Randall Thorne, better known by his pseudonyms RT! and R.T. Thorne, is a Canadian writer, producer and director. He began his career as a music video director for

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists. Paul's singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...

, George Nozuka, Keshia Chanté and

Shawn Desman Shawn Bosco Fernandes (born January 12, 1982), better known by his stage name Shawn Desman, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, dancer, and television personality. He was signed to Universal Music Canada. He is known for his energetic stage presenc ...

, before directing episodes of television series include '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'', '' Make It Pop'', ''

Backstage Backstage most commonly refers to backstage (theatre), also in motion picture and television production. Backstage may also refer to: Film and television * ''Back Stage'' (1969 film), a silent film starring Oliver Hardy * ''Back Stage'' (1942 fil ...

'' and ''

Find Me in Paris ''Find Me in Paris'' is an English-language teen science-fantasy dramedy series that premiered on April 14, 2018, on Hulu, produced by ZDF and Cottonwood Media. The series is filmed on location in Paris, in areas such as the Palais Garnier and O ...

''. He received three

iHeartRadio MMVAs The iHeartRadio MMVAs were an annual awards show broadcast on Much to honour the year's best music videos that was last held in 2018. Originally debuting in 1990 as the Canadian Music Video Awards, the awards were renamed in 1995 to the MuchMu ...

for directing. In 2020, Thorne created and produced science fiction series '' Utopia Falls'' for

hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

. In 2022, he directed and executive produced the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

period drama '' The Porter'', for which he received Canadian Screen Awards.

Life and career

Thorne was born in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Alberta, Canada. After winning 17 International music video awards, and working with international music artists like Drake and

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

, R.T. moved into long-form filmmaking in 2012. As of May 2012, Thorne serves on the

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

The Remix Project ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

, a non-profit cultural incubator that aims to increase access to the "creative industries" for underprivileged and marginalized youth. In the Fall of 2009, the Remix Project partnered with

Team Seven Productions A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interdependent with respect to infor ...

and Temple Street Productions to create CITYLIFE, a new educational initiative that aimed to create short films from the voices of inner city youth. RT! is the Director of Programs for CITYLIFE which included running workshops as well as serving as a directing mentor to the participants. In 2015, R.T. wrote, directed and co-produced ''The Time Traveler'', which won best short film at the Canadian Film Festival. In 2018, R.T. was accepted to the prestigious Toronto International Film Festival's Talent Lab to develop his debut feature. In 2020, R.T. created '' Utopia Falls'', a Afrofuturistic science fiction series that premiered as a HULU Original. His debut feature film, '' 40 Acres'', went into production in 2023 in

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

, Ontario, with its premiere planned for 2024.Taimur Sikander Mirza
"R.T. Thorne’s feature debut 40 Acres underway in Sudbury"
''

Playback Playback or Play Back may refer to: Film * ''Playback'' (1962 film), a British film in the ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' series * ''Playback'', a 1996 film starring Shannon Whirry * ''Playback'' (2012 film), an American horror film by Michael A. N ...

'', October 11, 2023.

Credits

Film

*'' 40 Acres'' (director and writer, 2024)

Television

*''Alive'' (2013) *'' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (4 episodes, 2014) *'' Make It Pop'' (2 episodes, 2016) *'' Degrassi: Next Class'' (4 episodes, 2016) *''

Dino Dana ''Dino Dana'' is a Canadian television series that was created and is directed by J. J. Johnson. The series was developed as a followup to '' Dino Dan: Trek's Adventures'' and premiered on Amazon Prime on May 27, 2017. In September 2020, ''Dino ...

'' (1 episode, 2017) *''

'' (13 episodes, 2016—2017) *''

'' (13 episodes, 2018) *'' Blindspot'' (1 episode, 2019) *'' Utopia Falls'' (10 episodes, also creator, 2020) *'' Frankie Drake Mysteries'' (2 episodes, 2021) *'' Kung Fu'' (2 episodes, 2021—2022) *'' The Porter'' (8 episodes, 2022) *'' The Lake'' (2 episodes, 2023)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, R.T. Black Canadian filmmakers Canadian music video directors Canadian people of Barbadian descent Canadian people of Trinidad and Tobago descent Film directors from Calgary Living people Canadian television directors Year of birth missing (living people)