ECOLOGY AND BIOSPHERE ENGINEERING
a short documentary about cutting-edge climate change and sustainability research being done at Caltech and Jet Propulsion Laboratories.
PRODUCER, WRITER, & EDITOR
WATCH THIS VIDEO: EBE DOCUMENTARY
NATGEO BREAKTHROUGH – SEASON 1
BREAKTHROUGH is a documentary series about cutting edge science, created by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Each standalone-episode is directed or hosted by a well-known Hollywood director or actor.
PRODUCER, WRITER, & EDITOR
EPISODE: MORE THAN HUMAN (2016)
In our episode, Paul meets with a group of amazing scientists figuring out how to transform our species by literally fusing us with inorganic technologies. We have been using technology to extend ourselves physically and mentally ever since we started to make and use tools. You might say that this is what defines us as a species. With the work of these scientists, the line between our technologies and our bodies is starting to blur. Someday soon, our actual bodies and minds will become part of the process of technological invention. During this mind-bending journey, we get a glimpse of a future world where new and “improved” iterations of the human being gets brought out every year.
FROM HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW:
“Giamatti’s “More Than Human” is the best of the Breakthrough installments by a wide margin. The only one of the filmmakers to give himself prominent on-screen exposure and the only first-time director in the group, the Sideways star makes a compelling argument that Paul Giamatti Learns About Science Stuff is a TV show the world needs immediately. Giamatti is a self-professed sci-fi geek who begins his story at a nerdy bookstore and then takes a globetrotting journey that takes him from Sao Paolo to Texas to Stockholm to Toronto, checking in on where we currently stand in cyborg and exoskeleton technology, seeing how close machines are to helping the paralyzed walk or giving added strength and endurance to first- responders. Giamatti is a giddy tour guide, balancing a neurotic’s nervousness about surrendering the biological to the industrial with a childlike optimism, boosted by fun animated sequences. His passionate engagement with the material elevates it.” – DANIEL FIENBERG
WATCH THE EPISODE: MORE THAN HUMAN (2016)
NATGEO BREAKTHROUGH – SEASON 2
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Showrunner Kurt Sayenga called me back as a Co-Executive producer for the series’ second season. In this role, I spent many months researching potential stories and writing them up for the show’s network executives and sponsors (General Electric).
Once we got approval and moved into production, I supervised 2 episodes; one about immunotherapy for cancer and the other about the research and use of psychedelics to help people conquer addiction. The guest directors for this season, were chosen from a pool of talented independent filmmakers. I worked with directors David Lowery and Ana Lily Amirpour, two amazing filmmakers, and did anything necessary to bring their vision to the screen. This involved 8 weeks of non-stop production that took me to Paris, London, Oxford, Philadelphia, Miami and Cancun. It was a grueling adventure during which I had to produce, frequently direct, and continually wrestle with complicated scientific concepts and figure out what information we would ultimately need to tell each episode’s story.
EPISODE 1: ADDICTION: A PSYCHEDLIC CURE?
WATCH THE EPISODE: ADDICTION: A PSYCHEDELIC CURE?
EPISODE 3: CURING CANCER
WATCH THE EPISODE: CURING CANCER
ELI ROTH’S HISTORY OF HORROR – AMC
PRODUCER
As a producer on this simultaneously entertaining and insightful series about horror films and horror filmmakers, I contributed as a researcher, writer, and story producer.
WINNER
OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT NONFICTION ARTS & CULTURE PROGRAM 2020
NATGEO TV DOCUMENTARY
Adrian Grenier and Shannon Switzer Swanson explore the growing crisis of water scarcity in the U.S. They learn about conservation practices that are already helping and ideas for how we might change things so we never run out.
CO-EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
As producer and director of this documentary, I had just 3 weeks to master the subject of water scarcity and discover actual people and stories with which to transform the network’s general outline into a detailed treatment we could shoot. Because of the steep timeline, this had to be done while simultaneously scheduling and preparing to shoot the subjects as they were approved. We somehow met the deadline and I directed 2 weeks of very exciting, often stunning, and always informative footage, just before the first COVID quarantine brought all production to a close in March 2020.