BIO

David Tarleton
Producer / Director / Editor / Writer / D.P.

David Tarleton has been directing theatre and film since 1988. Born in Williamsburg, Virginia, he has a Master of Fine Arts in film directing from the University of Southern California, studied film at New York University, and has a Bachelor’s degree in theatre directing from the University of Virginia. He produced, wrote and directed the award-winning short film “Dinner,” which premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival, played on the Sci-Fi Channel and was released on DVD. As a producer, director, and editor, he has created programs for Universal, Walt Disney Pictures, Fox, Sony Pictures, The Muppets, Comedy Central, the Sci-Fi Channel, Disney Channel, Tokyopop, Mattel, Warner Brothers, Baby Einstein, Showtime and more.

He was the Editor and did Visual Effects for all 34 episodes of the Muppets' series "Statler and Waldorf From The Balcony," on movies.com, which won the 2007 Webby for Best Comedy Series, the 2006 Telly for Best Comedy, and was named as one of Time Magazine's "25 Websites we can't live without."

Recent work includes producing and directing the play “The Miss Firecracker Contest,” starring Adria Dawn, in North Hollywood, California. He was a producer, co-writer and the editor on the award winning feature-length documentary “What Babies Want,” narrated by Noah Wyle. He was also a producer, DP and editor on the documentary “Dark Secrets,” with director and executive producer Pat Kilbane. He also recently directed and edited a TV commercial for The Plush Bar.

He has done a number of Independent films: He directed, co-wrote, shot and edited "Knock Out," starring Shana Betz. He directed, wrote, and edited "His Little Girl," starring J. Ayscue. He directed, shot and edited "Pain," "On A Pale Horse," "Battle," "Papers," "Waste," "Sand," and "Fair is Foul" He co-directed, shot and edited "Sweet Tooth." He co-produced "Revolving Doors." He edited the short films "Bardo," "Boil," "Open Seats," and "Unwrapped."

On the Studio and Network side of things, he produced and edited the documentaries "The Making of Warriors of Heaven and Earth," and "The Making of Double Vision" for Sony Pictures. He edited trailers for "Bumper King," "Little Einsteins," "The Sea is Watching," "Wattstax," "Slipstream," "Baby Einstein," "How High," and "The Musketeer". He was producer/editor of a trailer for Showtime's "Further Tales of the City." He was the Senior Editor on the pilot of "The Pat Kilbane Show," for Comedy Central. He edited commercial spots for "The Muppets," "Yu Gi Oh!," "The Power Rangers," "Drexel Heritage," "Vera Bradley," "Postobello," "Justice League," "Hotwheels," and "Batman." He was the Senior Editor for Wirebreak.com, during the dot com bubble, where he cut such web classics as "Backdoor Hollywood," "Newsblast," and "The Ruling Party."

Besides "What Babies Want," other documentaries he has edited include "Earthly Paradise," "Lyrics Alive," and "Fighting Fascination."

He has shot projects for the House of Blues, and edited pieces for the Music Video Production Association, and the Screen Actor's Guild. He was the First Assistant Director on the independent feature "Defying Gravity" and Second Assistant Director on the TBS mini-series "Pirate Tales."

For several years, David served as a programmer for the Slamdance Film Festival, selecting feature films for the festival.

Tarleton has directed a number of stage plays, including: "The Miss Firecracker Contest," “Sweeney Todd,” “No Exit,” and “The Indian Wants The Bronx."

Currently, David co-owns Tarleton/Dawn Productions, with his partner, Adria Dawn. Formerly, David was a principal at both Popular Cinema, and Dragoon Productions.

David is also an accomplished musician, starting out his musical journey at age 11, in the Colonial Williamsburg Fife & Drum Corps. He plays various flutes, keyboard, djembe, bass guitar, and airsynth. He records and creates his music digitally, using Pro Tools, Reason, Soundtrack, and Cool Edit Pro. He is currently working on his first album of original music.

As a graduate student at the University of Southern California, David received a Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences fellowship, and was the Directing/Editing Teaching Assistant for the Advanced Documentary Production class for several years, with Oscar Award winning professors.

Before moving to Los Angeles in the Fall of 1995, to attend graduate school at the University of Southern California, David worked at Colonial Williamsburg, in Virginia. He worked as an improvisational actor impersonating various Eighteenth Century people at the living history museum. During the 12 years that he worked for Colonial Williamsburg, David performed as dozens of different characters, including the Marquis de Lafayette, Rev. George Whitfield, young Thomas Jefferson, a college student, a law student, the Mayor of Williamsburg, a colonial bartender, an itenerant quack, a puppeteer, a prisoner, the town surveyor and more. He also directed a one man show there that ran for over six years after he left.

As an undergraduate at the University of Virginia, David was an Echols Scholar, a Virginia Scholar, and was selected by his peers to live on the Lawn his final year in college. He was a member of the Washington Literary and Debating Society, a resident of the Monroe Hill Residential College, and directed numerous plays.

David studied acting at the National High School Institute at Nortwestern University in Theatre the summer between his Junior and Senior years in high school. His roommate for the summer was Noah Wyle.

While in high school, at Lafayette High School in Williamsburg, Virginia, David won first place in the state of Virginia in Forensics, and was part of the team that won first place at the National High School Model United Nations. He was National Merit, National Honors Society, Boy's State, and a Presidential Scholar Semi-Finalist. He also acted extensively, appearing in dozens of productions, and directed his first play his senior year of high school.