Chairman, Kudos Film & Television; Executive Chairman, Shine PicturesStephen Garrett's passion for shepherding new and exciting talent started at Channel 4, where he was commissioning editor for youth programmes from 1987 to 1992. This followed an apprenticeship as a researcher, then freelance producer/director at Granada (where he worked for, among others, Factory records' founder Tony Wilson), Andrea Wonfor's Tyne Tees and the BBC.
At Channel 4 Stephen gave "first breaks" to a wide range of writers and directors, including such now-established talents as "The Full Monty" director Peter Cattaneo and its writer, Oscar-winner Simon Beaufoy. Responsible for over 100 hours of broadcasting a year, Stephen was involved in everything from the youth drama Teenage Health Freak (directed by Cattaneo) to the ground-breaking late-night love-it-or-loathe-it series THE WORD.
Stephen left Channel 4 to co-found Kudos, which immediately distinguished itself with a host of innovative, unusual and provocative programming, including Rory Bremner's first BAFTA award-winning show for Channel 4 (on which Garrett was Executive Producer), the serio-comic religious quest series Desperately Seeking Something, and the controversial poverty-themed game show Come On Down and Out.
Stephen's first notable drama success with Kudos was the Simon Beaufoy-penned, critically hailed feature film Among Giants, which Stephen produced. Since then, Stephen's list of producing credits has been equally impressive, from Channel 4 drama Psychos (executive producer) to the movie Pure (joint executive producer) via the International Emmy Award-winning family drama series The Magician's House (executive producer).
After bringing in Jane Featherstone as a partner in the business to invigorate Kudos' TV drama arm, the company has galvanized British television with the popular, acclaimed shows BAFTA- winning Spooks (based on Garrett's original idea and the first series of which he executive produced), Hustle, Life on Mars, Moving Wallpaper and, more recently, ITV's current hit Law& Order: UK, along with the return to BBC One of the hit series Ashes to Ashes and the recently critically acclaimed and BAFTA winning Occupation.
In 2004 Stephen invited former Film Four head Paul Webster to join himself and Jane Featherstone as a partner in an exciting new stand-alone film-making entity. Kudos Pictures' latest release was Brighton Rock, adapted and directed by Rowan Joffe, and staring Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough and Helen Mirren. Recent releases include David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (which Garrett executive produced,) Bharat Nalluri's Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (once more with a Beaufoy screenplay and this time with Garrett as producer) and Disney's first natural history feature documentary Crimson Wing. Currently in post-production is the Beaufoy-penned Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, with Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and Kristen Scott Thomas, directed by Lasse Hallstrom. Last year Kudos Pictures formed a joint venture, Shine Pictures, headed up by Garrett and new Head of Film Ollie Madden, with Los Angeles-based New Regency (itself a joint venture with Fox) to develop and produce movies on a more global canvas. Looming movies under that banner include Steve Knight's directorial debut, Hummingbird and The Gray Man, to be directed by James Gray.
At the end of 2006, Garrett and Featherstone sold Kudos to Elisabeth Murdoch's Shine Group, which in turn was sold earlier this year to News Corp.
Outside Kudos, Garrett is a member of British Screen Advisory Council and is on the board of The Little Angel Theatre. In 2010, he was the News International Visiting Professor of Broadcast Media, giving a series of lectures spanning the cusp of creativity and commerce and the future of story-telling.
Stephen studied jurisprudence at Oxford, where he also edited the university magazine Isis, and counts
his first media break as a 6-year-old extra in a Milky Bar Kid commercial.