Martin Kunert
Encyclopedia
Martin Kunert is a founding partner of Booya Studios and a feature film and television writer, director and producer. In 2004, Kunert conceived and directed the critically acclaimed documentary Voices of Iraq
, made by sending 150 DV cameras to Iraqis to film their own lives. MovieMaker Magazine hailed the film as “truly a groundbreaking film…both in terms of its content and the process behind its production.”
Previously, Kunert created and executive produced MTV's Fear
, the first reality show to have contestants film themselves. Kunert created the show’s frightening ambiance, developed the oft-mimicked visual and musical style and streamlined the show’s editing process, where on a weekly basis, over 250 hours of contestant generated video was edited into 45-minute episodes. MTV's Fear
spawned TV specials, fan clubs, DVDs, and numerous copycat television shows, including NBC’s Fear Factor
and VH1
’s Celebrity Paranormal Project
.
Kunert has also directed television and feature films, including the cult favorite Campfire Tales
(starring Amy Smart
, Jimmy Marsden, Ron Livingston
, and Christine Taylor
) for New Line Cinema
and Rogue Force (starring Michael Rooker
and Robert Patrick
) for Miramax . His screenplays include Warner Bros.’ Dodging Bullets for Will Smith
and Halle Berry
, Paramount
’s The Brazilian, and 20th Century Fox
’s Hindenburg for Jan de Bont
. He created and executive produced “HRT” (starring Michael Rooker
and Ernie Hudson
) for CBS
and Columbia Tristar and “Catch” for CBS
. With Doug Liman
, Kunert reinvented “CHiPs
” for NBC
and Warner Bros . He also created the reality show “Mayor” for Columbia TriStar. In 2002, NBC/StudiosUSA signed Kunert to an exclusive writing/directing/producing contract . He wrote and executive produced "Witch Doctor", a TV pilot for Beacon TV and ABC
television studios in 2008.
In 2011, DirecTV
, Technicolor
, and Panasonic
got together to finance an experimental 3D film for Kunert to direct and shoot on Panasonic’s new 3D camera systems. As part of it, Technicolor
trained Kunert extensively on how to make clean, non-headache inducing, 3D motion images. DirecTV
will distribute the 3D film internationally.
Kunert is a graduate of New York University’s film school. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America and is represented by ICM in Los Angeles.
He was born in Warsaw
, Poland
and grew up in Westfield, New Jersey
before attending the New York Military Academy
.
In 2010, he began shooting fashion photography in Los Angeles and publishing fashion editorials in magazines.
Voices of Iraq
Voices of Iraq is a 2004 documentary film about Iraq, created by distributing cameras to the subjects of a film, thus enabling subjects to film themselves...
, made by sending 150 DV cameras to Iraqis to film their own lives. MovieMaker Magazine hailed the film as “truly a groundbreaking film…both in terms of its content and the process behind its production.”
Previously, Kunert created and executive produced MTV's Fear
MTV's Fear
MTV's Fear is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from 2000 to 2002 on MTV. The program follows a group of 5 or more contestants being left at an allegedly haunted location and led them on a series of dares over two nights to explore and confirm whether or not the...
, the first reality show to have contestants film themselves. Kunert created the show’s frightening ambiance, developed the oft-mimicked visual and musical style and streamlined the show’s editing process, where on a weekly basis, over 250 hours of contestant generated video was edited into 45-minute episodes. MTV's Fear
MTV's Fear
MTV's Fear is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from 2000 to 2002 on MTV. The program follows a group of 5 or more contestants being left at an allegedly haunted location and led them on a series of dares over two nights to explore and confirm whether or not the...
spawned TV specials, fan clubs, DVDs, and numerous copycat television shows, including NBC’s Fear Factor
Fear Factor
Fear Factor is an American stunt/dare reality game show. The original Dutch version was called Now or Neverland. When Endemol USA and NBC adapted it to the American market in 2001, they changed the name to Fear Factor. The show pits contestants against each other in a variety of stunts for a...
and VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
’s Celebrity Paranormal Project
Celebrity Paranormal Project
Celebrity Paranormal Project is a paranormal reality television series that originally aired from October 22, 2006 to November 1, 2007 on VH1. The show is currently on hiatus, so it is unknown if VH1 will re-air the show and begin with a second season...
