LOS ANGELES - MakeMake (https://makemake.com), the unified creative studio that includes Rock Paper Scissors, a52, Elastic and Primary, has appointed Alex McDowell, RDI, director of the studio’s newly-formed narrative design department. He joins Kate Berry, who now serves as managing director of narrative design.
McDowell has been working in narrative design across music videos, feature films, advertising, interactive media, opera, and industry since 1975. He served as Professor of Cinematic Practice and is Endowed Chair in Production Design at the USC School of Cinematic Arts since 2012, where he teaches World Building and Narrative Design. Widely recognized as the originator of world-building as a narrative design system, McDowell has shaped how stories are conceived, structured and realized across media.
At MakeMake, he will work from the earliest stages of development, collaborating with writers, producers, artists and directors at the point of inception to establish narrative design frameworks that guide projects throughout the studio. The narrative design department will address the complexity of re-enchantment as a core philosophical driver of storytelling, with narrative design serving as the connective tissue across disciplines, platforms and technologies.
“Alex is one of the most talented people I’ve ever met,” states Angus Wall, MakeMake’s founder and CEO. “He is behind some of the most enduring worlds in modern storytelling, and I have held a deep admiration for him since we met at Propaganda Films many decades ago. We have remarkably aligned ideas about the future of media, so working together on making those ideas a reality is the fulfillment of a lifelong goal. I am thrilled and honored to be working with him again. His punk spirit lights everything he does.”
“In MakeMake, I recognize the opportunity to fulfill the vision of a production, entertainment and media studio that is genuinely pushing the possibilities of a constantly evolving media environment even as older industrial systems fall away,” adds McDowell. “At this stage in my career, I don’t see anyone better prepared to adapt, provoke, and redesign storytelling than Angus [Wall] and MakeMake. I see no greater opportunity to collaborate on reshaping the human narrative in all its forms.”