David Carson

Biography

David Carson is a British director of television and film.

Carson's first work in directing was in the British theatre scene and on British television. He directed an episode of the British soap opera Coronation Street. Carson sought to move to the United States to work in the American film scene, and before traveling, his agent arranged an interview for him with the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

However, he had never heard of Star Trek, and at his agent's suggestion, he rented some videos to conduct research. Once in the United States, he met with Rick Berman and David Livingston and was hired to direct the episode "The Enemy".

Carson's final work for Star Trek was his first feature film, and the first film in which the TNG characters appeared, Star Trek Generations. During the making of the film, he fought for the death of James T. Kirk to be changed from the original scripted version as he felt that it was "ignominious". 

Following the poor scores the scene received at public test screenings, the ending was re-written and Carson led the re-filming at the original location. His directing work on Generations inspired cast member Jonathan Frakes to seek to direct the following Star Trek movie, Star Trek: First Contact.

After his work on the Star Trek franchise, he worked on the miniseries The 10th Kingdom, as well as shows such as Smallville and One Tree Hill. Whilst on The 10th Kingdom, he worked alongside fellow director Herbert Wise as the series was filmed for six days a week for six months. 

He returned to his homeland in 2000, to film In His Life: The John Lennon Story. In 2002, he directed an adaptation of Stephen King's novel Carrie. During the same year, he was also executive producer for the pilot of Odyssey 5, which had been written by Manny Coto, former showrunner of Star Trek: Enterprise.