.
Kunert has also directed television and feature films, including the cult favorite Campfire Tales
Campfire Tales
Campfire Tales is a horror film written and directed by William Cooke and Paul Talbot. The film is an anthology about a group of teenagers telling ghost stories around a campfire. One of the storytellers is horror legend Gunnar Hansen...
(starring Amy Smart
Amy Smart
Amy Lysle Smart is an American television and film actress and former fashion model.-Early life:Smart was born in Topanga, California. Her mother, Judy Lysle , worked at a museum, and her father, John Boden Smart, was a salesman...
, Jimmy Marsden, Ron Livingston
Ron Livingston
Ronald Joseph "Ron" Livingston is an American film and television actor. His roles include a disaffected corporate employee in the film Office Space, a sardonic writer in a short-term relationship with Carrie Bradshaw in the TV show Sex and the City, and Captain Lewis Nixon in the miniseries...
, and Christine Taylor
Christine Taylor
Christine Taylor-Stiller is an American actress.- Early life :Taylor was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joan, a homemaker, and Skip Taylor, an owner of a security company. She grew up in neighboring Wescosville, Pennsylvania...
) for New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema
New Line Cinema, often simply referred to as New Line, is an American film studio. It was founded in 1967 by Robert Shaye and Michael Lynne as a film distributor, later becoming an independent film studio. It became a subsidiary of Time Warner in 1996 and was merged with larger sister studio Warner...
and Rogue Force (starring Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...
and Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick
Robert Hammond Patrick, Jr. is an American actor, known for his leading and supporting roles in a number of films and television shows....
) for Miramax . His screenplays include Warner Bros.’ Dodging Bullets for Will Smith
Will Smith
Willard Christopher "Will" Smith, Jr. , also known by his stage name The Fresh Prince, is an American actor, producer, and rapper. He has enjoyed success in television, film and music. In April 2007, Newsweek called him the most powerful actor in Hollywood...
and Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, Paramount
Paramount
-Companies:*Paramount Motion Pictures Group, a motion picture holding company owned by Viacom*Paramount Pictures, a motion picture studio*Paramount Vantage, specialty film division of Paramount Pictures*CBS Paramount Television, a television studio and library...
’s The Brazilian, and 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios...
’s Hindenburg for Jan de Bont
Jan de Bont
Jan de Bont is a Dutch cinematographer, producer, and film director.-Early life and career:De Bont was born, one of 17 children, to a Roman Catholic family in Eindhoven, Netherlands. His earliest work after studying at the Amsterdam Film Academy was with the Dutch avant garde director Adriaan...
. He created and executive produced “HRT” (starring Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker
Michael Rooker is an American actor.-Early life:Rooker, who has eight brothers and sisters, was born in Jasper, Alabama and studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago, where he moved with his mother and siblings at the age of thirteen, after his parents divorced.-Movie career:He made his...
and Ernie Hudson
Ernie Hudson
Ernest Lee "Ernie" Hudson is an American actor known for his roles as Winston Zeddemore in the Ghostbusters film series, Sergeant Albrecht in The Crow, and Warden Leo Glynn on HBO's Oz.-Early life:...
) for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and Columbia Tristar and “Catch” for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. With Doug Liman
Doug Liman
Douglas Eric "Doug" Liman is an American film director and producer best known for Swingers , The Bourne Identity , Mr. & Mrs. Smith , Jumper , and Fair Game .-Early life:...
, Kunert reinvented “CHiPs
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
” for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and Warner Bros . He also created the reality show “Mayor” for Columbia TriStar. In 2002, NBC/StudiosUSA signed Kunert to an exclusive writing/directing/producing contract . He wrote and executive produced "Witch Doctor", a TV pilot for Beacon TV and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
television studios in 2008.
In 2011, DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
, Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
, and Panasonic
Panasonic
Panasonic is an international brand name for Japanese electric products manufacturer Panasonic Corporation, which was formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd...
got together to finance an experimental 3D film for Kunert to direct and shoot on Panasonic’s new 3D camera systems. As part of it, Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
trained Kunert extensively on how to make clean, non-headache inducing, 3D motion images. DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
will distribute the 3D film internationally.
Kunert is a graduate of New York University’s film school. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and Writers Guild of America and is represented by ICM in Los Angeles.
