Matt Fletchertel 0117 939 3410; mbl 0780 181 6222; matt.fletcher@virgin.netI'm a self-shooting PD with a wealth of experience in natural history & specialist factual programming. Creative & visually ambitious, I have a strong record of capturing great stories, nurturing contributors & showcasing complex & fascinating animal behaviours. I enjoy operating in small teams, but also know the demands of high-end, big budget programming.

Employment Producer/Director Destination Wild: Europe, Off the Fence April 2014 to PresentI'm currently making a 3-part series on European wildlife for Nat Geo's Destination Wild strand. Tight budgets restrict shooting days, so filming & story-telling must be highly focused, narratives inventive. The series will bring to the audience diverse & surprising behaviour & showcase wildlife spectacles little known even in Europe. Filmed & edited over the next year, I will produce two episodes & oversee the third.

Producer Harry's South Pole Heroes, Two Four January to March, 2014I edit produced a one-hour obs-doc for primetime NBC telling the story of Prince Harry's trek to the South Pole & the wounded USA service personnel who raced alongside him. The documentary mixed amazing access to Prince Harry with powerful stories of life-changing combat injuries & actuality of a dramatic race in which everyone battles rough terrain, a savage environment & their personal demons. My NBC edit also fed into two 1-hour shows for ITV.

Producer/Director Naked & Marooned, Tigress May to Dec, 2013For the self-shot, immersive adventure series Naked & Marooned with Ed Stafford on Discovery, I edit-produced programme 4 in series 1 & then produced the Australia & Venezuela for series 2 (Real Survivor). Ed is excellent at filming himself, but thorough pre-production, location-specific training & ability to direct talent remotely were key to producing a film that relects his hardships, failures & triumphs. I also shot aerials, timelapse & GVs.

Producer/Director Freaks of Nature, Off the Fence February to April, 2013For a presenter-led Discovery/Weather Channel UK series looking at people with extraordinarily abilities I directed emerging talent Tyler Harcott, 13 contributors & 6 major stunts/events across the US & Bahamas in three weeks. Harnessing Tyler's humour & irreverence, efficient scheduling, careful stunt planning & a variety of innovative shots & filming techniques (inc specialist high speed, aerial & underwater camera operators) were key to our success.

Development Producer Natural World, BBC NHU March to January, 2013I led a small team for the long-running BBC wildlife strand, developing in-house ideas & commissioning films from independent production companies. Working with BBC Worldwide & co-producer Animal Planet I continued to move the focus of Natural World towards stories that have strong human characters with a connection to specific charismatic animals at their heart, providing compelling & contemporary wildlife programming.

Edit Producer & Edit Supervisor Springwatch, BBC NHU May 2012 & 2013As well as edit producing a number of Charlie Hamilton-James' short films I produced a promo for the BBC's Summer of Wildlife season & oversaw the post production of over 20 short insert films, juggling edit suites, editors, producers, post-production houses, sound mixes, grades, voice overs & generally chasing people to get the films finished before the live broadcasts began.

Producer Wild Case Files & Freddie Flintoff Goes Wild, Tigress Sept 2011 to Feb 2012For Wild Case Files I produced three unusual wildlife mysteries in one programme blending static interviews, revelatory scientific evidence, drama reconstruction, archive & actuality into one of Nat Geo's high-rating shows. For Freddie Flintoff Goes Wild I took fast-shot rushes to make a programme of Freddie's jungle experience that built to an extraordinarily close confrontation with pygmy elephants in the middle of the forest.

Director & Edit Producer Real Food Family Cook Off, RDF July to Sept, 2011Shot back stories of eight teams about to ‘cook off’ against each other in the Channel 5 series hosted by Matt Dawson, Lisa Faulkner & Ainsley Harriott. I then edited two episodes using multiple feeds, back stories & links.

Producer/Director Monster Moves – Sink Ship, Windfall Films October 2010 to March 2011After securing last-minute access I self-shot the preparation & transformation of the USS Kittiwake from a rusting hulk in Virginia, USA, to artificial reef in the Cayman Islands for Channel 5 & Nat Geo. Working with one AP over three months in numerous hazardous & pressurised environments, I dealt with difficult contributors, shot timelapse & mini-camera sequences, directed underwater shoots & wrote complex graphic sequences before a five-week edit.

Employment Continued....Assistant Producer James Cracknell Takes on USA, Dangerous Films July & August, 2010I was part of a tight filming team following double-Olympic rowing gold medallist James Cracknell attempted a non-stop run, cycle, row & swim across the USA. During a busy shoot I was filming, recording sound, involved in real-time medical monitoring plus sourcing & fixing stories. Sadly James was injured a third of the way though.

