Ben Winston

Ben Winston is a British producer and director, who established the production company Fulwell 73^[1] with Gabe Turner, Ben Turner and Leo Pearlman.^[2] He is co-executive producer of The Late Late Show with James Corden alongside Rob Crabbe and Mike Gibbons and the show's segments "Carpool Karaoke" and "Drop the Mic". Winston is the youngest show producer of a Late Night show in America. The American talk show broadcast on CBS was launched in 2015. He has collaborated with a number of artists, most notably One Direction, JLS, Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow and James Corden. He has produced and directed a number of pop culture oriented films, documentaries, concerts and music videos. He is also renowned for producing a number of the annual Brit Awards from 2011 to 2014. More recently he was a co-producer of US Grammy Awards and Tony Awards.

Early life and education

Winston was born to a Jewish family, the son of Lord Robert Winston^[3] and Lira Helen Feigenbaum (now The Lady Winston). He has two siblings: Joel and Tanya. Ben studied at the University of Leeds, graduating in Broadcasting in 2004.

Career

Winston started at Fulwell 73 by co-producing in the Hands of the Gods (Lionsgate) in 2007. Since he has produced and directed shows including The Michael McIntyre Chat Show (BBC1) "Robbie Williams: One Night at The Palladium" (BBC1), "This is Justin Bieber" (ITV1), "One Direction: A Year In The Making," and the record breaking 8-hour marathon show "1D Day." He also notably produced and directed Gary Barlow: On Her Majesty's Service. This film was the most watched single documentary of that year, while the song that came from it, "Sing" by Gary Barlow & The Commonwealth Band featuring Military Wives charted at number 1 for three weeks.^[4]

In 2014 he was Executive Producer of The X Factor in the UK, the most successful entertainment show on British TV winning best programme at the National Television Awards. His work with his James Corden has been extensive, James Corden's World Cup Live (ITV1), When Corden Met Barlow (BBC1), When Robbie Met James (Sky One). He has also produced James Cordon as the host of the BRIT Awards for four years (2011-2014). For Red Nose Day on BBC1, he directed and co-wrote many memorable Smithy sketches. Ben co-directed the 3D documentary movie, JLS: Eyes Wide Open which opened on over 400 screens across the UK. At the time it was the biggest grossing music cinema release of all time in the UK, but was beaten by the next film he produced, the One Direction hit movie One Direction: This Is Us for Columbia Pictures, which broke records around the globe.^[5]

As a commercial director, his advert for "A League Of There [sic] Own" won the gold award at Berlin Pro Max Awards in 2011. He also directed the 2011 Christmas Campaign for BBC One, "Consider Yourself One of Us" and the award-winning campaign for the Sport Relief mile. He has directed many music videos which led to him winning an MTV VMA for his One Direction video "Best Song Ever". He is the first ever director to win two Brit Awards in consecutive years for Best Video of the Year, which he won in 2014 and 2015.^[6]

In 2014, he directed When Corden Met Barlow which aired on BBC One. The show included a 6-minute 45 second Carpool Karaoke segment in the documentary with singer Gary Barlow of the band Take That.^[7] James Corden explained that "Ben Winston and I always thought there was something very joyful about someone very, very famous singing their songs in an ordinary situation. We just had this idea: Los Angeles, traffic, the carpool lane — maybe this is something we could pull off." Later on Carpool Karaoke was included as a regular featured segment on The Late Late Show with James Corden and other specials.

Awards

Won

• 2016: Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Interactive Program" for The Late Late Show with James Corden co-won with James Corden (producer/host), Rob Crabbe (executive producer) and Adam Abramson (director of digital)
• 2016: Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Variety Special" category for The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special. Award co-won with Rob Crabbe (executive producer), Mike Gibbons (co-executive producer), Sheila Rogers, Michael Kaplan, Jeff Kopp and Josie Cliff (supervising producers) and James Corden (producer/host).

Nominated

• 2016: Primetime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Variety Talk Series" for The Late Late Show with James Corden co-nominated with Rob Crabbe (executive producer), Mike Gibbons (co-executive producer), Sheila Rogers, Michael Kaplan, Jeff Kopp and Josie Cliff (supervising producers)
• 2017: Primetime Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special" for The 70th Annual Tony Awards (2016). Co-nominated with Dave Boone (writer), Mike Gibbons, Lauren Greenberg, Ian Karmel, Justin Shanes (special materials)
• 2017: PGA Award for "Outstanding Producer of Live Entertainment & Talk Television" for The Late Late Show with James Corden. Co-nomination alongside Rob Crabbe, Mike Gibbons, Amy Ozols, Sheila Rogers, Michael Kaplan, Jeff Kopp, James Longman, Josie Cliff and James Corden

Filmography

Director

• 2011: JLS: Eyes Wide Open 3D (Documentary)
• 2011: James Corden: May I Have Your Attention, Please? (Video short)
• 2011: One Direction: A Year in the Making (TV Movie documentary)
• 2012: Gary Barlow: On Her Majesty's Service (TV Movie documentary)
• 2012: When Robbie Met James (TV special)
• 2014: When Corden Met Barlow (TV special)

Producer

• 2007: In the Hands of the Gods (Documentary, producer)
• 2007: Slave Labour (Documentary short, executive producer)
• 2010: This Is JLS (TV special, producer)
• 2011: Brit Awards 2011 (TV special, producer)
• 2011: One Direction: A Year in the Making (TV documentary, producer)
• 2012: A Very JLS Christmas (TV special, executive producer)
• 2012: Freddie Flintoff: Hidden Side of Sport (TV documentary film, associate producer)
• 2012: The Brit Awards 2012 (TV special, producer)
• 2012: Gary Barlow: On Her Majesty's Service (TV documentary, executive producer)
• 2012: Flintoff: From Lord's to the Ring (TV Series, associate producer)
• 2012: When Robbie Met James (TV special, executive producer)
• 2013: The Brit Awards 2013 (TV Special, producer)
• 2013: One Direction: This Is Us (Documentary, producer)
• 2013: The Class of '92 (Documentary, associate producer)
• 2013: Robbie Williams One Night at the Palladium (TV special, executive producer)
• 2014: Gary Barlow Big Ben Bash Live (TV special, executive producer)
• 2014: The Brit Awards 2014 (TV Special, producer)
• 2014: The Michael McIntyre Chat Show (TV Mini-Series, executive producer for several episodes)
• 2014: When Corden Met Barlow (TV special, executive producer)
• 2014: The Guvnors (associate producer)
• 2014: One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film (Documentary, executive producer)
• 2015: American Express Unstaged: Disclosure (Short, executive producer)
• 2015: One Direction the London Sessions (TV special documentary, executive producer)
• 2015: Take That: These Days on Tour (TV special documentary, associate producer)
• 2015-present: The Late Late Show with James Corden (TV Series, executive producer)
• 2016: Jimmy Carr: Funny Business (Video documentary, associate producer)
• 2016: The 70th Annual Tony Awards (TV Special, producer)
• 2017: Carpool Karaoke (TV Series, executive producer)
• 2017: The 59th Annual Grammy Awards (TV Special, producer)
• 2017: Harry Styles: Behind the Album (Documentary, executive producer)
• 2017: Forbidden Games: The Justin Fashanu Story (Documentary, associate producer)
• 2018: Bruno Mars 24K Magic Tour Live at the Apollo (co-executive producer)

Personal life

Ben Winston is the son of Robert Winston and Lira Helen Feigenbaum. He is of Jewish origin. He is married to Meredith Winston and they have a daughter Ruby Winston. Ruby’s godfather is singer and actor Harry Styles.

References

External links

• Ben Winston on IMDb