The Founders
Art Kirsch, the publisher of SOCALshowbiz, is a Brooklyn native who has made his home in Orange County for over 20 years and is a lifelong entertainment arts enthusiast. Early in his career, he pioneered the application of computer graphics for business applications. Since the 1980s he has held a variety of management positions including VP Sales and Marketing, VP Engineering, Chief Financial Officer and President, mostly in the computer graphics printer controller industry. During the 1990s he specialized in fixing problem divisions of companies and building start-ups. Assignments have taken him to England, Australia, Japan, Atlanta, and San Francisco.
Art served as an elected school board member for nine years in Merrick N.Y. prior to his relocation to Southern California in 1987 and served in the U.S. Marine Corps. Art earned a BBA in Accounting and Finance from Pace University (NYC) and has served on the boards of a number of non-profit organizations.
He founded Day Job Productions, a volunteer filmmaking group that has made one short and is looking for additional projects. Art also founded the Entertainment Arts Consortium that proposed to build a 'teaching studio' in collaboration with the South Orange County Community College District at the former Marine helicopter base in Tustin. He also sits on the Orange County Department of Education Music and Arts Administrators Committee and serves as a board member of the following organizations:
Media Communication Association International OC/LA (Treasurer)
Orange County Multi-Media Association (Treasurer)
Media Alliance of Orange County
Orange County Screenwriters Association
Michael Kirsch is an Orange County based filmmaker. As a director, his primary work is done as Director of DotLot®, the video production arm of The Buddy Group, an award-winning web and video development company. He has directed commercials and videos for dozens of clients, including Western Digital, Epson, Experian, Motorola and Reebok.
Mike's credits appear on more than a half dozen movies including the Academy Award nominated documentary Dolphins, Get Smart, Evan Almighty and many commercials. He also shot special effects segments for the Marc Forster-directed thriller Stay. Part of that shoot included climbing to the top of the Brooklyn Bridge, which he now adds to assignments that have taken him atop the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the crow's nest of a re-creation of the USS Bounty under full sail. Other assignments have taken him to locations in Belgium, Australia, Ethiopia, Tahiti, Fiji, Germany, and throughout the U.S. Mike also does steadicam work for Discovery, ESPN, CNN and CNN International and is a cinematographer for Flying Cam.
Mike is a graduate of Chapman University, BFA Fine Arts, Film and Television. His senior film project was awarded first place as Student Film of the Year.
