Laurence Campling is a native of Norwich, England where he grew up surrounded by books, the theatre and music. He attended Hewett Grammar School, where he was fortunate to find a first-rate music program which enabled him to tour Europe regularly with the choir and as a violinist with the orchestra. He also acted in plays throughout his school and college years.
After graduating from Durham University in 1979 with a degree in English Literature and Language, Laurence joined the Inter-Action Arts Centre, a London-based community arts organization, as a writer, musician and performer, bringing interactive street theater to children in some England's most disadvantaged neighborhoods.
He moved to San Francisco in 1981 and began working with the world-renowned multimedia performance group The Residents as an artist and stage manager for their U.S. and European tours of "The Mole Show" and for subsequent music videos.
Video production became his main focus and in 1984 he joined Brookline Access Television in Brookline, Massachusetts as Managing Producer, training members of the community in camera, lighting, audio and editing. His series of programs "Medium Rare: Video in the Arts" was distributed nationally and garnered awards from the National Association of Cable Programmers.
During this time he studied guitar with King Crimson maestro Robert Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists, recorded and performed with the Boston group Dresden Danse (produced by Greg Hawkes of The Cars) and founded the instrumental guitar duo Popular Mechanics with guitarist Michael Oster.
Returning to San Francisco in 1994 he embarked on a brief detour into local film projects, including production work on Jerry Bruckheimer's "The Rock" and Lynn Hershmann-Leeson's "Conceiving Ada", starring Tilda Swinton. He returned to television in 1998, joining the startup cable channel ZDTV. The company was soon acquired by Microsoft founder Paul Allen and renamed TechTV, a unique channel devoted to all things tech, reaching over 45 million American households and with content distributed to over 40 countries worldwide.
In the summer of 2006 Laurence was invited by musician and environmental sound recordist Bernie Krause to join the Arctic Soundscape Project, an expedition to Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. With director and videographer Robert Hillmann he documented Krause's ongoing research into the "biophony" - the natural soundscape - of one of the world's most pristine ecosystems.
In 2007 Laurence joined CNET TV as Promotions Producer, going on to produce popular programs such as "CNET's Top 5", "Insider Secrets" and "Tales of Silicon Valley" with presenter Tom Merritt. CNET TV is CNET.com's online video channel devoted to consumer technology and the digital lifestyle, generating over 150 million video streams a year. CNET Networks is a division of CBS Interactive.
Relocating to Sacramento in 2009, he founded Campling Media Productions, with a focus on providing high end video content for local businesses, non-profit organizations and political campaigns. Major projects to date have included documentaries for the Crocker Art Museum and Sacramento State Parks.
From 2012 to 2019 he served as Senior Producer/Director for Sacramento State Creative Services, producing high-end online content for California state agencies including California State Parks, California Department of Food and Agriculture, California Department of Public Health, the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office, and more. His productions during this period were almost exclusively single-handed affairs where he served in every capacity from start to finish including research, scriptwriting, project coordination, direction, videography and editing. He has received ten Telly Awards for his work at Sac State.
As a singer/guitarist he continues to write, record and perform his music at every opportunity. His song "Trespassing" took Best Song honors at the West Coast Songwriters contest in Sebastopol, California, in August 2006. His music is available at www.reverbnation.com/laurencecampling
Laurence and his wife Shelly live in Sacramento, California, with their two white Labrador retrievers, Lilly and Barnaby, and Iris the cat.