Jeff Parkin: Mormon Director
Jeff Parkin is an associate professor in the Department of Theatre and Media Arts at Brigham Young University; he was the associate chair of the department from 2009 to 2011.
In 2010 he received the Outstanding Achievement in Drama award from the Association for Mormon Letters (AML) for producing The Book of Jeremiah, a suspense-thriller web series co-created with Jared Cardon. Parkin began teaching classes in transmedia storytelling in 2008, creating The Book of Jeremiah, the first university-sponsored web series. Additionally, the series was named one of ten honorees for the Webby Awards. In 2013 the web series was referenced as a component of the future of Mormon film in the book Mormons and Popular Culture: The Global Influence of an American Phenomenon.
He co-created, directed and co-produced (with Cardon) the web series Pretty Darn Funny, working with BYU students in all aspects of its creation. The series utilized transmedia storytelling to expand the world of the characters and allow multiple points of entry and interaction with the story. Pretty Darn Funny was a selection in the 2013 LDS Film Festival. Season one won five Telly Awards at the 33rd Annual Telly Awards ceremony in 2013.
Parkin is a former writer, director, and producer with Hollywood companies such as Miramax Pictures, Orion Pictures, David E. Kelley Productions, United Artists, CBS Television, and Fox Television. He has also worked for EMI/Capitol Records, the Dallas Museum of Art, Franklin/Covey, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Times, Lilly & Brandon Tartikoff, and McGraw-Hill Companies.
He continues to collaborate with Cardon. In 2014 they submitted two ideas to NBC’s nationwide pitch competition for original half-hour comedy show concepts. One was selected among the 30 semifinalists. In 2015 one of their concepts placed them as semifinalists in the Sundance Institute Episodic Story Lab.
Parkin has written, directed and/or produced two full-length feature films, a number-one-rated movie of the week for CBS Television, as well as numerous short films, commercials, documentaries, music videos, and industrial films.
He received a bachelor’s degree in film and television production from the School of Cinema-Television, a bachelor’s degree in English/humanities, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in screenwriting, with additional emphasis in directing; all from the University of Southern California.
He garnered a Best Director of a Music Video award at the 2015 Film in Utah Awards with BYU Vocal Point’s “Newsies Tribute—One Shot.”
