About Me
I’ve been making movies for most of my life. What began with a video camera and an obsession with storytelling eventually grew into a career that has taken me behind the camera around the world—as a director, cinematographer, producer, author, educator, and entrepreneur.
My professional career began with an unusually ambitious independent feature called Clone. In my early twenties, I set out to make a post-apocalyptic science-fiction film on a fraction of a traditional feature-film budget. The production ultimately involved 3,000 extras, 48 locations, and 650 digital effects, with filming in locations ranging from abandoned subway tunnels to industrial facilities. The project became one of the early examples of an independently produced all-digital feature and attracted considerable press attention before opening at the South by Southwest Film Festival.
That experience became the foundation for a career in film and television. Over the years, I’ve directed and photographed feature films, documentaries, television programs, national commercial, and direct-marketing campaigns for clients including Disney, NBC/Universal, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Toyota, National Geographic, and Paul Mitchell. My documentary work has taken me across dozens of countries, from interviewing political and military leaders around the world to photographing nationally broadcast programming for National Geographic.
Along the way, my work has been recognized with an Emmy Award for Cinematography, CINE awards for directing and cinematography, a CINE Grand Jury Prize, and twelve national Telly Awards.
But filmmaking has only been part of the story
As a marketing supervisor for McDonald’s Restaurant Corporation, I was given the responsibility to create a moving, impactful video for 350 restaurants. So who was the first person I called? Jason Tomaric.
He did an outstanding, professional job for us quickly and on budget. The McDonald’s management was impressed!
David Levey, Marketing Supervisor,
McDonald’s Restaurant Corporation
I’ve always been fascinated by the process behind great filmmaking—why experienced professionals make the decisions they do and how that knowledge can be passed to the next generation. That interest led me into teaching at UCLA Extension, the New York Film Academy, and other institutions, along with guest lectures at universities and film festivals including Sundance and South by Southwest.
It also led to publishing. I authored The Power Filmmaking Kit and Filmmaking: Direct Your Movie from Script to Screen Using Proven Hollywood Techniques, both published by Focal Press, followed by the six-volume FilmSkills textbook series covering cinematography, directing, producing, screenwriting, editing, and production safety.
That same passion ultimately became FilmSkills. I sought out, interviewed, and shadowed more than 70 Academy Award and Emmy-winning filmmakers and partnered with leading companies including ARRI, Panavision, Final Draft, Matthews Studio Equipment, and Kino Flo to capture the techniques and experience of working professionals. I produced hundreds of educational videos and built that knowledge into a modular filmmaking curriculum that today encompasses 340 lessons and has been adopted by more than 125 film schools and universities, as well as film commissions, companies, and studios. The earlier résumé documents the project at 275 videos and more than 70 participating Academy Award and Emmy-winning or nominated filmmakers, illustrating how extensive the undertaking had already become.
My interest in education and technology also led me to create AccuSkills, a cloud-based learning management platform designed to give educators and organizations greater flexibility in building, delivering, and managing modular online education. I designed the platform and led its development with the same philosophy behind FilmSkills: technology should support the way people actually teach and learn, rather than dictate it.
Looking back, the common thread through all of it has been a desire to build things—films, companies, technology, books, and educational resources. I still love being behind a camera and telling stories, but I’m equally passionate about taking what I’ve learned over a career in production and creating tools that help other filmmakers do their best work.
Today, I continue to direct and photograph commercial and narrative projects while developing FilmSkills and AccuSkills and teaching the next generation of filmmakers.
“As a director, Jason Tomaric brings three important things to the table… creativity, organization and value.
His shoot days run like clockwork, and when Jason works within a budget, that doesn’t mean cutting back on quality…he finds a way to bring the most to a project for the money.”
Mike Derrick
Executive Vice President/Creative Director
Adcom Communications