Chris hails from the seaside metropolis of Brighton, England, where he first learned to make films and both perform and direct in a large number of Fringe Theatre production. At the age of 16, he succeeded in getting funding from three different local sources support and start a youth filmmaking company. He moved to London and studied a BA (Hons) in Digital Film Production at London South Bank University, where he graduated with a first-class degree. His dissertation was on Science Fiction Television Post-9/11.
Chris stayed on at LSBU where he did an MA in Digital Film Production and wrote a dissertation on Mockumentary as a subversion of Capitalist Ideology.
During this time Chris was also Festival Director of Screentest: The UK’s National Student Film Festival (2010-2014), Chris has been championing aspiring filmmaking talent for nearly a decade. Passionate about filmmaking education, he has recently completed his PhD at the University of Greenwich entitled Towards a New Film Pedagogy: Recrafting Undergraduate Filmmaking Education for an Expanded Field (2019) and plans to continue and broaden research in this area.
In 2021 Chris became co-convenor of ‘Film/making Pedagogy’ a new ‘Special Interest Group’ as part of the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS). He is also currently Associate Editor of the Film Education Journal.
Chris is passionate about filmmaking education and working with academics, industry and policy makers to ensure progression routes exist for young people. This is especially important for those form diverse and hitherto underrepresented communities. Chris is currently working on a research funding bid to analyse the ways in which class, creativity and talent help or hinder would-be film and television entrants.
Aside from education, Chris’s research interests include science fiction television, mockumentary and the effects these evolving forms have on contemporary audiences. He is a regular guest on the Star Trek podcast ‘Primitive Culture’, frequent contributor to Critical Studies in Television weekly blog. Chris is also currently writing two book proposals: one for the Intellect books series on ‘Unmade Film and Television’ entitled Unmade Star Trek: Boldly Going Nowhere and one on anarchism as a political philosopher entitled A is for Anarchism: An A-Z of Ways to Change the World.