Assistant Producer Man vs Wild (Bear Grylls), Diverse September 2009 to July 2010Working across all aspects of research, narrative, script & production I worked on shows in China, Georgia, The Rockies & Nevada. Shooting these one-hour shows in six days I scouted locations, helped revise scripts then directed short sequences & additional ‘making of’ material. I also helped develop spin-off specials about the science of survival, setting up experiments & extreme stunts using cutting-edge equipment & special effects experts.

AP/2nd Camera & Contributor The Lapita Voyage, ZDF October 2008 to April 2009As a key part of the Lapita Voyage expedition (www.lapita-voyage.com) I filmed, produced, directed & appeared in the ZDF film of a 4000-mile voyage in replica catamarans along the route of Polynesian colonisation. I also collected DNA samples from domestic animals assisting an investigation into Pacific migration by Durham University.

Assistant Producer Top Dogs, BBC Wales July to October, 2008Working with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, John Simpson & Sir Robin Knox-Johnston I set up their Afghanistan shoot. I refined narratives for the film, supplied ideas for Simpson’s news reports, helped secure key contributors (President Karzai), arranged logistics & security, then shot 2nd camera on location whilst juggling the demands of Simpson’s often live, primetime news pieces & our documentary. We filmed in Kabul, Jalalabad, Tora Bora & the Khyber Pass.

Assistant Producer Human Planet, BBC Natural History Unit August 2007 to April 2008I helped shape the style & editorial structure of the series & established technical & academic relationships. Filming a huge ritual battle in the Andes I directed mini-camera, Varicam, crane, Phantom slow-mo and ‘making of’ sequences. I also coordinated Cineflex aerials & cut a taster for the ‘Showcase’ TV exhibition.

Researcher & Assistant Producer Tribe, BBC Wales September 2005 to August 2007Leading the 3rd series research effort, I provided series/executive producers with comprehensive anthropological/logistical briefings & ideas. I then conducted recces gaining local & official permissions, set up & ran shoots, wrote risk assessments, logged/translated tapes, filmed 2nd camera & recorded sound. I spent 4 weeks filming covertly in the jungles of Borneo for the programme highlighting the plight of the Penan. This programme won a Bafta.

Researcher & Assistant Producer, BBC Radio 4 September 2003 to August 2005I worked on Document, Costing the Earth, Open Country & Excess Baggage. I unearthed & developed A Very British Coup, a story about the 1953 Iranian coup – this won Best Radio Story at the 2005 Foreign Press Awards. My stories that made Pick of the Week include Iper: Remembrance Day Special and Operation Cauldron, for which I found retired trawlermen still unaware they’d sailed through a British germ warfare test in 1952.

Freelance Travel, Trekking & Guidebook Writer June 1998 to September 2003I wrote freelance travel & adventure articles for The Guardian, The Independent, Homes & Gardens & a host of trekking & travel magazines. At the same time I worked for Lonely Planet producing trekking guides to Australia, East Africa and Spain, plus & leading multi-author teams for to Africa, Kenya, West Africa & Morocco. I also wrote guides to Mali & Tonga, plus contributed to The Gap Year Book and travel disaster anthologies LP Unpacked 1&2.

Additional Info & TrainingUSA i-Visa (valid until June 2015) Extensive shooting on Canon XF305, C300, GoPro4 & mini-cameras OTF, RDF, Diverse, BBC Hostile Environments Course (Qualified to Grade 1 Hostile Environment, March 2008) BBC Bristol, NHUStereo sound, Sources, Scoops & Stories, AVID & Final Cut tuition at BBC Wales & R&M Factual In-house research, photographic & language training with Lonely Planet Publications. BA (Hons) degree 3-D Design & Ceramics (inc photography and journalism - 2:2) from Bath Spa University College, 11 GCSEs & two 'A' levels: (geography & design; grade B) from Lutterworth Grammar School.

General Interests I maintain an interest in art, craft, design, film and photography (I still submit images to Lonely Planet Images). I love to travel & jump at opportunities to explore the wilder corners of the globe, be that for work, travel or extended expeditions. I love to walk & get out into the country most weekends & go mountain trekking whenever possible. I bird watch, am a qualified PADI diver, can climb, play golf and football, speak reasonable French plus basic Spanish & enjoy sailing all manner of boats (I have my RYA Day Skipper ticket).