Biography
Sean McPhillips graduated from S.U.N.Y Purchase and had his first entertainment job at Miramax Films in New York City. For Miramax Acquisitions, Sean traveled to Cannes, Sundance, Tokyo, Tehran, Toronto, Montreal, Los Angeles and many other locations to attend film festivals as a buyer. He acquired such diverse titles as Majid Majidi's "Baran," "Pokemon: Heroes" and Yuen Wo-Ping's "Drunken Tai Chi" along with Sony Visual Works animated TV show "Tokyo Pig." He worked with the team in the era of "Life is Beautiful," "City of God," and "Amelie." He transitioned to a script consultant and co-founded Secret Hideout Films, also in New York. He wrote and directed short 35mm film "Cupcake" which premiered in Tribeca, wrote and co-produced "Deadline" which premiered in Montreal and played Tribeca and then wrote, directed and co-produced "The Cubicle" which premiered at Pifan, a fantastic festival in Korea. Other festivals for the films include Shanghai, Mar Del Plata, Austin, San Diego, Newport, New Orleans, Cuculorus and many others. Secret Hideout distinguished themselves from other film hopefuls by building sets in a warehouse space in Brooklyn, shooting on 35mm film and generally going all out to achieve a real filmmaking setting. Sean lent film review duties to On Demand Weekly, a site dedicated to the explosion of on-demand programming (which includes the independent film arena). In June 2011, he was senior programmer and festival director for the Gold Coast International Film Festival that had 45 features, 20 shorts and many celebrity and filmmaker appearances. He simultaneously programmed 5 seasons of the Furman Film Series and also programmed the Fire Island Pines International Film Festival in July. He has paneled for New York Women In Film And Television and was a short film juror for the Asian American International Film Festival in NYC. In late 2011, Sean left programming to join Japanese animation company Dream Link Entertainment, a Tokyo-based studio engaged in TV, Film and gaming internationally.
