Whitney Sudler-Smith

Whitney Sudler-Smith
Born	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Other names	Whitney Smith
Occupation(s)	film and television director
Years active	1996–present
Parent	Patricia Altschul

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

Early years

Sudler-Smith was born June 2, 1968, in Washington, D.C., but brought up in Virginia. His mother is Patricia Altschul (then Pat Dey-Smith), a socialite. He graduated from Georgetown Day School and George Washington University, and studied at Oxford University and the Alliance Française in Paris. His late father Lon Hayes Smith was an Investment Banker at Morgan Stanley and resided on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

Career

After arriving in Los Angeles in 1996, Sudler-Smith directed two small films Going for Baroque and Afternoon Delight. In 1998 he released the Indie film Bubba and Ike, a "redneck buddy comedy" starring Jesse Borrego and Elisa Gabrielli that was first screened at the Austin Film Festival. In 2002 Smith wrote and directed Torture TV, another Indie film that starred Danny Huston and Trevor Goddard. He is also a screenwriter.

In 2010 Sudler-Smith directed the documentary Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston about Roy Halston, the famous fashion designer who helped to create the casual chic look. The film focused on Studio 54 and the club scene in Manhattan in the 1970s, using archival footage and interviews of personalities including Anjelica Huston, Billy Joel, Liza Minnelli, and Anthony Haden-Guest. After an international theatrical release, the movie was sold to Showtime, and can be subsequently seen on Amazon Prime and Peacock. In reviewing the film, critic Owen Gleiberman of Variety and Entertainment Weekly gave it an A−, stating the film ‘has a grander trajectory than just about any other fashion doc.” The film was met with mostly negative reviews and currently holds a 33% on review aggregating site Rottentomatoes.com.

Sudler-Smith is the creator and executive producer of Southern Charm, a reality show on Bravo that chronicles the social life of Charleston, SC.

Sudler-Smith is also the executive producer of two spin-off series, Southern Charm Savannah and Southern Charm New Orleans.

Sudler-Smith's mother is the widow of Arthur Goodhart Altschul Sr., the prominent New York art collector and philanthropist who was longtime General Partner of Goldman Sachs. 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 that Patricia Altschul bought in downtown Charleston.

Sudler-Smith is in pre-production on the scripted comedy Family Office.

External links

• Whitney Sudler-Smith at IMDb
• Whitney Sudler-Smith - Bio on BravoTV.com