Matt Middleton is a production designer and art director based in Toronto, Canada.  His approach to production design is informed by his multi-disciplinary background in drawing and sculpture, engineering, design, and adventure travel.  He is passionate about creating unique worlds for stories to inhabit, fuelled by deep research and an active imagination.



His credits as a set designer include series such as The Strain and The Expanse, and features including Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, and Suicide Squad.

He received an Emmy nomination for art direction on Amazon series Annedroids, directed by J.J. Johnson, and designed by Ron Stefaniuk.

For writer/director Craig Goodwill, he designed the genre-defying short film Patch Town, recognized with the Directors Guild of Canada Award for Best Short Film.  Matt then designed the feature length version, currently streaming on AppleTV.

For creator Simon Rich and director Jonathan Krisel(of Portlandia), Matt designed the first season of comedy series Man Seeking Woman for FXX.  The series required gritty, realistic settings for an insecure urban bachelor with flights into the surreal and fantastic as he faces the his dating fears in literal extremes.  Matt had the opportunity to design the settings for encounters with gods, demons, deviant creatures and alien overlords within the framework of a fast-paced comedic series.  

Following this experience Matt had the opportunity to join the CBS/Paramount+ sci-fi series Star Trek Discovery, initially as a Set Designer, then advancing to Art Director.  In the first three seasons, he worked to realize the designs of 5 Production Designers including Emmy-award winning Mark Worthington, Star Wars designer Todd Cherniawsky, and Emmy and Academy-award winning Tamara Deverell, overseeing the design and build of of futuristic ship settings and alien worlds and cultures.  To do this he developed a stellar team of Concept artists, Set Designers and Graphic Artists to build out the vision for the series.

In Season 4 of Star Trek Discovery, he was invited to take on the role of Supervising Art Director.  He worked for Production Designer Doug McCullough to realize the ambitious vision of creator Alex Kurtzman, showrunner Michelle Paradise, and Executive Producer Olatunde Osunsanmi.  A key responsibility of the season was to oversee the design and build of the "Holodeck"- Canada's first LED volume stage, as well as planning and execution of settings for the volume stage. The challenging integration of the LED volume workflow was achieved within a demanding production schedule and the resulting imagery dramatically expanded the scope of the Star Trek Discovery world.

The 5th and final season of Star Trek Discovery continued with more ambitious settings and will be released in 2023.  A teaser is available HERE

Matt has recently served as a producer and the production designer for the Directors Guild of Canada's Virtual Production Workshop. For this project, he designed the environments and created a format to introduce directors and industry crew members to the workflow of a volume stage. He designed two environments with a small art department, each customized to suit the dramatic needs of four stories written and directed by DGC directors. The digital elements were realized with Pixomondo, and the physical components were created, installed and dressed with union crews and contributions from industry partners. The result was 8 short films shot in 2 days.

Matt is currently assisting in visual development for multiple feature and series projects, and seeking creative collaborations with producers, showrunners, and directors of projects that have elements of fantasy and science-fiction.

Contact him directly: getcreative@gmail.com


Sections

About

Matt Middleton is a production designer and art director based in Toronto, Canada.  His approach to production design is informed by his multi-disciplinary background in drawing and sculpture, engineering, design, and adventure travel.  He is passionate about creating unique worlds for stories to inhabit, fuelled by deep research and an active imagination.



His credits as a set designer include series such as The Strain and The Expanse, and features including Pacific Rim, Crimson Peak, and Suicide Squad.

He received an Emmy nomination for art direction on Amazon series Annedroids, directed by J.J. Johnson, and designed by Ron Stefaniuk.

For writer/director Craig Goodwill, he designed the genre-defying short film Patch Town, recognized with the Directors Guild of Canada Award for Best Short Film.  Matt then designed the feature length version, currently streaming on AppleTV.

For creator Simon Rich and director Jonathan Krisel(of Portlandia), Matt designed the first season of comedy series Man Seeking Woman for FXX.  The series required gritty, realistic settings for an insecure urban bachelor with flights into the surreal and fantastic as he faces the his dating fears in literal extremes.  Matt had the opportunity to design the settings for encounters with gods, demons, deviant creatures and alien overlords within the framework of a fast-paced comedic series.  

Following this experience Matt had the opportunity to join the CBS/Paramount+ sci-fi series Star Trek Discovery, initially as a Set Designer, then advancing to Art Director.  In the first three seasons, he worked to realize the designs of 5 Production Designers including Emmy-award winning Mark Worthington, Star Wars designer Todd Cherniawsky, and Emmy and Academy-award winning Tamara Deverell, overseeing the design and build of of futuristic ship settings and alien worlds and cultures.  To do this he developed a stellar team of Concept artists, Set Designers and Graphic Artists to build out the vision for the series.

In Season 4 of Star Trek Discovery, he was invited to take on the role of Supervising Art Director.  He worked for Production Designer Doug McCullough to realize the ambitious vision of creator Alex Kurtzman, showrunner Michelle Paradise, and Executive Producer Olatunde Osunsanmi.  A key responsibility of the season was to oversee the design and build of the "Holodeck"- Canada's first LED volume stage, as well as planning and execution of settings for the volume stage. The challenging integration of the LED volume workflow was achieved within a demanding production schedule and the resulting imagery dramatically expanded the scope of the Star Trek Discovery world.

The 5th and final season of Star Trek Discovery continued with more ambitious settings and will be released in 2023.  A teaser is available HERE

Matt has recently served as a producer and the production designer for the Directors Guild of Canada's Virtual Production Workshop. For this project, he designed the environments and created a format to introduce directors and industry crew members to the workflow of a volume stage. He designed two environments with a small art department, each customized to suit the dramatic needs of four stories written and directed by DGC directors. The digital elements were realized with Pixomondo, and the physical components were created, installed and dressed with union crews and contributions from industry partners. The result was 8 short films shot in 2 days.

Matt is currently assisting in visual development for multiple feature and series projects, and seeking creative collaborations with producers, showrunners, and directors of projects that have elements of fantasy and science-fiction.

Contact him directly: getcreative@gmail.com


Sections