About Candida Scott Knight
Film & TV Director
Candida is an award winning director for British TV drama and film, with credits on Casualty, EastEnders and Hollyoaks. Her most recent Casualty episode forming part of the three-episode submission to the Royal Television Society Programme Awards for Soap and Continuing Drama which the series went on to win. She has also directed several short films including Mercy which screened at 29 international film festivals, winning multiple awards and has directed commercials, titles, channel idents and other short form for many of the British networks.
Beginning her career in newspapers but with a keen interest in the visual arts, Candida moved into television research and light entertainment and from there films, working as a runner, stand-in and assistant in feature films and a production manager on a student film, making her first short whilst studying film in New York.
Returning to the UK, Candida’s first commercial was nominated for a D&AD Newcomer Award.
From there she went on to direct more commercials, branded content and other on-air material at MTV, The Discovery Channel, TCM and 4Creative – the in-house creative agency for Channel 4, E4, More 4 and Film 4. During this time her second short film Fly was screened at several festivals and secured funding for her third short, Mercy along with a place on the first Berlinale Talent Campus at the Berlin Film Festival.
With a love of working with people Candida has a quality that values each person on set and what they bring.
“Working harmoniously together on set is the foundation needed to ensure the quality of the final product.”
Her ability to understand how to convey psychological states through the shots chosen is a defining characteristic of her work. This and a great sensitivity for the detail in the look, soundscape and movement of a piece takes her work to a whole different level. But in fact each aspect is equally important – finding the perfect location for a scene, the quality of the set design and costumes, the detail in the casting, to that moment when the camera and actors’ movements match up precisely:
“The flow and the symmetry that happens when you are making a film is something that I find infinitely beautiful. There is something so magic about everything falling into place.”
Following a break from the industry to raise a family and live overseas, Candida brings a new depth of understanding to human nature and relationships that now informs her approach to directing and filmmaking. Living for 6 years in the USA and retraining in the industry back in London – with awards in multi-camera training through Director’s UK and ITV’s long running series Coronation Street and the BBC’s New Director’s Scheme for EastEnders she also undertook shadowing opportunities on Sky’s Britannia II – under director Luke Watson and in post-production on Robin Hood – under director Otto Bathurst.
She is an advocate for the advancement of true (not token) gender equality in the film and television industry. With a great interest in the human condition and the health and wellbeing of communities, she sees the potential of media as a platform that can offer far-reaching connection in the most meaningful sense.
Candida is represented by Phil Adie at Nick Turner Management
+44 (0)20 3723 8833