Ian Watson has been directing for over 30 years, firstly in theatre and then in television and film. He has a BA from the University of Newcastle and post-graduate diploma’s from NIDA and the Swinburne Film and Television School. He has directed over 200 hours of television, that includes some of Australia’s best loved and most successful series, Heartbreak High, The Secret Life of Us, Seachange, Wildside, the US cult Science Fiction series, Farscape, White Collar Blue, Tripping Over, the multi award winning and Emmy nominated, Love My Way, Packed To The Rafters, Rescue Special Ops, Killing Time, Dance Academy (Emmy nominated), Underbelly Badness, Anzac Girls and Janet King for the ABC, House Husbands, Doctor Doctor, Playing for Keeps and the feature film Unsound (still in post production).
Ian has had his work nominated for three AFI awards and was the inaugural winner of the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) Award for best direction in a television miniseries for his work on the Australian/UK production Tripping Over. Ian was again nominated in the same category in 2009 for the SBS miniseries Carla Cametti P.D. in 2013 for Underbelly: Badness and in 2015 for Anzac Girls. Ian regularly teaches Screen Acting at NIDA in the Open Program and is a guest lecturer in Screen Acting and Directing in the Higher Education Program. For the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, Ian has taught into the Short Course Program and into the Masters Program MSA, in directing and story visualisation.