A fun interview I did with Austin American Statesman reporter Hannah Ortega.
WAITING FOR THE PUNCHLINE RELEASED ON YOUTUBE
Waiting for the Punchline follows podcaster Nick Scarpino as he attempts to break into the world of stand up comedy in San Francisco. The doc was directed for Rooster Teeth, a subsidiary of Warner Bros Discovery, as part of the RTDocs series. Official selection of multiple festivals and nominated for the Nesnady and Schwartz Documentary Competition ‘Best Documentary’ at the ClevelandFilm Festival.
Kinda Funny has released the film on their official YouTube Channel. Watch it here.
WATCH POWER TRIP: THE STORY OF ENERGY
“Power Trip: the Story of Energy” is a top 10 rated streaming show on PBS, and Neilson ratings confirmed hit show broadcasting nationally and watched by millions. Power Trip is a 12-part, 12-hour-long documentary series directed by Mat Hames, based on Michael E. Webber's book. Season One explores energy in WATER, FOOD, CITIES, TRANSPORTATION, WEALTH and WAR. Season Two reveals energy as the underlying force that carries us to SPACE, causes large-scale DISASTERS, transforms WORK, CULTURE, and ENTERTAINMENT, and drives GLOBALIZATION.
Stream "Power Trip: The Story of Energy - A Documentary Series”, now available:
on the PBS App (on your Smart TV, search for PBS in your app store) and at PBS.org
on Amazon Prime Video, as part of a PBS Documentaries Subscription
on AppleTV
Using your ROKU
Broadcasting nationally on PBS (check your local station listings)
WATCH POWER TRIP: THE STORY OF ENERGY ON PBS.ORG, AMAZON PRIME, APPLE TV, AND THE PBS APP
WELCOME!
Emmy winning Show Runner, Executive Producer, Director and Writer known for docu-series, and feature documentaries (2 on PBS series Independent Lens). What Was Ours was featured on HBO’s Last Week Tonight With John Oliver in a segment about museums and artifacts. Some of my work has won some awards.
You can watch films on Amazon Prime, AppleTV or PBS.
Also, a co-founder of production studio Alpheus Media, making films for Economist, Johns Hopkins, Warner Media, World Vision, and Whole Foods. Currently working on the second season of Power Trip for PBS, developing a new feature documentary about Mountain Guides, and making a PBS series about mental health in the Mountain West.
GUEST LECTURES: COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, VIRGINIA TECH, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY AND VIRGINIA TECH - METAPHOR: THE LANGUAGE OF FILMMAKERS (1.5 hour lecture)
I had the honor of guest lecturing at Columbia University and Virginia Tech as an invited guest of Linguistics Professor Kathryn O’Shields PhD. My lecture titled ‘Metaphor: The Language of Filmmakers’ describes how metaphor is used by film makers to communicate things that dialogue can’t. I also discuss the search for metaphor in documentary production, how it is usually a ‘happy accident’, and documentary filmmakers always have to be ready for metaphor to reveal itself. I talk about my own films (‘When I Rise’, ‘What Was Ours’ as well as documentaries ‘Rich Hill’ and ‘Grey Gardens’.
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN- ETHICS IN INTERVIEWING FOR DOCUMENTARY (1 hour lecture)
For the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Social Work, my guest lecture was for the class of Professor Suzanne Potts, called ‘Ethics in Interviewing for Documentary’. This lecture explores how to approach documentary subjects with dignity. Interviewing subjects for a documentary about personal stories - transparency, openness and honesty about your intentions are the keys to opening the windows to access and keeping them open.
FOSSIL COUNTRY - NEW POSTER BY MIDNIGHT MAURADER
My feature documentary ‘Fossil Country’, is now airing nationwide in the USA on PBS, currently with more than 200 broadcasts. Hardscrabble fossil hunters in Wyoming make astounding discoveries that change what we know about the earth’s history. The mining town of Kemmerer, in the Green River Formation, is ground zero for the best fossil collecting in the world. Geology, history, and entrepreneurship all come to life through human stories of fossil hunters seeking a rare discovery — and a big payday.
Poster design by Midnight Marauder.
