Spencer W.

About

Spencer is a two-time Emmy Award & two-time Peabody Award winning producer, director, writer and showrunner with fifteen years of television and film experience. Recently, he’s produced a range of multimedia and television projects for outlets such as TIME, ABC and A&E Television. His main areas of interest include history, politics and sports. Airing in February & March 2023 on MSNBC, Spencer was the co-executive producer for “When Truth Isn't Truth: The Rudy Giuliani Story.” The four part series produced by TIME Studios explored Giuliani’s dramatic fall from grace, how little he changed in between and the forging of our nation’s “post-truth” era. Also at TIME & MSNBC Films, Spencer produced “Split Screen” with Trevor Noah, a documentary exploring the history of disinformation in American media and the alternate realities now dividing our political landscape. In 2021, Spencer was the co-executive producer for “College $ports, Inc.” a feature-length Vice documentary investigating the NCAA and the seismic rules shift allowing athletes to make NIL endorsement money. In 2017, he produced “World Beaters,” a "30 for 30" documentary film about the history of the Little League World Series. Additional sports verite projects include “100 Days to Indy,” an in-season docu series following IndyCar drivers chasing their dream of the Indianapolis 500, and “Friday Night Tykes,” a close-up look at the hyper competitive world of youth football in Texas. Spencer has made a special focus on producing retrospective documentaries with social themes that still carry resonance in shaping today’s America. Spencer received a 2017 duPont Award as a producer on "Let It Fall: L.A. 1982-1992," an ABC documentary film about police brutality and the L.A. riots directed by Oscar-winner John Ridley. Also for ABC, he produced "One Night in Central Park,” a television documentary about the 1989 Central Park jogger rape case and the five young men accused of the crime. In 2018, he produced "Truth and Lies: Waco," which tells the story of David Koresh, his Branch Davidians followers and their ill-fated standoff with the federal government. When the two hour documentary special aired on ABC in January 2018, it earned the 2nd highest ratings of the network’s "Truth & Lies" franchise. As a director Spencer’s work has included “The Last Word,” a short form doc series for the History Channel marking the 75th Anniversary of Pearl Harbor. He interviewed 26 remaining veteran survivors on a range of issues from PTSD to Japanese internment camps. He also directed “Toxic Lake,” a digital documentary project for the Weather Channel about Florida’s Lake Okeechobee, Big Sugar and a toxic algae menacing the Sunshine State. It received the 2017 Society for Professional Journalists Award for Best Digital Feature. In 2014 and 2015, Spencer was a co-executive producer at ABC's Lincoln Square Productions serving as the showrunner for "Watt's World," a 13-episode series which aired on the Travel Channel. Prior to that, Spencer produced features, breaking news and investigative reports at ABC News and "HBO Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." Past projects as founder of Wilking Productions have included outlets like the New York Times, NPR, Vice Media, Wall Street Journal, Esquire Network and the Weather Channel. Spencer graduated from Tulane University with a B.A. and M.A. in History, and has a M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He’s married with two children and resides in New Orleans and Massachusetts.

Top Services

Non-Fiction Film Director

Series Producer / Show Runner

Senior Producer / Project Manager