About Us

JOHN DOWNER PRODUCTIONS

J – Jaw-dropping Imagery

D – Dynamic Storytelling

P – Pioneering People

John Downer Productions is an award-winning internationally renowned wildlife production company – specialising in the creation of groundbreaking immersive visuals and dynamic storytelling.

At JDP we are always challenging the conventional way of filming to deliver pioneering propositions that excite and delight audiences. The team approach every creative challenge with passion and ingenuity along with the originality and expertise to create something which has truly never been seen before!

With multiple global partners, and as industry leaders, the vibrant team at John Downer Productions have been the go-to company for high-end innovative natural history film-making for over 30 years.

The company made its name by abandoning the traditional style of nature documentary and pioneering a highly inventive subjective approach. Through the use of new and exciting immersive techniques, including the use of Spy Cameras, it entered the animals’ lives and revealed their world as never before. If you see an eyeball to wingtip shot of a flying bird, a shot from a camera on a bird’s back, a “Spy” camera perspective or a moving track around an animal frozen in time, you can be sure JDP created it first.

Internationally recognised for its game changing technical wizardry, dynamic visual style and powerful emotional storytelling the company seeks to consistently excite audiences with the marvels and wonder of the natural world.

Today JDP continues to be a trailblazing powerhouse of imagination and innovation. Visionary thinking and creativity has defined our reputation for delivering mould-breaking television, with scientific integrity, across all formats and platforms. Whether it’s feature film projects, mainstream broadcast programming, commercials or on-line content… We have the creativity and expertise to make each project shine.

Producer/director John Downer started his professional life with the world-renowned BBC Natural History Unit. Here he created many groundbreaking and award-winning programmes such as ‘In-flight Movie’, which for the first time flew cameras alongside birds on the wing and the acclaimed series ‘Supersense’ and ‘Lifesense’ which explored animal perception from the animal’s point of view.

As an independent producer, John Downer pushed back the boundaries of filmmaking yet again to create the series ‘Supernatural’, ‘Weird Nature’ and the animal drama ‘Pride’. As a director John Downer won a ‘Grammy’ for the innovative time-layering techniques in the Peter Gabriel video ‘Digging in the Dirt’. More recently, with his innovative team, he also made ‘Earthflight’, an Emmy-winning production that used new techniques to fly with birds around the world. He also created the hugely successful Spy series of animal films. This started with ‘Lion – Spy in the Den’, which introduced the now famous “Bouldercam”, a mobile rock containing a camera, but now has featured nine different subjects, including the recent global hits, ‘Penguins – Spy in the Huddle’ and ‘Dolphins – Spy in the Pod’. These later programmes featured the revolutionary idea of Spy Creatures: animatronic animals that carried cameras into the animal’s world and gave rise to two hugely successful series of ‘Spy in the Wild’. ‘Serengeti’, the recent dramatised 6-part documentary, was a huge success across the world and when premiered on Discovery US, it was the highest rated wildlife show in the last 7 years.

John Downer Productions Ltd. is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 102419728