I was born and raised on the Hudson River in Yonkers, New York.
I went to Fordham Prep in the Bronx,
I studied economics, history, and politics at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts, and played Division 1 baseball. I graduated to a job in construction as a mason laborer, rebuilding apartments in the south Bronx.
After a year of hard labor, I was hired as a data analyst at the AC Nielsen company in Rockefeller Center.
It was at AC Nielsen that I learned the essentials of marketing in a data driven world.
In a short time, I was recruited to work in media at J Walter Thompson. My job was to help estimate audience size for the network up-front media buys. I went through their management training program, and eventually worked on Burger King.
A few years later I was recruited to work on Pepsi at BBDO. We won a ton of marketing and advertising awards when I was there, and one year shot every Pepsi spot with Joe Pytka. I was lucky in that I learned filmmaking from the top down. Pytka, Levine, Giraldi, Hanwright, Sedelmaier & Fincher.
I also worked with a bunch of great people at BBDO NY. I caught the end of the ride before Digital completely took over the advertising space.
I left BBDO to get "packaged goods" experience, I worked for two years with the Colgate - Palmolive scientists in developing new products, and I also was the point person for Brand Palmolive dish soap.
I learned while working on Pepsi that there is a way to blend brand objectives with creative output, but it requires an ally on the business side of things. Despite my best efforts, the Palmolive advertising was driven almost exclusively by data analytics, which to me stymied the creative expression necessary to create memorable tv commercials.
I soured on the big advertising model while at FCB
I found it formal cold & boring.
I did love the people I met there.
I then worked briefly as a rep with Sarah Holbrook at Propaganda Films.
thank you Sarah & David Frankel & Regina Ebel & Bob Emerson and Tony Frere.
Rep life wasn't ultimately for me, although I respect every one of them for being in the trenches every day to help the big advertising wheel grind for all of us.
I walked away from advertising, and started producing theater, and performing in dozens of stage productions off Broadway.
I also wanted street cred in filmaking, so I started working as a PA on big commercial shoots in NYC. Many of the PA's I ran with are still in the business today, and I have deep admiration for them.
I moved to Los Angeles after 9/11.
Acted in TV, and Indy films and commercials. Got to work with David Milch, and touch the edges of his genius.
I also worked in production at PYTKA.
That was a master class for me.
film production is a lot like construction
a lot of money definitely is better than a little money
but a little money can go a long way
especially if you know what you're doing
I produce quality films
I can take any project
from initial concept deck through the post
I love shooting in LA, but I can hire a legit crew almost anywhere in the world.
I try to connect all the dots, and I love what I do.
when not working I can be found walking in the hills with our dog Lupo,
or watching Rocco Sciavone on tv with my wife so I can learn Italian.
I've had two lives
life is a gift
enjoy the ride
