Mark Thorpe

Mark is an Emmy Award-winning wildlife cameraman who has been instrumental in providing mainly underwater camera operator services to an extensive list of broadcast clients. After serving 12yrs within various Military units, including the French Foreign Legion, Mark set out to train himself in photography and subsequently cinematography. From that point, he started touting his services by providing underwater video souvenirs to divers visiting the island of Tenerife, Canary Islands, where he was based at the time.

After spending almost 17yrs as a freelance underwater videographer operating imaging concessions in multiple locations around the World, he was engaged by National Geographic as a field producer and cameraman for their remote imaging department. As a 'one-man band, ' Mark was sent to various destinations around the World. His objective was to support the work of marine scientists wishing to gain underwater imagery of their target species using the unique technology known as 'CritterCam.'

Mark was responsible for programming, deploying, recuperating, downloading, and editing the footage from these animal-borne imaging devices. Once the science was seen as 'happening,' he would build the episode around that. He was responsible for all filming and interviewing of the scientists into a format that could then be sent to the editors at Nat Geo HQ in DC.

It wasn't until he had finished his work at National Geographic that he eventually received industry recognition in the form of an Emmy Award for cinematography. This was in recognition of his work on the 2010 series 'Great Migrations' commissioned by National Geographic to a freelance team assembled by an A-list wildlife producer.

Mark now resides in southern Japan on the islands of Okinawa. Working predominantly from a terrestrial focus, he now spends much of his time in the region's jungles, looking to interact with and gain a greater understanding of the unique wildlife in that part of the world.

His venture into screenwriting was borne of his frustration with the way the natural world is seemingly in freefall. With scant regard to the remaining wildlife on Earth the industrial complex continues to decimate and destroy swathes of our natural world on a daily basis.

Mark is not a professional filmmaker, per se. He doesn't have an in-depth understanding of how the entertainment industry works. But what he does have is the idea of a feature film that reflects many of the frustrations felt by conservationists and environmentalists worldwide. All he is looking for on this platform is a professional entity that would be willing to take that vision and bring it to life. Thus far the screenplay for 'Natural Selection' has been entered into three screenplay festivals, been officially selected for inclusion in all three, and was selected as a semi-finalist in one. His project has also been submitted to a further three festivals in 2023.

Mark resides on the main island of Okinawa with his Japanese wife and young son.