– Experience –
25+ years of Story and Play for Movies & Games
PAST ROLES
Creative Development, Writer, Director, Head of Story, Story Lead, Story Artist, Story Director, Story Supervisor, Voice Over, Character Dev (Persona, Motor, Voice, Dialogue), Story Development (Arcs, World, Plot, Genre), Animator, Executive Consultant, Game Designer, Narrative Designer, Game Programmer, Pixel Artist, Publisher, Editor, Teacher, Mentor, Talent Development, Manager, Dungeon Master (2e-5e).
PAST STUDIOS
The DORK ARTS Studio, TBA Game Studio, SONY Pictures Animation, PIXAR Animation Studios, ILLUMINATION Entertainment, WALT DISNEY Feature Animation, LITTERBLOCKS Games, SEGA-MARZA, RED GIANT, CARTOON NETWORK, DREAMWORKS Animation, PDI-DREAMWORKS SKG, NUVOSTUDIOS, STUDIOPUNCH.
PAST PROJECTS
TBA RPG Adaptation Series, KPOP-Demon Hunters, TBA Original Pixar Feature, Hoppers, Inside Out 2, Super Mario Bros. Movie, Minions & Monsters, Elemasters, The Grinch, The Minions, Despicable Me 3, The Secret Life of Pets 1 and 2, Dumbgeon Masters, Where is Dead Zero?, Big Hero 6, Wreck-It Ralph, Magnutz: Puzzles of Magnosis, Baboombageddon, Monsters Vs. Aliens, Kung-Fu Panda Franchise Development, Kung-Fu Panda: Secrets of the Furious Five, Kung-Fu Panda 2D Dream Sequence Intro, Kung-Fu Panda, Penguins, Madagascar, Hard Hat Frog, Mobile Games (Paperboy, Bejeweled, etc), Fowl Play: The Drama, Freeware: The Movie, & many more!
THE DORK ARTS
Writer, Director, Narrative & Game Design
2016-Present
Creative Development, Writing and Directing projects for film and series.
Interactive Storytelling, Branching Dialogue, and Narrative Design.
Created and published a tabletop game “Elemasters: The Octomic Bond”.
Development of original mechanics, systems, and character controllers (Unity & Tabletop).
TBA
Writer, Director
2023-2024
Developed and wrote adaptation of a popular video game RPG IP to series (36ep) for AAA studio based in Japan.
NDA prohibits me from announcing project title or studio name at this time.
SONY PICTURES ANIMATION
Head of Story
2022-2023
Building, training, & leading a new story dept. for KPOP Demon Hunters.
Fostered interdepartmental collaboration, inclusive team feedback, and responsible leadership.
Developing schedules and priority targets for screenings.
Creating and delivering story lectures topics central to our film.
Developed an onboarding packet and handbook as reference for characters, world, lore, genre, and filmmaking priorities to our show.
Writing and Developing story, screenplay, & vision for project with core team.
Re-writing and designing a wide scope of studio and director notes (Sony, Netflix) into clear, scripts, outlines, and plans of action to launch assignments from.
Supporting Directors in co-direction capacity for all aspects of creative development such as script, story pitches, editorial, voice over, music, choreography, scheduling, casting, influencing partners, & travel to S.Korea.
Placed onto directing path by studio execs.
PIXAR ANIMATION STUDIOS
Story Lead, Story Artist
2021-2022
Early story development on three films “Inside Out 2”, “Hoppers”, and a “TBA original feature”.
Provided feedback to shows in development, story interns, and tool dev teams.
Promoted to Story Lead for the “TBA original feature".
Trained in Pixar's Leadership & Inclusivity Program under Pete Docter and Jim Morris.
Support story team with feedback.
Organizing and leading story team mtgs.
ILLUMINATION ENTERTAINMENT
Writer, Director, Story Artist
2013-2020
Created and directed an original Minions short film “Minions & Monsters”.
Collaboration internationally with Paris studio, and artists around the globe.
Work with Directors to develop films in story (Super Mario, Minions, Pets & more).
Contributed key ‘greenlight’ work (Mario pitch to Nintendo, First Pets scene in prod).
GOOGLE ATAP
Director, Narrative Designer
2015
Tapped to develop an original VR interactive short for spotlight stories, “Dumbgeon Masters”.
