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Whitney Sudler-Smith

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Whitney Sudler-Smith
Born
Other namesWhitney Smith
Occupation(s)film and television director
Years active1996–present
ParentPatricia Altschul

Whitney Sudler-Smith (born June 2, 1968) is an American filmmaker, television director, and a 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 was an executive producer on the Savannah and New Orleans spin-off shows.[1]

Early years

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Sudler-Smith was born June 2, 1968 in Washington, D.C., however he grew up in Virginia.[citation needed] His mother is Patricia Altschul (then Pat Dey-Smith),[2] a socialite. He graduated from Georgetown Day School and George Washington University.[citation needed] He studied at Oxford University and the Alliance Française in Paris.[citation needed] His late father, Lon Hayes Smith, was an investment banker at Morgan Stanley and lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, which is a peninsula.[citation needed]

Career

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In 1996, Sudler-Smith directed two small films Going for Baroque and Afternoon Delight.[3] In 1998, he released an Indie film Bubba and Ike, a "redneck buddy comedy" starring Jesse Borrego and Elisa Gabrielli which was first screened at the Austin Film Festival. In 2002, Sudler-Smith wrote and directed Torture TV, another Indie film starring Danny Huston and Trevor Goddard.[4] Sudler-Smith is also a screenwriter. In 2010, he directed the documentary Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston about Roy Halston, a fashion designer. The film was met with mostly negative reviews and has a rating of 33% on review aggregating site Rottentomatoes.com.

Sudler-Smith is the creator and executive producer of Southern Charm, a reality show on Bravo which chronicles the social life of Charleston, SC.[5][failed verification] He was the executive producer of two spin-off series, Southern Charm Savannah[6] and Southern Charm New Orleans.[7] While neither show was officially cancelled, they have not aired since 2018 and 2019, respectively.

Sudler-Smith's mother, Patricia Altschul, is the widow of Arthur Goodhart Altschul Sr., the prominent New York art collector and philanthropist who was a longtime general partner of Goldman Sachs.[8] 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 which Patricia Altschul bought in downtown Charleston.[9] Sudler-Smith is in pre-production on the scripted comedy Family Office.

References

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  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. ^ "Southern Charm". BravoTV.com. Bravo Television Network. 9 January 2014.
  6. ^ "Cast of Southern Charm Slowly Being Confirmed". Holy City Sinner. 2013-04-04. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  7. ^ "Whitney Sudler-Smith Is The Not-So-Secret Ingredient To The 'Southern Charm' Franchise's Success". Decider. 2018-05-03. Retrieved 2020-06-13.
  8. ^ "Arthur G. Altschul, 81, Banker, Art Collector and Philanthropist". The New York Times. March 20, 2002.
  9. ^ WBTW News Staff (February 4, 2014). "Get ready for another SC 'reality' show: Southern Charm". WBTW Channel 13 News.
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