Whitney Sudler-Smith

Whitney Sudler-Smith is an American filmmaker, television director, and classically trained guitarist. He is the Creator and Executive Producer of Bravo's Southern Charm, a "reality docu-series" about life in Charleston, South Carolina. He is also an executive producer on the Savannah and New Orleans spin-off shows.[1]

Whitney Sudler-Smith
Born1968
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Other namesWhitney Smith
Occupationfilm and television director
Years active1996–present
Parent(s)Patricia Altschul

Early years

Sudler-Smith was born in 1968 in Washington, D.C. but brought up in Virginia. His mother is Patricia Altschul (then Pat Dey-Smith),[2] a socialite and prominent art dealer at the time. He graduated from Georgetown Day School and George Washington University, and studied at Oxford University and the Alliance Française in Paris. His father Lon Hayes Smith was an Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley and currently resides on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Career

After arriving in Los Angeles in 1996, Sudler-Smith directed two small films Going for Baroque and Afternoon Delight.[3] In 1998 he released the Indie film Bubba and Ike, a "redneck buddy comedy" starring Jesse Borrego and Elisa Gabrielli that was first screened at the Austin Film Festival. In 2002 Smith wrote and directed Torture TV, another Indie film that starred Danny Huston and Trevor Goddard.[4] He is also a screenwriter.

In 2010 Sudler-Smith directed the documentary Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston about Roy Halston, the famous fashion designer who helped to create the casual chic look. The film focused on Studio 54 and the club scene in Manhattan in the 1970s, using archival footage and interviews of personalities including Anjelica Huston, Billy Joel, Liza Minnelli, and Anthony Haden-Guest.[5] After an international theatrical release, the movie was sold to Showtime, and can be subsequently seen on Amazon Prime and Peacock. In reviewing the film, critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety and Entertainment Weekly gave it an A-, stating the film ‘has a grander trajectory than just about any other fashion doc.” https://ew.com/article/2012/01/24/ultrasuede-search-halston/. The film was met with mostly negative reviews and currently holds a 33% on review aggregating site Rottentomatoes.com.

Sudler-Smith is creator and executive producer of Southern Charm, a reality show on Bravo that chronicles the social life of Charleston, SC.[6] Filming of the second season finished in November, 2014. Southern Charm looks at the life of six young professionals in Charleston including a novice lawyer, an aspiring fashion designer, and Thomas Ravenel, a local celebrity who was forced to resign as state treasurer of South Carolina after being indicted on cocaine charges. Ravenel is still "pursuing a political career with utter delusion," noted a reviewer about the show. "He plots his comeback while also getting sloshed and hooking up with a 21-year-old. In other words, he is reality TV gold."[7]

Sudler-Smith is also the executive producer of two spin-off series, Southern Charm Savannah[8] and Southern Charm New Orleans.[9]

"Whitney Sudler-Smith is plenty interesting, but he’s nothing compared to his mother, Patricia Altschul, a woman who wakes up and tells her butler she’s ready for her morning cocktail with the signal, 'It’s time for my medicine!'" wrote Gregory Miller in The New York Post.[7] She's the widow of Arthur Goodhart Altschul Sr., the prominent New York art collector and philanthropist who was longtime General Partner of Goldman Sachs.[10] On the show, Patricia Altschul sometimes provides commentary on the younger crowd's activities with icy wit. When Sudler-Smith announced plans during the show's first season to open a restaurant in Charleston, his mother told him, “I think that’s a little out of your realm.” The show is sometimes filmed in Mikell House, a 9,480-square-foot mansion built in 1851 that Patricia Altschul bought in downtown Charleston.[11]

Sudler-Smith is in pre-production on the scripted comedy “Family Office”.

References
  1. "Whitney Smith". IMDb.com.
  2. "Patricia Altschul 'Southern Charm' 2015: Bio, Photos, Twitter - Ok! Here's the Situation - O!HitS". 5 April 2015.
  3. "Whitney Sudler-Smith - Bio". BravoTV.com.
  4. "Torture TV (2002)". IMDb.com.
  5. "Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston (2010)". IMDb.com.
  6. "Southern Charm". BravoTV.com. Bravo Television Network.
  7. Miller, Gregory E. (April 15, 2014). "7 reasons you should be watching 'Southern Charm'". The New York Post.
  8. "Cast of Southern Charm Slowly Being Confirmed". Holy City Sinner. 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  9. "Whitney Sudler-Smith Is The Not-So-Secret Ingredient To The 'Southern Charm' Franchise's Success". Decider. 2018-05-03. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  10. "Arthur G. Altschul, 81, Banker, Art Collector and Philanthropist". The New York Times. March 20, 2002.
  11. WBTW News Staff (February 4, 2014). "Get ready for another SC 'reality' show: Southern Charm". WBTW Channel 13 News.
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