The Young Director adjusts his brother’s blocking.

My biography follows the time-tested narrative: there and back again. I spent my childhood years in the shadow of Mt. Baker, a volcano on the northern edge of Washington State. There were not as many Starbucks then, and the whole area felt infused with magic and mystery. It wasn’t long before I started to investigate how the films I loved actually got made. My dad taught me composition on his father’s 35mm SLR. I did school projects on special effects and foley art. When I wasn’t lost in the woods I was lost in a story. Then we moved to Iowa.

You only get one directorial debut, so you better wear cool sunglasses.

I was 12-years-old when we arrived at a parsonage in a cornfield. It was a 16-mile round trip to school, a 70-mile round-trip the nearest McDonalds, and very flat. But it was the perfect breeding ground for imagination and a collaborative work ethic. By the time I graduated from high school, I had made two feature films (no, they haven’t aged well), and a third by the time I graduated from college (slightly better). The Midwest taught me to notice what is present rather than what is not, especially the things that make people so wonderful, complex, and beautiful. I grew my freelance career in Chicago, Kansas City and then Des Moines. My filmmaking team became a standard bearer for Des Moines’ ongoing cultural renaissance. It was a very exciting time, with doors opening to national work, produced locally. We went on to create 2 national commercials, 36 original spots for ESPN, and regular creative content for our Youtube channel, which received 3.8  million views.

I moved back to the Pacific Northwest in 2016 and pivoted to long form work. From 2016 -2020, I directed the feature documentary Kinnick (Amazon, iTunes) and from 2021-2023 I’ve been working on the docuseries Saving Sophie.

Now that I’m back home, I love being in the shadow of Mr. Baker once again. I try to always keep one eye looking for magic and mystery, and the other looking for the right people and resources to transmit them to the world. I believe in the power of story… to transport, to transform, to heal. Every story, whether it is large or small, scripted or documentary, has the ability to do that in a small way. If you have a story to tell, I’d be honored to walk with you as we bring it to life.

-pdhb