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Dan Tapster - Executive Producer (Australia) |
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Written by TheBlackWidowNor
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Tuesday, 20 March 2007 |
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In September 2006, Peter Rees stepped down as executive producer of "MythBusters." In his place, Beyond Productions placed a very capable producer who worked with the show on the Australian end of the production to fill his shoes. Introducing - Dan Tapster --
![]()  Dan followed a long, complicated and sometime tortuous route to joining
team Mythbusters. It was a journey that was often fraught with danger but
was at other times disappointingly benign!
Dan had always had a passion to work in media ever since watching David
Attenborough's "Life on Earth" as a kid. Inspired by this bench-mark in
documentary filming, Dan embraced all things natural history and headed off
to the University of Oxford to study biology. Three years and a gown later
and he somehow found his way to the remote jungles of Tambopata in Peru.
There, he started work as a tour-guide and travel journalist - writing
amongst other things, an eco-tourism travel guide to South America. But it
wasn't long before he started working in film and television as a fixer -
someone who could assist film crews in their Peruvian adventures: Prowling
jaguars, dawn at the Macchu Piccu, mummified Incas, you name it, Dan was
involved in filming it.
But there's only a certain number of mosquito bites, botflies and hard
boiled eggs that a person can take, and when Dan had had his share he moved
into a more traditional production role as a TV researcher where he worked
on everything from filming toilets to child tantrums. But it wasn't until
he moved to the BBC that Dan got an opportunity that he had only dreamt of -
working with his child-hood hero David Attenborough. In a 4 year job that
had him taken hostage in Ecuador, treated like a celebrity in The Gambia
and mauled by bears in Borneo, this was an ambition realised.
Thereafter, Dan stayed at the BBC for several years producing and directing
various award-winning science documentaries including films about Canadian
bears, films about the British Isles and films about the history of Europe.
But in late 2004, it was time to move on. Dan and wife Jess opted for a
sea-change and went to live in Australia. Almost immediately Dan was
approached by Beyond Productions to work on Mythbusters. Having been a fan
of the show since its early days, he gladly accepted. His first gig was as
a post-producer for episode 31 - Shattering Wine Glass - with a world first
on Mythbusters, it was a great way to start. And from there there was no
looking back. Dan wrote some of the most well known Mythbusters episodes
including Confederate Rocket and MailBag Special. In early 2006, Dan become
the Senior Producer on the show, and by September 2006, the Co-executive
producer.
Dan continues to be a huge fan of the show who has a passion for science and
a desire to take the show from strength to strength. His favourite myth was
the oh-so-controversial Split Arrow and he wished he'd been at the quarry to
see the cement truck turn torpedo. Dan currently lives in Sydney's eastern
suburbs with his wife and baby son Louis. He spends about 65% of his time
in Sydney, 30% in San Francisco and 5% in the air between the two.
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