After studying Human Sciences at Oxford University, Vanessa joined the BBC’s NHU where she produced and directed 15 films for 5 award winning landmark series – Planet Earth, Frozen Planet, David Attenborough’s Life of Mammals, Land of the Tiger and The Human Animal – as well as for long-running strands The Natural World and Wildlife on One and documentary series Animal People and Postcards from the Country. Awards include Emmys, BAFTAs, RTS’s, TCAs, Jackson Wild awards and Wildscreen Pandas.  She is also a BAFTA and Grierson nominated Director.

She travelled from the North to the South Pole with Sir David Attenborough whilst producing and directing the opening episode of Frozen Planet, a series for which she won a Primetime Emmy as the Series Producer. Vanessa became an Executive Producer at the BBC for Great Bear Stakeout, Life in the Air and Planet Earth 2.

After leaving the BBC, Vanessa worked as a Consulting Executive Producer with Nutopia helping to develop the series vision for One Strange Rock. She then moved to Botswana with her husband, Mark and son, Cameron, to live in the bush for 2.5 years where together they made Elephant and a companion documentary, In the Footsteps of Elephant for Disneynature

In the seven years since Wildstar was founded, Vanessa has collaborated closely with the teams to deliver six major series for National Geographic and Disney+, including Queens, America the Beautiful, America’s National Parks, Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory, Animals Up Close, and Underdogs with Ryan Reynolds.

She is currently overseeing production on the second series of Underdogs, a Disneynature film slated for release on Earth Day 2025, as well as Sentient—a major landmark series for a leading global streamer, produced in partnership with Darren Aronofsky and Protozoa Films.

Alongside these flagship projects, Vanessa also produced and co-directed Tiger for Disneynature and co-produced its environmental companion documentary Tigers on the Rise, both of which premiered on Disney+.

Since Fremantle acquired Wildstar Films in 2022, Vanessa has used sale proceeds to launch the Wildstar Academy to continue the training of female and diverse wildlife film makers that she started with Queens. She is a regular mentor for National Geographic’s Field Ready Program and is highly committed to helping train and support more film makers from underrepresented groups to build a successful career in wildlife.

After studying Biology at Oxford University, Mark began his career with a long expedition to the Congo for the first full length documentary about lowland gorillas, which aired on the BBC. Mark then joined an independent production company, Green Umbrella, where he produced and directed many films for BBC’s The Natural World and Wildlife on One strands, including The Temple Troop; Gelada Baboons – The Battles of Braveheart; Orangutans – The High Society; and Capuchins – The Monkey Puzzle.

Mark returned to the BBC in 2000 to produce and direct two episodes for Life of Mammals, on which he travelled the world with Sir David Attenborough filming the weird and the wonderful. Mark went on to direct two episodes of the hit TV series Planet Earth, winning a Primetime EMMY for his opening show Pole to Pole. Mark followed this as Producer/Director and Series Writer for Frozen Planet.

Mark broadened into directing feature-length documentaries with the theatric movie Earth which remains one of the most successful wildlife feature films of all time. His director credits for Disneynature include Chimpanzee, Monkey Kingdom, Elephant and co-director for Penguin.  His films have gained many awards including EMMYs, BAFTAs, RTS’s, TCA’s, Jackson Wild awards and Wildscreen Pandas.

In the seven years since Wildstar was founded, Mark has collaborated closely with the teams to deliver six major series for National Geographic and Disney+, including Queens, America the Beautiful, America’s National Parks, Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory, Animals Up Close, and Underdogs with Ryan Reynolds. He also co-developed and directed the jet photography for America the Beautiful which won a Broadcast award for Innovative Use of Technology in Storytelling.

He is currently overseeing production on the second series of Underdogs, a Disneynature film slated for release on Earth Day 2025, as well as Sentient—a major landmark series for a leading global streamer, produced in partnership with Darren Aronofsky and Protozoa Films. Alongside these flagship projects, Mark also directed and produced Tiger for Disneynature and co-produced its environmental companion documentary Tigers on the Rise, both of which premiered on Disney+.

Mark has been at the forefront of innovation in wildlife storytelling throughout his career and continues to work closely with camera and technology companies to develop new ways of filming the natural world. He is committed to help train the next generation of cinematographers, including through National Geographic’s Field Ready Program and his ongoing support for Wildstar’s Academy which he is co-funding with Vanessa.

In May 2022, Rebecca was promoted to Head of Production, and in 2025, she became the Director of Production & Operations.

Over her 20+ year career, Rebecca has worked across a whole range of genres including natural history, factual entertainment, and documentaries, delivering series to both UK & US broadcasters.  Rebecca has a passion for creating and negotiating complex budgets and schedules with commissioners and working alongside senior leaders to strategically run the business. Along with her day-to-day role, Rebecca is Head of Programmes for the Wildstar Academy and a school governor to two schools in the Chew Valley. She also runs a small-scale flower farm. 

