Randy Olson
Encyclopedia
Randy Olson is a scientist-turned-filmmaker who earned his Ph.D. in Biology
from Harvard University
(1984) and became a tenured professor of marine biology
at the University of New Hampshire
(1994) before changing careers by moving to Hollywood and entering film school at the University of Southern California
. He has written and directed a number of short films and feature documentaries which have premiered at film festivals such as Tribeca Film Festival
and Telluride Film Festival
. Most of his films draw on his science background, involve humor, and address major science issues such as the decline of the world's oceans, the controversy around the teaching of evolution
versus intelligent design
, and the attacks on global warming
science. His company, Prairie Starfish Productions, is based at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California. He is currently the Director of the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project
.
John Eric Olson
, West Point graduate (class of 1939). He moved with his family to Hawaii
in 1960 (age 4) where they lived until 1964 as his father was stationed at Schofield Barracks and served as a military advisor in the growing Vietnam War
. Olson credits his time near the ocean in these years with his eventual career as a marine biologist. They subsequently moved to Virginia, then Kansas City, Kansas
where he attended high school and began college at the University of Kansas
.
project in Puerto Rico, Olson returned to college, and transferred to University of Washington
. There he got involved in marine biological research along the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula
of Washington, spent a semester at Friday Harbor Marine Laboratory, graduated with a B.A. in Zoology
, and was accepted to Harvard University's Ph.D. program in biology. His dissertation research took him to Australia
in the early 1980s studying coral reef
ecology
on the Great Barrier Reef
. While conducting his research he spent an entire year living on Lizard Island on the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. After completing his Ph.D. he returned to Townsville, Australia
as a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian Institute of Marine Science
, working for the Australian government studying the problem of the crown-of-thorns starfish
and its destructive effect on the Great Barrier Reef. In 1985 he visited the U.S. research station in Antarctica at McMurdo Sound
for his research on starfish reproduction which involved numerous scuba
dives beneath the Antarctic ice sheet
. In 1988 Olson was appointed as an associate professor in the Zoology Department at the University of New Hampshire where he remained until achieving tenure
in 1994.
film production program at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
, earning his M.F.A. in 1997. For his student film he wrote and directed the twenty minute musical comedy short film, "You Ruined My Career," starring Carol Hatchett, one of Bette Midler
's Harlettes
. The film premiered at the 1996 Telluride Film Festival in the "Filmmakers of Tomorrow" showcase, won numerous awards, and was selected by Atomfilms.com http://www.atomfilms.com as one of "The 100 Most Important Student Films in the History of the U.S.C. Cinema School."
, Dr. Steven Miller of University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and veteran Hollywood big budget movie producer Gale Anne Hurd to create the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project
. Initial funding came from the three founding partners: The Ocean Conservancy
, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Surfrider Foundation. The term "shifting baselines
" was coined by fisheries biologist Daniel Pauly
in 1995. Olson broadened the definition with a widely cited OpEd in the Los Angeles Times
in November, 2002. In the years since, the project has produced a series of short films, television commercials, Flash videos and contests (stand up comedy, photography, video) all written and directed by Olson. The most successful piece of media produced was the Ocean Symphony Public Service Announcement
which featured a symphony of comic actors playing instruments they didn't know how to play, symbolizing the disharmony in today's unhealthy oceans.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC5P7mBu_XY This included Tom Arnold
on kettle drums, Madeleine Stowe
and Paul Michael Glaser
on violin, Henry Winkler
on harp, Sharon Lawrence
on cymbals, and Jack Black
as conductor. The PSA aired over 30,000 times including on CNN
Headline News and in Times Square
on the giant Sony
video screen, scoring over $10 million in free air time.
. The film drew on both his evolutionary biology background and his Kansas
upbringing as he visited the controversy raging over evolution in his home state. Flock of Dodos premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, in April 2006, and since then has played at film festival
s all over the U.S. and abroad. The film aired on Showtime TV in the US and is available on DVD.
," which premiered on the west coast of the U.S. at the Outfest
Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and on the east coast at the Woods Hole Film Festival
.
