MICHAEL CALLAHAN
Creative Director | Capture Lead | Writer
hello@callmecallahan.com | callmecallahan.com | linkedin.com/in/callmecallahan
PROFILE
5x Clio Award-winning Creative Director with 13 years leading gameplay and cinematic content across 130+ game trailers generating 250M+ organic views. I direct capture teams of up to 40 artists, write scripts, and collaborate across editorial, MoGraph, design, and VO to deliver creative that sells games and wins awards. I build capture teams from the ground up, manage vendor and production partnerships, and mentor junior artists into senior leads. Credits include Battlefield, Star Wars Battlefront, Rainbow Six Siege, Minecraft, Hitman, and Elder Scrolls Online.
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Gameplay & Cinematic Content Direction
- Creative Team Leadership & Mentorship
- Scriptwriting & Voice-Over Direction
- Vendor & Production Partner Management
- Pitch & Client Development
- Multi-Discipline Creative Partnership
- Live-Action & Mixed Format Direction
- Editorial & MoGraph Oversight
EXPERIENCE
Creative Director, Capture Lead | Snack Creative
- Built and led a remote capture team from 2 to 12 artists, establishing creative standards, onboarding systems, and handoff processes that let the agency run multiple campaigns at once.
- Led creative across editorial, MoGraph, design, and VO, serving as the primary client-facing creative from pitch through final delivery.
- Mentored two junior capture artists in cinematography, choreography, and production leadership — both now on the capture team at Riot Games.
Select Titles: Shinobi: Art of Vengeance, Wildgate, Spectre Divide, Lynked: Banner of the Spark
Freelance Director / Writer | AAA Game Advertising
Clients: EA, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Microsoft, Warner Bros. | On-site at DICE, EALA, Respawn, Zenimax
- Rainbow Six Siege: Defined the visual language and directed all capture for the "Outplan to Outplay" campaign, winning 3 Clio Awards including Bronze for Game Capture Cinematography.
- Hitman 2: Created and directed a 10-trailer campaign for IO Interactive and Warner Bros. Wrote all scripts, directed gameplay and VO, and established the creative framework for the franchise's reintroduction to market.
- Star Wars Battlefront 1 & 2: Directed up to 40 capture artists in battle choreography on-site at DICE Stockholm and EALA; co-wrote scripts and collaborated with editorial across two countries.
- Meta Quest VR: Directed 8 trailers across gameplay and live-action formats, leading creative from script through edit for Meta's VR gaming portfolio.
- Minecraft: Directed gameplay for campaigns including Star Wars DLC and the Xbox Game Pass Announce trailer (Silver Clio, Gameplay Trailer).
- Battlefield 1: Led a team of 10 on-site while managing a second team of 10 remotely, keeping both teams in creative lockstep with editorial in Cologne.
- Stormgate: Directed Simu Liu for character VO; directed gameplay for the Game Awards trailer.
- Additional Credits: Titanfall 1 & 2, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, The Elder Scrolls Online, Battlefield 4 & Hardline, Quake Champions, and more.
EARLIER CAREER
- Producer — Ignited (2013–2014): Commercial campaigns for Sony, Google, DTS, Turtle Beach.
- Assistant Director — Commercial & TV (2009–2014): Sets for Coca-Cola, KFC, CBS, NBC, Jaguar, and others.
EDUCATION
University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts | MFA, Film Production
University of California, Davis | BA, English / Film
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