Seth Gordon, Filmmaker. Photo By Dominick D – Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Fascinating Facts About Seth Gordon   


 

Seth Lewis Gordon is an American filmmaker. He directs movies, TV shows, and documentaries. He also produces all types of genres from comedies, action thrillers, crime, and drama. Seth writes and edits for the shows and even acts when need be. He is talented and funny. 

Seth has made some of the most amazing and critically acclaimed productions that do well at the box office. For Baywatch, he worked with over 100 people in the crew, a huge cast, and a budget of millions of dollars.  He is very creative and is one of the best directors, especially for comedies. 

Here are the top 10 fascinating facts about Seth Gordon. 

1. His Family Moved A Lot When He Was Younger 

Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Seth was born on 15th July 1976 in Evanston, Illinois. He was the son of academic parents who frequently moved states. Some of the places his family lived in include Chicago, New York, London, and Seattle. 

Seth attended Lakeside School, a private school located in Seattle, Washington. He constantly struggled to feel at home and always felt like an outsider and the uncertainty of the duration he would be there did not help matters. 

2. Seth Had Lasik Surgery To Correct An Eye Condition  

Seth had astigmatism. It is a condition where one eye is longsighted while the other is shortsighted. He knew he had the problem but he kept it to himself and so it was not diagnosed until he was a teenager.  

He faked wellness by being among the last people during the frequent routine eye checkups and he would memorize the answers he heard from his classmates who had taken the tests ahead of him.  

His coping mechanism was always letting one eye work while covering the other. Reading was largely affected by this but it added to his creativity and he became good at visual storytelling.  

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3. He Went To Yale University  

 

Seth Gordon. Photo By Seth – Wikimedia Commons

After finishing 12th grade, Seth was admitted to Yale University for architecture studies. During his first two years, he worked on a short film for Lakeside Educational Enrichment Program (LEEP). He did not make any money from it as it was a nonprofit educational program for Seattle inner-city kids.  

Before he could finish his studies, he left for Africa where he stayed for 6 months. 

4. Seth Stayed In A Small Village In Kenya For 6 Months 

In 1997, when Seth was 21 years, he left Yale University and went to Africa to teach high school for six months in a small village called Shimanyiro in Kenya. At the school, he taught Mathematics, English, and Science.  

While there, he witnessed the bureaucracy and corruption that complicated a school building project and so he sought financial help from the United Nations. When the money came, he embarked on the project and decided to film the process of construction. Later his stay in Kenya became troublesome and was a messy stage of his life and he filmed that too. 

5. He Is A Self Taught Editor  

Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash

When Seth went back to Yale from Kenya, he had footage that he had filmed and he felt he needed to tell the story. He learned how to edit by himself using digital editing software. 

He edited the footage of whatever he had shot in Shimanyiro using ‘Avid Editing Machine’ and it was not in vain because the final product was the documentary named ‘Building Shimanyiro’. Later, Seth helped shoot Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck’s Dixie Chicks documentary Shut Up & Sing. 

He has produced documentaries for PBS, the Gates Foundation, and the UN. 

6. He Is Associated With Prestigious Universities  

Seth has been to three institutions of higher learning. The first one was Yale University where he is an honors graduate. Then he won a writing fellowship at Oxford University. Seth graduated from Harvard University’s School of Design.    

7. He loves Watching Documentaries  

Seth began as a documentarian and loves watching documentaries. Another documentary that he worked on was New York Doll. It was a story that revolved around a member of the 1970s band ‘New York Dolls.’ After this is when he decided to take some risks and venture outside the world of documentaries.  

His move from shoestring documentaries to big-budget filmmaking was an unprecedented, staggering, irrational leap that absolutely paid off. 

Here is a list of female producers. 

8. He Is A Very Good Director And Producer 

Seth Gordon, Filmmaker. Photo By Dominick D – Wikimedia Commons

Seth’s start as a director was when he did the videogame documentary The King Of Kong in 2007. He has also directed some of the most commercially successful comedies like Horrible Bosses, Baywatch, Identity Thief, and Four Christmases. 

Other comedy shows that he has directed include The Office, Parks & Recreation, Modern Family, Marry Me, and Community. He is a producer and scriptwriter too. He co-created and is an executive producer of the series Breaking In, Freakonomics, The Goldbergs, and Atypical. 

Seth has directed various music videos and commercials as well.  

9. He Is A Father And A Husband      

Seth is married to Bootsy Holler who is a freelance art director, producer, and photographer. This couple has a son, Drake Gordon.

Seth is intentional when it comes to creating a work-life balance and has learned to say no to projects that keep him away from home for long hours. He loves spending time with his son.

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10. He Won An Oscar Plus Other Awards 

This guy produced ‘Undefeated’ a documentary on the story of a North Memphis high school football team. Seth won an Oscar Award in 2012 for this documentary. 

Then there was ‘Gleason’, a documentary on a former N.F.L. athlete and father whose spirit is unbroken by Lou Gehrig’s disease. The film was shown at the Centerpiece Gala of 2016’s Seattle International Film Festival, where it won the audience award for best documentary. 

 Another Producer you can read about is Jerry Bruckheimer.