James Presnal

Presnal began his film career as an Assistant Producer on television commercials. As his first narrative feature, Presnal produced and directed, Independence. The film selected as the "Official Film of the Texas Sesquicentennial" and continues to play on PBS stations and in history classrooms across the State of Texas to this day. Coming out of that experience, Presnal went on to produce three more feature films: Crazed Cop, The Texas Comedy Massacre and Beyond the Golden Gate. Presnal left Texas in 1989 after being asked to serve as Program Manager for what is now known as, The Maine Media Workshops. After a season there, Presnal was asked to serve a similar function for the renowned UCLA Extension Entertainment Studies program in Los Angeles. While at UCLA, Presnal, in collaboration with IBM and Universal Studios, created the first professional-class digital training lab for film technologies. Additionally, Presnal designed, marketed and managed over 400 courses per year for professionals in the film and television industry. After 5 years in administration, Presnal went into the world of software production, doing early pioneering work in digital video delivery over computer networks. During this phase, Presnal also served as the lead instructor for UCLA Extension's premier production course, "Making the Short Fiction Film." Presnal's students in the year-long competitive program created a total of more than 60 multiple award-winning films under his mentorship. In 2000, Presnal took on responsibility as VP of Sales and Marketing for Be Media, an LA based entertainment technology firm. Presnal "retired" in 2005 and moved to Santa Barbara - but retirement did not suit him. In 2009, Presnal founded what became the world's first not-for-profit movie studio, Community Film Studio Santa Barbara, Inc. Their first feature, The Bet, produced by Presnal, was released to critical acclaim and festival attention, including winning "Best Feature" at the LA Femme Film Festival. The studio continues on with Presnal serving as an advisor. Presnal is the President of Film Fluent OÜ in Tallinn, Estonia providing co-production services and post-production facilities.