Some of Rebecca’s previous projects include the Emmy award winning productions Queens and Animals up Close with Bertie Gregory, Underdogs, Sentient, America’s National Parks, Handmade: Britain’s Best Woodworker, John Bishop’s Great Whale Rescue, and The Great British Bake Off.

From fact ent to obs docs, and live TV to natural history, Anwar has worked across a huge variety of genres. When it comes to TV he has one goal: to tell engaging stories that are relatable, entertaining, and emotional.  In development Anwar loves to find a new angle, voice or tone for ideas and oversees an ever-growing, innovative, slate for broadcasters, streamers, and brands. In production, Anwar has consistently delivered high-rating series for the global market by working closely with production teams and commissioners to make shows that resonate and punch through on multiple platforms. Recent credits include Secrets of the Octopus and Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory.

Previously Carrie worked for a variety of film production companies in London, making a range of films such as Phantom of the Opera, The Libertine and Valiant, as well as working with Chris Evans’ TV Production company, Ginger Television (TFI Friday, The Priory).

Carrie qualified as a Chartered Accountant while working at Deloitte, specialising in the audit of  media and entertainment businesses, and has also spent time working for a small accountancy practice preparing year end accounts and tax returns for individuals and small owner-managed businesses.

Chloe recently helmed the groundbreaking series Queens. Narrated by Oscar and Emmy winning Angela Basset, Queens was the first natural history series to explore female led animal societies and was made by a female led team. Behind the scenes Chloe committed to raising the next generation of female cinematographers and filmmakers, especially from underrepresented backgrounds. 

Chloe is the series writer for Sentient, an exciting exploration of animal minds. Sentient is a co-production with Oscar winning director Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa Pictures.

As Vice Chair of the Wildstar Academy Chloe champions the growth of female talent in all areas of production in wildlife television.

Before joining Wildstar Chloe created content for the BBC, Discovery and other global channels.

Sarah is a dynamic, CIPD qualified HR Talent Manager with a wealth of experience across industry leading companies. Over the course of her career Sarah has worked in various fields of HR, she has a broad range of experience including managing global teams, mediation, leading TUPE transfers and launching international graduate schemes. She has a genuine passion for driving forward new initiatives to support individuals and their development. 

Most recently, Sarah is proud to have supported Wildstar in becoming an accredited Living Wage employer. 

With 15 years in the industry and a background as a producer and director in London and Bristol, she now specialises in the edit and has been involved in shaping new formats for all the major streamers as well as helping deliver familiar landmark brands. 

She came to Wildstar via Queens, helping to shape the story and style for Tiny Queens and is now enjoying the challenge of writing for Ryan Reynolds on Underdogs, who has a slightly different ‘tone’ from David Attenborough and a few more jokes.

Before that she worked as a freelancer for a variety of Bristol based production companies on a wide range of productions for the BBC, National Geographic Channel, Channel 4 or Discovery Channel. Some of her projects include Wild Britain, The First Brit, Wild Dubai and Yellowstone Live.

After working for production companies in the South West and London, Nigel founded a Post Production house in Bristol and as a freelance editor has cut numerous critically acclaimed documentaries and dramas for theatrical release, streamers and broadcasters such as Disney+, BBC, Netflix, National Geographic, ITV, Channel 4, and Discovery Channel. 

His natural history credits include The Natural World, Our Planet, Blue Planet 2, Planet Earth 2, The Hunt, Frozen Planet 1&2, Dynasties Perfect Planet, and for the big screen: Enchanted Kingdom 3D, Tiny Giants 3D & Disneynature’s Elephant, alongside documentaries and dramas such as Last Flight to Kuwait, A World in Arms & Dartmoor Killing. 

 Nigel has won and been nominated for multiple awards including BAFTA, RTS, Grierson, Jackson Hole, Missoula, Wildscreen and recently won an outstanding editing award from the Hollywood Professional Association.

 Nigel joined Wildstar in October 2022 as Executive Editor and has edited America the Beautiful, Queens. Disneynature Tiger, Underdogs & is currently cutting two episodes of the Sentient series with Darren Aronofsky.

She started out working on natural history and science based series for commissioners such as Discovery and National Geographic, but over the years moved in to popular and prime time factual programming for UK channels.  Spending two years on an insect series at Hooded Crow Pictures for CuriosityStream reminded her of her love for natural history and she’s now following this passion, joining Wildstar in August 2022 on Animals Up Close with Bertie Gregory, going on to join the team on Sentient.

