When did you graduate from CMI?
December 2009
Where are you and what are you doing now?
My family and I live in Burbank, CA where I work as a senior software developer for FotoKem, a full service film and television post-production company and the last remaining motion picture film laboratory in Los Angeles. My primary responsibility is writing FotoKem’s nextLAB software suite that we use for managing and processing footage for film and television productions. Besides that, I get to do a lot of other things. I often have opportunities to support our finishing colorists with customized image processing tools to help them achieve a particular look for a project (or sometimes to fix problems with footage). On certain productions, I will go to the shooting locations during filming to help with various post-production planning and support needs.
What do you like most about what you’re doing?
Getting to be involved in some of the biggest movies being made is pretty fun. Being at a facility like FotoKem is unique, because I am usually involved to one degree or another in half a dozen or more productions at any given time.
What are some projects/jobs that you’ve worked on since graduating?
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Rampage
Maze Runner 3: The Death Cure
Mind Hunter
House Of Cards
Kong: Skull Island
The Hateful Eight
San Andreas
300: Battle of Artemisia
Oz: The Great And Powerful
What classes and learning experiences at CMI were the most valuable in building towards your current job?
The summer before I graduated, I had the opportunity to work on Mark Medoff’s feature “Refuge” as data manager for the footage. That particular skill set turned out to be in high demand in the industry at the time, and served me very well in securing gigs after moving to Los Angeles.
What are you doing when you aren’t working?
Most of my time is pretty well spoken for by my two young boys. I do manage to spend some time on personal writing projects though! Once in a while I brew beer too.
What’s some advice you would give a CMI student (or maybe potential CMI student) about their time at CMI?
There is so much to learn about filmmaking. It’s a never ending process, and many parts of it are changing all the time. So learn constantly. Classes are just the jumping off point to your learning process. Seize the things that interest you, and dive in to them.
Work hard. There is no substitute for hard work.
