MIKE MERELL
 

Hi, thanks for visiting!

I am a Director, Writer, Marketing Specialist, and Filmmaker, with over 30 years of professional experience in both advertising and filmmaking (3D/2D Animation, Live Action & VFX).

I am a DIsney veteran of 15+ years, spending 12 of those years at Feature Animation as a 3D Character Animator, Supervising Animator, and in Story Development. I worked on Hunchback, Hercules, Atlantis, Mickey’s Philharmagic, and Chicken Little. This is where I developed a passion for character and storytelling. I also animated and supervised at DisneyToons on Planes 1 & 2, and Tinkerbell Pirate Fairy.

My career started when I was hired by one of the early CGI companies, Metrolight Studios, out of Cal Arts by VFX Oscar winner Tim McGovern, who later went on to start Sony Pictures Imageworks. There I worked on movies, commercials, and theme park rides.

I co-wrote and directed my own independent live action feature film titled “Desert Vows”.

For a few years at Mattel I co-developed story and character on Charms, an episodic animated tv series that Netflix wanted to buy, and co-lead a team of 30+ artists writing and producing 4 3D trailers.

More recently I did pre-visualization for the Marvel movies Captain Marvel, Venom, and Deadpool 2, as well as other features and episodic TV.

Eventually I switched to Advertising and Growth Marketing and as Executive Creative Director at the former industry leader Consumer Acquisition (which was bought and dissolved), I built and ran the CA Creative Studio. My remote, international, 50% woman, 40+ production team, of Creative Directors, Writers, Animators, Editors, and Filmmakers produced on average 400 videos a month that were launched and tested on Facebook, Google, Tik Tok, and Snapchat, for clients such as Glu, Zynga, Rovio, Wooga, Supercell, Disney, King, Ubisoft, Jam City, Playrix, Roblox, and about a hundred more in all types of verticals like fintech, health, and ecommerce. My team and I also produced high quality, full length 3D and Live Action commercials. In 5 years we produced over 25 thousand videos that received about $150 million in monthly ad spend.

Currently I am Executive Creative Director at a new growth marketing and advertising agency start up called Work Dog Studios, where we do marketing strategies and content creation, concept to delivery and UA testing, 2D, 3D, Live Action, and Human Enhanced AI.

Worthless Fun Facts: I love art, techno, the desert, the Golden State Warriors, and Burning Man.

 

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