About CEO Paul W. Nethercott: 

Born in Canada, I immigrated to the US as a child and grew up in small towns in South Dakota and Minnesota. My father pastored several rural conservative churches. He and my mom worked ceaslessly raising 6 children yet they found time and energy to help many people in very practical ways. I spent a great deal of time sitting in a pew bored and restless but not knowing any other way of life. As a young adult I married and moved with my wife to Japan to serve as a missionary. To a large extent I was doing work that was not suitable nor satisfying. Yet I persisted. Not really fitting in. Not really belonging. I had a feeling deep down that I needed to go in a new direction.

I was living in Tokyo working as missionary when I made a trip to California for a conference. While there I met Michael Gonzales, a Biola University film professor. Soon after we met Michael said, “How would you like to make a film with us in Japan?” About a year later I produced the first of 3 films that I had the privilege of making in collaboration with Biola. All 3 films were directed by Dean Yamada (a talented director and Biola professor) and 2 of them were written by Yu Shibuya (a brilliant fully bi-lingual writer from Tokyo). All 3 won awards. The 2nd one — Jitensha (Bicycle) — is a special film full of warmth and charm that won accolades from festivals around the world. The most remarkable honor was being nominated Best Short Film by Venice International Film Festival in Italy, the oldest film festival in the world and one of the most prestigious.

Making films with Biola was a valuable learning experience. That opportunity was how I discovered my passion for and commitment to telling visual stories. Early on I made the crucial decision to make “good films.” In other words, films that are compelling, entertaining, with high production values. The vision to make “good films” set me on a pathway that completely changed the course of my life. 

While living in Tokyo I had the privilege of doing disaster relief work for CRASH Japan. During that time I played a pivotal role in raising millions of dollars in funding to help Japan recover from the epic earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster of 2011. I utilize that experience to secure funding for film projects. Films that I have produced or directed have been screened by well over 200 film festivals and have won accolades from dozens of them. See the RESUME, FILM LIBRARY, and IMDB links below for detailed information. 

The focus of Studio Nethercott:

1. DOCUMENTARIES: CEO Paul W. Nethercott directs and/or produces documentary films with ongoing projects in Asia, Europe, and the USA. 

2. MENTORING: Studio Nethercott produces Learn Filmmaking in Europe (LFE) a transformative annual trip to Europe for emerging North American filmmakers. Selected participants attend Summer Media Studio — an amazing University accredited film camp that takes place on the Baltic Sea Coast of Lithuania. Link to document with detailed information on LFE 2023.