Photo courtesy of Danny Clifford Photographer
Tony's story
Tony Klinger
Producer, director, author and educator. Six decades in film, television and music.
An award-winning career in the international film industry, from an assistant director's chair on The Avengers to a coaching programme for the people coming up behind him. More than a hundred films worldwide, six books, and a Masters-level teaching career along the way. He calls himself, simply, a storyteller.
The story
1960s
The start
Tony began in the mid-1960s as an assistant director on The Avengers, and had taken on senior responsibilities before he turned 21.
By eighteen he was making award-winning films that received wide public distribution. He worked his way up the crew ladder on films including Up the Junction and Get Carter, with assistant director credits on The Penthouse and Up the Junction.
21the age by which he held senior responsibilities
1970s
Music and the big pictures
His work includes The Kids Are Alright with The Who, Extremes, Deep Purple Rises Over Japan and The Butterfly Ball, and collaborations with his father, the producer Michael Klinger, on Gold and Shout at the Devil.
He was assistant producer on Gold, associate producer on Shout at the Devil and Rachel's Man, and London producer on Barcelona Kill; he directed One of the Boys, wrote and directed Promo Man, and in 1981 produced Riding High alongside his father. The music films ran on to Galway Plays Mancini. Along the way he worked with the names below, among others, and has produced across more than thirty countries.
30+countries produced in
Worked with: Jack Nicholson, Peter Ustinov, Lee Marvin, Sir John Gielgud, Roger Moore, Michael Caine, Peter Finch, Susannah York, Peter Fonda, Shelley Winters, Omar Sharif, Mickey Rooney, Elmer Bernstein, Maurice Jarre, Henry Mancini, James Galway, Deep Purple, Supertramp, The Who.
2008 – 2023
Full circle
More recently he premiered Full Circle (2008) and The Man Who Got Carter (2018), a tribute to his father featuring Sir Michael Caine and Mike Hodges.
He co-produced and directed Solo2Darwin (2021) and executive-produced Sisters, following the Afghan all-female orchestra Zohra. In 2023 he presented Dirty, Sexy and Totally Iconic, marking fifty years of Get Carter.
50years of Get Carter, marked in 2023
The books
On the page
He is the author of Who Knows (previously Twilight of the Gods and The Who and I), Under God's Table, The Butterfly Boy, Alsatia: The Search for Treasure and two books on getting into and getting made in the movie business.
Alongside the books: articles, columns, blogs, podcasts, film scripts and two plays. He is also an acclaimed public speaker.
6books, from memoir to how-to
2016 – now
Passing it on
In 2016 he founded Give-Get-Go, a community outreach project opening up filmmaking to people who would not otherwise get near it, and in 2019 began coaching directly — which is what this site exists for.
2019coaching directly since
In his own words
In his own words
Above all I love telling stories, writing books and screenplays, making films, talking and teaching about films, in fact anything to do with film.
Writing books and screenplays and making documentaries are the spine of my life's work, and this field is, for me, always fascinating and compelling. Incredible stories about special people and incidents resonate around our world, and I am honoured to be a small part of those lives, sharing their stories to an increasingly receptive world.”
From assistant director on The Avengers to The Man Who Got Carter, half a century later.
Photo courtesy of Danny Clifford Photographer
Recognition
Honours and posts
Alongside the work itself: the awards, the lecture theatres and the professional bodies.
2018
Lifetime Achievement Award
Romford Film Festival
The Queen's Anniversary Award
for Education
- National Secretary
- Association of Media Practice Educators
- Co-founder
- Screen Commission Northants
- Lecturer and programme leader, to Masters level
- Bournemouth Film School · Northern Film School · University of East London
- Founder
- Give-Get-Go, 2016
Contact sheet
In front of the camera, for once.
Thank you — I really appreciate your input and your honesty. This class is much more than a writing class. It's a journey into thinking, feeling, recognising and growing as a person.
What next
Six decades of craft, passed on.