Doug Stanley knows how to create smash-hit television. Perhaps best known for his work as producer and director of photography on the Emmy-winning non-fiction show “Deadliest Catch,” he and his team have a new series they’re currently marketing to networks. “North Point” tells compelling stories of surfers in the cobblestoned seaport town of Nazaré, Portugal, on the eastern North Atlantic coast and home to the biggest waves in the world. Equally large: the characters, whose stories are as individual as they are universal.
“‘North Point’ is not about surfing,” says Stanley, pointing out that, similarly, “Deadliest Catch” isn’t about crab fishing, but rather the men and women who fish the vast Bering Sea. Both projects are about the people—their struggles and dreams, and their interactions among extreme elements in the world’s most challenging environments.
This has been a successful approach for Stanley and his partners. “Deadliest Catch” is now in its 20th season on Discovery Channel (and streaming), and broadcast in nearly 200 countries and 45 languages. It has garnered 56 Emmy nominations and 16 Primetime Emmy awards. Stanley himself has won two Primetime Emmys. For “North Point,” the team includes Stanley’s brother, Todd (producer); surf filmographer Kicko Rocha (producer); and Stanley’s partner, line producer Charlene Taylor, who’s the renowned El Dorado Hills photographer behind the successful Charm Photography Studio.
Stanley and Taylor met online like many do. “We had this odd moment where I said, ‘I have a studio,'" recalls Stanley, “and she laughed and said, ‘I have a studio.’ My love for Charlene inspired me to create SmackDab Studios with her.”
SmackDab Studios is a gem in El Dorado Hills. It aims to help locals produce their own photo and video projects through education, such as video production classes, and by providing access to high-end equipment—including cameras, sound, and lighting. The studio includes Charm Photography, through which Taylor has a long history of making people look good, whether they’re sitting for senior pictures or professional headshots, posing with Santa or the Easter Bunny, or at a local event. Stanley handles the film/video side of the business. “We have such interesting conversations about light and beauty and design,” says Stanley. “For two creatives … we are simply in heaven.”
In Portugal, Stanley and Taylor taught a “Speed Cinema” class to their Portuguese and Brazilian teams, then spent six weeks shooting. The people whose stories “North Point” tells are a community of surfers—and affiliates—from dozens of countries around the world. Competition is fierce, cooperation vital. “I am inspired to elevate stories about people who are like us in many ways,” says Stanley, “but [they] live life at the edge of the world, challenged by things beyond our imagination.”
The surf culture of Portugal, he says, went beyond his wildest dreams, and even beyond that was the specific big-wave status of Nazaré. “Nazaré has a submarine canyon that is like a giant underground river that shoots upward to increase the size of waves tremendously,” says Stanley. With waves reaching 50 to 80 feet high, Nazaré wasn’t part of Portugal’s surf scene until personal watercraft were implemented. They deliver surfers into position (faster than is possible paddling by hand), a practice known as tow-in surfing. Sizzle-reel footage for “North Point” shows Jet Skis and board surfers darting among massive walls of greenish-blue water tipped with the salty white frenzy of surf break—and wiping out. “Nazaré is unforgiving,” says big-wave surfer David Langer in the video. “The impact zone is liquid chaos. What’s going through your head? Survive, survive, survive.”
Survival is a theme within Stanley’s work. “We all struggle, we are all challenged,” he says, “yet somehow we tend to survive. Not all of us—this stuff is really dangerous!—but [we can survive] if we stay focused, work together.” Surfing, he adds, has historically been a solo sport, but tow-in surfing in deadly situations requires dedicated teamwork. “Even the fiercest of competitors must constantly be guarding their fellow competitors. Life and death are only a millimeter apart. Even enemies must rely on each other to survive.”
It makes for a truly captivating story.
For more information about “North Point,” go to northpointtheseries.com. For more about SmackDab Studios, visit smackdab.com.
The impact zone is liquid chaos. What’s going through your head? Survive, survive, survive.