Mark Shelley was the Senior Series Producer for National Geographic Television & Film.[ citation needed ] He is also the founder and the Executive Director of Sea Studios Foundation, a non-profit team of film-makers, environmentalists and scientists who create films that raise public awareness of major issues facing the planet.
Mark received his B.S. from Stanford University with honors in Biology, and conducted research at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for two years.
Over the years, he has created exhibit and television programs for aquariums, zoos, and natural history visitor centers around the world, working for National Geographic Television & Film, Turner Broadcasting (National Audubon) and the PBS Nature series. He specializes in underwater filmmaking and has developed deep sea imaging system, and is an expert diver and U.S. Navy certified submersible co-pilot.
His award-winning works are: "Jellies and Other Ocean Drifters", "Sea Nasties", [1] "Desperately Seeking Sanctuary", "Aunt Merriwether's Adventures in the Backyard", "A World Alive", "Wild California, Wild California", "Explore Missouri Streams!" and "Live from Monterey Canyon".
Mark founded the Sea Studios Foundation in order to leverage the power of film and bring public awareness on major issues affecting our planet's health. In partnership with National Geographic Society, the Sea Studios Foundation has created a film series that brings focus on the Earth and its biodiversity, as well on the oceans. In collaboration with PBS, he worked on the films projects Strange Days, [2] The Shape of Life, and Oceans in a Glass.
The Blue Planet is a British nature documentary series created and produced by the BBC. It premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom. It is narrated by David Attenborough.
The BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) is a department of BBC Studios that produces television, radio and online content with a natural history or wildlife theme. It is best known for its highly regarded nature documentaries, including The Blue Planet and Planet Earth, and has a long association with David Attenborough's authored documentaries, starting with 1979's Life on Earth.
WPBT, virtual channel 2, is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television station licensed to Miami, Florida, United States. It serves as the flagship station of South Florida PBS, which also owns Boynton Beach-licensed fellow PBS member WXEL-TV and Miami-licensed Class A station WURH-CD. The three stations share transmitter facilities on Northwest 199th Street in Andover; WPBT's studios are located on Northeast 20th Avenue in North Miami. In addition to serving the Miami–Fort Lauderdale market, the station has significant viewership in much of the West Palm Beach market, and is the only Miami area television station to serve the entire South Florida metropolis.
Strange Days on Planet Earth is a four-part television program on PBS concerning human impact on the environment. It is narrated by Edward Norton. The show was produced by Sea Studios Foundation. Strange Days on Planet Earth grew into an ongoing partnership with the National Geographic Society to bring focus on our personal connection to the planet's life systems.
A nature documentary or wildlife documentary is a genre of documentary film or series about animals, plants, or other non-human living creatures, usually concentrating on video taken in their natural habitat but also often including footage of trained and captive animals. Sometimes they are about wildlife or ecosystems in relationship to human beings. Such programmes are most frequently made for television, particularly for public broadcasting channels, but some are also made for the cinema medium. The proliferation of this genre occurred almost simultaneously alongside the production of similar television series.
Neil Nightingale is a freelance wildlife filmmaker, executive producer and creative consultant with over 35 years experience at the BBC. From 2009 to 2018 he was the creative director of BBC Earth, BBC Worldwide's global brand for all BBC nature and science content.
Tristan Bayer is an American actor, filmmaker and the host of the Animal Planet series Caught in the Moment, and was nominated for an Emmy for individual achievement in a craft: cinematography.
Sea Studios Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, headquartered in Monterey, California. Sea Studios was founded by Mark Shelley, a senior series producer for National Geographic. It is a team of filmmakers, scientists and public opinion leaders dedicated to raising public awareness and creating action on issues involving the planet’s health and sustainable development worldwide.
Alastair David William Fothergill is a British producer of nature documentaries for television and cinema. He is the series producer of the series The Blue Planet (2001), Planet Earth (2006) and the co-director of the associated feature films Deep Blue and Earth.
