While performing work-for-hire rewrites on many indie and studio feature films, Leonard became known for his rare ability to devise both tight story structures and compelling visual narratives – and then synthesize them into singular storyworlds.
He has performed work-for-hire screenwriting for Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger (produced; Madonna, Rupert Everett, Paul Giamatti) and Oscar-nominated director Lasse Hallstrom (produced; Julia Roberts, Robert Duvall, Gena Rowlands). He co-wrote a TV pilot commissioned by exec-producer/director Roland Emmerich (unproduced), and co-ghost-authored the adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel into a feature film (produced).
With his own short film, The Paris Crystal (writer/director) he received national and international awards; it aired repeatedly for several years on SHOWTIME.
After his schooling at Parsons School of Design and NYU/Tisch (full merit scholarship/top honors), Leonard designed concert-stage sets for Lou Reed and James Brown; album cover environments for Sting and George Michael; and music video set design for The Ramones and Joan Jett. He specialized in designing “the look” of high-end fashion advertising, worldwide print campaigns & TV commercials, along with editorial fashion spreads and celebrity portraiture with world-class photographers for most-every leading lifestyle and fashion publication.
Further influences on his multileveled construction of CALL ME TANIA have been his “day jobs” including: engineering manifold narrative pathways and alternative storytelling for the transmedia game company LudInc in Berlin, Germany; and his concept and design for an original knowledge-banking system that won him the $25K 1st-place in BearingPoint’s Innovation Award international competition.
David has performed in professional theatre, television, radio and films. His debut stage performance was at the age of six in a community theater in Detroit. His feature film work has included scenes performed with Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter (COPYCAT, 1995); Eddie Murphy (METRO, 1997); and Will Smith (PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS [sic], 2006).
As a fine art painter he has had various solo and group exhibitions in Los Angeles and San Francisco, most notably inclusion in two juried group shows at The de Young Museum: A TRIBUTE TO GILBERT AND GEORGE (2008); and WARHOL AND BEYOND (2009).
He is a featured contributing artist in the internationally acclaimed book San Francisco Street Art: MISSION MURALISMO that documents three decades of the artistic, social, and political forces that shaped the Sand Francisco street art movement (Abrams, 2009).
Leonard and David are currently looking for Creative Collaborators & Producing Partners. They can be reached at: contact@5dmedialab.com
