John Smithson

Creative Director
Arrow Media

John Smithson is co-founder and joint creative director of Arrow Media, one of the UK’s fastest growing independent production companies. Previously he was chief executive of Darlow Smithson Productions, a company he created and evolved into one of the biggest and most admired producers in global non-fiction TV.

He has been nominated and won more than 50 Awards across film and television for his work. In 2011 he was an Oscar® nominee for Best Motion Picture of the Year for Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours, a film he originated and produced. He also produced Touching the Void, which won the BAFTA for Outstanding British Film and broke box-office records. His most recent theatrical documentary, Sherpa, won the Best Documentary Award at the London Film Festival and was nominated for a film BAFTA.

He has worked as an executive producer and creative director on hundreds of hours of factual programming for UK and US networks.