Ryan Lampe

Growing up in Melbourne, Australia, I was obsessed with movies and always knew I wanted to work in the industry. In high school, I briefly considered becoming a film critic, but I got cold feet, so I studied economics and computer science in college instead. (While completing a Ph.D. at Stanford University, I was able to review movies for The Stanford Daily newspaper. Sadly, one of the editors took all the high-profile releases, so I was left to cover “gems” like Rush Hour 3 and 16 Blocks.) Fortunately, my passion for dissecting a film’s story figuring out why it does or doesn’t work, endured after graduation. While employed as a professor of economics, I dipped my toes into filmmaking as a part-time student at Academy of Art University…and LOVED it. Several years later, struggling to summon the enthusiasm to teach utility maximization to skeptical economics students, I made the difficult decision to leave my position at California State University, East Bay, to finish my degree full-time and pursue my dream of writing and directing movies. The one shining light of the career I left is that it provided me inspiration for my first narrative short, Zero Sum, which I am currently expanding into a feature film. Another narrative short film I directed, The Conjugal Visit, is currently in post-production.

Directing Over 12 Minutes, Picture Over 12 Minutes, & Screenplay, Winner