BACK EAST MEDIA IS A BROOKLYN-BASED PRODUCTION COMPANY AND CREATIVE COLLECTIVE.

We are a boutique, full-service shop that creates branded content, documentaries, commercials, and web-based media. As Emmy-nominated and Sundance Award-winning directors, producers, editors, and cinematographers, we have experience working in over 40 countries for major cable networks and commercial brands.  

As a collective, we collaborate with fellow filmmakers and production companies to push boundaries, innovate, and stay on top of a rapidly changing media landscape.  

PETER HUTCHENS IS AN AWARD-WINNING CINEMATOGRAPHER AND DIRECTOR WHO HAS SET THE VISUAL TONE FOR MANY ACCLAIMED DOCUMENTARY FEATURES AND SERIES, ADVENTURE PROGRAMMING, reality shows, AND commercials. 

Peter has filmed over 100 hours of content for broadcast clients National Geographic, Discovery, PBS, HBO, Animal Planet, Spike TV, NOVA, and the Weather Channel.  In 2011, he won the Sundance Cinematography Award for his work on the feature documentary The Redemption of General Butt Naked.  His first independent documentary, Border Jumpers, was a powerful look at Zimbabweans illegally entering Botswana in search of a better life.  The film was nominated for the 2005 International Press Club Award and was selected to be part of PBS' acclaimed Wide Angle series.  Peter was recently a principal DP for Oprah Winfrey's epic international series Belief, which follows stories about faith and spirituality around the world.  

In 2010, Peter filmed an international ad campaign for HSBC that followed National Geographic photographers on assignment in over 20 countries.  Other commercial clients include Samsung, Axiata, Honest Tea, Wholesome Sweeteners, and Verizon.  Peter speaks Chinese and Spanish, and has lived and worked in over 40 different countries.

COURTNEY THOMPSON HUTCHENS HAS OVER 12 YEARs' EXPERIENCE IN PRODUCTION, BRINGING UNIQUE, COMPELLING STORYTELLING TO DOCUMENTARY SERIES, reality programming AND branded content. 

Courtney was a principal producer and writer for National Geographic’s acclaimed series Hard Time, earning her an Emmy nomination.  The series, which followed the lives of close security inmates in American prisons, won a Cine Golden Eagle Award and was hailed as one of the top 10 shows on television by Maxim Magazine.  She also directed and wrote several episodes of Our America With Lisa Ling for the Oprah Winfrey Network, a series praised by the NY Post as “flat-out the best documentary series on TV.” Most recently, she produced and wrote for CNN's highly-rated original series This Is Life.  Prior to her production work, Courtney was the senior manager of development at National Geographic Channels International, where she developed hundreds of hours of content for an international audience, working primarily with filmmakers in Asia, South America and the United Kingdom.

Additional broadcast clients include CNN, Harpo Productions, Discovery Channel, and Animal Planet.  She holds a degree in Chinese from Middlebury College.