DISRUPTAR - Key Persons
Diane is an award winning independent film and digital media producer with over 30 years of experience in the business. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating education, workforce and production opportunities in the film and media industry in western Massachusetts. Diane produced the award-winning short film, A Tree A Rock A Cloud, based on the Carson McCullers' short story and directed by acclaimed actor, Karen Allen and has two feature films in development. She was Executive Producer and General Manager of Mass.Illusion, a visual effects movie studio that created groundbreaking effects for The Matrix (Academy Award 2000, Best Visual Effects), What Dreams May Come (Academy Award 1999, Best Visual Effects), Starship Troopers, Evita, Die Hard with A Vengeance, Eraser, Judge Dredd, and many others. When not nerding out over the latest VR technologies, you can find her taking a modern dance or yoga class. She is excited to be joining DisruptAR to get back to her visual effects roots!
Jeff has over 37 years of Software Engineering experience with the last 16 or so years devoted to real-time graphics insertion for ESPN and Disney. The last few years have been devoted to DisruptAR developing Unreal plugins for AR and VR video productions. When not writing code, Jeff enjoys being outside golfing, hiking, skiing, and traveling.
Job Titles:
- Artist, Technician
- Virtual Production
Joshua is a generalist visual artist, technician and educator. He first collaborated with Paul Lacombe on the Disney Channel virtual-set production of The Book Of Pooh, where he started as a compositor and quickly began supervising a crew of post-production editors and compositors. Joshua also worked closely with visual effects pioneer Douglas Trumbull for two decades, contributing to the design and development of numerous patents, mechanisms, and methods for achieving practical photographic effects and stereoscopic / high-frame-rate image acquisition, manipulation, and exhibition. Credits included feature film, The Tree of Life and commercial work for Apple, Showtime and Burger King. He has been a Visual Design and User Experience Design Educator for web apps, motion graphics and numerous installation projects. In addition to a passion for how new technologies advance storytelling, Joshua is also a figurative sculptor, Paragliding Instructor, adventure sports enthusiast, and mediocre electronic-music producer.
Paul is an entrepreneur with a lifetime passion for virtual production and a relentless drive to deliver. DisruptAR represents his third startup, generating over $50M in combined revenue, designing & building virtual production studios & content internationally, clients include CBS, CNBC, DISNEY, ESPN, NBC, NESN & the Pentagon. Feature film and broadcast credits include Disney's One Saturday Morning & Book of Pooh, NBC Elections 2008 & Super Bowl XLIX (Sports Emmy with WRAL), CNBC 4D (IBC Award), I'Robot, Shark Boy & Lava Girl, Stealth & Sin City. Paul believes in the Taoist proverb "The journey is the reward", grateful to be on this journey.
As the son of a film director father and commercial producer mother, Sam had been on sets of all sizes from a very young age. Sam has a strong passion for celluloid and other classic film making techniques. With DisruptAR, Sam hopes to bridge the gap between cutting edge real time production, and beautiful, organic, surreal storytelling.
Motto: "Life is all about change." Steven spent the first 10 years of his working career as a trial attorney in NYC. The following two decades were spent in sports media as a producer/director of live remote sports for ESPN, NBC, ABC and CBS covering a range of major events, including the NBA Finals, NHL Playoffs, MLB Playoffs, BCS Playoffs, NCAA Final Four, and the Olympic Games. Post-pandemic, Steven transitioned to the virtual production world with DisruptAR in Sales and Project Management and is loving his third act. Former Marathon runner (Boston included!). Dedicated youth sports coach and volunteer. He feels blessed with a loving wife and 3 amazing children. Family First!