R.J. Cutler

President

R.J. Cutler is an award-winning director and producer who has made some of the most significant documentary film and television series of the past thirty years. In 2020, Cutler launched This Machine, a production company focused on developing and producing non-fiction projects for film and television.

Cutler’s feature documentaries include the Oscar-nominated The War Room, the Emmy-nominated A Perfect Candidate, The Sundance Award-winning The September Issue, the Peabody Award-winning Listen To Me Marlon, the Critics’ Choice Award-nominated BELUSHI, the Academy Award shortlisted Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, South to Black Power, The World According to Dick Cheney and Thin.

R.J. has also been a pioneer in the area of non-fiction television, having created such landmark programs as American High (winner of the first Emmy Award for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series), Freshman Diaries, 30 Days, Dear… and Supreme Models.

Cutler’s scripted work includes conceiving and directing the Golden Globe-nominated television series Nashville, directing the People’s Choice-nominated feature film If I Stay, and creating, writing, directing and producing the Webby Award-winning podcast The Oval Office Tapes.

Cutler’s most recent work includes Executive Producing the Emmy Award-winning Elton John Live: Farewell from Dodger Stadium, directing the Critics’ Choice-nominated documentary series Big Vape and directing the documentary series Murf the Surf. His upcoming films include the Untitled Martha Stewart Documentary and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, both of which he is directing and producing. He is also producing Lee Soo Man: The King of K-Pop.

Cutler’s work has been nominated for an Academy Award and he is the recipient of numerous other awards including three Emmys, two Peabody Awards, a GLAAD Award, two Cinema Eye Awards and two Television Academy Honor Awards. In 2009, the Museum of Television and Radio held a four-day retrospective of R.J.’s work. In 2021 R.J. was the recipient of the Critic’s Choice Awards Pennebaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Documentary Film.

R.J. Cutler lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jane Cha Cutler, their children Maddie, Max and Penny and their dog Dexter.