Biography: Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Morgan caught the filmmaking bug early on. On weekends, he and his friends would shoot and edit their own episodes of Miami Vice, complete with car chases and rooftop shoot-outs. Zip-lock bags of flour for cocaine.
This hobby became his major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his BA in Film Studies in 1992, having comple ... show all Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Morgan caught the filmmaking bug early on. On weekends, he and his friends would shoot and edit their own episodes of Miami Vice, complete with car chases and rooftop shoot-outs. Zip-lock bags of flour for cocaine.
This hobby became his major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he received his BA in Film Studies in 1992, having completed two short films. At UCSB, Morgan also worked in numerous editorial positions at the Daily Nexus, the campus newspaper. In 1993, his coverage of the Los Angeles Riots won several awards, including first place for best news story in the national Columbia Scholastic Press Awards, and third place for best news story in the California Intercollegiate Press Awards.
After Santa Barbara, Morgan spent a year studying film theory at the Sorbonne in Paris, where he made the short film _Godard disait que... (1993)_ which was bought by the Videoteque de Paris. He also worked as a production assistant for Why Not Films.
In 1993, Morgan was accepted into New York University's Graduate Film Program, where he earned his M.F.A. During the summer of 1994, Morgan landed an internship at a small production company. There, he was introduced to Todd Solondz, who was gearing up to shoot Welcome to the Dollhouse. Morgan served as 2nd Assistant Director on Dollhouse, which went on to win the 1996 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. It was also on this film that Morgan became friends with actor Brendan Sexton III, a co-star on Dollhouse and the star of _Hurricane Streets (1998)_ .
Hurricane Streets, Morgan's first feature film, was made as his thesis film for NYU and went on to play at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. It became the first film to win three awards at Sundance (Audience Award, Best Director, and Best Cinematography).
Following the critical success of Hurricane Streets, Morgan wrote the script and raised the money for "Desert Blue (1998)", his second feature. In it, he again teamed up with actor Brendan Sexton III. The film also stars Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Peter Saarsgard, and was Kate Hudson's first starring role.
Since Desert Blue, Morgan has been involved in a variety of shorter projects, including his first forays into the world of television. He has directed Dawson's Creek, as well as a short film for Showtime, starring Janeane Garofalo. Morgan wrote Flashpoint - an hour-long drama pilot - which was purchased by the Fox Network. He has also had a chance to direct two music videos, on charted #3 on M2 in 2000 (for the band Rilo Kiley), and several TV commercials.
In 2001, Lions Gate Films tapped Morgan to direct _American Psycho 2: All American Girl (2001)_ , starring Mila Kunis and William Shatner. Currently, he is prepping to shoot his original screenplay, Just Like The Son, for producers Gill Holland (producer of Fox's _"Greg the Bunny" (2001)_ starring Seth Green and Eugene Levy), and Jamin O'Brien (producer of Susan Seidelman's _"The Boynton Beach Club (2006)_. Returning to his _Hurricane Streets (1998)_ roots, Just Like the Son reunites team Hurricane for a July 2005 start date in NYC. hide |
