# Esben Storm

Esben Storm (26 May 1950 – 28 March 2011) was a Danish Australian actor, screenwriter, television producer, television director, voice artist and songwriter.

## Early life

Storm came to Australia with parents Laurits and Ane in 1958, after Laurits lost the family farm to lawyers. After settling in Melbourne, his father worked as a builder's labourer and built a darkroom, where Esben learned photographic processing, composition and lighting.

## Career

Storm was well known for his work with the Australian Children's Television Foundation, headed by Patricia Edgar, where he worked for 15 years. The company sold programs to 92 countries, and Storm was involved in writing, acting, editing, and directing numerous programs, including Round the Twist. He worked to adapt John Marsden's Tomorrow series but lost the rights to the film.

### Film making

Storm started making films at 18 with his then partner Haydn Keenan. His early work was mostly serious in nature, including a 1983 documentary about the Hilton Bombing in Sydney called With Prejudice. He wrote and directed 27A (1974), In Search of Anna (1978) (with film stills and publicity shots by Carol Jerrems, who was then his girlfriend), Deadly (1991), and Subterano (2003). He directed Devil’s Hill (1988), the Tasmanian film in the Touch the Sun series of bicentennial telemovies. In 2007, he directed the SBS comedy series Kick.
Storm also worked on several television series such as Round the Twist, The Genie from Down Under (as scriptwriter and director), Sky Trackers (as script consultant), Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers (as the show's creator, scriptwriter and dialogue director), Blue Heelers (as a director), Crash Zone, and Winners (for which he directed the episode "The Other Facts of Life").

### Acting

In 1976, Storm acted in Hanging About, a film by Carol Jerrems, who was then his girlfriend and living with him in Willoughby. He appeared in Room to Move and in two episodes of Winners. He played Pat in Phoenix and Colin in an episode of Blue Heelers.
Feature film roles included The Coca-Cola Kid, Wrong World (both 1985) and Young Einstein (1988).
Storm’s last acting role was in the medical drama series All Saints.

## Death

Storm died, aged 60, on 28 March 2011 from a heart attack.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1969 | Doors | | Short film |
| 1972 | In His Prime | | Short film |
| 1972 | Stephanie | | Short film |
| 1972 | A Motion Picture | | Short film |
| 1976 | Hanging About: A Short Film by Carol Jerrems | | Short film |
| 1981 | Making Weekend of Summer Last | Out of Work Actior | Short film |
| 1992 | Monkey Grip | Record Producer | Feature film |
| 1982 | Going Down | Michael | Feature film |
| 1982 | Last Breakfast in Paradise | | Short film |
| 1983 | Birthin' Hips | | |
| 1984 | Stanley | Menswear Attendant | Feature film |
| 1985 | Wrong World | Lawrence | Feature film |
| 1985 | The Coca-Cola Kid | Country Hotel Manager | Feature film |
| 1985 | I Live with Me Dad | Blindman | Feature film |
| 1986 | A Single Life | Paul | TV movie |
| 1987 | Les Patterson Saves the World | Russian Scientist | Feature film |
| 1987 | Pandemonium | E.B. De Woolf / Husband | Feature film |
| 1987 | The Riddle of the Stinson | Meissner | TV movie |
| 1988 | Hard Knuckle | Vince | TV movie |
| 1988 | Young Einstein | Wilbur Wright | Feature film |
| 1991 | Deadly | Reporter | Feature film |
| 1993 | Terrormisu: A Night of Just Desserts | | |
| 1993 | Rusty & the Bathtub Banana | | |
| 1997 | Good Guys Bad Guys: Only the Young Die Good | Jerry | TV movie |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1983 | With Prejudice | | TV documentary |
| 1984 | Special Squad | Cox | TV series, episode 31: "Brothers" |
| 1985 | Winners | Leo George / Tom | TV series, 2 episodes: "The Other Facts of Life", "Room to Move" |
| 1985 | More Winners | Waiter | TV series, episode: "The Big Wish" |
| 1986 | The Fast Lane | Lester | TV series, season 2, episode 8: "All the World's Going Through a Bit of a Stage" |
| 1986 | Alice to Nowhere | Raymond 'Frog' Gardiner | Miniseries, 2 episodes |
| 1988 | Rafferty's Rules | Norm Angstrom | TV series, season 4, episode 17: "Mum's the Word" |
| 1989–2000 | Round the Twist | Mr Snapper | TV series, 36 episodes |
| 1992 | Phoenix | Pat | TV series, 2 episodes |
| 1994 | Law of the Land | Peter Bozavich | TV series, season 3, episode 2: "Death Before Dying" |
| 1995 | Blue Heelers | Colin Roper | TV series, season 2, episode 6: "Breaking the Cycle" |
| 1995 | Snowy River: The McGregor Saga | Frobisher | TV series, season 3, episode 15: "In Duty Bound" |
| 2002 | Don’t Blame the Koalas | First AD | TV miniseries, season 1, episode 19: "A Star is Born" |
| 2007 | Kick | Jeff Abbott | TV miniseries, episode 2: "You Can't Stop the Music" |
| 2007 | All Saints | Laszlo Shucs | TV series, season 11, episode 28: "Echoes" |

