Scott Essman

Scott Essman, 45, has been writing and producing projects both for and about motion picture craftsmanship and Hollywood history since the mid-1980s while still at the University of Southern California. By 1989, he had created Visionary Cinema in New York to create multi-media projects. Moving back to Los Angeles later that year, Scott developed a team of writers, directors, and craftspeople to work on his projects. In February 1996, Essman and his team documented a weekend-long creature effects film called Wolvy. It was eventually made into a 24-minute documentary. Also in 1996, Essman created his first special live event, a tribute to the greatest living makeup artist, Dick Smith. Events in 1997 (A Tribute to John Chambers and Planet of the Apes hosted by Roddy McDowall) and 1998 (A Tribute to The Wizard of Oz) ensued and doubled each year in attendance. In June 2000, Essman recruited 16 actors plus a team of production designers, lighting designers, makeup artists and costume designers to create Jack Pierce: The Man Behind The Monsters (2002) (V), which was a staged multimedia play accompanied by a 48-page commemorative program. In 2004, Essman created a tribute to silent film star Lon Chaney at Universal Studios' CityWalk. In 2009, he created a tribute to the Westmores of Hollywood at the Monsterpalooza convention in Burbank, CA. All of the aforementioned items are now available on Amazon.com. In 2008, he won a Rondo Award for Best Feature Film Commentary for work on the Legacy Set of Universal's The Mummy (1932 version). Additionally, in total, Essman has published over 500 articles about people who work behind-the-scenes in movies. He teaches mass media, filmmaking, and digital video editing at the University of La Verne, The Art Institute of California, and California Polytechnic State University, Pomona. Essman wrote and directed the film Ten Men on the Field in spring 2011 and directed the TV pilot Potluck in fall 2011.