About

I grew up in Juneau, Alaska.  This used to be interesting to mention until Sarah Palin ran for VP and now it is maybe the 5th thing I bring up in conversation with strangers. I have five gold teeth and hope to acquire more. I used to skateboard, but after a lot of time in hospitals, I decided to find a safer hobbies, like knitting and pilates. I still ski whenever possible, but turns out I really don’t love being cold so my ski days are often cut a bit short by trips to the lodge and long lunches.

I own a banjo and a few types of flutes which I intend to learn how to play in the not-so-distant future. Realistically, it will be a while until I have my first recital so don’t hold your breath.

My first job in film was running crew and gear on boats in my hometown. It was called 'Limbo', a John Sayles film. John hired my dad as Director of Boat Operations, since I could run all the boats, I became his assistant.  On my first day, I took Haskell Wexler out on my dad's 14ft. rubber skiff to a remote island to shoot b-roll for the film.  It was just me, Haskell and two of his camera assistants.  A few days later when I watched the Producer on set, I decided she had the job I wanted. She warned me for years it wasn’t as glamorous as what I saw that summer but I refused to hear it. She was right. Not glamorous but it keeps me busy and I get to meet lovely people all the time.

When I first started producing, I mostly made music videos with Whitey aka Rob McConnaughy.  He had some big ideas and great taste in music, so I always wanted to help.

After producing some videos and photoshoots for The Decemberists, they asked me to come along for a tour as tour manager/merch person. Other than being some of the most amazing people I've ever worked with, they also taught me to knit, which is incredibly calming for a busy body.

Eventually, after a few years of music videos (which equals not making money) the kind folks at Food Chain Films started hiring me to produce commercials. There was a lot of digital content that needed to be made but no one wanted to touch it which led me to doing some fairly successful viral campaigns. I stated internal production at Wieden, we called it don’t act big. If you know, you know. Some friends wandered from wk to Google Creative Labs and I followed them to NYC. I jumped around a slew of other agencies, brands and production companies for a few years. I spent a couple years living in hotels and making ads for FB + Oculus - it was a kind of dream. Funny that I never understood the film ‘The Particulars’ that I made with Ayse Altinok until I lived it…. (see ETC for the non-commercial work, music videos, etc).

During the pandemic I shot a load of campaigns over various timezones, sometimes at the same time. Good thing I have so many old laptops. I also shot quite a bit live action suffocating in N95 masks but I would say, the sets we so clean, it was kinda dreamy. Aside from the constant fear we all lived in of getting sick, getting someone sick or getting shut down due to someone crucial getting it. Glad those days are behind us, aren’t they?

My father is a sailor, motorcycle madman, and animal lover. He's the sweetest badass you could ever hope to meet.

My mother is a math genius/ teacher, and for raising my brother and me, a saint.  She has made me laugh harder than anyone else.  

My brother Zac is a patent attorney, he has a lovely wife, three perfect lil girls, and for some crazy reason lives in Texas.  If you have original ideas, he's the guy to call.  He lives to win. 

I have a 16 year old Mini Schnauzer, Mitzi Handschuh. She is the boss of me.  I always tell her that, "I AM TONY DANZA" but we all know the kids were the bosses in that show.

Hit me up if you want to see, swap or make great stories. I’ll go the distance for good people and anywhere for art. I don’t mind the traffic in LA cause there are tons of cars for hire and podcasts to catch up on. Hope to see you soon IRL or video chat.

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