Matt Renner

Renner currently serves as EVP, Current Programming, for SMUGGLER ENTERTAINMENT. His latest productions: MESSI MEETS AMERICA, MESSI'S WORLD CUP: THE RISE OF A LEGEND (APPLE+), HITLER AND THE NAZI'S: EVIL ON TRIAL (NETFLIX).

From January 2015 to February 2022, Renner served as Vice President, Production, for National Geographic Partners. As a lead creative overseeing the channels New York production team, Renner executive produced a string of award winning series for both the core channel and Disney+, including the most ambitious, premium, genre-busting, documentary/big science series ONE STRANGE ROCK, WELCOME TO EARTH, LIMITLESS with CHRIS HEMSWORTH, MARS, and THE WORLD ACCORDING TO JEFF GOLDBLUM.

Renner also reinvigorated National Geographic's documentary feature business with award-winning documentary features like BAFTA and ACADEMY AWARD WINNING "FREE SOLO," ACADEMY NOMINATED AND PEABODY WINNING "THE CAVE," EMMY AWARD WINNING AND OSCAR SHORTLISTED "LA 92," BLOOD ON THE WALL, and duPont winning HELL ON EARTH.

Among the documentary features, THE CAVE, helmed by Oscar-nominated director Feras Fayyad (LAST MEN IN ALEPPO) garnered the prestigious Grolsch People's Choice Documentary award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and nabbed the special jury mention in the Best Documentary Feature category and Audience Award at Camden's International Film Festival as well as a PEABODY AWARD. THE CAVE is the name by which the Syrian community called the secret underground hospital (that may as well be post-apocalyptic), in the besieged city of Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus. The film's heroine is 29-year-old Dr. Amani Ballor. Elected as a hospital manager by her colleagues, Dr. Amani runs the Cave with unparalleled compassion and leadership. Indiewire: "it's a frantic, unnerving window into Syria's collapse, and a nerve-wracking thriller that alternates between acts of courage and utter despair; through that paradox, it captures the struggles on the ground in intimate detail."

Alongside Oscar winning directors Chai Vasharelyi and Jimmy Chin, Renner executive produced the multi-Emmy, BAFTA, and Academy Award winning documentary feature FREE SOLO. FREE SOLO nabbed multiple Critic's Choice awards, multiple Cinema Eye Honors, the awards for best sound editing CAS and Motion Picture Sound Editing, and Toronto International Film Festival's Grolsch People's Choice Documentary award. FREE SOLO also broke the documentary box office record for opening weekend set by Al Gore's The Inconvenient Truth in 2006. FREE SOLO is a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the face of the world's most famous rock -the 3,000ft El Capitan in Yosemite National Park-without a rope.

In LA 92, from Oscar winning directors Dan Lindsay and TJ Martin, the genre-busting archive driven film garnered two nominations from the International Documentary Association (IDA), an Emmy award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, and was shortlisted for an Academy Award in 2017. LA 92 presents a riveting look back at the tumultuous period of the 1992 Los Angeles riots through stunning and rarely seen archival footage.

HELL ON EARTH, from directors Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested, chronicled Syria's descent into the unbridled chaos that allowed for the rise of ISIS. With Hell on Earth, Renner garnered IDA's Courage Under Fire award and the duPont-Columbia Award, honoring excellence in broadcast and digital journalism in the public service. The duPont along with the Peabody rank among the most prestigious awards programs in all electronic media. Renner tapped Academy Award winning producer Fisher Stevens (THE COVE) and writer Mark Monroe (ICARUS) to partner with Sebastian and Nick for a second film under the Hell on Earth banner, BLOOD ON THE WALL, which chronicles three families attempting to survive the harrowing journey amongst the migrant caravan, from Guatemala to the USA.

A few other highlights... Renner executive produced Disney+ cinematic event series WELCOME TO EARTH and its prequel, ONE STRANGE ROCK, alongside Oscar nominated director Darren Aronofsky (BLACK SWAN, PI, MOTHER) and his producing partners Ari Handel, Scott Franklin and natural history juggernauts Jane Root, Peter Lovering and Arif Nurmohamed. After debuting to critical acclaim, One Strange Rock nabbed a bunch of awards, including three of the UK's Wildscreen Panda Awards for music, editing, and innovation. The Panda is considered the UK's most prestigious natural history award. ONE STRANGE ROCK 2 is in now production.

Renner executive produced two seasons of MARS alongside multi-award and OSCAR winning director/producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, and Radical Media's Jon Kamen and Justin Wilkes.

Prior to joining National Geographic, Renner, the Primetime Emmy award-winning producer (DEADLIEST CATCH), and Producer's Guild Producer of the year (2011), founded his indie, Undertow Films in 2012. While at Undertow, Renner served as Co-CEO and Executive Producer and produced GAME OF ARMS, AMC's highest-rated nonfiction series; SHARK WRANGLERS for History Channel; and two seasons of AIRPLANE REPO for Discovery Channel. Prior to Undertow, Renner quickly rose up the ranks at Original Productions, where he served as one of the chief creative forces behind DEADLIEST CATCH, where in season six, he co-executive produced the team to its first Emmy for Outstanding Reality Program.

Renner has produced and worked as on-air talent on Animal Planet's "Raw Nature." He also helped develop multiple series: Discovery Channel's "Swords," "Lobstermen: Jeopardy at Sea" and "Into the Firestorm" and TruTV's "Black Gold," to name a few.

Renner holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from Colgate University, where he has guest lectured. He is also a member of the Academy of Arts and Television Sciences.