About — Carl

I STARTED MAKING FILMS BEFORE I KNEW THAT'S WHAT I WAS DOING.

Growing up skating, the camera was part of the culture: you skated, you filmed, you made it look the way it felt. That instinct for real, unscripted moments grew up with me, from shooting action sports for TV networks, to cutting commercials in the Bay Area, to art directing campaigns from brief to final frame.

Editing is my foundation. I have a film degree focused in post, years of cutting everything from 30-second spots to 20-minute documentaries, and a real love for the moment a sequence finally clicks. I treat sound design the way most people treat picture, something built alongside the film, not added after. That same eye extends into motion, graphic design, and illustration, disciplines I don’t just direct but actually make in.

That editorial sensibility is what I bring into the room as an art director. I’ve led creative on short-form campaigns, broadcast spots, and long-form branded documentary, sometimes within the same project. I think in sequences, which makes me a better concepter. I know what’s possible in post, which makes me a better partner on set. And because I’ve spent real time in the edit suite, I share a language with the editors and directors I work with.

The work I’m proudest of has taken me from the Cannes Lions stage to the SXSW Jury Award for Best Documentary Short, earned by making films that were genuinely good, not just well-branded.

When I’m not on set or in the edit suite, I’m probably home with my family or tinkering in the garage. The line between work and life has always been blurry for me, in the best way.