writer, director, producer
MICHAEL SCOTT HANRAHAN is an educator and filmmaker who teaches environmental media storytelling at the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, TV, and New Media. Born in New York City, he studied marine science and film at the University of Miami. For the past twenty years, he’s told stories about the natural world for clients like the Discovery Channel, The Nature Conservancy, and NOAA. The Last Extinction is the first in his series of ‘environmental thrillers.’

text editor
MARCIA MEIER is an award-winning writer, editor, and director of the Summer Writing Institute at Antioch University, Santa Barbara. She is the author of three books, the most recent of which is a memoir, About Face, A Journey to Self. Her book, Navigating the Rough Waters of Today’s Publishing World, Critical Advice for Writers from Industry Insiders, was named one of Ten Great Books on Writing from 2010 by The Writer magazine. Meier was a newspaper journalist for 18 years and has freelanced or written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times, The Writer magazine, Santa Barbara Magazine, Pacific Standard Magazine online and The Huffington Post. For the past four years she has worked with other writers as a writing coach and developmental editor, and loves this aspect of her life.

creative director
STEVE BUCCELLATO is an award-winning Art Director and Illustrator based in Los Angeles with a passion for Graphic Storytelling. His extensive work in the comic book industry provided the foundation for a career creating exciting art and intellectual properties for giant media brands and indie publishers alike. Starting as a teenager at Marvel Comics in New York, working and learning alongside the industry’s top talents, Steve has been an illustrator, author, small-press publisher, and the head of two boutique digital art studios servicing entertainment and educational clients in publishing, gaming, and Hollywood. His latest venture, LEGENDHAUS, is focused on creating story content for clients in all popular media and advertising. Please visit his websites at www.stevebuccellato.com and www.legendhaus.com

video editor
DAMON CLAUSSEN‘s media prowess spans 15 years of post-production editorial for broadcast network television serving clients such as Discovery, Nat Geo, Smithsonian, NBC, ABC, and Warner Bros. In addition to the tools of editorial, he knows story and is a living/breathing ‘preditor”, and prides himself on a very literal sense of humor to keep things creative and flowing both in and out of the edit bay. Damon also likes puppies and walks on the beach.

graphics and marketing
SHANNON DYBVIG is an independent editor and consultant who works with filmmakers, authors, educators, and do-gooders in Southern California. Past and present clients include Lynda.com, The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, The Santa Barbara LandTrust, and DVarchive. She is an alumnus of Brooks Institute of Photography and was among the inaugural class of Master of Fine Arts candidates to graduate in 2008. She lives in Ventura with almost too many dogs.

music composition
DAVID FRANK LONG has composed the scores to several award-winning films, both narrative and documentary, including “Crush the Skull” (NBC/Universal Short Cuts grand prize), “The Fighting Cholitas” (Sundance honorable mention and IDA nominee) and the Daytime Emmy-nominated “A Year On Earth” (Animal Planet/Discovery Kids).  His music has been utilized on various television programs broadcast on NBC, FOX, ABC Family, HBO, Disney, Bravo, IFC and TLC.  David is unusually tall at 6’7″, and loves avocados and Trident gum (but not together).

voice over narration
RICK JELINEK is an American voice actor. He has voiced projects for clients all over the world including HBO, Microsoft, Mazda, DOW, PBS, Xerox, and many more. He began his professional voiceover career in 2004 after almost 20 years as lead vocalist and frontman for several bands. He currently narrates a show in its fifth season on The Outdoor Channel.
You can listen to how different Rick’s voice sounds on several projects at: http://voice123.com/rickjelinek

Digital Painters

JOHN VAN FLEET was born into captivity and raised on Space Food Sticks and Bazooka gum. After graduating from Pratt institute in Brooklyn NY, John found instant success as a waiter. Unsatisfied with the food industry John went on to make some art. His work can been found throughout the Comic Book industry, in the form of graphic novels and as painted covers. John’s client list goes beyond comics to include book publishers, video game makers, film studios and toy companies. When John’s not working for the man he creates 3d models, He says “It’s just like when I was a kid working on Aurora monster models.” “Minus the effects of the glue.” Examples of his work can be found at www.johnvanfleet.com

ANDREY PERVUKHIN is a freelance artist from Russia, working in the game industry, comic books and illustration.
Visit his gallery at http://pervandr.deviantart.com/

ROBIN OLAUSSON was born in south of Sweden 27 years ago, and started painting about 6 years ago. He is self-educated, like many other artists out there, with the help of the internet, a lot of books, and an desire to push forward in his never-ending journey to learn. Robin is motivated by the work of other artists in the gaming community, who continue to blow his mind, and by nature itself who has all the answers you could ever want. He currently works for Gameloft in  Madrid, Spain.  Please visit his website: www.robinolausson.com

KALEN CHOCK is conceptual/visual development artist from California.
Currently working at Industrial Light and Magic as a Concept Artist.
He enjoys all things creative and hanging out with friends and family.
http://kalenart.blogspot.com/

SAM BURLEY is a matte painter turned illustrator and is believed to
currently reside on the continent of North America. Eye-witness
reports describe him as a tall, stick-like, camera-wielding figure
staring at the sky or driving around aimlessly with his dog Rygel.  If
seen, approach with caution… and preferably root beer.
http://samburleystudio.com/

DANIEL KARLSSON is a Swedish painter based in Stockholm/Sweden. With no formal schooling or training he enjoys both traditional and digital media when creating art. His main passion lies in creating expressive, yet figurative, pieces with a focus on characters and faces. www.danielkarlsson.org/

GEOFFREY ERNAULT is a 21 year old concept artist, that worked on Cyanide’s yet unannounced next video game title, as well as other freelance projects. He studied video game and animated shorts art at L.I.S.A.A, (superior institute of applied arts) in Paris, France. He also had the chance to live in foreign countries at a young age, such as Greece, Russia and China. See his work at http://exphrasis.deviantart.com

THOMAS MAHON is a young self-taught freelance concept artist and illustrator, currently living in the UK.
Visit his gallery at www.thomasmahonart.com

3D Models and Textures

DEAN KUBINA has contributed to the field of video games for over seven
years, as a character and environmental modeler.  He graduated from
the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a degree in Industrial Design and
began a career as a sculptor and effects artist for Film/T.V. In
addition to having worked as a sculptor, he spent a few years as a
colorist in the comic book industry. He currently works as a Senior
Artist at Kung Fu Factory. www.deankubina.com

Animators

CORY CULLINGTON is the lead animator on “The Last Extinction” project and a recent graduate of UCSB with a degree in Film and Media Studies. As a self-taught animator he is currently living in Santa Barbara and working as a freelance photographer, cinematographer, VFX artist, and motion graphics designer.

SCOTT WALKER graduated from UCSB with a degree in Dramatic Arts and applied his theater skills into sales and marketing. As an avid surfer, ocean and land preservation became his niche. Making just enough to live and travel, he found his worlds growing apart from one another.  He reassigned himself back to UCSB where he met Hanrahan and gained a mentor, colleague, and friend.
Since then Scott has produced award winning films that can be seen at www.highlinerstudios.com.

MAX ENGELSIEPEN is a freelance graphic designer, animator, illustrator and photographer living in Carpinteria, California. Raised in the entertainment industry, he continues his work in the family business, at View Studio.  He is the lead Editorial Illustrator and Photo Editor for ecology.com, and his clients include CBS, The Santa Barbara Film Festival, Wowio, and others.