Biography

Eric began directing short films in his late teens in Detroit, where he bargained with the local cable access station to give him free equipment; in exchange he created movies for their graveyard program slot. Several shorts later, Eric's work attracted the attention of BBDO Detroit's broadcast division, which landed him a summer internship, ultimately leading to his hire as the youngest copywriter for Dodge's "Grab Life By The Horns" automotive campaign. Soon after, Eric was accepted to the USC School of Cinematic Arts as an MFA production major. His first-year dramatic film "Lights and Darks" won the prestigious Preuss scholarship and was played for UN delegates as part of the "United Nations Youth in Film" program. His ambitious spec commercial campaign, "IFC Presents: Behind the Scenes with Dick Chatterly" was featured in the Tribeca Underground Film Festival and the BeFilm Festival, and won "Best Commercial Campaign" at the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival. Eric's thesis film "Orion Slave Slave Girls Must Die!!!", a comedy about Star Trek nerds, premiered at Comic Con, attracting the notice of Disney executives, who hired Eric to write and develop concepts for the studio's live-action shorts division. "Orion Slave Girls Must Die!!!" went on to screen at a dozen major festivals, including Newport Beach Film Festival and Palm Springs International Shorts Fest. It won Best Film honors at the San Fernando Valley International Film Festival and First Look Hollywood before securing distribution through Shorts International. www.erickallevig.com