UD Partners & Team
Steve Hood, Writer/Director
Steven Hood has been in the film and advertising business for over 30 years. After graduating from art school, Steven pursued cinematography until an opportunity to edit a dramatic film presented itself. Steven soon co-founded Arizona’s first creative editing facility, Montage Post Production. Steven continued editing for 12 years and edited thousands of commercials, industrial and educational films and music videos while working for some of the top directors in the industry. He edited music videos for such stars as Santana, Tina Turner, Kylie Minogue, John Haitt and promotional music videos for highly successful films like “Switch” and “Rain Man”.
In 1990 Steven opened his own production company and soon thereafter launched his directing career. He has since directed hundreds of commercial projects, winning numerous regional, national, international and industry-specific awards including two Best-of-Show for the Arizona Addy’s. Steven has helmed campaigns for such national companies as Motorola, MacDonald’s, Unisys, America West Airlines, US Airways, Joe Boxer, Del Webb, Harrah’s, Safeway, United Way, Goodwill, Ubisoft and Nintendo among others. In Arizona he has produced and directed campaigns for the Arizona Office of Tourism, the Arizona Department of Health, Phoenix Suns, Arizona Cardinals, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Arizona Diamondbacks, numerous banks and restaurants and several world-renowned resorts such as the Phoenician and the Royal Palms. Steven has also directed political commercials for Senator John McCain and former Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano.
In 1995 Steven co-created, co-directed and edited a groundbreaking pilot for a “reality” TV comedy series called “Comedy Explorers” that was sold to Dick Clark Productions. In 2007, Steven wrote, directed and edited a narrative short film starring Kris Kristofferson. It won the Best Dramatic Short Film at the Hollywood International Film Festival and the Lone Star International Film Festival in Texas.
Although Steven’s passion is film, he is also a musician, fine artist, photographer. He has recently re-married and is the father of two boys.
Click Here to view Steve’s Demo Reel.
Johnny Dust, Director / Creative Director
Johnny Dust is a producer and professional partner of UD Productions. He began his career in the film industry and quickly rose through the ranks as a gaffer, assistant cameraman, director of photography and ultimately, director.
Dust founded Johnny Dust Productions with offices in Los Angeles and Phoenix, Trick Films, Inc. of Los Angeles and Pyrrhic Productions, Inc. of Phoenix. Each was created to produce episodic programming, television specials and documentary programs for network and cable distribution as well as national and regional commercials.
Dust has earned numerous awards including a cable ACE for best comedy of the year “Live From Moscow.” He has established long-standing relationships with clients including PBS, Showtime, Stu Segall Productions, Dick Clark Productions and ESPN. He has directed commercials for GM, Howard Johnson Hotels, Mita Copiers, Sharp Copiers, R.C. Cola, San Diego Zoo, Toyota, Las Vegas Hilton, Best Western Hotels, Canadian Airlines, Pepsi, Anheuser Busch, Intel, Sears, Visa and McDonalds.
He is a member of the Director’s Guild of America and he teaches film directing at Scottsdale Community College.
Click Here to view Johnny’s Montage Reel or here to view his Composite Reel.
Cary Cook, Director/DP
Cary’s an award winning Spot Director with a knack for refreshing and comical storytelling. A student of the human condition, his artistic eye and quick shooting style allows him and his clients to explore new and refreshing possibilities to narrate “life”.
Southern Cal raised, UCLA educated and internationally trained, Cary is a collected fine artist; a master of light and composition, known for his easy going sense of humor.
Awards: 2010 Emmy Award, “Addy” Awards, “Telly” Award, MTV Music Video of Week Paris Award
Alex Mitchell, Director of Photography
Alex Mitchell is an award winning Director of Photography and Cameraman. He began his professional career working staff for two of Arizona’s largest production companies for 10 years. This grew into an independent career as DP/Cameraman for the last 8 years where his work has been featured in thousands of projects. Clients include: NBC, ESPN, NFL Films, History Channel, Lifetime Network, Subway, Intel, McDonalds Corp, Cold Stone Creamery, Discount Tire, University of Phoenix, ASU, Embry Riddle, Phoenix Suns, Arizona Highways Television & many more including traveling to South America and Europe on two different documentaries.
Alex graduated Cum Laude from Arizona State University in 1994 with a B.S. in Broadcasting Productions. Alex has also attended workshops in Advanced Cinematography, Sony HD & RED Digital Cinema.
Chris Brown, Marketing Manager / Post Production Supervisor
Chris Brown has been in the production and advertising business for over ten years. As a graduate of The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, he has been pursuing the art of marketing through traditional and non-traditional media.
Shortly after receiving his B.A. in Broadcasting, Chris began serving as the Marketing Director for a Phoenix area specialty landscaping company. Eventually he moved on to be the Creative Director at a start-up marketing firm, where he helped clients grow sales and develop products that would land on the shelves of popular retailers such as Walgreens, PetSmart, Costco and Kmart.
For many years Chris has served as a professional partner with Kyle Bartlett, and more recently UD Productions. As a partner with UD Productions, Chris has received multiple Emmy’s for his contributions in advertising campaigns for brands such as Cold Stone Creamery and Taco Time.
Chris currently resides in the Phoenix, Arizona area. He is married and has three children. He enjoys cooking, the outdoors, and relishes traveling as often as the opportunity rises.
Arlyn Stotts, Copywriter
After earning his bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Missouri, Arlyn got his first job in the ad business in 1995 as a proofreader, and eventually a copywriter, for the Hewlett-Packard account at Herring-Newman, a 60-person ad agency in downtown Seattle. He moved to Phoenix in 1999 and became a freelance copywriter specializing in business-to-business and high-tech marketing for such clients as Computer Associates, Motorola, Avnet, RealNetworks, ASML and JDA Software. He’s also developed an impressive medical marketing portfolio, writing for clients that include St. Joseph’s Hospital, Ferndale Laboratories, TP Orthodontics, NDC Health Systems, PCA Inc., Health Systems Technologies and Breitfeld & Schliekert. And he’s branched rather comfortably into consumer advertising, doing impressive work for local and national accounts, including print, outdoor, Web sites, radio, and television for The Phoenix Suns, Best Western Hotels, The Arizona Diamondbacks, Cold Stone Creamery, TacoTime, Blimpie Sub Shop, Smith & Wesson and The Dial Corporation.
Along the way, Arlyn has won some pretty impressive awards, including several Gold, Silver and Bronze Addys, a Judge’s Choice, one Best of Show at the American Medical Marketing Awards, and an appearance in the prestigious One Show advertising annual. He has also become a much sought-after voice talent for video, radio and TV work. And he does a little drawing and illustrating (he drew this caricature of himself—making him much better looking than he really appears). Is there no end to this man’s talent? Work with him, and see.
Victor Palagano, Photographer & Musician
Victor began to pursue photography as a means of self-expression in 2002.?? Since then his fine art photography has been featured in several magazines including Black & White and Orange County’s Best, and his self-portrait entitled “Detached” was featured on the cover of Focus Fine Art Photography magazine. His limited edition prints can be found in galleries and in private collections.
In 2007 he brought his music background and his photography together, photographing bands and other music- related subjects. ??In January 2008 Victor decided to pursue photography full-time and shortly thereafter the universe assisted by orchestrating events that would be the catapult for this transformation. Now, in addition to his fine art photography, Victor is actively working on commercial and editorial photographic projects as a full-time freelance photographer.
