Creatives

Steffen Schlachtenhaufen's career is extensive, from the screenwriter of several independent movies ("Would You Rather," Danger One" and the upcoming sci-fi thriller, "The Mandela Effect") to creative director/producer for visual effects (for projects such as Nat Geo’s “Rocket City Rednecks,” History’s long running science series “The Universe,” and “Life After People"). "Big History" earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction. Steffen shares with us his own Hollywood story, setting out from Wisconsin to Los Angeles simply because “this is where you go if you want to make movies." He offers his thoughts on today's nonfiction television industry, increasingly more focused on reality TV than traditional documentary programming.

Steffen's Twitter @steffen_schlach

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Professor Thelma Vickroy is Chair of the Department of Cinema and Television Arts at California State University Northridge. She attended New York University's famed film school at a time when female students in the department were rare—in fact, she was only one of three at the time. She went on to work with the legendary documentary filmmaker Robert Drew at Drew Associates. Thelma's vérité and portrait documentary films include "Ahmed, Say Something Funny," about Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed, “Extraordinarily Ordinary,” about Pasadena artist Val Echavarria, and the story of her father told in “Gun Shots & Word Thoughts.” In Thelma’s own words, when asked about what makes her tick: “Grit - you either have it or you don’t.”

Thelma's Twitter @thelmavickroy

Thelma's Instagram @thelmavickroy

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Author and urban archaeologist Chris Nichols has dedicated a large part of his life to preserving and recording LA's colorful post-war architecture. He's known for his special knowledge of all things Googie, the 1950's roadside architecture inspired by the wild optimism of the atomic and space age, and driven by a new car-centered culture. He's the author of several books, including “The Leisure Architecture of Wayne McAllister” and his most recent work, the stunning Taschen volume, “Walt Disney’s Disneyland.” He's known throughout Southern California as the go-to expert on quirky LA history and trivia, through his Ask Chris column in Los Angeles Magazine. Sven and Rich know Chris particularly well as the subject of an early documentary short, "Chris Nichols: The Googieman," focusing on some of the landmarks he helped save, such as Pann's Restaurant and Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake. Chris is former chair of the Los Angeles Conservancy's Modern Committee.

Chris's Instagram: @ nixols

Chris's Twitter @ChrisNicholsLA

Chris in Los Angeles Magazine: https://www.lamag.com/author/chris-nichols/

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We bring on Sven's daughter Ariana Berkemeier, a grad student in Kinesiology (the scientific study of body movement), for a revealing look at how creatives can be found in unexpected places. Ariana's first passion was photography—sports and action photography to be precise. While pursuing her art, she learned to observe the movement of the human body, developing her interest in Kinesiology. For Ariana, the scientific and the artistic are inexorably linked, each complimenting the other, providing her with a unique perspective she might not have had otherwise. During her undergrad work at Weber State University, she began to build her photography credentials shooting for the campus publication The Signpost, and documenting the Utah Grizzlies ice hockey team. As she began her Kinesiology studies as a grad student at California Baptist University, her photography grew with her too, as she lent her talents to the school's Lancer Media Group.

Ariana Berkemeier Photography Website https://arianaberkemeier3.wixsite.com/mysite

Ariana Berkemeier Photography Facebook

Ariana Berkemeier Photography Instagram @ariana_bphotography

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James Goldin has worked on historical and science-based non-fiction and documentary TV productions since the late 1990's, often exploring the big bang (in programs like History’s “The Universe”) and science (CuriosityStream's “Deep Time History”), which looked at how the sciences shaped human history. James is also the author of several middle grade and young adult novels, including "The Aesir Kids," a book series created in collaboration with his daughter. He just released “Vampires: First Blood Volume I: The Vampire Lords.”

James' Amazon Author Page

James' Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-grant-goldin-01b8035 

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When Wade Snook left Florida for Los Angeles, it was with the dream of making it as a musician, but it was the 1990's, and a new dream took hold: the emerging art of digital design. His work has ranged from corporate brochures, catalogs and package design, to Photoshop mash-ups for comedian Gilbert Gottfried (merging the comedian with Dracula or the Wolfman, for example). Recently, Wade started screen printing his own clothing brand, including creating swag for the death metal band, "Autopsy." Creatives hosts Sven and Rich collaborated with Wade on their documentary "Kafkaesque," for which he created innovative marketing materials.

Wade's Website https://wadesnook.myportfolio.com/

Wade's Instagram @infernal.imagery

Facebook

https://facebook.com/wadesnookdesign

https://facebook.com/infernalimagerybywadesnook

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When young Jim Eckels' pre-med plans didn't pan out, he trekked across the country to Hollywood and set out to climb the ladder from production assistant to script coordinator to production office manager, before finally having the chance to write and produce documentary "clip" shows. When the reality craze hit, Jim jumped on board to produce programs like “Tory & Dean: Inn Love,” and “Tattoo Highway” (his personal favorite). He directed History’s challenging 3D production of “Invisible." Most recently, out of his affinity for script writing and a childhood love of comics and pulp fiction, he launched “Vamp,” his comic book series about a Vegas Casino run by Vampires and their "fixer." [[SPECIAL ALERT for San Diego Comic-Con 2019 attendees: Meet Jim as he celebrates the publication of Vamp #4 at his Mythos Booth.]]

**Note: This program contains explicit language**

The "Vamp" Website www.vampcomic.com

"Vamp" Instagram @vampcomic

"Vamp" Twitter @vampcomic

Facebook @MythosComics

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Fix it in Post is the deceptively simple cry after a production goof-up. Post-production supervisor Emily Campbell is the person you want to have on your side to make it all come together. Emily has worked exclusively on documentaries, including computer graphics-intensive programs like History’s “The Universe” and “Life After People.” Emily's job is to bring each production to the finish line, managing both behind the scenes creatives and executives to meet network deadlines. In our discussion, Emily recalls one of her favorite projects, “WWII in 3D,” and reveals her passion project: recording oral histories of individuals and families, a project triggered by her grandmother's experience recording her testimony for the SHOAH Foundation.

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Iris April dabbled in fine arts and fashion design before discovering her calling as a makeup and special effects artist. Straight out of makeup school, one of her first gigs was on “Spider-Man 3.” Her career has alternated between major motion pictures, indie projects and documentaries. On CuriosityStream’s “Deep Time History” she created makeup stretching from early civilization all the way up to World War II and offered her talents on the recently released “Return to the Moon.” NBC’s “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” & Starz “Now Apocalypse” are among her current projects. Iris shares with us her love for the long hours and chaos of production – as she tells us, “it’s not work, it’s creating.”

Iris' Website https://www.irisabril.com/

Iris' Facebook https://www.facebook.com/irisabrilmakeup

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While Dion Labriola has had a successful career as an editor of such acclaimed documentary series as History's "Life After People" and "The Universe," his childhood dream was to be a great animator. Fate, though, had something else in store. His life took wild detours, however, and he even spent thirteen years as a VJ at a Chicago nightclub before finding his way to Hollywood. He didn't quite leave young Dion behind: In his upcoming documentary, “Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol,” Dion reveals his childhood obsession to recruit 70’s teen star Ike Eisenmann to star in his even greater obsession: an animated science fiction epic—and how he achieved both dreams forty years later.

Social Media for "Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol"

Website https://dearike.com/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DearIkeDocumentary

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dear_ike/

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