David Winning

{{short description|Canadian film maker}}

{{Infobox person

| name = David Winning

| image = David_Winning0079_-2.jpg

| birth_place = Calgary, Alberta, Canada

| citizenship = United States, Canadian

| occupation = Film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor

| yearsactive = 1976 – present

| website = {{url|http://www.DavidWinning.com}}

}}

David Winning is a Canadian-American film and television director, screenwriter, producer, editor, and occasional actor. Although Winning has worked in numerous film and TV genres, his name is most commonly associated with science fiction, thrillers and drama.

Life and career

Winning was born in Calgary, Alberta.{{cite news|url=http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/entertainment/story.html?id=923d751c-aef4-4eff-afcd-3247897c2d0e|title=Calgary director gets shot at a succubus|last=Volmers|first=Eric|work=Calgary Herald|date=2012-01-21|access-date=2013-11-11|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141210025026/http://www2.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/entertainment/story.html?id=923d751c-aef4-4eff-afcd-3247897c2d0e|archive-date=2014-12-10}} He became a dual citizen of the US and Canada in 2003 and lives in Los Angeles. He was making films at age ten with a Super 8 camera. In 1979, he received a Canada Council grant to make the sixteen millimeter drama Sequence,{{cite web |url=http://www.davidwinning.com/wp-content/uploads/freeze_1.jpg|title=Calgary Magazine Freeze Frame, September 1987, by: Linda Kupecek, "The Winning Way"}} and expanded the plotline into his first feature film Storm, filmed in the summer of 1983 in Bragg Creek, Alberta. It was shot with money that his father had set aside for film school and was screened at Cannes. It took four years to finish and was released by Golan-Globus' Cannon Films International and Warner Home Video in 1988. A December 11, 1989 Los Angeles Times review called the film "taut, ambitious and darkly comic".{{cite web |url=http://www.davidwinning.com/wp-content/uploads/storm_hit.jpg|title=LA Times review by Kevin Thomas, December 11, 1989 }}

At 27, he directed episodes of Friday the 13th: The Series for Paramount and received three Gemini Award nominations.{{cite web|url=http://www.academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?nname=David+Winning&winonly=0&awards=0&rtype=1&curstep=4&submit.x=65&submit.y=8|title=1989, 1990 Gemini Awards 3 nominations|publisher=Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television|access-date=2009-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223162135/http://www.academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?nname=David+Winning&winonly=0&awards=0&rtype=1&curstep=4&submit.x=65&submit.y=8|archive-date=2012-02-23|url-status=dead}} His second feature Killer Image followed in 1992; the mystery-thriller starred Michael Ironside and M. Emmet Walsh. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s he directed 47 movies and episodes of twenty-nine series, including Stargate: Atlantis,{{cite web|url=http://www.syfy.com/atlantis/episodes/episodes.php?seas=1&ep=0106&act=3|title=SYFY Channel's official Stargate: Atlantis site for "Childhood's End"|access-date=2009-12-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111008000407/http://www.syfy.com/atlantis/episodes/episodes.php?seas=1&ep=0106&act=3|archive-date=2011-10-08|url-status=dead}} ABC's Dinotopia filmed in Budapest, Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and four seasons on Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.{{cite web |url=http://www.thescifiworld.net/interviews/david_winning_01.htm|title=The Sci Fi World.Net Interview with David Winning, June 2005 }} He directed Kim Cattrall, Sean Young, and Eric McCormack in the award-winning thriller Exception to the Rule. His biggest budget studio movie to date is the $29-million kids sci-fi action sequel Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie for 20th Century Fox.{{cite web|url=http://www.davidwinning.com/wp-content/uploads/ch_01192009.jpg|title=Hollywood's Hired Gun |access-date=April 11, 2010 |last=Volmers |first=Eric|date=January 19, 2009 |work=Calgary Herald }} He directed seven episodes of the Cannell police series Street Justice with Carl Weathers.{{cite web |url=https://www.angelfire.com/ma2/StreetJustice/interview.html|title=Street Justice Interview, August 2000 }}{{self-published-inline|date=November 2013}} Winning said "Episodic TV gets no respect" in a March 2000 Toronto Star interview.{{cite web |url=http://www.davidwinning.com/wp-content/uploads/b_carver_article.jpg|title=Toronto Star, March 17, 2000, by: Jim Bawden, " Carver convincingly troubled in rare TV outing "}} He directed a 16-year-old Ryan Gosling in the Pilot and seven episodes of the Paramount UPN kid series Breaker High.