He was born in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and grew up in Westfield, New Jersey
Westfield, New Jersey
Westfield is a town in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 30,316. The old village area, now the downtown district, was settled in 1720 as part of the Elizabethtown Tract....
before attending the New York Military Academy
New York Military Academy
New York Military Academy, or NYMA, is an American private boarding school located in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York. It was founded in 1889 by Charles Jefferson Wright, a Civil War veteran and former school teacher from New Hampshire who believed that a military structure provided the best...
.
In 2010, he began shooting fashion photography in Los Angeles and publishing fashion editorials in magazines.
Filmography
| Year | Project | Credit | Studio/Network |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Ripper Ripper Ripper may refer to:* Jack the Ripper, a pseudonym given to an unidentified serial killer active in the largely impoverished Whitechapel area and adjacent districts of London in the latter half of 1888... |
writer, director | Booya Studios, DirectTV, Panasonic |
| 2011 | Misny Makes Them Pay | creator, executive producer | Booya Studios |
| 2009 | WaterSigns | director | Imagination9 Productions |
| 2009 | Ambrose: All I Ever Wanted | director, DP | Booya Studios |
| 2008 | Witch Doctor Witch Doctor "Witch Doctor" is a song written and performed by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., and released in 1958 by Liberty Records under the name David Seville, a character whom Bagdasarian portrayed.-Song information:... |
writer, executive producer | ABC Studios |
| 2008 | Miracle Chasers | writer, executive producer | Columbia Tristar |
| 2008 | Fugue State Fugue state A fugue state, formally dissociative fugue or psychogenic fugue , is a rare psychiatric disorder characterized by reversible amnesia for personal identity, including the memories, personality and other identifying characteristics of individuality... |
writer, director | Booya Studios |
| 2005 | Dodging Bullets | writer | Warner Bros. |
| 2004 2004 in film The year 2004 in film involved some significant events. Major releases of sequels took place. It included blockbuster films like Shrek 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Passion of the Christ, Meet the Fockers, Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 2, Alien vs. Predator, Kill Bill Vol... |
Voices of Iraq Voices of Iraq Voices of Iraq is a 2004 documentary film about Iraq, created by distributing cameras to the subjects of a film, thus enabling subjects to film themselves... |
producer, director | Booya Studios, Magnolia Pictures |
| 2002 | The Mayor | creator, executive producer | Columbia Tristar |
| 2003 | CHiPs CHiPs CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol... |
writer, executive producer | Warner Bros. |
| 2002 | The Brazilian The Brazilian "The Brazilian" is an instrumental piece by the English band Genesis that concludes their 1986 album Invisible Touch. The song features experimental sounds and effects.... |
writer | Paramount |
| 2002 | Catch | writer, executive producer | CBS |
| 2002 | Beautiful People Beautiful People (film) Beautiful People is a multi-award winning satirical comedy written and directed by Jasmin Dizdar. The film is set in London during the time of the Bosnian war... |
writer, executive producer | USA Networks |
| 2001 | HRT | writer, executive producer | CBS, Columbia TriStar |
| 2001 | Inside Fear | creator, executive producer | MTV |
| 2001 | Faces of Fear Faces of Fear The Faces of Fear was the professional wrestling tag team of Sione Vailahi and Uliuli Fifita. Vailahi wrestled as The Barbarian, and Fifita wrestled as Haku in the World Wrestling Federation and Meng in World Championship Wrestling . They appeared together several times in the WWF as part of The... |
creator, executive producer | MTV |
| 2000 | MTV's Fear MTV's Fear MTV's Fear is an American paranormal reality television series that originally aired from 2000 to 2002 on MTV. The program follows a group of 5 or more contestants being left at an allegedly haunted location and led them on a series of dares over two nights to explore and confirm whether or not the... |
creator, executive producer | MTV |
| 1998 | Hindenburg | writer | 20th Century Fox |
| 1998 | Rogue Force | director | Miramax |
| 1997 | Campfire Tales Campfire Tales Campfire Tales is a horror film written and directed by William Cooke and Paul Talbot. The film is an anthology about a group of teenagers telling ghost stories around a campfire. One of the storytellers is horror legend Gunnar Hansen... |
writer, director | New Line Cinema |