Nathan Small is an Emmy-winning director, producer and cinematographer whose work combines natural history filmmaking with the visual language of cinema, advertising and popular culture.
Originally an advertising photographer, Nathan moved into filmmaking after completing an MA in Directing and Producing Science and Natural History at the National Film and Television School. His early natural history work included Apple TV+’s Tiny World and Planet Insect, before becoming a Producer/Director and cinematographer on National Geographic and Disney+’s A Real Bug’s Life.
His cinematography on A Real Bug’s Life earned him a Children’s & Family Emmy for Outstanding Cinematography, recognising an approach that helped turn the miniature world of insects into large-scale cinematic storytelling.
Nathan went on to direct Season one of Nightmares of Nature for Netflix, Plimsoll Productions and Blumhouse Television. The ambitious series fused natural history with the grammar of horror, using bespoke macro optics, motion control and cinematic lighting to tell wildlife stories more like psychological thrillers than conventional blue-chip natural history.
Most recently, Nathan has been Series Director on ITV’s World’s Wildest Cities, continuing his interest in finding unexpected, contemporary ways of bringing wildlife to broad audiences.
As a Creative Director, Nathan brings together a photographer’s eye, a director’s instinct for story and a belief that natural history can borrow freely from other genres. His work is driven by a simple ambition: to make wildlife television feel surprising, relevant and visually unlike anything audiences have seen before.