OP EN FOR BUSINESS
Trevor’s dream Machine FILM PRODUCER’S NEW VENTURE FINDS SUCCESS WITH BILLIE EILISH DOCO by Jo Crompton
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resh out of film school with little more than the promise of a friend’s couch to crash on and an unpaid industry internship, Gold Coaster Mr Trevor Smith (Class of 2003) stepped off the plane in Los Angeles and stumbled
nominations. Mr Smith first started working with Mr Cutler on fashion documentary The September Issue, which followed arguably the most renowned editor of Vogue magazine, Ms Anna Wintour. Mr Smith and Mr Cutler forged a creative
services as a way to break new ground and bring more diverse and exciting stories to even bigger audiences. “As we were making the Belushi film and the Billie Eilish film anyone could see that the non-fiction landscape was significantly
into his dream career. Fast forward 15 years and the 37-year-old works with giants of the silver screen and runs a production company together with some of the world’s great documentary film and television creators. Starting out as an assistant to the legendary director Mr R.J. Cutler, a pioneer of the non-fiction film and television genre, Mr Smith is now a sought-after creative producer whose long list of accolades includes being shortlisted for both an Academy Award and a BAFTA, as well as multiple Critics Choice
connection that has led to some of the most successful collaborations in documentary feature filmmaking. From helping bring to life the glamour and drama of the fashion industry, the pair explored the many sides of late actor and comedian Mr John Belushi and, most recently, charted the journey of musician Ms Billie Eilish’s spectacular rise to fame with 2021’s Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry. Now, with the launch of the production company This Machine, the duo is embracing the rise and rise of streaming
changing,” Mr Smith says. “All of a sudden with the creation of streamers like Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV+, HBO Max and Amazon, the appetite for non-fiction programming is significant. People are consuming this kind of content in ways that they haven’t before. R.J. and I partnered with another incredible producer, Elise Pearlstein, and together we are building a company that gives us this amazing opportunity to do more of what we love. The company is designed to work with all kinds of filmmakers whether they be well
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