MIKE GOLDBERG | EXECUTIVE CREATIVE/DIRECTOR
I love ideas. With Crosscut I created a place where I can both develop and implement my concepts. I learned my craft working for the best advertising agencies in the world, helping build iconic brands such as Coca Cola, ESPN, Verizon, Citibank, Mentos, The Weather Channel, Staples and hundreds more.
A few highlights, I wrote and directed a national campaign for the Weather Channel that received 25 million impressions in a week and won a best in show award. For Popeyes, I created a 3 year long campaign that netted half a billion in increased revenue. For Verizon, I CD'd a commercial with Michael Bay blowing stuff up. I developed a new beverage for Coca Cola from the flavors to the bottle design. and For Mentos, I wrote and directed a global social media activation that re-defined their marketing.
Beyond advertising. I worked the front lines of Harvard Medical School's most prestigious hospitals including the head mental health counselor in a locked psychiatric unit. I managed one of the great New York City bands, Ahab Seamus As a fine artist, I've shown my paintings at Sotheby's NYC and galleries across the country.
TRAVIS ZEILER | BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
With experience both in front of and behind the camera, and with a sophisticated take on project management as a PMP certificate holder, our business development leader, Travis enjoys the process taking advertisers from start to finish in the most efficient way possible. Travis started out in television in Sacramento at KCRA/KQCA My58 TV, and has since served in leadership, marketing, sales, and analytical roles for such real estate giants as Cushman & Wakefield, Newmark, and Walker & Dunlop. Travis is a P2-level krav maga practitioner, surfer, skydiver, and private pilot with a love for roller coasters and Lotus sports cars. Travis is best known as an actor for his roles in various TV commercials and Smosh on YouTube.
DON STARNES | CINEMATOGRAPHER
Don Starnes is an award winning DP and occasional Director with decades of experience shooting in amazing places with fascinating people. He has photographed a dozen features, many documentaries, lots of commercials, web series, TV shows, music and corporate videos. His work has been featured on National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Comedy Central, HBO, MTV, VH1, Speed Channel, Nerdist, and many theatrical and festival screens. Don is a master storyteller. He believes that movies can reveal our common humanity and sometimes ennoble us. This belief has subtle influence on every frame that he shoots. Don has been shooting features, shorts, commercials, documentaries, and music in 2D and 3D, flat and 360°, on digital and film for several decades.Don’s awards, include Emmys, Addies and CINE Golden Eagles, and gotten high honors at many film festivals, including the Austin, New York, San Francisco and Montreal film festivals.
JOHN BENNETT | EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Let's start off with the directors John has worked with, Maysles Brothers, Ridley Scott, Steve Horn, Bob Giraldi, Joe Pytka, Chris Thiele, Jeff Gorman, Gary Johns, Sean Thonsen, and Chris Columbus to name a few. John is one of the most accomplished producers in the Bay Area with extensive experience working with the Golden State Warriors to Netflix to ABC networks as well as legendary advertising agencies such as Goodby Silverstein. John has worked on feature films, TV shows and commercials with roles including Producer, Production Manager, 1st AD, Stage Manager and John is also a Member of the Directors Guild of America.His education includes, Post Graduate: American Conservatory of Theater and the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art. John just elevates everything he's involved with.
SHREYA SARAF | UX DESIGNER
Shreya is a UX Designer based in San Francisco, California. Shreya designs user experiences for clients like Google Cloud and Pfizer, leveraging AI to help salespeople enhance their pitch. Prior to this she worked at VMLY&R as a UX Designer where she designed websites for companies like Colgate, Jockey, Indira IVF and more. Her expertise includes design systems, wireframes, prototypes, and high-fidelity visuals, always focusing on intuitive solutions that enhance user engagement.
Shreya's educational background includes a Bachelors as well as a Masters in Human Computer Interaction- which has equipped her with a strong foundation in Design Thinking. You can find Shreya's work at: www.sarafshreya.com.
GARCIA BROTHERS | FILMMAKERS
The filmmaking Garcia brothers, Xavier and Jonathan, offer a unique added value to Crosscut from producing, screenwriting to post production. They have lead multidisciplinary teams on short and long-term projects.
It is their eccentric and visionary approach to story telling that garners Xavier and Jonathan's reputation for award winning original content.
Best known for his cerebral storytelling; writer-director Xavier Garcia was born in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and began writing feature length scripts at the age of six. What began as a means to escape poverty, addiction, and abuse in the home, eventually turned into a commitment to tell stories that arouse hope, are intelligent and aren't easy to shake off.
Together, Jonathan and Xavier take a simple idea and turn it into a powerfully effective story. They turn the story into a marketable script, the script into a seamless production and the production into a profitable end-product. Check out the work at www.mountharvest.com