Biography

My Profile
Todd Felderstein
Los Angeles
Director/Writer
Resume: 
Tags: Writing  television  shorts  short documentaries  self-distribution  political/social issue documentaries  personal documentaries  nonprofit organizations  new media  music documentaries  music  Los Angeles  Jewish Themes  Jewish issues  interviews  internet  Herzog, Werner  HBO  festivals and markets  festival awards  education  documentary history  docs rock  Docs about Faith and Spirituality  doc shot  critics awards  clips  awards  African-American Media  
Contact Information

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Supplementary Information
Title/Occupation:  Director  Editor  Executive  Producer  Writer 
Services Provided:  Film/Video Editing 
Gender: Male
Citizenship: American
Languages Spoken: English but I'm working on expanding my repertoire

Brief Message to Members: 

Ask anyone, a camera of one sort or another has always been near my grasp. That said narrative and nonfiction storytelling was a given though not always an easy step. The best advice from an industry veteran: go out and shoot. Happy storytelling.

Biography: 

The camera has been a part of my existence ever since I can remember; there was never a time when I wasn't either shooting stills, moving pictures or, in the case when I was a kid, wishing I had film for my parent's old 8MM. Thankfully fate seems to have it's own agenda and luckily I've been paying attention.

Moving to L.A. shortly after graduating from the University of Maryland, I immediately began writing and directing short films while supporting myself as a photographer. A few years passed when I was granted the opportunity to work for one of the fathers of the clip show/documentary genre, Jack Haley, Jr. (That's Entertainment). There I learned the essence of research and the edit process while gaining knowledge of "Old Hollywood" and, of course, countless unknown stories from growing up on the set of The Wizard of Oz. It was also during this time that I enrolled in one of Los Angeles' many film schools, LACC.

After making my student films which, thankfully, played festivals right out of the gate, I began producing movie trailers and commercials while writing and looking for that opportunity to direct on a professional set. That opportunity came shortly after producing a movie in Washington, D.C under the guise of one of Roger Corman's affiliations. If I were to write a guide book today to any aspiring director it would concern itself with marketing. One of my largest lessons in H-wood is, as a director, sell, sell, sell. Good producers are a needed commodity, directors, well let's just say you need to get out there, shoot frequently and, did I mention get out there? So I continued to produce.

After years in independent production I turned to the studio world, Sony to be exact where I spent a number of years working with some of the most successful producers and studio heads of the time. From the legendary Mr. Ray Stark to Bob Holmes, Andy Kaplan and Jon Feltheimer, among many others of similar caliber, this experience has proven to be priceless.

In 2002 I was offered a writing position with Sony TV to work with Morgan Gendel in creating Spider-Man, the animated series along with Marvel Entertainment. This show eventually aired on MTV to much acclaim. Spider-Man led to Astro-Boy though my sights were set on a superhero or a different sort. Learning of a "medical magician" traversing the Israeli countryside where he would use his fun-trickery to laugh sick and injured kids to health, I knew that this story had a greater need to be told, for me, than that of an animated robotic boy and, months later, flew to Israel to tell the story of Magic Michael in the documentary, Magic(s). A handful of years and 6 awards later, Magic(s) has international distribution continues to conjure smiles all over the world.

In 2005 I began directing nonfiction stories around musicians, intimate moments in the studio and on the road allowing the audience a window into some of their favorite musical talents, exposing their humanistic sides, ones often hidden from their audience's view. These films have grown to be called, Muviettes, or short music movies.

During all this time there have been commercials, short documentaries, tribute films, and a handful of recognition along the way. I've been the student in master classes under both Ted Post and most recently a part of the Jewish Federation's Master Class being only 1 or 12 American filmmakers chosen to work with 12 Israeli counterparts.

The future is plotted with bigger stories, both scripted and nonfiction while maintaining the integrity that continues to embody so much of my work. At least that's my plan, let's hope that fate continues to cooperate.