FSU College of Motion Picture Arts 2014-2015 Publication 2014-2015 | Page 22

Alumni Check-In
Our alumni can be found in every level of the
industry and all over the world. Listed here are
some of their recent accomplishments and
upcoming projects.
Chris Amick (BFA ’10) and Ben
Mekler (BFA ’10)
recently co-wrote
a few projects for
Adult Swim. They
have been producing
infomercial parodies
for fake products,
writing two of the
four that are currently in production
through Abominable Pictures (Children’s Hospital,
Burning Love).
Carissa Dorson (BFA ’11) has been
the Director of Photography on over
20 CollegeHumor
Originals this year.
She enjoys working on these with
many FSU alumni crewmembers,
including Idan Menin (BFA ’12),
Ed Raines (BFA ’11), and Caitlin
Williams (BFA ’10).
Marla DuMont (MFA ’08) has had
three “teleplay by”
credits on Mike &
Molly as a staff writer, the first of which
aired on December
9th, 2013.

Alex Durham (BFA ’06) won his
third Primetime
Emmy in a row
alongside fellow
alum Rob Butler
(MFA ‘97) in the
category of Best
Editing for their work on Deadliest
Catch.
Andrew Fairbank (MFA ’12) has
worked on a number of projects
including The Making of: The Expendables 3, Schooled,
The Price of College
Sports, and a majority of the content
for Udaya Entertainment. He is also
developing several projects in both
television and film with his company
M.E.G.A. Media Entertainment.
Amanda Farinos (BFA ’00) managed an animation
team out of Australia that worked
on The LEGO
Movie, which was a
breakout hit as the
#1 movie in the US. She also did
scratch acting for the film and even
ended up with a small role!

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Dadrian Flavors (MFA ’10) was the
VFX Coordinator
on Robocop as well
as an Assistant VFX
Production Coordinator on White
House Down. He is
currently working as a VFX Coordinator on MGM’s Hercules.
Roger Ghaman (MFA ’96) has
worked on the TBS
show Deal With It
produced by Howie
Mandel. He was
also an editor on
The Millionaire
Matchmaker for Bravo last year and
has been an editor on America’s Next
Top Model for the past ten years.
EJ Holowicki (MFA ’00) was a
sound effects editor
on Despicable Me 2,
which was a blockbuster hit over the
winter of 2013.

Shane Houghton (BFA ’07) recently started a staff
writing gig at Nickelodeon’s animation
studios on a show
called Bad Seeds.
In addition, he is
currently developing a new show
co-created with his brother, Chris,
for Disney Television Animation.
This is the Houghton brothers’ third
animated idea to be optioned by a
major studio.

April Lamb (BFA ’06) was thanked
by Steve McQueen
on stage as he accepted the Best
Picture Oscar for 12
Years a Slave. April
was his assistant on
the film.
Dave Metzger (MFA ’07) has been
working as a Writer’s
Assistant on NBC’s
The Blacklist. He
also serves as the
‘Digital Writer’ for
the show’s online
presence.
Michael Moragne (BFA ’04) is now
working at Dreamworks TV Animation after six years of
working at Nickelodeon Studios.
Dreamworks signed
a deal with Netflix last year and will
be producing over 300 hours of
new programming for the streaming
service. Says Michael, “It’s a really
exciting time to be here!”
Howie Muzika (BFA ’94) is currently located in
Vancouver, BC to
work as a 3D modeler with Digital
Domain. Their
latest project is the
upcoming film Fast and Furious 7.
Marc Ostroff (BFA
’97) was promoted
to Director of Production Finance and
Accounting at Digi-

tal Domain, and is part of the senior
management team. The company
has recently worked on such projects
as Ender’s Game, X-Men: Days of
Future Past, and Maleficent.
Gina Papabeis (BFA ’08) is credited
as Co-Producer on
the follow-up to
the award-winning
documentary The
Cove, titled 6. The
film screened at the
Tribeca Film Festival
in April and will be released this fall.
Oliver Pearce (BFA ’97) is the
Manager of Post
Production for
Nickelodeon,
covering Spongebob
Squarepants, The
Legend of Korra,
Dora the Explorer, Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles, Sanjay and Craig, The
Fairly Odd Parents, Kung Fu Panda,
Monsters vs. Aliens, and others.
Nat Sanders (BFA ’02) won the
Best Editing award
from Film Independent’s Spirit Awards
for his work on
the film Short Term
12. He is currently
working full time with the Duplass
Brothers on their new HBO series
Togetherness.
Sarah Beth Shapiro
(MFA ’06) was the
Assistant Editor on
the film Lone Survivor, featuring Mark
Walberg. The film

was nominated for two Academy
Awards.
David Shark (MFA ’12) was accepted in the DGA
Training Program
and has been working on the television
show The Middle.

Dana Kemp Strauss (BFA ’97)
produced the show
Panic 9-1-1, an
American documentary television series
that airs on A&E,
and two episodes of
Michelle Oakley’s Yukon Vet for Nat
Geo Wild.
Blake Taylor (BFA ’06) was a writers’ assistant on
a new CW show
called Reign. The
show has recently
been picked up for a
second season.
Michael Vargas (BFA ’11) has been
working at Guillermo del Toro’s
company Mirada for
a year in editorial,
a VFX-heavy house
that most recently
developed Pacific Rim. Vargas’ latest
work was on sound design and the
final mix-down for the Katy Perry
music video “Dark Horse.”

*For regular updates reported by our
alumni, be sure to visit film.fsu.edu/
news/warren-reports.
film.fsu.edu - CMPA News - 23