Peter became a member of the Directors Guild of Canada due to his work with John Scott and the late Les Kimber while residing in Calgary. He later moved to Vancouver in ‘84 seeking work as an A.D. As a former film student, I know first hand that being an A.D. is one of the most demanding positions on set.
He managed to get his big break working as 2nd A.D. on the TV series The Hitchhiker before moving up to 1st A.D. He credits his directing success to working with Stephen J. Cannell on the TV series Wiseguy and J.J. Starbuck.
Finding work on a multitude of US movies filmed in town, he explains that it’s all about the numbers. There’s just more American films and TV series produced here than Canadian. This is a direct result of the tax credits available to US companies.
Peter also explains that the job of A.D. and director differ from films to TV. On a feature film, the A.D. is hired and works for the director with the producer. On a TV series, the A.D. works for the producers with the director.
Peter loves to give back. These days, he contributes most of his time to teaching at VFS, runs the website ezine entitled The Directors Chair at actioncutprint.com, a blog at filmdirectingtips.com and provides workshops on directing around the world. He’s also a film directing coach and has just begun work on his first book about demystifying the film directing process. All in a day’s work.