Whitney Sudler-Smith

Writer and director Whitney Smith may not have a resume full of the classiest projects around, but he certainly greets each film with enthusiasm and humor--all the way down to his multi-colored socks. Smith's entrance into filmmaking came with his first screenplay for the 1998 film "Bubba and Ike," which he also directed. The movie didn't exactly reach a wide audience with the tagline, "Beef, Beer and Broads."

His next writing job came on the 2000 "X-Files" wannabe series "Dark Realms," starring Eric Roberts as a Rod Serling-like narrator who sums up the themes of each supernatural episode. Next came the panned 2002 flick "Torture TV," starring Danny Huston and Trevor Goddard. Smith switched gears for his next project, 2010's "Ultrasuede: In Search of Halston," a documentary focusing on the allure of the late American fashion designer through interviews with celebrities such as Anjelica Huston and Billy Joel.

In an effort to parody aspects of documentary filmmaking, and to give the film an almost surreal quality, Smith cast himself as the narrator of the film and changed his hair for every shot. Even though "Ultrasuede" wasn't warmly received by critics, it introduced Smith to the largest audience of his career to date.