Sebastian Henry Thiel (born 31 August 1990) is a film director, writer and producer.
Career
Thiel's filmmaking career began in 2008, after his dreams of playing professional basketball fell through. He founded the production company Upshot Entertainment, which produces short films and comedy sketches and began releasing his self-produced videos on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
. His early work led to an endorsement by
Richard Branson, who named Thiel a
Virgin Media Pioneer.
In 2012, Thiel was included on the ''
Evening Standard
The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format.
In October 2009, after be ...
s list of the Top 25 under 25 most influential Londoners and his short film ''Illegal Activity'' won the
Screen Nation Digital award. Thiel's television debut ''Trap Town'', a documentary that explored the
2011 England riots
The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, which saw looting, arson, as well as mass deployment of police ...
, was broadcast on
London Live in 2014.
In 2017 Thiel directed, wrote and edited,
Just a Couple starring his sister, Frieda Thiel, Michael Salami,
Weruche Opia and Sean Sagar. The show is broadcast on
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...
and is produced by
Big Talk Productions
Big Talk Productions Limited is a British film and television production company founded by Nira Park in 1994. Big Talk was acquired by ITV Studios in 2013.
Film
Filmography
Released
Upcoming
Critical reception
Commercial performance
...
. Thiel's first season won him numerous awards, such as favourite comedy production at
Screen Nation and Debut Writer award at The Debbies The show's success also landed him on
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
.
In the UK's black film community, Sebastian would commonly be mentioned as one of the few young black directors that has broken into TV in the recent years.
Thiel is also known for public speaking and sharing his views on creativity and social entrepreneurship In his teenage years he was a student at The School for Social Entrepreneurs. Thiel teamed up with Entrepreneur
in Kenya, this was discussed at One Young World. Thiel's company was also the recipient of the iDEA award presented at
, which helped him take his business to the next step. In Thiel's
he expressed how important entertainment is as a tool for change. His beliefs are that we should be aware of what we create, specifically when it comes to filmmaking. Thiel's focus on social issues has mainly been on helping disenfranchised young people.
In 2019
It's a series based on their childhoods. Thiel is signed with
* Illegal Activity (2012)
* Friday UK (2012)
* Fill Me In (2013)
* Adots Apprentice (2013)
* Trap Town (2014)
* The Key (2015)
*