About | alisakatz

I am a project-oriented producer, a storyteller, a media-maker and an ideator.

To look at my resume, one might see a list of exciting experiences, one after another, but to really know me is to know the story behind these experiences. A creative mind that has spent the majority of my professional life in the film industry, on sets from Los Angeles to Lithuania, Miami to Montevideo, consistently learning and working my way up the ladder from Production Assistant and Camera Assistant to Producer. I have been re-hired by my colleagues throughout several notable projects and came to be sought after as a ‘can-do’ person of production both on location and at home.

These projects were long and tough, yet exhilarating and life-changing and I soon came to realize that the industry was changing, that storytelling was changing. The linear process of Hollywood filmmaking was giving way to interactive and nonlinear forms of creation. So three years ago I gifted myself the opportunity to return to a graduate program where I would be able to experiment first hand with new forms of storytelling and technology.

I embarked on several engrossing research projects that included 360 degree video, kinect-based storytelling, projection mapping on books, and storytelling toys and apps. For my final research project I created a concept and prototype for a tangible user interface that allows children to build their own city and then create a story about it which I presented at the Association of Children’s Museum Conference this year and is now being developed as an installation for museums.

The biggest realization from my graduate experience is that I am a natural producer and storyteller. I can write an engaging script, wield a camera, and manage a crew with a focused determination and a warm sense of humor, and I have come to possess a solid understanding of the new tools of the trade. As technologies continue to develop, it is my ability to hone a story and manage a production that allows me to shine. My goal now is to continue to produce and create dynamic stories that can enhance the public experience.