MIKE SPRAGG BSC

Whilst Mike was a teenager in West Sussex  a young English teacher at his school created the very first GCSE in Film Studies. As  a 15 year old Mike studied the work of Andrzei Wajda and Roman Polanski as two very difeerent Polish film directors, the world of horror movies from early 20^th century cinema through James Whale and into modern Hollywood and early Russian cinema of the Soviet. Thank you Paul Mundt (inspirational teacher).

This prompted Mike to apply to study Film and Photographic Arts at

the Polytechnic of Central London

PCL was  recognised by the ACTT and graduates were rewarded with something very important at the time, a Union Card !

Alumni include Paul Trijbits and Seamus McGarvey BSC,ASC.

Whilst in his final year at PCL Mike was constantly knocking on the doors of the few facility companies that supplied crews to the film and TV industry asking for a start.

One day he received a call from Crow Films saying an AC had not turned up and could he get there 5 minutes ago ! In those next few months Mike started working with a number of BBC directors/producers including a very young Peter Kosminsky and began travelling across the world as an assistant working mostly on 16mm.

After a few years in documentaries Mike started assisting on TV dramas first as a loader and then briefly as a 1^st AC ( but found that too hard!).

He was then offered a break as a DP shooting documentaries and never looked back.

For the next 10 years Mike shot  high end documentaries for the BBC, Channel Four and the Discovery channel. During this time he shot  a documentary that reconstructed the Piper Alpha Oil rig disaster.

That got Mike his drama break and he was offered the opportunity to shoot the ITV drama ‘London’s Burning’ which he then shot for 3 seasons.

After that Mike took over the 2^nd Season of BBC ‘Waking The Dead’ which he shot for a further 8 seasons. He then collaborated on a number of other shows with the actor/ producer Trevor Eve.

One of the directors Mike worked with on Waking the Dead asked him to join the Sky/HBO series ‘StrikeBack’ – Mike shot a further 7 seasons of this high adrenaline action series – shooting South Africa, Malaysia, Thailand and Eastern Europe culminitaing in an ASC  Nomination for Best Cinematography in a TV  show.

Since then Mike has split his time between shooting US network shows for NBC Universal and Fox and US and UK productions in the UK and Hungary where he now lives.

He won the Sony Best digital Cinematography award in 1999, was nominated for a cinematography BAFTA in 2004 and received an ASC nomination for Strikeback in 2013.

Became a BSC in 2014 proposed  by Nigel Walters.

 

Credits:

‘Bluff City Law’ NBC/Universal 2020

‘The Brave’ NBC/Universal 2019

‘Midnight, Texas’ NBC/Universal 2017-18

‘The Bastard Executioner’ Fox 2015

‘StrikeBack’ Seasons II-VIII 2011-2020

‘Waking The Dead’ BBC 2003-2011

‘Musketeers’ I-II, BBC 2014-15

‘Black Mirror: Waldo’ C4, 2013