BIOGRAPHY
MAX CARLISH
After graduating from Oxford University with a BA degree in English Language and Literature, Max Carlish went on to win a BAFTA and an International Emmy for a series he devised and helped produce which documented a turbulent year in the life of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. The series was described as the best documentary series of its kind he had ever seen by Simon Jenkins former editor of The Times and Chairman of the National Trust. The House, a six part series for BBC2 which transmitted in 1996, has also been credited by one leading media academic as the first of the 'docusoap' genre.
Max went on to hold a senior management position at Carlton UK Productions
There he reported to Director of Programmes, Andy Allan and was a colleague of former Prime Minister David Cameron who was then Director of Corporate Relations at the parent company Carlton Communications. Max recently had an article published about his encounters with Cameron. During this time Max collaborated with BAFTA to produce another of his successful concepts - over 20 management masterclass interviews, held at BAFTA HQ in Piccadilly, with the top executives of British television including three BBC Directors-General, John Birt, Mark Thompson and Greg Dyke as well as Jane Root, the late Andrea Wonfor and many others.
There followed a period of independent production for Max who founded and was MD of his own company, Triple M TV ltd, which produced over 10 hours of broadcast television over a 5 year period. The inaugural project was a theme night for Channel 4 based on exclusive access to the late musician and performer Prince, featuring an interview between him and Spice Girl Mel B and a secret gig filmed at the Café De Paris just off Leicester Square in London. Other projects included one off documentaries about the troubled but talented musician Pete Doherty for Channel 4, Ronnie Biggs the great train robber as he spent his declining years in Rio for Channel 5 and Igel Media in Germany and an eight part series for Channel 4 and the Sci Fi Channel called SF:UK about British science fiction, which the Guardian Guide called 'a gem of a series'.
During his time as a development executive Max has had series and one offs commissioned by every terrestrial channel. He currently has two projects in development with major broadcasters and producers. He has also taught courses on the media for The London School of Economics, The Media Business School of the European Union, De Montfort University and Birmingham City University.
More recently, through his company Max Films, Max has been developing his filming and editing skills. With a Sony X70 camera which shoots at broadcast quality (1080p, 50 mbps) and a Macbook Pro running the latest Adobe Premiere Pro Creative Cloud non-linear digital editing software, Max has written, directed, edited, filmed and/or produced projects for British Athletics, The Probation Service (featuring Dub Poet Benjamin Zephaniah, for this film, Max also gained for the first time extensive access to Winson Green prison), Swan Publishing who are responsible for an extremely successful multi-title Birmingham magazine, writer in residence at the Globe Theatre, acclaimed poet Peter Oswald, the historic Highbury Studio in Birmingham where UB40 and Duran Duran made their early music, an original pilot for one of Birmingham's best dog trainers, a comedy homage to rockumentary Spinal Tap featuring a group of middle-aged/class Brummie rockers, and a charity appeal music video in support of Syrian refugees.
As well as being closely involved with two TV book tie-ins, one for The House and one for SF:UK for which Max wrote the introduction, Max has also written a front page article for the Guardian features supplement G2 and was 'The Man From Esquire' (featured columnist for an edition of Esquire), writing about his encounters with Ronnie Biggs and Dodgy Dave Courtney in Rio De Janeiro.
Max also co-wrote an article about Benefit Street with dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah for the Daily Mirror website and has written various articles for cult magazine The Idler, The Birmingham Press and Swan publishing's local magazine group My Moseley and Kings Heath.
Max was interviewed on BBC Breakfast Television by Sophie Raworth and Jeremy Bowen about Ronnie Biggs return to the UK, by Adrian Goldberg on Radio WM, and has been a contributor to Radio 4's the Today Programme, the Media Show and Woman's Hour.
Max lives in Moseley, Birmingham and enjoys tennis (table and lawn), literature, cinema, dog- walking, great food and the countryside, though he loves living in Moseley and cats, too. Recently he has performed stand-up comedy for charity and in a late night alternative Christmas cabaret at the Birmingham Rep studio space for the prestigious resident theatre company Kiln.
GET IN TOUCH