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EDUCATION
National Film School, Vienna, Austria WORK EXPERIENCE ABROAD
PBS — California Coast, 2021 Emmy Award; Lost LA, 2019 Emmy Award; California Coastal Trail; City Walk. Arte and ZDF - Theaterlandschaften / Documentaries about Theater and Culture. Food Network - PSA’s for Food and Wine Pairings. E! and Style Networks: Travel and film documentaries. CNET and Fine Living - TV Specials on Entertainment Technology. Funny Or Die — Viral PSA reuniting the cast of The West Wing. Penguin Books, Bloomsbury Books: Book Trailers. State of California — Films about coastline communities. International Fund for Animal Welfare - PSA and campaigns. Kaiser Permanente — Online campaign and documentaries, 25 national PR and marketing awards. US Surgeon General - Call to Action for Walkable Communities. LANGUAGE SKILLS
English, French, Latin. ACTIVITIES
Thomas Rigler is a 2021 and 2019 two-time Emmy-Award-winning director, writer, executive producer, and nonfiction showrunner operating on the razor’s edge of art, social impact, and commerce. Thomas chases storylines and topics in pursuit of the mysteries of the human experience inside our cities and protected landscapes, as well as the magic of the creative process in film, theater, music, art, design, public health, and science. Thomas recently served as the showrunner and director on California Coast, the Emmy-winning environmental and social justice series he created for PBS; the Emmy-winning PBS series Lost LA; and the 2015 Emmy-nominated PBS series City Walk, which he also created. Through his own multi-platform service production company Rigler Creative, Thomas provided long-term creative and production services to corporate and government clients, among them Kaiser Permanente Health Plan, the Office of the US Surgeon General, the CDC, and the State of California. Thomas also served as Executive Producer at NBC Universal / Comcast for their E! and Style Networks television and VOD initiatives, where he oversaw development and production for several successful domestic and international platform launches. He produced and directed close to 100 shows and programs for such broadcasters as E!, style, Food Network, Fine Living, CNET, NBC, Arte, ZDF, and 3Sat, as well as streamers Amazon Prime and Hulu. As an executive he oversaw production teams generating around one thousand programs across various platforms. Thomas is a member of the Producers Guild of America; the Television Academy, including the Academy’s Directors Peer Group; the board of directors of the Austrian Directors Association; a past VP of the International Documentary Association and a two-time prototype participant with the American Film Institute’s Digital Content Lab. AWARDS
2021 Emmy Award: California Coast, PBS (Director, Executive Producer) 2019 Emmy Award: Lost LA / Yosemite, PBS (Director, Executive Producer) 2018, 2019: Whale Tail Grants / State of California: California Coastal Trail - Within Sight, Scent and Sound of the Ocean. 2015 Emmy Award Nomination: City Walk - Walk Stars / Satellite Beach, PBS Bulldog Not-For-Profit PR Award: City Walk MM&M Gold Award: Every Body Walk! Campaign Hermes Gold Award: Best Educational Video PR Daily Media Relations Awards: Best Use of Video PR Daily’s Digital PR Awards: Best Video Web Health Mobile Award: Silver

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