Matt Shea is an English documentary filmmaker, journalist and presenter.
He is known for presenting the
VICE
A vice is a practice, behaviour, or habit generally considered immoral, sinful, criminal, rude, taboo, depraved, degrading, deviant or perverted in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character tra ...
documentaries ''Iceman'', ''Targeted Individuals, Zombie Drug: The Truth About Flakka'', and ''How Lean Became Rap's Most Wanted Drug''. He produces and presents ''High Society'', a documentary series that explores drug culture in the UK and features access to real criminals. Shea's documentaries often feature criminal access and fringe stories.
Career
Shea started his career writing for VICE Magazine.
As VICE moved into digital, broadcast and feature documentaries, Shea produced a number of films and series including
Gaycation, which featured the actor
Elliot Page
Elliot Page (formerly Ellen Page; born February 21, 1987) is a Canadian actor. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Elliot Page, various accolades, including an Academy Award for Best Actress, Academy Award nomination, tw ...
, and
Chemsex.
He also directed the feature-length documentary Time To Die, which was filmed over four years and covers the illegal underground global network that illegally sources, buys, and sells assisted-dying methods.
Shea has also produced drug programming for
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
and
Channel 5, producing Channel 5's ''Britain's Cocaine Epidemic'' and Netflix's ''Dope.''
He produced a documentary about the famous fraudster and sex party organiser Lord
Edward Davenport.
Presenting
As a presenter, Shea is best known for his films about crime and drugs, such as the ''High Society'' series. In ''Inside the Laughing Gas Black Market'', Shea met criminals who broke into hospitals in order to steal canisters of the recreational drug nitrous oxide. ''How Weed Laws Are Failing the UK'' portrayed new trends in the cannabis black market including ''groppers'' (grandmothers who grow cannabis because they are seen as less suspicious) and gangs using heat-seeking drones to find and rob rival cannabis
grow operation
This article presents common techniques and facts regarding the cultivation of cannabis, primarily for the production and consumption of its infructescences ("buds" or "flowers"). Cultivation techniques for other purposes (such as hemp product ...
s.
In ''The Truth About Ecstasy'' Shea witnesses students manufacturing ecstasy tablets in Brighton, and visits the first ever on-site drug-testing at a UK music festival.
Shea has also met
Wim Hof
Wim Hof (; born 20 April 1959), also known as The Iceman, is a Dutch motivational speaker and extreme athlete noted for his ability to withstand low temperatures. He previously held a Guinness World Record for swimming under ice and prolonged fu ...
, embedded with
Targeted Individuals, and covered
competitive gaming
Esports, short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional sports, professional players, individually or as ...
in South Korea.
Awards
* 2015 – Webbie Award for Best Web Personality/Host 2015 for ''Iceman''
* 2015 – Grierson Award – nomination – for ''Chemsex''
* 2016 – Emmy Award – nomination – for ''Gaycation''
*2019 - Fragments Festival Best Feature - winner - for ''Time to Die''
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shea, Matt
1991 births
Living people
English documentary filmmakers