James Buchanan
agent: Natalie Spanier - natalie@sternwild.com
James Buchanan is a Showrunner, Producer and Director, who creates premium projects for streamers and networks in the UK and US. Working out of London, New York and San Francisco, he has made films and series for MasterClass, Amazon Prime, BBC, Channel 4, Sky, Discovery+, National Geographic and others.
His recent work has been as a showrunner for MasterClass, the world’s leading entertainment/education streamer, capturing lessons with A List artists, campaigners and business-leaders. Past work covers a wide range of documentary and specialist factual content, from GFX dominated astrophysics films, to airport-based precinct series and access-led documentaries on everything from The British Library to Kipling Cakes. Across his career, and especially while at MasterClass, he has worked with a huge range of global talent, crafting high end films around their passions and skills and fostering a creative relationship spanning preproduction, shoot and post.
With a background in directing, his work as As a showrunner / exec-producer allows for great creative vision - developing the best filming techniques and film arcs to suit the subject matter and format. And as an experienced producer he also specialises in leading teams to overcome the challenges involved in ambitious, complex productions; overseeing highly technical shoots on multiple continents or managing in-depth access to world-class institutions.
James still enjoys directing and loves digging into the full, rich complexity of the subject and then crafting a mix of contributors, visuals and narrative that connects the story to the audience. He is equally happy working with a poet laureate and full union cinematic crew on a LA sound stage (see Amanda Gorman Teaches Writing or Performing Poetry) or roaming with an expert presenter and single camera unit (see Inside the Factory, with Greg Wallace, or Walking Through History, with Tony Robinson). Recent work for other broadcasters includes Shark Gangs for National Geographic, and Treasures of the British Library for Sky Arts.