David Doyle is an American television producer.
William Goodchild is a composer, orchestrator and conductor who produces music for film, television and the concert hall.
James Honeyborne is the creative director of Freeborne Media, he previously worked as an executive producer at the BBC Natural History Unit where he oversaw some 35 films, working with multiple co-producers around the world. His projects include the Emmy Award and BAFTA-winning series Blue Planet II, the Emmy Award-nominated series Wild New Zealand with National Geographic, and the BAFTA-winning BBC1 series Big Blue Live with PBS.
Michael Bailey, described as "one of the foremost eco-warriors of our times" according to Rex Weyler, is a founding member of Greenpeace, along with Paul Watson, Patrick Moore, David McTaggart and others. He supervised the original Greenpeace flagship, Rainbow Warrior.
Mike Gunton is a British television producer and a senior executive at the BBC Natural History Unit, the world's largest production unit dedicated to wildlife film-making. In November 2009 he became the Unit's first Creative Director.
Paul Nicklen is an acclaimed Canadian photographer, film-maker, author and marine biologist. As of December 2021, he is the most followed wildlife photographer on Instagram.
Nicolas Lane Noxon was an American documentary filmmaker. He specialized in television programs dealing with history, science, and the natural world. Noxon produced television specials and series in association with ABC, David Wolper, Columbia Pictures Television, Metromedia, MGM, Survival Anglia, Time-Life, and National Geographic Television.
Julian Hector is a British television and radio producer and executive who is Head of the BBC Natural History Unit. During his career, he has been producer of David Attenborough's Life Stories on BBC Radio 4, producer of the Tigers about the House television series, writer and producer of the Lakes and Rivers episode in the BBC’s Wild Africa series, producer of World on the Move, and instrumental in establishing the BBC's Tweet of the Day. He was described by Sir David Attenborough as ‘one of the most inventive producers in radio’ and during his award of an honorary Doctorate from the University of Bristol was credited with bringing ‘live natural history programming to Radio 4’.
Michael Kaczorowski, a nine-time nominated and three-time Emmy Award-winning producer and executive producer, is currently the creative director and producer of Bangkok Swagger. As executive producer, he is responsible for some of Animal Planet and Discovery's biggest and most iconic hits including Carrier: Fortress at Sea, Raising the Mammoth, and Walking with Prehistoric Beasts. Kaczorowski is also responsible for many of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet long running hit series including Meerkat Manor, North Woods Law, River Monsters, Alaskan Bush Family, Wild West Alaska, Buggin with Rude, and American Stuffers. Kaczorowski has worked in Washington D.C. for Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and the National Geographic Society. Kaczorowski began his filmmaking career in 1982 working in feature films for Director Robert Altman on Streamers, O.C. and Stiggs and Secret Honor. In 1985 Kaczorowski helped launch before it became National Geographic Television, and was a film editor for over 10 years editing over 40 films, earning two Emmy nominations for best editing for Dancing with Stingrays and Ocean Kayakers. He edited Discovery Channel's first original production Ivory Wars. Kaczorowski joined Discovery Communications in 1994 holding many positions and titles across different Discovery networks. Over the next 20 years, he developed, supervised and managed everything from documentary specials and long running series, IMAX movies “Wildfire: Feel the Heat”, Discovery's first feature film “The Leopard Son”, Animal Planet's first feature film “Meerkat Manor: The Story Begins” and Animal Planet's first scripted drama “The Whale”. His production company Bangkok Swagger casts, develops and creates programing around the world for the web, social media and traditional television & cable networks.
Orla Doherty is an Irish producer with BBC Studios Natural History Unit. She is known for producing The Deep and co-producing Our Blue Planet episodes for BBC's Blue Planet II.
Thomas Skinner is an American television and film executive. Skinner has received four Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, and a Dupont/Columbia award. He is known for his work in public television as Executive Producer of National Geographic Specials and other programming for PBS and WQED in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.