Sean w. Malone | Citizena media

creative director & executive producer

I build successful creative teams.

My background as an artist with direct experience working in a wide array of mediums (music performance & composition, photography, graphic design, screenwriting, and video production) has given me a uniquely effective skill set as a creative director.

I understand how artists think and have direct, personal experience with the challenges they face. That insight is combined with curiosity, empathy, conscientiousness, and a commitment to the high standard of excellence that only comes with years of professional experience. And together, all of these traits allow me to translate conceptual ideas, organizational values, and marketing goals into a vibrant and coherent creative vision that not only reaches target audiences, but which can actually be executed within the constraints of budget and time.

Since 2011, I have used my knowledge and skills to establish and build three successful creative teams at for-profit and not-for-profit organizations in Washington DC and Atlanta.

Want to learn more about creativity?

I have been writing about art and media for years.

Check out my “how to create” blog for practical advice, helpful tips, and essays on the science and philosophy of creativity.

read the blog

producer

It all starts with vision.

As a creative media producer who spent years working alone — writing, shooting, editing, and even scoring most of my films and video projects entirely by myself — I am a massive believer in the power of radical clarity of vision and meticulous organization in every aspect of my work.

Human imagination is limitless, and there are a seemingly-infinite number of “right answers” when it comes to solving creative problems. Vision is our compass. It is the way we stay on track and know which ideas to pursue and which to set aside (but not necessarily to throw away). More importantly, it’s essential to collaboration. Cinematographers, artists, designers, actors, musicians… We’re all prone to excess. The clearer the vision, the easier it is to create something that’s actually better than the sum of its parts.

But of course, grand visions are nothing without execution.

Keeping a production on time, on budget, and getting the best out of every aspect of our work takes the kind of obsessive attention to detail that’s only possible with incredible organization. Or… In the immortal words of Alton Brown:

“Organization will set you free.”

I first learned the importance of this lesson as an editor, but the idea has permeated everything I’ve done since and it’s allowed me to create hundreds of videos across a tremendous range of styles — music videos, 2D and stop-motion animated shorts, news interviews, video essays, and several award-winning documentaries — just in the last few years. Not to mention also creating the original music, designs, motion graphics, and VFX for a lot of those projects.

All this experience taught me how to bring a clear and detailed creative vision together with analytical, carefully organized execution and these are the skills that drive every new project I work on.