David Tarleton

Biography

An award-winning producer, director and editor, David holds an M.F.A. in Cinema Television from the University of Southern California, studied filmmaking at New York University, acting at Northwestern University, and has a Bachelor's degree in interdisciplinary studies from the University of Virginia. David has created programs for Sony Pictures, The Muppets, Syfy Channel, Walt Disney Pictures, 3Net, Fox, Comedy Central, Disney Channel, Tokyopop, Mattel, Universal, Warner Brothers, Baby Einstein, Showtime and more. David is a producer and a director of the new 3D television series "Dark Secrets," on cable channel 3Net. He is executive producer, director and editor of the award-winning new media comedy series "Dorkumentary," starring Adria Dawn, and was editor of the Webby Award-winning Muppets series "Statler and Waldorf From The Balcony," for Disney. His breakthrough film as producer/director/editor, the gothic fairy-tale "Dinner," premiered at Slamdance, played on the SyFy Channel, and was released on DVD. David produced and edited the award-winning feature documentary "What Babies Want," narrated by Noah Wyle, and its follow-up "Reducing Infant Mortality." He produced and edited "The Making of Warriors of Heaven and Earth," and "The Making of Double Vision," for Sony Pictures. He was also a producer, DP and editor on the pilot for "Dark Secrets," and senior editor for "The Pat Kilbane Show" for Comedy Central. He was VFX Supervisor for the award-winning feature documentary "Head Games," directed by Steve James. David was the senior editor at Wirebreak, a pioneering Internet video content provider. Besides making numerous films, series, commercials and trailers, David also produces and directs theatre. With his wife, Adria Dawn, he produced and directed the play "The Miss Firecracker Contest," in Los Angeles, and executive produced "Rock N Roll Sex Machine," also in Los Angeles. He directed the plays "Sweeney Todd," "No Exit," and "The Indian Wants the Bronx," in Virginia. David served as a festival programmer for nearly a half decade for the Slamdance Film Festival, and for 12 years worked as an actor/historian at Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia. He is director of the feature film "Hunter," and in post-production on the all-greenscreen film "The Photographist," an adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen story. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Motion Picture Editor's Guild and the University Film and Video Association. He is currently an Assistant Professor at Columbia College Chicago, where he is Post-Production Coordinator for Cinema Art + Science, and teaches Film Directing, Editing and Visual Effects. David formerly taught Documentary production at UCLA Extension.