According to the February 2010 Avatar issue of Sci Fi magazine, he was slated to direct the movie Sinbad: The Fifth Voyage with Patrick Stewart.{{cite web|url=http://www.netnewspublisher.com/pre-production-begins-on-middle-eastern-fairy-tale-sinbad-the-fifth-voyage/|title=Pre-production Begins on Middle Eastern Fairy Tale Sinbad The Fifth Voyage|publisher=News Net Publisher|date=July 16, 2009|access-date=December 15, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721160356/http://www.netnewspublisher.com/pre-production-begins-on-middle-eastern-fairy-tale-sinbad-the-fifth-voyage/|archive-date=July 21, 2011|url-status=dead}}

He directed episodes of Space Channel's comedy/horror series Todd and the Book of Pure Evil and Lost Girl for SYFY Channel and Showcase—and supervised and directed the far north webisode series YUKONIC online in 2011. He is directing XIII: The Series with Stuart Townsend, produced by Roger Avary for French Canal +, and multiple episodes of the live audience multi-camera sitcom Mr. Young for The Disney Channel. In 2017 he became one of the house directors on the Netflix / SYFY channel series Van Helsing; an explosive post-apocalyptic take on the vampire rising based on a graphic novel. He also started directing over two dozen Christmas and family films for the Hallmark Channel; including A Summer Romance, Tulips in Spring, A December Bride, and Unleashing Mr. Darcy, which broke the network record on social media with 47 Million tweets.

Awards

Winning has won the 1995 Gold Hugo Award and two Silver Plaques from the Chicago International Film Festival, and four national Gemini Award nominations for Best Director/Dramatic Series.{{cite web|url=http://www.academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?nname=David+Winning&winonly=0&awards=0&rtype=1&curstep=4&submit.x=65&submit.y=8|title=1989, 1990, 1997 Gemini Awards 4 nominations|publisher=Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television|access-date=2009-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223162135/http://www.academy.ca/hist/history.cfm?nname=David+Winning&winonly=0&awards=0&rtype=1&curstep=4&submit.x=65&submit.y=8|archive-date=2012-02-23|url-status=dead}} In 2002 he accepted the first national team award from the Directors Guild of Canada Best TV series Drama for Twice in a Lifetime and was nominated again in 2006.{{cite web|url=http://www.dgc.ca/awards/flashv1/2002.html|title=2002 DGC Team Awards TV Series Drama for "Moonshine Over Harlem"|publisher=DGC|access-date=November 19, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123085100/http://www.dgc.ca/awards/flashv1/2002.html|archive-date=November 23, 2007}} His episode of Stargate: Atlantis, "Childhood’s End", won three awards for Directing; New York, Houston and Chicago in 2005. In April 2008, Winning won two Directing awards at the Houston Film Festival/WorldFest in Texas and a Special Jury Award for his work on the Lifetime Television vampire series Blood Ties.

Winning's Film [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt23812328/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk Field Day] won Best Ensemble Cast at the Marina del Rey Film Festival{{Cite web |title=2024 Marina del Rey Film Festival Awards |url=https://www.marinadelreyfilmfestival.com/2024-awards |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=MDR Film Festival |language=en}} in 2024.

2008 Hawaii Career Award and festival screenings

Winning was honored at the 2008 Big Island Film Festival in Hawaii. He received a Special Career award on May 17, 2008 with a reception in his honor in Waikōloa Village. Swamp Devil also won the Golden Honu for Best Foreign feature film. A double bill of his two monster movies was presented at the outdoor festival; Swamp Devil starring Bruce Dern and Black Swarm starring Robert Englund. The first in his trilogy was Something Beneath with Kevin Sorbo in 2007. Black Swarm also screened at the Boston Film Festival on Friday the 13th of June, 2008. Both films were produced in Montreal by Muse Entertainment for the SYFY Channel, New York City.

Filmography

=Film=

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style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"

! Year

! Title

! Director

! Producer

! Writer

! Notes

1987

|Storm

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1992

|Killer Image

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1996

| Profile for Murder

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1997

| Exception to the Rule

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1997

| Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie

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1998

| One of Our Own

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2009

| Swamp Devil

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|

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2014

| The Town That Came A-Courtin’

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2014

| Mutant World

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=Television films and series=

class="wikitable"
style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"

! Year

! Title

! Director

! Producer

! Notes

1989-1990

| Friday the 13th: The Series

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|

| 3 episodes: aka Friday's Curse

1992

| Neon Rider

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|

| Episode: "Straight Home"

1992-1993

| Street Justice

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|

| 7 episodes

1993-1995

| Are You Afraid of the Dark?

