Growing up in Los Angeles as a kid with a passion for skateboarding and surfing, I was drawn to the realities of everyday life as they raced by me. One day while visiting my mom, a producer at Warner Bros, I was attracted to the editing room. I discovered the craft of making pictures come to life while adding sound to enhance the stories . That was the moment I discovered that I was brought to this world to be an Editor. The craft of Editing is truly the art behind film making. But in 2008 something changed when my wife came home with a camera and said “Make something”.
Director Doug Walker is a passionate storyteller. Everything he creates begins by making a personal connection to his subjects, teasing out the essence of their story and finding the truth behind the people featured in his work. Doug has crafted a consistent portfolio that is distinctive and organic. His documentary films tell stories in an intimate, poignant and memorable way, a quality that is seen in his commercial work as well.
Doug is a true Los Angeles native, growing up in a family with strong ties to the film business. Walker spent the better part of his childhood in and around film sets. At the age of 11 he fell into acting where he thrived for six years, spending more time in casting sessions than at school. At 17 he was ready for a change and found it with the help of legendary editor Steve McCoy who brought him into the fold at Filmcore Editorial where he discovered his natural talent for film editing.
Over the next two decades he accumulated several Clios and a Cannes Lion before finally jumping into the director’s chair in 2008. Since then he has directed memorable work for brands such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Intel, HP, Nike, Audi, MetLife, NCAA and Adidas.
His documentary “Lost & Found,” a search for legendary surfers of the past, triggered by Walker’s discovery of 30,000 black and white negatives at a swap meet has been screened worldwide and won best story at X-Dance 2012. The film premiered to great acclaim at San Francisco’s Ocean Film Festival and has screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Lost & Found continues to be invited to surf festivals worldwide. The film spawned a larger project that has included publication of a book The Lost & Found Collection: Volume One. The book tells the story of the Golden Age of surfing with a distillation of more than 100,000 film negatives, prints giving an unfiltered glimpse of surfing and beach culture in the 1960s and 70s. The book and film have drawn an enthusiastic press interested in sharing Doug’s unique story.
Doug’s most recent documentary short “Underexposed” about photographer Alvan Meyerowitz screened this year at San Francisco’s Doclands Fest. Between 1971-1981 Meyerowitz captured the best of what legendary music promoter Bill Graham brought to San Francisco. Walker tells the remarkable story of Alvin’s work and his discovery of over 2000 unpublished film rolls of rock and roll history left unseen for the last 40 years. Trailer
Doug Walker’s current production partner is San Francisco based, Caruso Company.