[ Paul Olding ]

Paul is a hugely talented film maker, combining creative flair with journalistic rigour. He recently produced and directed two 120' drama-docs for Channel 5 - 'Wallis: The Queen That Never Was' and 'Albert: The Power Behind Victoria'. Despite challenging budgets and schedules, he delivered films that were visually sumptuous. Paul is equally at home when casting contributors or working with actors, and always strives to engage viewers with gripping storytelling. 

Jeff Anderson, Director of Factual, Elephant House Studios

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I think Wallis is fantastic. Far and away the best drama doc Elephant House have made.

Ben Frow, Head of Channel 5

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Paul is a visually talented film-maker, a relentless hard worker, and a highly organised series producer, capable of overseeing large, complex projects. I would recommend him for anything from self-shooting drama recon to leading a team of twenty researchers, APs, directors and producers.

Greg Chivers, Executive Producer

 

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I have worked with Paul on a number of projects over several years and have enjoyed every one. As a director, Paul is extremely focussed and works hard to ensure his team are motivated and clearly instructed to understand what is needed to deliver the job in hand. He's encouraging and listens, taking on board the opinions and thoughts of the crew and does what he can to nurture the skills of those working with him. He also has a great creative mind - I've learnt a lot from working with him and look forward to the next opportunity to work together!

Sophie Smith, Assistant Producer

 

 

Paul is a fantastic, collaborative series producer. I worked alongside him in the BBC Science department and then as an edit producer with him at Wag TV on What on Earth?. It was a tough fast paced project but his experience, clear direction, positive energy and creativity kept the team in high spirits and I really got the best out of people. He also gave me personally a lot of support and guidance which was much appreciated on my first edit producing gig.

Max Goldzweig, Assistant Producer

 

 

Paul was a lovely director to work with on Albert: the Power behind Victoria. His thorough, academic approach towards the research for the programme galvanised me to meet his high standards. Throughout the writing process, Paul was always open to his team's opinions, and consulted us on the structure of the programme's story. I found this very refreshing, and was delighted to be so included in the creative process. When we were working on the drama shoot, Paul had a very clear schedule and was great at keeping to time constraints and he delegated effectively.

Zenia Selby, Researcher

 

 

Paul's a great and lovely person to work with. His creative talent is very inspiring, he encourages learning and progression, and really looks after his crew. He creates a positive and dynamic atmosphere in the office and is good company on location. I was his researcher on a National Geographic doc, Russia's Mystery Files.

Jessica Ives, Researcher

 

 

Paul Olding is an experienced PD who can be relied on to grasp a brief and deliver a powerful, visually inventive, high quality film on time and on budget. Good with technology; an eye for effective graphics and with the ability to drive a project forward even when the going gets tough. He's equally at ease in specialist factual genres - especially science and history. And he has a good quirky eye for drama.He also has a keen interest in short film-making and this fuels his innovative approach to his work.

Chris Granlund, Executive Producer

 

 

As one of the most accomplished directors I have worked with, Paul was inspiring to collaborate with and learn from. Within the team, he nurtured a buzz that encouraged free roles and drew upon everyone’s talents regardless of job definitions, to create the best possible end product. His perfectionism was infectious without being oppressive. He encouraged ideas and contributions from everyone within the team, in research, scripting, casting, etc, and valued the diversity of talents at his disposal. I enjoyed an unusual level of freedom working closely with Paul over the four months, to develop the key skills that I needed to make that step up to directing.

Ian Glatt, Assistant Producer

 

 

I've worked with Paul for over 10 years now as a sound mixer on shows ranging from science to period drama doco's. Paul is an incredibly precise Director, he knows exactly what he needs for his programmes and therefore uses his time on location with maximum efficiency thereby delivering shows with production values which punch way above their budget. I always enjoy working with Paul, I will always learn something and I'm always impressed with the end result.

Paul Zanders, Sound

 

 

I have worked with Paul on a couple of projects - firstly as a Story Producer, then as an Edit Producer and finally on location as a Field Producer. As Series Producer on these projects, Paul was a great boss to work for! Paul is a natural (and talented) story teller and always has a clear vision for his films, which makes my job so much easier as he doesn't 'flip flop' from idea to idea changing his mind constantly! Paul is also very nurturing and supportive of those who work for him and always encourages creative input and champions the ideas of those around him. I would definitely be very happy to work with Paul again (even though he bizarrely wears shorts all year round regardless of the weather).

Victoria Weaver, Assistant Producer

 

 

Paul wrote and directed two films for ‘Autopsy’, a series I produced for Potato/ITV. I found Paul to be a passionate, creative and collaborative colleague who worked well under the pressure of a tight budget and schedule. His films were intelligent and thorough, delicately structured and beautifully realised. I would not hesitate to work with Paul again or recommend him to others.

John Fothergill, Series Producer

 

 

I worked with Paul as an AP on the feature length drama doc "Wallis : The Queen That Never Was". Paul was a pleasure to work with in that he was focussed, calm and creative. He also pulled off a fabulous film with limited time and budget.

Kate Herron, Assistant Producer

 

 

Incredibly talented, energetic and dedicated. He achieved a genuinely spectacular result on a very limited budget, and under time pressure so severe that at one stage he was running two edits and shooting 5 days of drama simultaneously.

Richard Burke-Ward, Executive Producer

 

 

I’ve worked with Paul as his sound recordist on many shoots all over the world. He’s a pleasure to work with, showing immense passion and a thoroughly researched knowledge of the subject in hand. Moreover he is receptive and will pull the required narrative from a contributor’s interview and get exactly what he needs for the edit.

Tom Williams, Sound

 

 

Paul is an excellent producer/director. Highly organised, imaginative, self-running, with a great visual sense and also an eye for detail and accuracy. He is a skilled broadcast quality self-shooter.

Jeremy Phillips (Exec Prod, ITV Studios)