I am an Associate Professor of Film at Portland State University, co-author of the 7th edition of Directing the Documentary, and a frequent presenter at film events. I earned an MFA degree in Film and Video Production from Columbia College Chicago.
I have over 17 years of full-time teaching experience instructing bachelor’s degree-seeking students in film and video production at regionally accredited institutions. I have designed and taught over 25 courses covering aspects of film production from story development to marketing & distribution. My specialty areas in teaching are documentary film production and professional development for the media industry.
My former students are counted among independent filmmakers and media professionals from New York to Los Angeles and points between.
Branded Media Production
I developed Branded Media Production as an intensive production course for intermediate and advanced students studying film production at Portland State University.
Students work in small production units to produce professional quality, short form branded media videos for real clients.
Past partners include: Looptworks, Oregon Wild, Explore Nature, Portland Gear, Friends of Family Farmers, Wild Diversity, and the Oregon Ravens.
Completed work has screened at the Hollywood Theatre and at the Hollywood Theatre airport screening room; has been featured at partner organizations' professional meetings, websites, eNewsletters, and social media platforms; is featured on PSU FILM's Vimeo channel, and has shown on PSU FILM's public screen on SW 6th Avenue and in the lobby of Lincoln Hall.
Annually since Spring 2016, I have facilitated Portfolio and Professional Development, an experience that culminates in a portfolio show held at Portland State University.
The course asks graduating students to investigate their interests, values, personality, and skills as the basis for discovery and communication of their personal brand as they begin their careers. To discover career goals and set a path to attaining them, students undertake a series of short research projects, in-class writing exercises, and oral presentations.
In service to communicating their personal brand, students prepare marketing materials (a portfolio website, a resume, a generic and a tailored cover letter, a business card) and a reel or reels highlighting generalist and/or specialist skill sets in media production.
At the end of the term, students present themselves as emerging professionals to the school community, alumni, peers, friends, family, and to established media professionals.
Portfolio and Professional
Development
Advanced Production
Workshop
Advanced Production Workshop serves those students who have completed at least one of Portland State Film's production tracks. Students with diverse interests convene and collaborate on mature work that can be used in portfolios and offered to outside distribution channels including film festivals and online streaming.
Each student authors their own film in a chosen genre: experimental, fiction, documentary, branded media, or music video. Delivery deadlines throughout the term keep students on track to complete a project from concept to completion in 11 weeks.
Students are asked to invest in their classmates' processes; invoking a collaborative spirit that yields opportunities for student participation in an array of projects, each with its own storytelling, producing, aesthetic, logistical, and technical challenges. Because students crew on each other's projects, the experience is intended to produce high quality assets they can use in their individual portfolios.