Designing characters, stories and more with Shilo’s Jose Gomez

If you haven’t seen the book “We Make It Good” from the filmmakers at creative production company Shilo, you are hereby enthusiastially encouraged to check it out. As you’ll see there — or by exploring Shilo’s archives at www.shilo.tv — much of the company’s extraordinary content leverages the character design talents of co-founder, creative director and director Jose Gomez. Among many illustrious achievements to date, Jose and his team helped creative agency ATTIK bring Scion’s world famous deviants to life, building upon Shilo’s many other breakthrough film projects, and some design feats earlier in Jose’s career for highly successful skate, snow and surf brands. Since regular video conferences typically involve Shilo’s entire executive team on both U.S. coasts in every company undertaking, Jose’s skills as a character designer weigh heavily into most Shilo projects. Collaborating most recently with GlobalHue Latino, Shilo’s latest film Read more

The power of dreams…

At an early age, I decided I was going to be a writer. Somewhere along the way, I also took a strong interest in filmmaking, and being very ambitious, by the time I was 20 years old, I developed a clear vision of myself as novelist and filmmaker. While I have made great strides on achieving those dreams over the years, I must admit that I have a long way to go in seeing them through; nonetheless, those dreams have driven me into situations that I never would have imagined, and while I’ve not yet fully accomplished those missions, I feel very fortunate to have progressed as far as I have.

By pursuing the opportunies that have come my way over the years and applying my talents, my writing achievements and my reputation for success have opened many doors. One of them opened in the early 90s when a young Orlando filmmaker named Bill Waxler decided he wanted to produce and direct a 16mm short film based on something I’d written. Delving into my past experiences, I wrote a script for a dramatic short which I entitled “Bumper Crop,” and in that story Read more

Lucky Guy: The Musical… and My Life

In honor of all my friends.
When you look at the website for the musical comedy Lucky Guy, this quote leaps right out: “It’s not what you got in life, it’s who you got to share it with that counts.” I find that to be a wonderful observation on life, and it literally connects me to the project, which is written by my charming friend Willard Beckham, whom I met with Beth last year in New York through my larger-than-life pal, Lisa Cleff Kurtz. Read more

Much love to and from The Children’s Playhouse

A creative play space for families, and a powerful force for community goodness in Boone, North Carolina, USA

After helping my wife Beth Darnell, and her sister Ann Kiefert, their comrade Kathy Parham, and many others from our then-new hometown of Boone, North Carolina, open The Children’s Playhouse in November of 2002, I am very proud to see how Kathy has led the venture in countless ways which continue adding precious dimensions to our community. The video featured here was produced by our friend Beth Jacquot in 2003, and much has happened since then. I invite you to visit the official site www.GoPlayhouse.org and explore the Facebook group, and I also wanted to share news from a recent event that reveals a lot about our community, and Kathy.
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Focus on cancer today to survive for tomorrow…

With cancer being the leading cause of death worldwide, its tragic realities are all too familiar to most of us. On a more positive note, the World Health Organization is spreading the message that “Cancer can be prevented, too,” and they’ve organized a comprehensive guide to effective programs which you can find online here. Knowing that early detection is a key to survival, the Lance Armstrong Foundation is encouraging us today, which is designated as World Cancer Day, to ask our friends and loved ones to please schedule a visit with their doctors to discuss cancer and their personal risk factors:

“A little encouragement goes a long way, and we all have to work together to keep our loved ones healthy.”

Here’s their link to help us spread the word and reach out: “Make the call.”

Creative Entrepreneurs: David Bouck

While attending the Boards Summit last October, I had the pleasure of meeting and befriending David Bouck (IMDB, LinkedIn), a veteran producer working in commercials, television and feature films. David is the founder and executive producer of Means of Production in Vancouver, a production services company specializing in television commercial production and still photography servicing all of Canada. After recently sending me his latest company reel (featured above), I peppered him with questions which he has kindly answered below. Read more

Love clicks, in the true spirit of the season….

We’ve reached the time of year when I invite you to join me in sending daily clicks to www.hungersite.com, where our simple mouseclicks can benefit a number of vital causes each day. Big thanks to Travis the Elf for picking The Hunger Site as his Project for Awesome entry at this time last year, and for posting this video. Together with my family, I am sending my warmest thoughts to many friends and colleagues worldwide, and feeling a lot of gratitude.  I’m especially thankful to the individuals behind my client companies ATTIK, a52, Elastic, Brand New School, Rock Paper Scissors, Shilo and We Are Plus for helping to support the following organizations over the past several years. Read more

Southern California welcomes A Nice Set

Inhouse Creative in Venice, California, is the creative agency for S.L.A.T.E., the progressive streetwear section of the famous MAGIC fashion tradeshow held twice yearly (next one is Feb. 16-18) in Las Vegas. On behalf of my clients at creative studio We Are Plus, it’s my sincere pleasure to thank the Inhouse team for organizing the Pop-Up Shop @ AK1511 and hosting A Nice Set for its U.S. debut. Since 2008, this acclaimed DJ slipmat art exhibition has attracted tastemaking crowds in Tokyo, Paris, New York, Hong Kong, Madrid, Melbourne, Singapore, and Shanghai. The exhibition will now run through Jan. 17 at AK11 in Venice, featuring unique retail pop-up stores for Orisue, Aerial7 and 9Five open every day (Mon-Sat 11AM-7PM, Sun 11AM-4PM). Read more

Tommy Ewasko, Imagemaker Extraordinaire…

This Friday and Saturday nights, and by private appointments thereafter, The Wine Cave in Montrose, California, will proudly host Artist’s Receptions and Charitable Fine Art Sales honoring master Getty Images imagemaker Tommy Ewasko and his work, and benefiting Amazing Grace Children’s Foundation. On display and available to collectors on a first-come, first-served basis are numerous Art and Gallery Prints from Tommy’s exclusive America’s Moments and Hot Color Icons collections. Please join us for wonderful wine tasting experiences, while getting to know one of America’s great imagemakers and his one-of-a-kind works. Read more

Lessons on professionalism, persistence and “Endurance” from artist Theresa Ortolani

Two years ago, I attended a publishing workshop hosted by Kiki Bauer, senior designer for powerHouse Books, at the powerHouse Arena in Brooklyn. Six of us attended, each eager to discuss our very specific idea for a brilliantly conceived, beautiful and riveting coffee-table book like those famously published by powerHouse. Theresa, Lori, Brad, Debra, John-Michael and I all presented our pet projects to Kiki on that day, and I’ll bet the rest of our classmates are as proud as I am to see that Theresa has persevered in seeing hers through, and getting it into print: “Endurance” published by powerHouse Books, is now available for purchase. In fact, the official launch party is happening at powerHouse Arena on Thurs., Dec. 3. More information on Theresa Ortolani, “Endurance” and this very cool upcoming event follow below. Read more