An Exceptional Achievement!
FIVE of the seven finalists in the 2019 National Student Academy Awards were Peter Markham alumni. THE TOP AWARDS went to THREE of these!

AFI Alumni Testimonials

Ari Aster
Writer/Director HEREDITARY MIDSOMMAR BEAU IS AFRAID

“The most important teacher I’ve ever had and one of the most essential support systems. I just can’t speak highly enough about him. I think he’s a brilliant mind and an incredibly generous spirit. He’ s somebody who cares very deeply not only about his students, in the case of AFI his “Fellows” that were under his tutelage, but also about the medium that he’ s teaching. He cares very deeply about cinema and is incredibly knowledgable and passionate about it. I count myself incredibly lucky to have studied underneath him.”

Arkasha Stevenson
Co-Writer/Director THE FIRST OMEN

“You were giving me notes on the final cut of my thesis film. You, in an extremely polite and encouraging manner, told me that I had essentially messed up the most important scene of the film by avoiding the main character's eye line. You said that I must have felt uncomfortable with the scene and the fact that the character was in a powerless position and thus avoided the eye line. This then reduced our connection and our level of empathy with her.

I can't tell you how much that stuck with me and what an enormous influence that had on how we shot this film in Wales… I kept hearing you saying "embrace the pain."

Duke Johnson
Director ANOMALISA

“I’ve maintained a relationship with Peter and brought him on in the early stages of the editorial process of ANOMALISA to be an advisor and a mentor. I can’t recommend his teachings enough. He’s the best Directing professor I’ve ever had. I think of his teachings daily as I work professionally as a Director in Hollywood. (Grand Jury Prize, Venice ; Nomination, Golden Globes, Best Animated Feature ; Nomination, Academy Awards, Best Animated Feature).”

Chloe Okuno

Writer/Director WATCHER

‘I learned so much on how to dissect the craft underneath a movie from you.’

‘What I learned from Peter’s class is how to dissect a script analytically… There are still practical things that I use today, keeping in mind genre, theme, tone, and production design, and cinematography and how all of those work to craft the film you want to make.’

‘What I like about Peter is he always focuses on the personal—you always need to keep in mind the story you want to tell, and why you’re the person to make it.’

John Patton Ford

Writer/Director EMILY THE CRIMINAL

“…your class was a real turning point for me. I think it was the first moment someone had encouraged me to focus on visual design in such a granular way. I also remember the accountability ... you didn't let us get away with things. We had to defend our decisions under scrutiny, and the experience changed my life. So much of my job now is articulating and defending my ideas to others… You really gave me a gift.”

My classes explore the heart of directing rarely touched upon by other Directing and Filmmaking courses.

These are not sessions about film production, or screenwriting, or acting but about the Director and Filmmaker’s grasp of story, storytelling, visual language and the emotions these generate.

Understand your screenplay

Discover how you can best connect with your Screenplay, your own or a Screenwriter’s, and discover how this connection to the fundamental aspects of its dramaturgy needs to inform and drive each element of your Filmmaking Craft to give your film coherent force.

Empower your skills as a Director

Discover the Director / Filmmaker as Storyteller, telling their story not through dialogue but through the visual and aural language of film. Discover the multiplicity of the Director / Filmmaker’s creative craft and continue to discover it through shot-by-shot exploration of your own favorite films so that by drawing on your insights into the practical and creative mind and methods of the Filmmakers whose work you love, you become your own Teacher throughout your career.

Learn to bring maximum emotional and visceral power to your work

Discover how to convey emotion by the use of looks, action, and subtext in order to unleash the dramatic power of your film. Learn to use anticipation, suspense, and “the screen of the mind” to empower your film or TV show.

Make the most of the Audience-Character relationship

Discover how to understand and orchestrate the Journey of the Audience as it watches your film or TV Show. Discover how the Filmmaker uses staging, shot composition and choice, camera placement and movement, editing and sound to put the Audience “in the shoes” of their Main Character(s) emotionally, perceptually, cognitively and viscerally in order to deepen and intensify its immersion in their movie, its story, drama, and emotion. 

When I’m making a film, I’m the audience. Martin Scorsese

Taught by the former Head of the Graduate Directing Program at AFI

Join the ranks of alumni successful in all genres who developed their skills and voices under my tutelage. Benefit from my seventeen years of teaching at AFI Conservatory, eight as Head of Directing, and my six as an independent consultant and educator to develop your craft and your voice, thinking and working in ways that work on the screen, and work for you.

Many of my alumni have notable careers in Film and TV, several garnering major awards at Cannes, The Academy, Sundance, Busan and elsewhere.

Join an incredible community of alumni from all filmmaking crafts

Directors need to be storytellers as do Screenwriters and Editors, while Cinematographers and Production Designers also tell the story — none of which can happen without Producers. I have a community of former student Directors now achieving impressive success in Film and TV but I have always welcomed other Filmmakers into my classes and continue to keep in contact with them.