Biography
Eli Despres, ACE, created and executive produced the acclaimed HBO series 'Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show' alongside star Jerrod Carmichael and director Ari Katcher ("The most astonishing, emotionally raw reality TV ever made... clearly in a league of its own" - THE GUARDIAN, "Wildly entertaining and groundbreaking" - ESQUIRE). He created and directed the hit Showtime series 'Couples Therapy' with Josh Kriegman & Elyse Steinberg ("The juiciest, most addicting show on TV." - THE DAILY BEAST, "A near miracle of a docuseries." - NY MAGAZINE). He co-directed and produced 'The Fight' ("Riveting. An artfully crafted and improbably entertaining documentary." - The Washington Post, 2020 Sundance Special Jury Prize). Despres co-wrote and edited 'Weiner' ("Mind blowing, hilarious, unsparing... One of the best documentaries ever made" - ROLLING STONE, winner of the 2016 Sundance Grand Jury Prize, BAFTA nominee & shortlisted for the Academy Awards) and 'Blackfish' ("Shattering... Eli Despres edits with propulsive narrative drive." - THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, BAFTA nominee & shortlisted for the Academy Awards).
As co-founder of Edgeline Films, also with Steinberg and Kriegman, Eli has executive produced titles for HBO, SHOWTIME, HULU, FX and NETFLIX. His other writing and editing credits include 'Red Army' ("One of the best documentaries that I have ever seen" - The Hollywood Reporter, "A stirring, crazy story-a Russian novel of Tolstoyan sweep and Gogol-esque absurdity" - NYTimes, Cannes 2014), 'They Call Us Monsters' (PBS), the Emmy-winning investigative journalism series 'Exposé' (PBS), feature documentary 'City Lax' (ESPN), and the fiction feature 'Wilderness Survival for Girls' (ContentFilm/Image Entertainment), which he also directed. Eli was nominated for the American Cinema Editors' Documentary award in 2014 and 2017. He is an active member of the American Cinema Editors (ACE) and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