Currently on Ryan Reynolds’ series Underdogs, she has vast experience in natural history as well as a diverse range of other genres. Notable credits include BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Planet Earth 2 and Seven Worlds, One Planet, as well as prestigious studio productions like Later… with Jools Holland, Top of the Pops specials, and Strictly Come Dancing. Additionally, she has contributed to significant outside broadcasts, including Glastonbury Festival, Reading & Leeds Festival, and the Chelsea Flower Show.

She has been producing documentaries for UK and US broadcasters for over 10 years, working with many of Bristol’s indies, as well as the BBC’s Natural History Unit. She has worked on a wide range of content, from the BBC’s ground-breaking landmark Earth From Space, to Nat Geo’s Savage Kingdom and BBC1’s Animal’s Behaving Badly. 

The driving force behind everything Hannah makes is a determination to show audiences a side of nature they’ve never seen before. She strives to capture our planets characters in the most visually captivating ways, and tell stories that are emotive, engaging and surprising.

She started her career in BBC Bristol working in Post Production before launching in to a range of Factual Entertainment programmes, Live OBs and finally finding her home in Natural History. Rachel has worked on productions delivering to BBC, PBS, Disney Nature and Netflix with credits including the Chelsea Flower Show, Springwatch, Night on Earth and Animal.

Rachel loves working in Production Management and embracing the challenges and rewards it brings in equal measures!

Since joining Wildstar he has worked as show runner and executive producer on America The Beautiful and America’s National Parks for National Geographic and Disney+. Currently, he is executive producing Underdogs, a joint venture with Ryan Reynolds’ company Maximum Effort which aims to appeal to new audiences by taking an unconventional approach to wildlife filmmaking. 

Dan also has a passion for impact filmmaking and has made films for international NGO’s, from Nepal to Nicaragua. In addition, he spent time as the technology strategist for the BBC NHU, where he was able to push the genre further through new and innovative technology.  Sadly, he has yet to be selected for the Liverpool FC first team, though he lives in hope.

During that time she worked on a variety of BBC flagship series such as DIY SOS, Countryfile and The Watches, as well as the blue chip NHU series Life and mini landmark Atlantic.

Since being at Wildstar Vic has Production Managed the landmark series America the Beautiful and is now Line Producer on the exciting new series with Ryan Reynolds, Underdogs.

Mentored & inspired by those specializing in innovative camera technologies including Ammonite Films, BBC Earth, Brain Farm & V/Speed, Tom  has always looked to tell stories with a new perspective. Shooting  in remote, hostile and extreme conditions from the negative 40 of Yellowstone’s winter to the blistering +45 of Zimbabwe’s dry season peak. Tom has worked to deliver the highest production values in the  most demanding of environments.

He has produced a range of National Geographic Productions, including the Emmy & Jackson Hole Award winning Wild Yellowstone. After returning from America, Tom worked as the Assistant Director with Mark Linfield for Disneynature Elephant & Co-Director with Vanessa Berlowitz of In The Footsteps of Elephants.

Tom produced two episodes (Northland & Wild West) of Wildstar’s America The Beautifulseries for National Geographic / Disney Plus and is now the Co-Series Director of a new Wildstar series Underdogs.

Utilising previous experience in business management, catering, recruitment and customer service, Sharon manages the day to day running of the office creating a welcoming, cheerful, and positive environment for all our employees and visitors. Alongside managing the running team, Sharon is dedicated to making the Wildstar office an amazing place to work.

Before joining Wildstar, he worked at the BBC, in post-production facilities and at a specialist media technology services provider, supporting broadcasters and production companies with editorial systems, media management and technical workflows.

Ed has always enjoyed tinkering with technology, from the latest gadgets to new software, and finding ways to put it to good use in film and television. He enjoys solving technical challenges and building workflows that make life easier for production teams.

Throughout his career, Ed has worked behind the scenes to support a wide range of productions, from flagship natural history series such as Frozen Planet, Africa, Wild Arabia, Life Story, Natural World and Springwatch to popular daytime programmes including Flog It! and DIY SOS. At Wildstar, he combines his passion for technology with his love of film and television, helping to build the workflows and technical foundations that enable world-class productions to come to life.

Before joining Wildstar, he spent two years at the BBC as the technician for the Attenborough landmark series, Mammals. Prior to that, he served as a camera technician at Films@59. Proficient in diverse camera systems and equipment, Ryan has supported crews across every continent.

With teaching experience, he mentors upcoming technicians and operators, many of whom now work across various television genres. On location, Ryan has spent hundreds of days operating and assisting on shoots, deploying bespoke technology to capture groundbreaking sequences. Most recently for Wildstar this includes shoots for Sentient and Sharks Up Close with Bertie Gregory.

Ryan thrives on using innovative camera technology to tell unique stories about the natural world and the urgent need to preserve it.