Last Updated : 02/25/2010

*  *  * Current Project *  *  *

I'M LOOK'N FOR WORK!...

(...well, kind of...)

...and I'm the new Vice President of The Art Director's Guild...

How did that happen? Well, it's a mystery to me too. Now seriously, I was fortunate enough to have won a very narrow vote of my peers and collegues and I will now spend the next three years trying to help guid our new and now larger Local through the wake of a forced merger and, hopefully, toward a better future for all. (How's that for a bunch of "political sounding fluff?!")

*  *  * Recent Projects *  *  *

THE GREEN HORNET

From March to December of 2009 I was Art Directing on Sony Pictures feature production of a new Green Hornet feature film. Production Designed by Owen Paterson (V for Vendeta, Speedracer, Priscilla Queen of the Desert & all of the Matrix films), Directed by Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and staring Seth Rogan (Funny People) the film was shot entirely in Los Angeles and is scheduled to for a late 2010 release.

GLEE

Coming soon to a TV near you...possibly even yours...is a new show for Fox Television called Glee! A somewhat raunchier version of "High School Musical," Glee follows the resurrection of nearly defunct high school Glee Club in a depressed Midwestern town. The pilot was shot using local (LA) locations back in October of 2008 and Greg Papalia and myself came on to design the permanent sets from November ('08) through January of '09. Glee is Production Designed by Mark Hutman and Art Directed by Kevin Constance.

BOLDLY GOING NOWHERE

September and October of 2008 found me once again designing spaceships and other strange environments for a Fox Television pilot called Boldly Going Nowhere.  A half hour comedy (shot with a single camera) BGN is a tongue in cheek spoof of “Star Trek” and other more “serious” space dramas you see on television these days.  Written by the same guys who gave you “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” BGN was Production Designed by Scott Cobb and Art Directed by Colin de Rouin.  I understand that the show has been picked up but I have no idea when it might air on network tv.

G.I. JOE

September 2007 through June of 2008 was consumed with Art Directing on Paramount Studios action adventure film version of G.I. JOE.  Directed by Stephen Sommers (The Mummy, Van Helsing) and Production Designed by Ed Verreaux ( X-Men 3, Monster House, The Scorpion King) the huge visual world of G.I. JOE was slammed together in less then four months. Don't hold that against us when you see the finished product summer of 2009!

FROST/NIXON

I've been doing a turn of fill in set design work on the feature for Universal Studios.  Directed by Ron Howard and Production Designed by Michael Cornblith, "Frost/Nixon" centers around the first series of public interviews given by Richard Nixon after the Watergate scandal broke in 1974.

CLOVERFIELD

Produced by J.J. Abrams (MI3, Lost), "Cloverfield" is being Production Designed by Martin Whist and Art Directed by Doug Meerdink.  George Lee, Jane Wu and yours truly have been set designing.  The film is being shot in New York and Los Angeles on a very tight prep and shoot schedule. 

RUSH HOUR 3

Beginning in mid June of 2006 and taking me into mid 2007 I was Art Directing on the latest in the "Rush Hour" film franchise; Rush Hour 3.   Brett Ratner (with whom we completed X-Men 3) directed and Ed Verreaux Production Designed.  The Supervising Art Director was Greg Papalia.  Filming took place in Paris, France, and Los Angeles. RH3 will be out in August of 2007.

...and this will be the best looking of the Rush Hour films...even if I do say so myself!

PRIME DIRECTIVE

(aka - "TRANSFORMERS")

March to June of 2006 I Set Designed in the Art Department of DreamWorks latest project directed by Michael Bay and Production Designed by Jeff Mann.   A live action adventure based on the Hasbro toys of our youth, "Transformers" is the story of the war between the good-guy Autobots and the evil Decepticons; each are a race of machines who change form from known Earth objects (a car for example) into a more humanoid battle robot form.  Heavy on visual effects and high on set and location count "Transformers" starts principle photography this summer.  I left Transformers in mid June to start work on Rush Hour 3.

X-MEN 3

The second half of 2005 was spent in Vancouver, British Columbia working as an Art Director on Fox Studios X-Men series.  Myself, Production Designer Ed Verreaux and Supervising Art Director Geoff Hubbard traveled from American to head the Art Department and our Canadian based counter parts were Helen Jarvis and Sandi Tanaka.  It was (and still is) a hugely ambitious project and it is currently in re-shoots.  Look for X-3 in theaters Memorial Day Weekend 2006!

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE III (M:I:3)

From mid April to the end of June of 2005 I was involved, as a lead Set Designer, with Paramount Studios latest attempt at making MI3. I left MI3 to go to Canada to Art Direct on X-Men 3 .

WINDFALL (a.k.a. - Ticket to Ride)

This Pilot for Fox/Regency television kept me busy from mid February to mid April of 2005 Production Designed by Dawn Snyder and Art Directed by yours truly, Windfall is the story of a group of people struggling to make ends meet in Midwest suburbia.  This group ends up wining a $387 million lottery.  Our task was to show the "before, during and after" aspects of life of these 20 or so people.  38 sets/locations, 3 weeks of prep, 15 days of shooting; it was not an easy adventure for anyone to undertake.

MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA

In October of 2004 I joined the art department of Memoirs of a Geisha as a Set Designer.  The project was well along into principal photography and a large portion of the design work had already been completed.  I was brought in to help design the ending of the film including some stage sets and location work in San Francisco. It was a fascinating crash course in Japanese design.  The Production Designer is John Myhre and Supervising Art Director is Tomas Voth.  The cast includes: Ziyi Zhang, Ken Watanabe, and Michelle Yeoh.  Principal photography ends mid January 2005.

SKY HIGH

April through August of 2004 found me working as the Lead Set Designer on Disney's feature film Sky High.  The film is a somewhat campy comedy which centers on a high school for super-powered teens in a world where superheroes are an everyday occurrence. Directed by Mike Mitchell  (Surviving Christmas) and Production Designed by R. Bruce Hill (a really nice guy).   The cast includes: Kurt Russell, Kelly Preston, Michael Angarano, Bruce Campbell, Lynda Carter and David Foley.  Principal photography ended the last week of October.

When all was said and done I was on the show for 20 weeks and I was directly responsible for designing 5 of the 7 stage sets, most all of the 8 locations and a number of the large mechanical effects items.  I'll post a few photos when I get the chance. 

HUFF

Huff, a pilot which I set designed for Joe Lucky (Production Designer) and Phil Dagort (Art Director), has been picked up by Showtime and will start airing this fall. 

HOUSE

House is another new series that will be airing this season.  Again I was one of the set designers involved in the design of the pilot back in March of this year.  The Production Designer is Mark Hutman.

BIG LOVE

Making it three for three, Big Love (another pilot on which I was a set designer) has been picked up by HBO.  I guess the moral to this story is...if you want to have your pilot picked up by on of the networks...hire me as one of your set designers!

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I will be adding more photos to the "Portfolio" page as time permits.

I will also be posting my next "Newsletter" to the site as soon as it is completed.