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|

| 10 Episodes

1993

| Matrix

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|

| Episode: "False Witness"

1995-1997

| Sweet Valley High

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|

| 11 episodes

1996

| Goosebumps

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|

| Episode: "...{{nbsp}}It Came From Beneath the Sink"

1997

| Dead Man's Gun

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|

| Episode: "The Black Widow"

1997

| Breaker High

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| 7 episodes

1998

| Night Man

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| 3 episodes

1998

| Merlin: The Quest Begins

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| Television film

1999-2001

| Twice in a Lifetime

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| 11 episodes

1999

| Don’t Look Behind You

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| Television film

2000

| Call of The Wild

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| Episode: "Molly Brown"

2000-2005

| Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda

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| 10 episodes

2001-2002

| Gene Roddenberry's Earth Final Conflict

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| 7 episodes

2002-2003

| Dinotopia

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| 4 episodes

2002

| Body & Soul

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| Episode: "Saviors"

2002

| He Sees You When You're Sleeping

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| Television film

2004

| Stargate: Atlantis

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| Episode: "Childhood's End"

2006-2007

| Naturally, Sadie

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| 4 episodes

2006

| Past Sins

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| Television film

2007

| Blood Ties

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|

| 4 episodes

2007

| Dinosapien

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|

| 4 episodes

2007

| Something Beneath

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|

| Television film

2008

| Black Swarm

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|

| Television film

2010-2012

| Todd and the Book of Pure Evil

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|

| 4 episodes

2012

| Lost Girl

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|

| Episode: "Midnight Lamp"

2012

| XIII: The Series

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| Episodes: "Gauntlet"; "Pong"

2012-2013

| Mr. Young

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| 3 episodes

2013

| Health Nutz

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| Episodes: "Juice, Jesus and Rock & Roll"; "Hypno Yoga"

2014-2015

| The Stanley Dynamic

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|4 episodes

2014-2015

| Max and Shred

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| Episodes: "The Boardercross Bionic Boost"; "The Goofy Tamedog Air"

2014

| The Tree That Saved Christmas

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| Television film

2014

| Paper Angels

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| Television film
Co-executive Producer

2015

| The Magic Stocking

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| Television film

2016

| Cradle of Lies

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| Television film: aka Where's My Baby?

2016

| Under Fire

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| Television film: aka Who Killed My Husband?

2016

| Unleashing Mr. Darcy

| align="center" | {{tick}}

|

| Television film

2016

| The Rooftop Christmas Tree

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| Television film
Executive Producer

2016

| The Convenient Groom

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|

| Television film

2016

| Tulips In Spring

| align="center" | {{tick}}

|

| Television film

2016

| A December Bride

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|

| Television film

2016

| The Mistletoe Promise

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| Television film
Executive Producer

2017

| Infidelity in Suburbia

| align="center" | {{tick}}

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| Television film
Executive Producer

2017

| While You Were Dating

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|

| Television film

2017

| Engaging Father Christmas

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|

| Television film: aka A Family for the Holidays (Canada); Winter Wedding (UK)

2017

| Falling For Vermont

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| Television film

2017

| Finding Santa

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| Television film

2017

| Van Helsing

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| 6 episodes

2018

| Winter's Dream

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| Television film

2018

| Marrying Father Christmas

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| Television film: aka. Winter Wedding (Canada) (post-production)

2018

| Time for Me to Come Home for Christmas

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| Television film

2019

| A Summer Romance

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| Television film

2019

| Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen

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|

| Television film

2019

| A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas

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|

| Television film

2020

|Time For Us to Come Home for Christmas

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|Television film

2021

|Crossword Mysteries: Riddle Me Dead

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|Television film
Supervising Producer

2021

|The 27-Hour Day

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| Television film

2021

|You, Me and The Christmas Trees

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|

| Television film

2021

|The Nine Kittens of Christmas

| align="center" | {{tick}}

|

| Television film

2022

|Time For Him to Come Home for Christmas

| align="center" | {{tick}}

|

| Television film

2023

|Field Day

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| Television film

2023

|A Christmas Blessing

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|Television film
Executive Producer

2024

|Curious Caterer: Forbidden Fruit

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| Television film

References