## As director / writer / producer
### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1969 | Doors | Director | Short film |
| 1972 | In His Prime | Director | Short film |
| 1972 | Gentle Strangers | Production assistant | Short film |
| 1973 | Flashpoint | Production assistant | Short film |
| 1973 | A Motion Picture | Director | Short film |
| 1973 | Floating This Time | Editor | Short film |
| 1973 | Avengers of the Reef | Production manager | Feature film |
| 1974 | 27A | Writer / director / editor | Feature film |
| 1974 | A Handful of Dust | Unspecified assistant | Short film |
| 1975 | Grace Crowley | Director | Short film |
| 1978 | In Search of Anna | Writer / director / producer | Feature film |
| 1982 | With Prejudice | Director | Feature film |
| 1984 | Stanley | Writer / director | Feature film |
| 1988 | Touch the Sun: Devil’s Hill | Director | TV movie |
| 1990 | The Crossing | Story consultant | Feature film |
| 1991 | Deadly | Screenplay / director | Feature film |
| 1992 | de Vil's tas Mania (aka Three Cornered Island) | Script advisor | Feature film |
| 2003 | Subterano | Writer / director | Feature film |
| 2004 | The Tasty Bust Reunion | Writer / producer | Documentary film |
| 2006 | The Bridge at Midnight Trembles | Writer / co-director / editor / co-producer | Documentary film |
| 2012 | Aspects of a Life: Working with Indigenous Australians | Editor | Video documentary |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1985; 1990 | Winners | Director | TV series, 2 episodes: '"The Other Facts of Life", "The Big Wish" |
| 1989 | Round the Twist | Script consultant | TV series, season 1, 13 episodes |
| 1989; 2000 | Round the Twist | Director | TV series, seasons 1–3, 18 episodes |
| 1992; 2000–01 | Round the Twist | Writer / screenplay / storylines | TV series, seasons 2–4, 31 episodes |
| 1995 | Sky Trackers | Script consultant | TV series, 26 episodes |
| 1995 | Blue Heelers | Director | TV series, season 2, episode 6: "Breaking the Cycle" |
| 1996 | The Genie from Down Under | Director | TV series, season 1, 6 episodes |
| 1996; 1998 | The Genie from Down Under | Writer | TV series, seasons 1–2, 15 episodes |
| 1998 | Li'l Elvis and the Truckstoppers | Creator / scriptwriter / dialogue director | Animated TV series, season 1, episode 1: "Caught in a Trap" |
| 1999 | Crash Zone | Director | TV series, 4 episodes |
| 2001 | The Lost World | Director | TV series, season 3, episode 4: "True Spirit" |
| 2007 | Kick | Creator | TV series, season 1, episode 7: "And the Singer Is..." |
| 2007 | Kick | Director / producer | TV series, 13 episodes |

#### Unmade films

* Angel Gear (mid-1970s)
* Bondi Blue (early 1980s) – Reg Grundy withdrew financing just before filming was to start
* Dirty Barry (1980s)
* Doctor Flatus (1994)

### Theatre

| Year | Title | Role | Type |
| 1994 | Anaheim Magic | Playwright | Lion Theatre, Adelaide, Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne with Magpie Theatre Company |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Nominated work | Award | Category | Result |
| 1979 | In Search of Anna | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Screenplay | Won |
| 1979 | In Search of Anna | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Film | Nominated |
| 1979 | In Search of Anna | Australian Film Institute Awards | Australian Film Institute Award for Best Director | Nominated |
| 1991 | Deadly | Mystfest | Best Film | Nominated |
| 1991 | Winners: The Big Wish | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Achievement in Direction in a TV Drama | Nominated |
| 1993 | Round the Twist | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Screenplay in a TV Drama | Nominated |
| 1999 | Crash Zone (episode 1) | Australian Film Institute Awards | Best Direction in a TV Drama | Nominated |