Biology
Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
(1984) and became a tenured professor of marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
at the University of New Hampshire
University of New Hampshire
The University of New Hampshire is a public university in the University System of New Hampshire , United States. The main campus is in Durham, New Hampshire. An additional campus is located in Manchester. With over 15,000 students, UNH is the largest university in New Hampshire. The university is...
(1994) before changing careers by moving to Hollywood and entering film school at the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
. He has written and directed a number of short films and feature documentaries which have premiered at film festivals such as Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
and Telluride Film Festival
Telluride Film Festival
The Telluride Film Festival was started in 1974 by Bill and Stella Pence, Tom Luddy and Jim Card in the town of Telluride, Colorado, United States. It is operated by the National Film Preserve....
. Most of his films draw on his science background, involve humor, and address major science issues such as the decline of the world's oceans, the controversy around the teaching of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
versus intelligent design
Intelligent design
Intelligent design is the proposition that "certain features of the universe and of living things are best explained by an intelligent cause, not an undirected process such as natural selection." It is a form of creationism and a contemporary adaptation of the traditional teleological argument for...
, and the attacks on global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
science. His company, Prairie Starfish Productions, is based at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California. He is currently the Director of the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project
Shifting baselines
Shifting baseline is a term used to describe the way significant changes to a system are measured against previous reference points , which themselves may represent significant changes from the original state of the system.The term was first used by the fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly in his...
.
Early life
Olson was born in Heidelberg, Germany, the son of ColonelColonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
John Eric Olson
John E. Olson
John Eric Olson is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, West Point graduate , and one of the last surviving officers of the Bataan Death March of World War II...
, West Point graduate (class of 1939). He moved with his family to Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
in 1960 (age 4) where they lived until 1964 as his father was stationed at Schofield Barracks and served as a military advisor in the growing Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
. Olson credits his time near the ocean in these years with his eventual career as a marine biologist. They subsequently moved to Virginia, then Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City, Kansas
Kansas City is the third-largest city in the state of Kansas and is the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the third largest city in the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. The city is part of a consolidated city-county government known as the "Unified...
where he attended high school and began college at the University of Kansas
University of Kansas
The University of Kansas is a public research university and the largest university in the state of Kansas. KU campuses are located in Lawrence, Wichita, Overland Park, and Kansas City, Kansas with the main campus being located in Lawrence on Mount Oread, the highest point in Lawrence. The...
.
Science career
After dropping out of the University of Kansas for a semester and ending up working on an oceanographicOceanography
Oceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
project in Puerto Rico, Olson returned to college, and transferred to University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
. There he got involved in marine biological research along the outer coast of the Olympic Peninsula
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state of the USA, that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by Puget Sound. Cape Alava, the westernmost point in the contiguous...
of Washington, spent a semester at Friday Harbor Marine Laboratory, graduated with a B.A. in Zoology
Zoology
Zoology |zoölogy]]), is the branch of biology that relates to the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct...
, and was accepted to Harvard University's Ph.D. program in biology. His dissertation research took him to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
in the early 1980s studying coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...
ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
on the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
. While conducting his research he spent an entire year living on Lizard Island on the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef. After completing his Ph.D. he returned to Townsville, Australia
Townsville, Queensland
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Australia, in the state of Queensland. Adjacent to the central section of the Great Barrier Reef, it is in the dry tropics region of Queensland. Townsville is Australia's largest urban centre north of the Sunshine Coast, with a 2006 census...
as a postdoctoral fellow at the Australian Institute of Marine Science
Australian Institute of Marine Science
The Australian Institute of Marine Science is a state-of-the-art tropical marine research centre located primarily at Cape Ferguson, 50km by road east of Townsville in North Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1972, by the Commonwealth of Australia...
, working for the Australian government studying the problem of the crown-of-thorns starfish
Crown-of-thorns starfish
The crown-of-thorns starfish is a large nocturnal sea star that preys upon coral polyps. The crown-of-thorns receives its name from venomous thorn-like spines that cover its body. It is endemic to tropical coral reefs in the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean...
and its destructive effect on the Great Barrier Reef. In 1985 he visited the U.S. research station in Antarctica at McMurdo Sound
McMurdo Sound
The ice-clogged waters of Antarctica's McMurdo Sound extend about 55 km long and wide. The sound opens into the Ross Sea to the north. The Royal Society Range rises from sea level to 13,205 feet on the western shoreline. The nearby McMurdo Ice Shelf scribes McMurdo Sound's southern boundary...
for his research on starfish reproduction which involved numerous scuba
Scuba diving
Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....
dives beneath the Antarctic ice sheet
Antarctic ice sheet
The Antarctic ice sheet is one of the two polar ice caps of the Earth. It covers about 98% of the Antarctic continent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It covers an area of almost 14 million square km and contains 30 million cubic km of ice...
