Thomas produces innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking films featuring inspiring people and the natural world. He has worked extensively in the film and television industry as a producer, director of photography, and editor. Broadcast credits include work for The National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild, The Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and PBS, among others. His films have been award nominees and winners at numerous festivals including the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the International Wildlife Film Festival, and the Wildscreen Festival, where The Mongolian Marmot was nominated for the BBC Newcomer Award and Expedition Grizzly won the Panda Award for Best Presenter-Led Program. Tom holds an M.F.A. in Science and Natural History Filmmaking from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT.
Casey is a fifth generation Montanan who was born and raised in Helena, Montana. He has been involved in film and television production for over sixteen years. As a wildlife naturalist, host, actor, and animal trainer, Casey has worked on numerous feature films, television wildlife documentaries, and non-profit educational programs. Casey led two expeditions to Botswana’s Okavango Delta for the HD natural history series Untamed. Casey is the host of the National Geographic Channel series “America the Wild” and recipient of the 2010 Panda Award for Best Presenter-Led Program for Expedition Grizzly at the Wildscreen Festival in Bristol, UK. Casey is the trainer and best friend of Brutus the Bear and the co-owner and director of the Montana Grizzly Encounter in Bozeman, Montana.
Eric is the Series Writer and occasional unwitting stuntman for “America the Wild.” His writing and producing credits for broadcast, theatrical, non-profit, and new media clients including National Geographic Television, PBS, Harvard University’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, Patagonia, The Cougar Fund, Yellowstone to Yukon, and TERRA: The Nature of Our World, have precipitated a Webby Award, a Wildscreen Panda Award, a Best Newcomer Award nomination at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival, and a Best Conservation Film Award from the American Conservation Film Festival. Eric’s storytelling trousers were handsewn from a long love affair with language before being acid-washed at Brown University and Teflon-treated at Montana State University’s M.F.A. program in Science and Natural History Filmmaking. Until he sells all his worldly possessions to circumnavigate the world by sailboat, he can frequently be found playing in snow, rock, water, and ice in the mountains surrounding Bozeman.
Anne is an award-winning filmmaker and Fulbright Scholar whose background spans both fiction and documentary film. Getting her start alongside John Cusack, on such productions as High Fidelity and Being John Malkovich, Anne went on to flank Sofia Coppola, eventually making her way Columbia University’s graduate film program. Anne wrote and directed The Receiver, a narrative film made during her Fulbright tenure in Kazakhstan, which was an official selection at Aspen ShortsFest, the Athens International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and Cannes Shorts Corner. Anne holds an M.F.A. in Science and Natural History Filmmaking from MSU in Bozeman, Montana. Never far from her energetic pointer, Bohdi, Anne brings her comprehensive talents and unique industry experience as a vital member of the Grizzly Creek Films production entourage.
Justin Lubke grew up in a tiny Montana town. After leaving home, he worked in the favelas of Brazil and with the indigenous tribes of India. Eventually, Justin returned to Montana, graduating from Montana State University with an honors degree in documentary filmmaking. For ten years, Justin has worked in non-fiction film. He has directed, shot and edited a variety of programs with topics ranging from grizzly bears to basketball. His work has appeared on networks such as PBS, National Geographic, Animal Planet and CBS. Recently Justin directed, shot and edited a feature length documentary, Class C, a film that has won multiple film festivals and two Emmy awards.
Stefanie grew-up in the Colorado wilderness, raised by a wildlife biologist to have a thirst for science and love of the outdoors. She started her film career at USC, earning a B.S. in Environmental Studies/Biology while taking all the filmmaking electives she could squeeze into her schedule. Seeking to combine passions, she then marched off into the wild blue Montana yonder to earn an M.F.A in Science and Natural History Filmmaking. Her first long-form documentary won Best Editing at the M.F.A. Student Film Festival and was broadcast on PBS. She spent five years as a producer and editor at NASA before moving to the UK with her husband to fulfill her dream of becoming a freelance editor. Her editing work for NASA won Best Promo at the International Wildlife Film Festival and her other films have all been official selections at a range of film festivals. She has edited programming from wildlife to cooking to sports for National Geographic, PBS, NASA TV, The Travel Channel, Laureus World Sports, Pearson Education, and Oxford University. Still a mountain girl at heart though, she loves returning to Bozeman to edit for her favorite team.
Shasta only discovered the proverbial worth of the picture after a long history with words. But she always draws from her roots in bread and butter narrative (MA English, University of British Columbia). With a knack for finding stories in mounds of footage, Shasta is mesmerized by the siren call of the unexpected and the overlooked. Those sirens have been variously incarnated as small town basketball players, forgotten musical pioneers, and orphaned owlets. By gratefully and respectfully appropriating stories and regularly losing sleep, Shasta has earned Emmy, CINE Golden Eagle, Telly, and film festival awards. She exploits the ever-growing repertoire of amazing animal facts supplied by her work on “America the Wild” during awkward silences at dinner parties.
Brutus has worked for over nine years alongside trainer and pal Casey Anderson on acclaimed feature films, television shows, educational programs, and commercials. Casey adopted Brutus at birth and built him his current home at the Montana Grizzly Encounter in Bozeman, Montana. This grizzly bear rescue and educational facility is Brutus’ permanent home where he lives along with three other bears, Sheena, Jake, and Maggie. When not at work helping to protect and educate the public about grizzly bear conservation, Brutus enjoys wrestling in the grass, hearty pieces of salmon, and a good scratch behind the ears.
Rick’s award-winning imagery has been featured in numerous fiction and documentary films. He has worked as producer, cinematographer, and photographer for a variety of broadcast entities, non-profits, and governmental agencies including, Mercury CSC, The Nature Conservancy, Yellowstone National Park, PBS, Animal Planet and National Geographic Television. His 2007 short film Fish & Cow was a newcomer finalist at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and he was the recipient of the Montana Filmmaker Award at the 2008 International Wildlife Film Festival. In 2010, his efforts as the Director of Photography on the Montana PBS film Before There Were Parks resulted in an Emmy Award for Best Photographer of a Program. For Grizzly Creek Films and the “America the Wild” series, Rick continues to push the technical envelope of imagery through the use of DSLR timelapse, remotely triggered infrared cameras, and high-speed photography.
The Grizzly Creek Films crew is a talented group. We’ve come together from diverse backgrounds: filmmaking, wildlife biology, graphic design, new media, non-profit organizations, and the deep woods. Our strength is the unique sum of these parts united by a shared commitment to original, innovative storytelling.
