Derek as a director, director of photography, writer, editor utilizes his talent and tenacity to create nimble projects that ring with startling visuals, teeming with authentic emotional spaces. He graduated from Webster University with a degree in film production, specializing in cinematography and script writing. He then moved to Los Angeles to pursue work in film and television. During his years in Los Angeles he worked continuously on feature films, television, music videos and commercials. Honing his craft at Warner Brothers Studios, CBS, and on programs for the Discovery Channel, as well as many indie projects.
Since moving back to the Midwest to be with family he has thrived as a freelance film maker. Derek has directed or shot five indie feature films over the past eight years. In 2008 he won Best Cinematographer at the St. Louis Film Critics Association for the feature Mosquito Kingdom. His feature Dictator of Taste is a cutting edge documentary on European iron curtain artists who exist beyond the "margin of the margin of culture". The documentary aired repeatedly on Hungarian National Television and other European and world territories. Derek has created over a dozen shorts and documentaries with world class artists like Maya Lin, and Richard Serra. His feature Just Shy of Being is an intriguing docu-fiction which he wrote, directed and was director of photography.
Derek also has worked for numerous local and national clients such as Google, Axe, ATT, Pepsi, BMW, Mini Cooper and Sprint. He recently collaborated with the NFL, directing a sports series starring Calvin Johnson and Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions. He was also the director of photography on a Children's television series and teaches film making at the university level.
As a director he is an emotional expressionist who is intent on running a set that is happy and creative. Among Derek's greatest talents is his keen visual style, one that is richly inventive and has the sensitivity of a painters eye. He considers himself simply a film craftsman with a great work ethic who operates with an intense zeal to make each frame better than the last.
ElzStudios.com
