Thomas Russell

From College of Fine Arts and Communications

Upon graduating with a screenwriting degree, Thomas Russell began working in the advertising industry as a copywriter and director. After working as a senior copywriter and creative director at a regional agency in California, he became a managing partner of his own agency. During that time he received over 40 Addy Awards, four Auroras, five Silver Microphones, and several awards for long form corporate film.

His work in film and screenwriting has been recognized by the Sundance Film Festival, the Slamdance Film Festival, the Maryland Film Festival, CineVegas, the Mendocino Film Festival, the Omaha Film Festival, The Sonoma Film Festival, and the American Screenwriters’ Association.

Russell was the executive producer of Snell Show, the Grand Prize winner at the 2003 Slamdance Film Festival and of Bonjour Danny Bonjour -- recognized by the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto. He recently completed work on the feature film, mr. dungbeetle, which his son is writing the soundtrack for, and two of his screenplays: Tokens and The Lovely Obscure have received prizes from six international screenwriting competitions. He is currently in pre-production on his adaptation of Barta Heiner’s, Diantha’s Crossing – a feature length film, scheduled for international distribution on BYU Broadcasting. He also provided Cinematography for the documentary film, Angie – currently available on the BYU Fit for the Kingdom website.

Russell is currently an associate professor of media arts at Brigham Young University where he teaches advanced production. As a professor, he has mentored students including Jared Hess, director of Napoleon Dynamite and Nacho Libre.

Russell graduated from BYU in 1988 with a degree in Film .