Cullen Hoback

Cullen hoback grew up on the outskirts of Los Angeles feeling trapped and out of place. When he was 17, he started his own public access late night TV show, but was kicked off the air after making a series of social statements that drew angry phone calls from locals. Trying to bring light to strange and unfamiliar topics became a common theme for Hoback. Throughout college he produced multiple short films, as well as a feature when digital cameras first became available. While at school, he studied English and theatre, butting heads with the head of the theater program when he wanted to mount “True West” for a one-week run instead of being in a play that season. He won that battle, but his grades suffered for it. When he was 21, Hoback responded to a Craigslist ad looking for a director of photography. After meeting with the producer, he was offered a budget and a chance to direct. He reworked the script, and in 7 days shot what would become the 55-minute FREEDOM STATE, a heartfelt comedy that follows a cast of misfits to the edge of the world. His other narrative feature is FRICTION, a film about people at a summer camp who play out a scripted tale as the line between fantasy and reality blurs. In 2007, he was given a small budget to direct the LARPing documentary MONSTER CAMP, which showed social outcasts banding together to create a community where magic is real, and identity is limited only by one's imagination. MONSTER CAMP received awards around the world, and was heralded by Variety as both "endearing and amusing." In 2011, Hoback was able to return to his forte of documentary filmmaking when he was given adequate resources to create TERMS AND CONDITIONS MAY APPLY. The film took two years to make, and Hoback had the luxury of working on just the film and little else. He's now looking forward to starting two new projects, as well as developing MONSTER CAMP into a TV show.