Citizenship Australian Agent RGM Artists Upcoming movie My Pet Dinosaur | Years active 1993–present Partner(s) Megan Williams | |
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Born 24 June 1973 (age 43) ( 1973-06-24 ) Sydney, Australia Occupation Film Director, Screenwriter, VFX Supervisor Notable work Crude: The Incredible Journey of Oil (2007)
Life After People (2008)
Big History (2014) Movies Dinosaur Island, My Pet Dinosaur Awards News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Graphic Design & Art Direction Nominations AACTA Award for Best Visual Effects or Animation Similar Kate Rasmussen, Paul Padagas, Steffen Schlachtenhaufen | ||
Matthew Simon Drummond (born 24 June 1973) is an Australian Film Director, Screenwriter and Visual Effects Supervisor.
Contents
Personal
Drummond is the eldest child of multi award winning musician Pat Drummond and is the brother of 2008 ARIA Hall of Fame Inductee Pete Drummond from the legendary Australasian band Dragon. He is currently engaged to long term partner, Megan Williams and resides between Port Vila, Vanuatu and Leura, Australia.
Visual Effects Career
In 1993 Drummond opened his first graphics company named Extra Digital. During this time Drummond worked predominantly in advertising on campaigns for Michelin, IKEA, King Furniture etc. with agencies such as George Patterson Bates, Saatchi, TWA Singapore, Mojo and with noted writer, Bryce Courtenay.
In 1998 Drummond opened the full service visual effects agency, Hive Studios International which would later become renowned for its creature fx work. It was during this time he began work with the ABC Scientific Investigation series, Catalyst under scientist and accomplished documentary filmmaker, Dr Richard Smith. This led to the start of his career within the documentary industry and a decade long relationship. Smith and Drummond would go on to collaborate on several documentaries such as: Rumble in the Jungle, Silent Sentinels, Saturn - The Planet of the Rings, A Travellers guide to the planets, Australia: The Time Travellers Guide and the industry lauded documentary, Crude: The Incredible Journey of Oil (2007).
In 2008 Hive Studios International won, Business of the Year and Arts and Culture Business of the year and would subsequently work with Discovery Channel USA, National Geographic USA, History Channel USA and several other international networks. This work would result in 2 Emmy Nominations, 1 AFI Nomination and an 2014 Emmy win
In 2009, Drummond visited the Island of Port Vila, Vanuatu in search of prehistoric landscapes in order to film backplates for a National Geographic documentary series. Drummond moved to Vanuatu shortly after with his partner, Megan Williams and Stepson, Darius Williams.
Drummond's work has extended into providing 3D VFX installations for several international museums including, The Australian Museum, Te Papa Museum and The Panama Museum.
Drummond's Hive Studios holds an extensive stock library featuring over 300 prehistoric creatures. These images are featured in several television productions, such as a recent episode of Catalyst - Antarctic Fossils (TV Series) (2016).
Film
During his time in Vanuatu (2009-2013), Drummond started to develop in-house productions as the visual effects industry underwent a large number of changes, specifically during the GFC. Of particular note was the well documented bankruptcy of visual effects house, Rhythm & Hues and the closure of at least 20 other vfx houses. During this period of development, Drummond met Hollywood Producer, Paul Mason who lived in Port Vila, Vanuatu during the game fishing season. While discussing the visual effects of Mason's latest feature, Mason told Drummond not to make the television series he was developing and instead produce a film. Mason stated "...Make a movie, they're easy..." and pledged his full support for the project. Paul Mason was later listed in the credits under, "Special Thanks."
In 2011, Drummond began writing his first feature, Dinosaur Island and in October of that year began principle photography on the island of Efate. Drummond returned to Australia in 2013 to complete Post Production on the film, where Jason Moody signed on as Executive Producer and Chris Wright as Composer. Hive Studios International completed all visual effects within the film. The International rights to Dinosaur Island were acquired at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival by Arclight Films and were later sold into 50+ countries. The film premiered on 14 February 2015 and was released via Hoyts and United Cinemas in Australia on 28 February 2015 and remained in cinemas for approximately 5 weeks. The film has been released theatrically in Japan, Myanmar, Pakistan, Germany, Spain and New Zealand. Dinosaur Island would become known as the first theatrical release to ever feature a feathered dinosaur Dinosaur Island was released worldwide on DVD, TV and VOD platforms reaching top 10 placement on the Australian, New Zealand and US iTunes charts.
Independent
Drummond is known as being one of the only Australian filmmakers to independently finance all of his features, opting to work outside the development funding models popular in the Australian Film Industry.
Recent Work
Drummond's latest project, My Pet Dinosaur (2017) is a live action/adventure, family film. The International rights were acquired by Faisal Toor of Empress Road Pictures at the 2015 American Film Market. Under Drummond's direction, principle photography took place in the NSW regional town of Lithgow in January-Feb 2016. The film is currently in post production and due for theatrical release in 2017. The film will have its Premiere preview in February at the European Film Market
The theatrical trailer was released exclusively via Hollywood Reporter on 13 January 2017 to positive reviews, with commentary from Dread Central stating, My Pet Dinosaur was "...The best movie Spielberg never made..." and HR billing it as, "E.T. meets Pixar."