Writing, directing, and producing the movie Bacon Flavored Girlfriend in September 2014, currently in the final stages of post-production as of January 2017, in anticipation of release to film festivals, Josh lead a volunteer cast and crew of over thirty people, secured the donation of practical locations, managed schedules and worked resourcefully with no operating budget. The community of people who became inspired to give time and energy to this project also learned valuable skills in an independent movie set environment.

As a teaching assistant for two Relativity Education workshops in 2014 and 2015, Josh worked with acting students and students learning about DSLR digital narrative film production, helping them produce material for acting reels or original student directed short films. With a group of workshop students Josh wrote directed edited and acted in a short silent art film, shot at dawn, wrapped in four hours, and edited within a week called Tsingy De Paia as a sort of unofficial bonus project and another opportunity for students to learn while creating.

In addition to teaching and filmmaking, Josh works as a professional writer, has multiple screenplays registered with the Writers Guild of America West, is a member of the Florida Writers Association, and an advocate of the Maui Friends of the Library. Josh has provided other screen writers and film directors with brief script reports and detailed script coverage.

After attending college at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, Josh studied at Florida State University, graduating in April 2004 with two bachelor’s degrees simultaneously, earning him registration on the National Dean’s List, by completing a B.A. in International Affairs from the College of Social Sciences and a B.S. in Communication from the College of Communication Media Production Program. During 2011-2013 at the University of Hawaii Maui College Josh maintained a 3.8 GPA studying art, music, and film studies.

While attending Florida State University as a film student, Josh worked as a teaching assistant for the introduction to film theory course. This undergraduate level course is a large lecture class with weekly film screenings and a class size of 180 students. Josh conducted a guest lecture class period under the direction of the Ph.D. student teaching the class, aided the teacher by preparing for class and grading, and operated the projection equipment during screenings.

As a member of the board of directors for the FSU campus movie theater, which runs a variety of sneak previews, second runs and art films, Josh managed the operations of a working theater, including concessions and ticket sales, worked within a budget, maintained a quota of seats filled, and voted on the selection of films shown, under the guidance of a faculty advisor, and was able to see a steady increase in student attendance during his tenure.

Josh has been a Maui resident since 2009, and currently resides in Makawao. His low budget art films and other film and media samples are available on YouTube and at TornadoHouseFilm.com

He may be contacted for professional film, media and academic references, as well as writing samples at josh@tornadohousefilm.com or by mail at PO Box 791631 Paia, HI 96779.