Guy Ferland
Biography
Biography
Guy Ferland picked up how to maintain a productive work ethic shortly after graduating from the University of Southern California film school in 1988, when he spent five years working as the personal assistant to ultra-prolific Hollywood director and producer Joel Schumacher. During that period, Schumacher directed five films, most of which were box office successes. On 1994's legal drama "The Client," Ferland received an associate producer credit, in part for his unofficial on-set role as minder for the film's troubled young star, Brad Renfro. Schumacher served as executive producer on Ferland's debut as screenwriter and director, the Alicia Silverstone-starring stalker drama "The Babysitter" (1995).
Ferland followed up that debut with two other small films, 1960s period-piece "Telling Lies in America" (1997), which starred Renfro opposite Kevin Bacon, and a made for TV high school bullying drama, "Bang Bang You're Dead" (2002), which won a pair of Daytime Emmy Awards. For his next project, Ferland chose a script by playwright Peter Sagal (later better known as the host of NPR comedy quiz show "Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me") about a young girl's adolescence during the Cuban revolution of 1958. This movie eventually was released as "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights" (2004), a pseudo-sequel to the 1987 smash that had nothing in common with the original film beyond the title.
After that fiasco, one of the most notorious flops of the 21st century, Ferland began working exclusively in television. Following a long association with critically-acclaimed dirty-cop drama "The Shield" (FX 2002-08), Ferland worked steadily, including stints on gritty cable hit "Sons of Anarchy" (FX 2008-14), twisty espionage drama "Homeland" (Showtime 2011- ) and zombie action drama "The Walking Dead" (AMC 2010- ), for which he directed the memorable third season episode "Killer Within," which featured the shocking death of one of the show's most beloved characters.
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Film Production - Main (Feature Film)
Misc. Crew (Feature Film)
Life Events
1989
First film credit as assistant to Joel Schumacher on "Cousins"
1995
First writing and directing credit on "The Babysitter"
2002
Directed his first episode of "The Shield"
2010
Directed his first episode of "The Walking Dead"
