- His first screenplay, "The White Ocean" was one of a handful of projects developed at the 1991 Sundance Institute June Filmmakers lab. He was in his first year of film school at UCLA at the time and the youngest director in attendance. He directed J.E. Freeman and Lothaire Bluteau in scenes from his script. Reservoir Dogs (1992) by Quentin Tarantino was the most famous project developed at that year's lab.
- He turned down a number of music video directing jobs while putting himself though school, including two for Nine Inch Nails: "Down In It" and "Head like a Hole".
- He took up photography on a break from film making. His extremely unique style and choice of models like Dita Von Teese led to a resurgence in the "pinup" genre.
- One of his first projects was the music video for Soundgarden's "flower". Directed before he attended Graduate film school at UCLA, it aired regularly on MTV's 120 minutes and was the first salvo of the "grunge movement" that defined a generation. The budget was $600.00.
- He has a degree in Philosophy from UCLA and attended Harvard briefly so that he could discuss his work with W.V.O. Quine, John Rawls and B.F. Skinner and decide if he would pursue a graduate degree in philosophy or film. He then made a short philosophy laden film called, "Antinomies" that garnered much attention at UCLA and led to him being invited into the Graduate school.
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