The Story Of René Pinnell
R

ené finished one year of graduate school before dropping out to start Hurricane Party which later morphed into Forecast. After being acqhired by Hangtime René spent a year designing their iPhone app. While pursuing an MFA in Design René was awarded a $100k research grant to start The Smart Building Initiative at the University of Texas at Austin. René is currently working on a new project called Storybox.

I
n a previous life René wrote, directed, & produced for film, television, & theater. From 2004 to 2007 he directed & produced 36 episodes of the acclaimed comedy show Backpack Picnic, as well as the MTV Pilot The Edmond Bulldogs. Most recently René co-directed The King of Texas, a feature documentary that premiered at the SXSW Film Festival & was distributed internationally by Watchmaker Films.

2013

The story of Storybox
  1. June, 2013

    Designed and art directed album cover for my mom's new project Romancing the Dark. My amazing love Selena did the styling!






  2. June, 2013

    Designed decal for World Skee-Ball Champion
    Joey the Cat.

  3. February, 2013

    Edited kickstarter video for my mother's amazing new album "Romancing the Dark."





  4. January, 2013

    Joined TechShop SF with the goal of building an automatic photo scanner and a tiny house.

The story of Hangtime


Making art and love

René proposes to Selena

Selena proposes to René

Video Poem for
Selena

Sleepwalking Girl

2012

The story of forecast
  1. December 29th, 2012

    For Chanukah & Christmas I made my love Selena a family crest.






  2. December 6th, 2012

    My best friend Ross Ulbritch and I interview each other as part of StoryCorps.

  3. December 5th, 2012

    Completed General Assembly's Front-End Web Development course.






  4. November 30th, 2012

    Attended Warm Gun Design Conference.

  5. November 1st, 2012

    Designed & coded Hangtime website.






  6. November 17th, 2012

    Designed ridiculous tiling pattern.

  7. August, 2012

    Designed folding bed & desk with help from George Morrow & Ross Ulbricht.






  8. August, 2012

    Edited Trailer for documentary
    about my aunt Sharon.

  9. June, 2012

    Started job as lead designer at Hangtime.






  10. July, 2012

    Shutdown Forecast & Hurricane Party after
    two years in the startup game.

  • May 28th, 2012

    Michael Barnes writes article about how much Eric Katerman & I love each other.






    • 2011

    The story of Hurricane Party


    1. February, 2011

      Sick of silly startup product videos René turned the Yobongo product video into a Viagra spoof.





    2. June, 2011

      Designed music discovery app LollaScope at hackathon with the help of Tanner Moehle.

    The story of
    The Smart Building Initiative

    2009



    1. November, 2009

      Attended 3 Day Startup where I met my future
      co-founders Eric Katerman & Richard McClellan.





    2. September, 2009

      Started MFA program in design at the
      University of Texas at Austin.




    2008


    1. The story of
      The King of Texas
      March, 2008

    2. Film Reel
      December, 2008
    1. December, 2008

      Here's my old portfolio website I created when applying to graduate school.





    2. August, 2008

      Created a short video of James Thurber's The Last Flower for a Tina Marsh concert shortly before her death. Tina narrated the video. She will be missed.

    3. January, 2008

      Started job at On Networks where I did my first design work drawing things on white boards and screwing around with Omni Graffle.






    The story of
    Backpack Picnic

    2007

    The Story Of Office Furniture now!


    1. June, 2007

      With George Morrow & Blake Buesnel I produced two episodes of a DIY web series for kids.
      Episode 1: Make it Awesome - Periscope
      Episode 2: Make it Awesome - Mega Ice Cube.







    2. December, 2007

      Over the course of a few years I developed & wrote a screenplay with Hamish Johnson & Daren Magee for a TV comedy called Buffalo.

    3. May, 2007

      I got contracted by a friend's company who was doing something for Xbox to make three silly animated videos: Space Flight, Drawing, Car Race.









    Commercial work

    Fireteam Reloaded: Spot #1

    Fireteam Reloaded: Spot #2

    Fireteam Reloaded: Spot #3

    Fireteam Reloaded: Spot #4

    Fireteam Reloaded: Spot #5

    Fireteam Reloaded: Spot #6

    Shelf Conversions: Spot #1

    Shelf Conversions: Spot #2

    2006

    The story of
    The Edmond Bulldogs

    2005

    The story of
    my slightly embarrassing undergraduate films

    2004

    The story of
    the Elevator Art Club

    2003

    The story of the
    Café du Caché

    2001

    The story of
    my super embarrassing high school films

    1990's

    The story of
    my first films

    My mom singing jazz The year I was born


    END






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