Denman Rooke
stage 2 production
Denman Rooke is contracted to FOCUS as a consultant via PACT.
Denman is a graduate of the University of Cape Town (Politics, Philosophy & Political Science) and the University of Westminster (Film).
During the 1980s he was a video editor during the heyday of music videos, editing for many of the major musicians of the era, including Bonnie Tyler, Grace Jones, Soft Cell, Status Quo, and Jean Michel Jarre.
In 1988 he directed Destination Docklands, a documentary for ITV about the famous outdoor London concert staged by Jarre. This led to his appointment as Series Director of The Media Show, Channel 4’s seminal weekly media review programme.
As a freelance film-maker, he produced and directed a number of films for Channel 4 and the BBC, including Promised Land about the return of South African farmers to land that had been confiscated under apartheid; Eye of the Storm, a feature-length documentary with newscasters Michael Buerk about the experiences of news cameramen on the front-line of wars; The New Jerusalem, a four-part series which explored the founding of the British welfare state and Africa Express, a returning series of films about modern African life.
In 1995 he joined October Films as a director. Over the next nine years he originated, directed and executive produced a wide range of films, from observational documentaries to science, history and current affairs programmes. These include Hero Factor (Discovery Channel), Warrior Women with Lucy Lawless (Discovery Channel), Skeleton Key (BBC), The Witchfinder General (Channel 4), Hard Lessons (Channel 4) Classroom Cops (Channel 4), 57 Screaming Kids (Channel 4) Emenem’s Mum (BBC), and Lost Boys of the Sudan (C4 True Stories).
In 2004 he became the company’s Managing Director, and responsible for managing the company day-to-day and continuing to executive produce many of October’s award-winning programmes.
In 2014, following a period of significant growth, the senior management team was expanded and Denman was appointed Executive Chairman. He currently leads the four-member October board and develops and implements the company’s direction and strategy, while continuing to develop and produce October productions.
About October Films
October Films is an independent television production company based in London and New York. They produce high-quality, innovative programmes across factual genres for major global broadcasters.
October Films is ranked No. 4 in a listing of the 100 highest-performing SME UK exporters
Each year, The Sunday Times produces the Lloyds SME Export Track 100 List, in which the UK’s 100 highest-performing Small and Medium Enterprises are ranked in terms of export growth. October Films enters the 2017 list ranked No. 4 out of 100, with an export earnings growth of 175%, selling programmes worth £18.3 million abroad.
Links