. In 1988 Olson was appointed as an associate professor in the Zoology Department at the University of New Hampshire where he remained until achieving tenure
Tenure
Tenure commonly refers to life tenure in a job and specifically to a senior academic's contractual right not to have his or her position terminated without just cause.-19th century:...
in 1994.
USC Cinema School
Olson went through the graduateGraduate school
A graduate school is a school that awards advanced academic degrees with the general requirement that students must have earned a previous undergraduate degree...
film production program at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
USC School of Cinematic Arts
The USC School of Cinematic Arts, until 2006 named the School of Cinema-Television , is a film school within the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. It is the oldest and largest such school in the United States, established in 1929 as a joint venture with the Academy of...
, earning his M.F.A. in 1997. For his student film he wrote and directed the twenty minute musical comedy short film, "You Ruined My Career," starring Carol Hatchett, one of Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
's Harlettes
Harlettes
The Harlettes, aka The Staggering Harlettes, is a trio of backup singers who support Bette Midler during her live musical performances. The Harlettes' line-up has changed many times since their inception.-History:...
. The film premiered at the 1996 Telluride Film Festival in the "Filmmakers of Tomorrow" showcase, won numerous awards, and was selected by Atomfilms.com http://www.atomfilms.com as one of "The 100 Most Important Student Films in the History of the U.S.C. Cinema School."
Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project
In 2001 Olson teamed up with senior coral reef ecologist Dr. Jeremy B.C. Jackson of Scripps Institution of OceanographyScripps Institution of Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, is one of the oldest and largest centers for ocean and earth science research, graduate training, and public service in the world...
, Dr. Steven Miller of University of North Carolina, Wilmington, and veteran Hollywood big budget movie producer Gale Anne Hurd to create the Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project
Shifting baselines
Shifting baseline is a term used to describe the way significant changes to a system are measured against previous reference points , which themselves may represent significant changes from the original state of the system.The term was first used by the fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly in his...
. Initial funding came from the three founding partners: The Ocean Conservancy
The Ocean Conservancy
The Ocean Conservancy is a nonprofit advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., United States.-History:...
, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Surfrider Foundation. The term "shifting baselines
Shifting baselines
Shifting baseline is a term used to describe the way significant changes to a system are measured against previous reference points , which themselves may represent significant changes from the original state of the system.The term was first used by the fisheries scientist Daniel Pauly in his...
" was coined by fisheries biologist Daniel Pauly
Daniel Pauly
Daniel Pauly is a French-born marine biologist, well-known for his work in studying human impacts on global fisheries. He is a professor and the project leader of the Sea Around Us Project at the Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia. He also served as Director of the Fisheries...
in 1995. Olson broadened the definition with a widely cited OpEd in the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
in November, 2002. In the years since, the project has produced a series of short films, television commercials, Flash videos and contests (stand up comedy, photography, video) all written and directed by Olson. The most successful piece of media produced was the Ocean Symphony Public Service Announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
which featured a symphony of comic actors playing instruments they didn't know how to play, symbolizing the disharmony in today's unhealthy oceans.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tC5P7mBu_XY This included Tom Arnold
Tom Arnold (actor)
Thomas Dwaine "Tom" Arnold is an American actor and comedian. He has appeared in many films, perhaps most notably True Lies . He was the host of The Best Damn Sports Show Period for four years.-Early life:...
on kettle drums, Madeleine Stowe
Madeleine Stowe
Madeleine Mora Stowe is an American actress. She rose to prominence appearing in films such as Stakeout, Revenge, Unlawful Entry, The Last of the Mohicans, Blink, China Moon, 12 Monkeys, and We Were Soldiers...
