john tarnoff b 1952 is a 30year veteran of the mediaentertainment business with broad management experience as studio executive film and interactive producer and technology entrepreneur he is based in los angeles catarnoffs current focus is to develop stronger ties between the mediaentertainment industry and higher education addressing the challenges of preparing new talent for this rapidly evolving industry in the digital age as a consultant he is developing strategies and programs for clients including carnegie mellon university heinz colleges masters of entertainment industry management graduate program the academy of motion picture arts sciences and acme network a digital distance learning companypreviously he served as head of show development at dreamworks animation his department oversaw a number of futureoriented agendas for the company including the companys internal artistic enrichment program its outreach program to schools in the cg animation space and developing strategies for the front end of the animation process including visual development design and storyboardingsome of the films he has been responsible for include diner the year of living dangerously pink floyd the wall bill teds excellent adventure and the power of one a cofounder of village roadshow pictures he pioneered usaustralian coproductions in the late 1980s and early 1990starnoff branched into multimedia development in 1994 licensing the interactive rights to orwells nineteen eightyfour and creating the game big brother based on the book he and director john badham cowrote the successful pcplaystation game wargames based on badhams hit moviefrom 1995 to 2003 he was the cofounder of talkie inc a technology company that created online conversational animated characters for marketing brand building lead generation customer service and trainingtarnoff holds a ba from amherst college and a ma in spiritual psychology from the university of santa monica he grew up in new york and paris and is a passionate still photographer