Design Doc balances 6 stories of varying genre based on player input.
Developing a dynamic camera system to support concept with Unity.
WALT DISNEY ANIMATION
Story Artist, Narrative Designer, Editor
2011-2013
Recruited to balance story & game worlds for Wreck-It Ralph as both story artist and de facto narrative designer of the team.
Created and led “Gamestorming” meetings for the story team.
Invited to help influence IP & story opportunities with Disney's Legal team for Ralph.
Helped spearhead Marvel/Disney's Big Hero Six (Oscar Winner) as first story artist.
Coordinated art & story depts. to produce anthology graphic novel “Where is Dead Zero?” (Eisner Award Nom).
Consulted on shows in development (Zootopia, Moana, and more).
FREELANCE
Game Designer, Programmer, Creative Development, Executive Advisor
2009-2010
SABBATICAL: Studied game design, level design, Unreal (UDK), and C++.
LITTERBLOCKS: Designed and programmed my first published game “Magnutz” to Apple's App Store.
SEGA-MARZA: Studio consultant role led to an opportunity as development exec.
RED GIANT: Consulted leadership on various projects & guest speaker in Beijing.
DREAMWORKS: Contract work for “Puss in Boots”, and “The Last Guardian”.
CARTOON NETWORK: Created and developed an original series “Baboombageddon”.
ANIMATION MENTOR
Short Film & Story Teacher, Mentor
2007-2010
Instructor: “Intro to Short Film” (Concept, Story, Script, Storyboard, Story Reel, 3D Layout).
Many students who completed my course received professional opportunities.
Tapped by founder in developing the next evolution of short film and story classes.
Marketed as a ‘Featured Mentor’ in promotional material.
DREAMWORKS-PDI
Story Artist, Writer, Animator
2002-2008
IInvited by the studio to create, write, and direct an original ‘video game movie’.
Created story & pitch for “Legends of the Furious Five” project (DTV).
Original Story Artist on "Kung-Fu Panda", inception to production.
Reading with Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman in V.O. recording.
Writing: Writing scenes (including 2D opening); Central role in creation of “Po” (Lead); Executive development mtgs; Franchise development (DTV, TV, Games), V.O. as Po (scratch); Front line advocate for authenticity.
Story: First Story Artist on project; Created opening animatic as defining vision for film; looked to by Directors and Writers for vision of film for run of show; solving story issues with team; major setpieces including Bridge Fight sequence; advise in 3D theatrical dev.
Animation: Sold studio on reopening a 2D division, created look Dev anim for 2D intro, development of animal kung-fu & choreography, In-house 3D anim software training.
Story Artist on Madagascar, Monsters vs Aliens, Shrek 3, PDI virtual, & others.
Opportunities to meet and work with top filmmakers, and screenwriters.
NUVOSTUDIOS
Pixel Artist
2000-2001
Creating and converting classic games to early mobile devices (Paperboy, Bejeweled, etc).
Experience collaborating with various departments and roles of a game studio.
Translating assets to various device parameters.
STUDIOPUNCH
Co-Founder, Creative Development, Production Designer, Pipeline R&D
2000
Helped build a leading ‘tip of the spear’ flash animation studio in San Francisco.
Pioneered techniques adapted by other studios.
Won a Showtime award for short film “Fowl Play: The Drama”.
– Education –
ACADEMY of ART: SAN FRANCISCO
BFA
1995-2001
Fine Arts Degree, with major in Visual Storytelling: Animated Film.
Studied with founding members of Pixar in story, film, & design.
Studio led projects offered me 2yrs experience in leading & directing teams of CG artists.
Developed, Directed, & completed a 2D short film with a small team in under a month.
Worked professionally in games and animation during final years of college.
POST GRAD
Writing | Filmmaking | Game Design
2001 - Present
The Narrative Department: Game Writing Masterclasses 1 & 2.
Mentorships & classes from Industry Professionals on Game Design, Narrative Design, Programming, Level Design, and Game Engines (UDK, Unity, Twine, etc).
UCLA: Anime Production and Distribution.
Exclusive film studio classes & workshops taught by industry professionals in screenwriting, directing, acting, cinematography, and more.