Marcus Cole

Director

Marcus Cole began his career in 1969 as a journalist on the Melbourne Herald.  Later he worked as a freelance script writer for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and Crawford Productions, before being accepted into the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

For the two years following his graduation from NIDA, Marcus supplemented his acting income by continuing to write for television. His writing credits include various episodes of Prisoner Cell Block H, The Box, Kings, Butterfly Island, Division 4 and Love Story for the ABC.

Marcus wrote the telemovie Matthew and Son and the play Tilting At Windmills for the ABC.  He was story editor and script editor on the mini-series Spit MacPhee and A Fortunate Life.  He also worked as a script assessor for De Laurentiis Entertainment and for the Australian Film Commission.

A graduate of the Australian Film and Television School, Marcus worked as an assistant director for Film Australia and on the first ever Australian mini-series, Against the Wind.  He then went on to direct the first series of Prisoner Cell Block H for the Grundy Organization.

Marcus has directed six internationally screened mini-series: Snowy River, The McGregor Saga, Tracks of Glory (Logie Award for Most Popular Mini-Series), The Great Air Race, Spit MacPhee, A Fortunate Life and The Great Bookie Robbery (winner of the Australian Film Institute Awards for Best Mini-Series and Best Direction of a Mini-Series).  Other directing credits include episodes of Mission Top Secret (an international children’s series shot in England, Germany, Poland and nominated for Best Children’s Television Series, Australian Film Institute Awards), Dolphin Cove, The Flying Doctors, The Sullivans, Rafferty’s Rules, GP, Taurus Rising, Kings, Punishment and a five-part children’s mini-series, The Willow Bend Mystery.

In 1994, Marcus made a change in his career and shifted his country of residency from Australia to the United States where he successfully pursued his directing career in Hollywood. Marcus’ first project in the US was A Season of Hope for Signboard Hill Productions and CBS.  Since that first project, Marcus has gone on to direct many television projects of note including the highest rated film for television in 1995, The Christmas Box, for which he won a Christopher Award.  Before returning to Australia in 2002, Marcus directed 12 movies for television and a miniseries.  These projects were shot in the US, Canada and Ireland.

Since 2002, Marcus has directed various award-winning children’s and adult drama for television- including the BAFTA Award-nominated Don’t Blame the Koalas, Snobs, Blue Water High, All Saints, Packed to the Rafters, City Homicide and Me and My Monsters for Tiger Aspect/BBC and Sydney-based Sticky Pictures.

For enquiries regarding Marcus Cole please contact us via email or on (02) 9319 7199.