Blackbeard Films

Blackbeard is dedicated to producing films, reportage and live events that break boundaries and fuel conversation.

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Our field experience spans more than 120 countries and six continents, with a focus on conflict, human rights & the environment.

What we do well

news docs

From short docs to feature-length, making films is our specialty

t.v. series production

We develop series concepts and handle field production

broadcast hosting

Need someone to host a film? We’ve got ’em

aerial cinematography

Our expert drone pilots have experience on six continents

multimedia storytelling

Video, audio, text, graphics. Our approach is versatile

narrative non-fiction

From long-form to enterprise reporting, we’ve got the wordsmiths

photojournalism

And we have talented shooters in our network

podcasting

Check out our groundbreaking podcast on the reporting life, Detours

workshops

We offer multi-day courses on international reporting and guerrilla filmmaking

Detours is a free-ranging podcast that explores the working lives of multimedia storytellers & the issues that engage them around the world.

Featuring interviews with an eclectic mix of journalists, photographers and filmmakers, we delve deep into the craft of reportage, projects past and present, the challenges of the field and the motives that drive them onward. Recorded in-studio and on street corners spanning Bangkok to Baghdad, these are unfiltered conversations with the people who are blazing their own path through daunting new media terrain.

6

episodes

300

minutes

47

other number

Jason Motlagh

Jason Motlagh

Founder & Director

Jason is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, writer and broadcast journalist whose work focuses on human rights and lives lived in extremis. Formerly TIME Magazine’s Afghanistan correspondent, he has reported from more than 50 countries and a dozen conflicts spanning West Africa to Southeast Asia for National Geographic, Outside, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, and The Guardian. He directs, produces and hosts news documentaries for Al Jazeera English, SBS Dateline, PBS Newshour, National Geographic and CGTN. A lifelong freelancer, he founded Blackbeard Media in 2012 to work more collaboratively on underreported issues around the world.
www.jasonmotlagh.com
Specialties: Production, Writing, Hosting

Suez Taylor

Suez Taylor

Producer & Development

Suez is a documentary producer whose work concentrates on women’s issues and the environment. She has worked with Blackbeard Media on a range of projects in the United States, the Balkans and Southeast Asia for National Geographic, Al Jazeera, TIME, Marie Claire, Ms. Magazine and The American Interest. Her award-winning short feature “Food + Water | Earth” tracked the indigenous battle against predatory industry in the American midwest and is currently being developed into a TV series with Anonymous Content. She also organizes political street art installations.
Specialties: Production, Research

Meet the team

Jason Motlagh

Founder & Director

Jason is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, writer and broadcast journalist whose work focuses on human rights and lives lived in extremis. Formerly TIME Magazine’s Afghanistan correspondent, he has reported from more than 60 countries and a dozen conflicts spanning West Africa to Southeast Asia for National Geographic, Outside, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, and The Guardian. He directs, produces and hosts news documentaries for Al Jazeera English, SBS Dateline, PBS Newshour, National Geographic and CGTN. A lifelong freelancer, he founded Blackbeard Media in 2012 to work more collaboratively on underreported issues around the world.

www.jasonmotlagh.com

Specialties: Production, Writing, Hosting

Mark Oltmanns

Director of Photography

Mark is a documentary filmmaker and director of photography whose work has been featured by PBS, VICE-on-HBO, Al Jazeera English, TIME, Netflix and others. He earned a Master’s Degree from the UC-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He specializes in intimate, cinéma vérité style shooting for moving, character-driven films. Mark also lived and worked in Southeast Asia for seven years and speaks fluent Thai and French. In 2016, he was director of photography on an Emmy Award-winning project for Al Jazeera and a finalist for the Livingstone Award for international reporting.

www.markoltmanns.com

Specialties: Cinematography, Aerial Cinematography, Production, Editing

Suez Taylor

Producer & Development

Suez is a documentary producer whose work concentrates on women’s issues and the environment. She has worked with Blackbeard Media on a range of projects in the United States, the Balkans and Southeast Asia for National Geographic, Al Jazeera, TIME, Marie Claire, Ms. Magazine and The American Interest. Her award-winning short feature “Food + Water | Earth” tracked the indigenous battle against predatory industry in the American midwest and is currently being developed into a TV series with Anonymous Content. She also organizes political street art installations.

Specialties: Production, Research

Bill Wheeler

Producer & Writer

Bill is a veteran freelance writer and producer who has reported from throughout Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. Coverage of refugees fleeing war by boat, the rise of neo-fascist parties and the radicalization of second-generation Europeans are but some of the stories that have won him recognition. His focus often attempts to take the measure of governments’ abilities to contend with legacies of conflict, disaster, and environmental degradation and to examine the consequences in human terms. Bill’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, TIME, Playboy, GOOD magazine, Christian Science Monitor and elsewhere. He has worked as a producer on original series for Netflix and Showtime.

Specialties: Production, Writing, Research

Eric Fernandez

Cinematographer & Producer

Eric is a journalist, cinematographer, and producer who specializes in vérité-style, news, and issue-based documentary filmmaking. His work has appeared in The New York TimesThe Economist and Guardian, and he has regularly been a cinematographer for National Geographic, VICE News Tonight on HBOPBS NewshourCBSN OriginalsCNN, and Al Jazeera. His filmmaking has taken him to more than a dozen countries, including Haiti, Pakistan, and Rwanda. In 2017, his short doc Chi won an SPJ Award for Excellence in Explanatory Video.

www.ericarthurfernandez.com

Specialties: Cinematography, Producing, Writing

Danny Gold

Producer & Host

Danny is a correspondent, producer and writer focusing on conflict, crime and politics. He’s hosted and produced films for PBS NewshourHBOVicelandAl Jazeera, and Netflix; and his written work has appeared in Wired, The New York TimesWall Street Journal and Esquire. With experience in more than 20 countries, he’s snuck into Syria to cover the ISIS siege of Kobane, revealed UN complicity in ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, and covered the ebola outbreak up close. More recently, he received a Pulitzer Center grant to report on reformed gang members in El Salvador.

www.dannygoldjournalist.com

Specialties: Producing, Hosting, Writing

Roger Arnold

Producer & Aerial Photographer

Roger is a filmmaker and photographer who has been producing features for broadcasters, magazines and humanitarian organizations for over a decade. Based in Bangkok, he has worked in over 50 countries including the most remote areas of Asia, Africa and the Pacific. His portfolio ranges from the war in Afghanistan to in-depth documentary features on women in conflict zones, and investigations into wildlife trafficking and environmental crime. In 2010, Roger documented the violent suppression of the Red Shirt protests in Bangkok for the Wall Street Journal. His coverage won the Rory Peck Award for News and was featured on the BBC’s Firing Line.

https://archive.rogerarnold.net/index

Specialties: Cinematography, Aerial Cinematography

This is me. Designer by day & developer by night. I never sleep… almost.

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112

successful projects

3265

days of experience

47

happy clients

Who we work with

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Frank MillerCEOMiller Media

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Sara AndrewsProducerSandrew Inc.

Want to get in touch?

+1 415 275 1677

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