and Paul Michael Glaser
Paul Michael Glaser
Paul Michael Glaser is an American actor and director, perhaps best known for his role as Detective David Starsky on the 1970s television series Starsky and Hutch; he also appeared as Captain Jack Steeper on the 1999 to 2005 NBC series Third Watch.-Early life:Glaser, the youngest of three...
on violin, Henry Winkler
Henry Winkler
Henry Franklin Winkler, OBE is an American actor, director, producer, and author.Winkler is best known for his role as Fonzie on the 1970s American sitcom Happy Days...
on harp, Sharon Lawrence
Sharon Lawrence
Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence is an American television actress. She is best known for the role of Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in the Television series NYPD Blue...
on cymbals, and Jack Black
Jack Black
Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...
as conductor. The PSA aired over 30,000 times including on CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
Headline News and in Times Square
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
on the giant Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
video screen, scoring over $10 million in free air time.
Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus
In 2006, Olson directed the feature documentary, Flock of Dodos: the Evolution-Intelligent Design CircusFlock of Dodos
Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus is a documentary film by American marine biologist and filmmaker Randy Olson. It highlights the debate between proponents of the concept of intelligent design and the scientific consensus that supports evolution.The documentary was first...
. The film drew on both his evolutionary biology background and his Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
upbringing as he visited the controversy raging over evolution in his home state. Flock of Dodos premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, in April 2006, and since then has played at film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
s all over the U.S. and abroad. The film aired on Showtime TV in the US and is available on DVD.
Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy
In 2008 Olson wrote and directed the feature film, "Sizzle: A Global Warming ComedySizzle (film)
Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy is a feature film written and directed by Randy Olson that combines documentary narrative and fiction on the topic of global warming. Dr. Olson is a marine biologist turned filmmaker who, in Sizzle, plays a former scientist turned filmmaker. The movie premiered in...
," which premiered on the west coast of the U.S. at the Outfest
Outfest
Outfest is an LGBT-oriented film showcase and festival in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1982 as the "Gay and Lesbian Media Festival and Conference", the name was changed to Outfest in 1994.-Programs:...
Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and on the east coast at the Woods Hole Film Festival
Woods Hole Film Festival
The Woods Hole Film Festival was founded in 1991 by Judith Laster and Kate Davis.Over the years, it has grown from a one day invitational event to an eight day event with films submitted from around the world. The Festival is held each year from the last Saturday of July through the first Saturday...
.
The Sizzling Dodos College Tour
After over 100 college and university screenings of "Flock of Dodos" and "Sizzle", Olson combined the two movies in 2008 into the Sizzling Dodos College Tour where universities screen both movies on consecutive nights, each followed by a panel discussion of resident faculty, plus Olson gives a talk based on his "Don't Be Such a Scientist" book http://www.islandpress.com/bookstore/details.php?prod_id=1872 Venues for the 2010-2011 academic year include University of Maine, University of Connecticut, Cornell University, and Yale University.Book
In 2009 Island Press published Randy Olson's first book, "Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style."Controversy
Olson has been criticized for potentially "dumbing down" serious science issues. His response is that his critics fail to grasp the difference between "dumbing down" and concision. Two major reviews for "Sizzle" exemplified the divide. The science magazine Nature gave the film a poor review titled, "Climate Comedy Falls Flat.". In contrast, the Hollywood entertainment magazine Variety gave it a favorable review stating that the movie is, "An exceedingly clever vehicle for making science engaging to a general audience."Related Filmmakers
- John MarshallJohn MarshallJohn Marshall was the Chief Justice of the United States whose court opinions helped lay the basis for American constitutional law and made the Supreme Court of the United States a coequal branch of government along with the legislative and executive branches...
- Robert Gardner
- Tim AschTim AschTimothy Asch , was a noted anthropologist, photographer, and ethnographic filmmaker. Along with John Marshall and Robert Gardner, Asch played an important role in the development of visual anthropology...
External links
- Profile at Randy Olson Productions
- D.E.R. Filmmaker Profile
- USC Staff Profile
- IMDB Profile
- National Public Radio Interview
- Variety Article
- Dean, Cornelia. (2006.) Eager to tell the stories of science, a biologist evolves. New York Times, April 11.
- Sorensen, Eric. (2007.) Randy Olson: An evolutionary biologist in Hollywood. Conservation 8(1).