I was born in defiance.

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Defiance, Ohio, that is. This has absolutely nothing to do with anything – I just like to say it and it doesn't come up very often.

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It’s out of my system now, so let’s jump ahead a few years.

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I received a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance with a minor in Computer Science from Lehigh University. Two years later, I studied film at New York University’s School of Continuing Education, where I primarily focused on cinematography and editing. We shot film and cut and spliced on a flatbed which all really makes you plan everything really well in your head before you commit to it forever. Trying to tape a single frame back into your rough cut doesn’t usually work in your favor.

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I worked a couple jobs in New York after that, as a sound recordist, PA, and grip, then moved back to PA (where I mostly grew up). I was soon hired to write, direct, shoot and edit the feature documentary “Charging Across America,” which followed a 70-year-old man as he drove coast-to-coast in a 1912 electric car. 

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The following year, I packed up my car with everything I owned, plus my girlfriend and everything she owned, and moved to Los Angeles. I got an unpaid internship as a camera loader on a film for Concorde/New Horizons Studios and worked as a PA and background extra on films and commercials. I got into S.A.G. by working as an extra on the movie “Face Off,” though I got cut from every scene I was in. I’m pretty visible in “The Wedding Singer” though.

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While learning the ropes on professional film sets, I also got a job as a cameraman for the Anaheim Angels and the Ducks, shooting for the Jumbotron. I quickly became the go-to-guy for all the in-house commercials, player interviews, and promo spots. I later directed two television commercials for the Angels, both of which were finalists for the IDEA Golden Matrix award for Best Promotional Video. During this time, I also started working as an A.D. on national commercials and music videos.