Tommy Pallotta (born May 25, 1968, in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, Texas) is an American film director and producer.

Biography

Pallotta received a degree in Philosophy from the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. There, he met

Richard Linklater Richard Stuart Linklater (; born July 30, 1960) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is known for films that revolve mainly around suburban culture and the effects of the passage of time. His films include the comedies '' ...

and began his film career as an actor and

production assistant A production assistant, also known as a PA, is a member of the film crew and is a job title used in filmmaking and television for a person responsible for various aspects of a production. The job of a PA can vary greatly depending on the budget ...

on Linklater's directorial debut, ''Slacker'' (1991). After working on numerous films and

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

, Pallotta wrote, directed and produced his first film, ''The High Road'' (1997). He also produced several of Bob Sabiston's animated projects including: ''Roadhead'' (1999), which received the Best Animation award at the Aspen Film Festival; a series of interstitials for MTV; ''Snack and Drink'' (1999), a three-minute short about an

autistic The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

child in a 7-Eleven store, which is now part of the permanent collection of the New York

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

; and ''Figures of Speech'' (2000), a series of interstitials for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

. He then connected his animation experience with Linklater in ''

Waking Life ''Waking Life'' is a 2001 American experimental adult animated film written and directed by Richard Linklater. The film explores a wide range of philosophical issues, including the nature of reality, dreams and lucid dreams, consciousness, the ...

'' (2001). ''Waking Life'' was the first independently financed and produced

computer animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...

feature. The film was subsequently nominated for three

Independent Spirit Awards The Independent Spirit Awards (abbreviated Spirit Awards and originally known as the FINDIE or Friends of Independents Awards), founded in 1984, are awards dedicated to independent filmmakers. Winners were typically presented with Poly(methyl m ...

, including Best Picture. Pallotta also directed the first

machinima Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''ma ...

produced music video, ''In the Waiting Line'' (2003), using the animation engine from the

Quake 3 ''Quake III Arena'' is a 1999 multiplayer-focused first-person shooter developed by id Software. The third installment of the ''Quake'' series, ''Arena'' differs from previous games by excluding a story-based single-player mode and focusing prima ...

video game, and the

rotoscope Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced o ...

d MTV "Breakthrough Video" ''Destiny'' (2002), both for the band

Zero 7 Zero 7 are an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. They began as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, '' Simple Things'', was released in 2001 in which their song "Destiny" stayed ...

. The

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Research and Development team recognized Pallotta for his "penchant for innovation" where he helmed an interactive project based on

Jonathan Lethem Jonathan Allen Lethem (; born February 19, 1964) is an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. His first novel, ''Gun, with Occasional Music'', a genre work that mixed elements of science fiction and detective fiction, was publishe ...

's novel ''

Amnesia Moon ''Amnesia Moon'' is a 1995 novel by Jonathan Lethem. Lethem adapted the novel from several unpublished short stories he had written, all about catastrophic, apocalyptic events. When Tor Books published the second edition in 1996, they commissi ...

'' (2004), which was an experiment that was not released to the public. He then returned to the

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post ...

with his frequent collaborator, Linklater, to produce ''A Scanner Darkly'' (2006) based on the novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick and starring

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

. Pallotta's newest production is a transmedia thriller based around Energy and

Peak Oil Peak oil is the hypothetical point in time when the maximum rate of global oil production is reached, after which it is argued that production will begin an irreversible decline. It is related to the distinct concept of oil depletion; while ...

called Collapsus, directed by Tommy Pallotta and developed by Submarine Channel.

Selected filmography

* ''High Road'' (1996, producer and director) * ''Roadhead'' (1999, producer) * ''Snack and Drink'' (2000, producer) * ''Figures of Speech'' (2000, producer) * ''

'' (2001, producer) * ''Hell House'' (2001, associate producer) * ''Destiny'' (video) (2002, director) * ''In the Waiting Line'' (video) (2003, director) * ''

A Scanner Darkly ''A Scanner Darkly'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick, published in 1977. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994, and includes an extensive ...

'' (2006, producer) * ''American Prince'' (2009, producer and director) * '' Boyhood'' (2013, producer) * '' Apollo 10 1⁄2: A Space Age Childhood'' (2022, producer)

References

External links

*
Interview with Tommy Pallota at Submarine Channel

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallotta, Tommy American film producers American music video directors American people of Italian descent University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts alumni People from Houston 1968 births Living people Transmediation Film directors from Texas