Don McLennan (born 1950) is an Australian film director, scriptwriter and producer. He was born in Leeton, NSW, Australia. He grew up on an island and was educated at Marist College, a boarding school in

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

. After he graduated he went to work at the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

in 1967. He worked for leading Australian production companies such as

Fauna Productions Fauna Productions is an Australian film and TV production company established by Lee Robinson, Lionel ('Bob') Austin and John McCallum who met during the making of the film ''They're a Weird Mob'' (1966). Robinson, Austin and McCallum wanted to ma ...

, Grundy Productions,

Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfords ...

, Lewis Young Productions as an assistant director and producer before making his first film, a short drama, ''Point of Departure'' in 1972. In 1975 he produced his first feature film ''Apostasy''. He established his name in the Australian film industry with the award-winning feature '' Hard Knocks'' which he co-wrote, co-produced and directed. ''Hard Knocks'' won the Jury prize at the 1980 AFI Australian Film Awards, as well as Best Actress for Tracy Mann. The following year he started a production company, Ukiyo Films, with Zbigniew Friedrich. Over the next eight years the company produced three feature films and numerous documentaries. In 1989 he directed ''

Mull Mull may refer to: Places *Isle of Mull, a Scottish island in the Inner Hebrides ** Sound of Mull, between the Isle of Mull and the rest of Scotland * Mount Mull, Antarctica *Mull Hill, Isle of Man * Mull, Arkansas, a place along Arkansas Highway ...

'' which won the AFI Members Award for Best Film and the Best Actress for Tracy Mann. The film was invited to the

London Film Festival The BFI London Film Festival is an annual film festival founded in 1957 and held in the United Kingdom, running for two weeks in October with co-operation from the British Film Institute. It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shor ...

and Montreal Film Festival. In 1985 he started Ukiyo Theatre with Friedrich. They co-produced a trio of plays by Samuel Beckett, ''Waiting For Godot'', ''Krapp's Last Tape'' and ''Endgame'' performed by the American theater group San Quentin Drama Workshop. The plays were directed by Beckett and toured

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In 1990 McLennan moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and established himself as a scriptwriter. He wrote scripts for

Dimension Films Dimension Films is an American film production company owned by Lantern Entertainment. It was formerly used as Harvey and Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax, which was acquired by The Walt Disney Company on June 30, 1993, to produce and relea ...

, and several other leading production companies. He continues to direct documentaries, PSA's for Federal and State Elections, and TV reality programs.

Select credits

*''The Intruders'' (feature) (1968) Assistant Director *''Blind Date'' (Game Show) (1969) Assistant producer *''Division Four'' (TV Series)(1970) Assistant Director *''Happening 73'' (TV Music Program) (1973) Assistant Producer *''Point of Departure'' (short) (1973) Writer/Director *''Boss'' (short) (1976) Producer *''Apostasy'' (feature) (1978) Producer *''Hard Knocks'' (feature) (1980) Co-Writer/Co-Producer/Director *''Find Out, Talk About'' (documentary) (1981) Director *''Fabulous Fifties'' (documentary) (1982) Writer/Director *''River of Giants'' (documentary) (1983) Director *''On the Road With Circus Oz'' (documentary) (1984) Producer *''Artist In The Community'' (documentary) (1985) Producer/Director *''Beckett Directs Beckett'' (theater) (1985) Producer *''Slate, Wyn & Me'' (feature) (1987) Writer/Director *''Mull'' (feature) (1988) Director *''Breakaway'' (feature) (1990) Producer/Director *''Men of the Forest'' (documentary) 2000 Director *''Las Vegas Constables'' (pilot) (2008) Producer/Director

References

External links

* Australian film directors Living people 1950 births English-language film directors People from Leeton, New South Wales {{Australia-film-director-stub