R.J. Cutler

President

R.J. Cutler is an award-winning filmmaker who has directed such feature documentaries as Martha, Elton John: Never Too Late, Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry, BELUSHI, The World According to Dick Cheney, The September Issue and A Perfect Candidate. He has produced such films as Thin, Listen to Me Marlon, The Disappearance of Shere Hite, Karol G: Tomorrow Was Beautiful, Marc by Sofia, and BTS: The Return. For television, Cutler has directed and/or executive-produced such programs as Fight for Glory, Big Vape: The Rise and Fall of Juul, Murf the Surf, Dear…, Nashville, 30 Days, and Freshman Diaries.

In 2020, Cutler founded This Machine Filmworks, a company specializing in the development and production of premium documentary films and television programs. This Machine is now a part of Sony Non-Fiction Television.

Cutler began his filmmaking career as the producer of the Oscar-nominated film The War Room, during which he was mentored by cinema verité pioneers DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus. The lessons learned during the making of The War Room inform Cutler's work to this day, and the spirit of mentorship that defined his relationship with Pennebaker and Hegedus is a guiding principle of the work done at This Machine.

Cutler applied these same principles to his first television series, American High (2000), a 13-part cinema verité series which explored the lives of a group of American teenagers in the wake of the Columbine shootings. Students were not only followed by verité crews, they were also given cameras and trained in the art of personal documentary filmmaking long before the era of smartphones or social media. American High had the unique distinction of airing on both FOX television and PBS and was the recipient of the very first Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Program.

R.J. Cutler lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jane Cha Cutler, their children Maddie, Max and Penny and their dog, Dexter. He is the recipient of three Emmys, two Peabody Awards, two Television Academy Honor awards and two Cinema Eye Awards, among others. His work has been nominated for two Academy Awards. In 2021, R.J. received the Critics’ Choice Pennebaker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Documentary Film. He is proud to be a 2026 inductee into the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ Silver Circle.