MATT THOMPSON
PRESIDENT
Matt Thompson is a writer, director, editor, director of photography and producer. Born in Encinitas CA, Thompson had an early love for cinema and premiered his first feature-length film at 15-years-old to a sold out audience in San Diego. Since then, Thompson has since written and directed 3 feature-length films, several award-winning shorts, commercials, Virtual Reality Experiences and has been distinguished nationally for filmmaking endeavors. He is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University’s film school, where Thompson was a Semi-Finalist for the Student Academy Awards and an Official Selection of the Los Angeles Short Film Festival for his 16mm Spaghetti Western short film, "Wild West Fan Co." (2015) and was the sole recipient of the Albert R. Broccoli scholarship. His student thesis was the first VR experience created at LMU, called “AFTER” (2016) - which went on to be screened at festivals and expositions around the world. He has spoken on numerous panels and workshops about storytelling in virtual reality, including at Il Cinema Ritrovado in Bologna, Italy, SAG-AFTRA Foundation's "The Business", KXLU "Center Stage with Mark Gordon" and exhibited his new VR series, "After", at VRLA 2017. In collaboration with Final Draft, Thompson created an original VR screenplay writing template and has invented numerous other VR storyboarding conventions. When he is not creating VR experiences, Thompson is the lead filmmaker for Tom Delonge’s entertainment and aerospace company, TO THE STARS, and is the co-founder and director of two independent production companies, The Matts Productions LLC, which produces commercials, music videos and documentaries, as well as Tommy Gun Pictures, which produces independent features. His most recent film, “DEBUNKERS, INC.” will debut domestically on streaming platforms this summer. His new TV series, where he worked as a Director of Photography and Editor, “UNIDENTIFIED - INSIDE AMERICAN’S UFO INVESTIGATION,” will be premiering May 31st on the History Channel. Thompson is committed to telling compelling stories across numerous platforms for the entirety of his career.
DON ZIRPOLA
VICE-PRESIDENT, CREATIVE
HEAD OF GLOBAL OUTREACH
Don Zirpola a Professor of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. who has over 40 years of experience as a producer, director, writer and editor at Universal, PBS and ABC TV. He created award-winning documentaries, feature films and commercials in these capacities. As the chair and acting director of the School of Film and Television at LMU, he developed programs to national and international prominence. Don was actively involved in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Student Academy Awards. He also served as the president of the University Film and Video Association and as the dean of the television and film school, which he designed for the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. He received a Rockefeller Foundation Grant to support his work in international distance media education. Don was also the enduring director of the prestigious Universal Summer Producing and Directing Workshop Program at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. He continues to work internationally giving professional workshops and masterclasses on producing, directing and writing. He is the past President of CILECT - the international professional association of the film and Television schools representing 178 schools in 56 countries Don’s current creative producing efforts are in immersive narrative VR creation in our company MTI with a new series entitled AFTER. Their pilot episode LUCY has been shown at numerous venues including Kaleidoscope LA 2106 and VR LA 2107 and is on the Oculus VR Website. Don is also in collaboration with the International Film Academy on the Executive Board in Bologna, Italy to produce VR content creating a VR master filmmaker storytelling series for Emilia Romana region.