John Jacobsen | Executive Director
John Jacobsen is a writer, director and teacher who co-founded TheFilmSchool. He is a former Vice President of the ACT Theatre, one of the country’s leading regional theatres, where he still serves as a Trustee, is the host and producer of the national public television show, The Artist Toolbox and director of the just released short films, Arthur and Spinning. He has been involved in the film, theatre and television industries for over 30 years and teaches acting, directing and writing all around the country. John formerly ran the Motion Picture and Television Department at UCLA Extension.
Michael Friedline | Senior Development Advisor
Michael Friedline, MBA, has more than 25 years of nonprofit management and fundraising experience serving in human service, international relief and development, cultural, and medical organizations. He is a proven team builder, strategic planner, and development executive who consults with regional organizations. Specialties include creating comprehensive development programs, major donor relations, direct mail creation, capital campaigns, and board development. Mr. Friedline lives in Shoreline with his wife Vicki and their three children.
Nate Wright | Marketing Director
A Southern California-bred, self-professed desert rat, Nate Wright, picked up his first management job at 15 running the “kitchen patrol” at a Search and Rescue training center in Ephrata, WA. During a 4-year sentence at the US Air Force Academy, he began writing creatively and professionally.
Nate mysteriously showed up in Seattle in 2006 with no car, no house, no money, no job, an ex-wife, and full custody of a beautiful 5-year old girl. After coming up for air, he stepped back into the creative realm by attending TheFilmSchool (Summer ’08) and subsequently joined NFFTY’s Board of Directors. He and two other members of the ‘single-dad mafia’ started a youth music education non-profit, Savor the Sound, last year. Nate currently manages marketing for 30+ small businesses and non-profits in Washington and California. Blog | Website.
Chris Oliver | Office Administrator
Chris Oliver graduated from the University of Washington’s School of Business in 2006. After running into Instructor, Tom Skerritt, at a local Starbucks in Seattle, he decided to pursue his long-time aspiration of Producing films.
Chris attended TheFilmSchool in the Summer of 2008, with the idea of learning the foundation of all successful films–a great story. With assistance from TheFilmSchool’s mentorship program, he is now producing multiple film projects in the Seattle area.
Eric Morgret | Alumni Relations
Eric Morgret is a co-owner of Maelstrom Productions, LLC. He has directed and edited several film productions, including the award-winning feature “Strange Aeons” and the new short film “The Shunned House.” He has also directed and edited short films, documentaries, and music videos. Current projects include producing the film “Tina Chop is God,” about a rocker returning to Seattle in a vain hope to rekindle the magic of his original band, and “Walk Right In,” a documentary about an experimental school at Yale University in the late sixties. He is involved in several other ventures, including programming for Crypticon Seattle, the largest horror convention in the Pacific Northwest, and the inaugural season of the Maelstrom International Festival of Fantastic Films, a genre-based film festival. Eric is a graduate of TheFilmSchool and has spent several years presenting panels on filmmaking and general film discussions.
Margot Meck | Accountant
Dr. Margo Meck received her PhD in Mythological Studies from Pacifica Graduate Institute, Santa Barbara, CA. in 2007. She has lectured on “Personal Mythology,” “Proof of Identity in Myth and Fairytale,” and “Psyche and Nature” and is a published author.
She is a mythologist, story consultant, speaker, and writer.
She teaches the importance of mythology to enhance story quality through the mythologically-based Hero’s Journey, Character Archetypes, and Mythic Motifs. Her interview by Willi Paul was published in the e-zine, “Open Myth Source.”
The upcoming “Goddess Elect” workshop will be available Summer 2012. She also is on the adjunct faculty teaching TheFilmSchool course Mythic Imagination in Film.
Johnny Broderson | Copywriter
Johnny has made over 100 short films in the past decade. He attended TheFilmSchool’s Screenwriting Bootcamp in 2008, and has been writing professionally on a variety of projects from television commercial scripts, to headlines for ad campaigns ever since.
Galen Sanford | IT and Web Development
Galen studied Philosophy, Leadership, Peace and English at Whitworth University where he served as a columnist for the university newspaper and as a student representative to the Sustainability Committee. He founded Six Minute Story – a Cure for Writer’s Block – as a hobby in 2009, and co-founded Pursuit.me as a startup in 2011. His passions are for real food, for stories, and for exploring the potential of crowds. He’s lived on three continents.