The Dudes on Media Style

The through-thread in all our documentaries has been to highlight our joy for the natural world with the goal of inspiring others to enjoy and care for the planet. We do this rather unconventionally. Our style brings comedy to the subject matter as a rebuttal to the popular humans VS nature hosted programming. We love the being outside; and we're headstrong enough think we're not alone. For our films the joke is always on us, and we find the humor is a vehicle to address deeper issues. We always assume the viewer is intelligent and present material that allows them to arrive at their own conclusions. We're proud of what we do, and we hope you enjoy our unique brand of storytelling.

Josh and J.J.

Josh and J.J. have a special passion for the outdoors and people. Over the course of their 10-year friendship they developed an incomparable style of filmmaking. They met at the age of 20, independently hiking the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail, which they finished together. Since then, their enthusiasm for wild places has brought them on new adventures.

In 2006, they created their first film, Pedal to the Midnight Sun where they document their 1,200-mile bicycle journey across Alaska to the Arctic Ocean. National Geographic Television would go on to air a portion of the film, firmly establishing the friends as a force in the filmmaking world. In 2008, they combined efforts again to undertake the hearty task of sea kayaking from Alaska to Seattle. Paddle to Seattle shows a style that is full grown and defined. Paddler Magazine called it “the best sea kayaking feature film created in the past decade.” It received top accolades at 15 major film festivals and has aired on PBS affiliates, Outside TV, and NBC’s Universal Sports.

In 2011 the fellows set out for their most ambitious and unique project to date, Go Ganges!. Over the course of 3 months Josh and J.J. followed the length of the Ganges River in India. From its glacial source high in the Himalayas 1,500 miles to the Bay of Bengal. The river is the most polluted, populated and sacred river in the world and by geographical barriers could not be travelled in any one way. Using only what they could find accessible they made their way down by foot, cycle-rickshaw, rowboat and scooter. As a result, they experience a river and a culture like its never been done before.

As filmmakers they have become renowned for their honest and witty observation. Their rapport with one another has a seamless rhythm that could only have been developed through years of suffering together in the wild.

Their professional careers have grown alongside these projects. J.J. is a producer at National Geographic Television and has been with the company since 2006. Josh has been working as a contractor in Alaska working in TV and film for the BBC, National Geographic, and Discovery. When they're not in a tent together on some remote corner of the planet, Josh lives in Seward, AK and J.J. is in New York City.