to Oasis Pictures (Now merged with E1 Entertainment), to concentrate on creative development and production finance.

Philip built an enduring track record with film and TV development executives and buyers in North America, Europe and Japan. His feature titles made critical circuits including invitations to the major international festivals in Toronto, Sydney, LA, Cairo, Montreal and throughout Europe.

In 1993 Philip formed the business entities –including his long-standing producing relationship with Daniel D’or and subsequently Mark Pickering- that would lead to the creation of Starfield Indie.

In this time Philip produced, usually co-wrote – at times also directing – 18 feature films and 6 TV series (see archives link for filmography), including the Starhunter TV series (Michael Pare, Tanya Allen, Steven Marcus, Clive Robertson - 44 episodes-), the dramatic features Men of Means (Austin Pendleton, Ray Serra) and The Pawn (Gregg Evigan, Tony Lo Bianco), comedy, such as Wish You Were Dead (Mary Steenburgen, Christopher Lloyd, Kerry Elwes, Lyne Shaye, Tanya Allen) and regularly re-released sci-fi classics such as Replikator,(Ned Beatty, Brigitte Bako) 2103 the Deadly Wake (Malcolm McDowell) The Cusp among many others.

Peter Horton

Executive Consultant: Development

Peter and Philip Jackson have worked closely on a number of commercially and critically recognized projects over the years. Here’s how that came about:  

After doing an MA in clinical psychology, Peter found that he was unable to figure out himself, or anyone else.  He wandered through brief careers in consulting and corporate communications … then dove underwater. (See photo)

Peter emerged a couple of years later, determined to pursue a career in film and television.  He became a successful writer, story editor and creative consultant.

ADRIAN C. ASTON

Non Executive Director

When not digging through financing documents or valuations, Adrian volunteers to dig at archeological missions world-wide. It’s been Adrian’s passion in the last 20 years.