Erik Courtney (born December 2, 1973) is an American filmmaker and visual FX artist for TV shows including '' Star Trek: Picard'' and films including The Tourist. He holds an

IMAX IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating. Graem ...

patent. In 2015, he appeared on season 2 of the

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 *Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compan ...

docu-series '' Newlyweds: The First Year'' alongside his wife, author

Nadine Jolie Courtney Nadine Jolie Courtney (née Haobsh; ; born August 23, 1980) is a Circassian American lifestyle writer, novelist, and former media personality. She is the author of the YA novel ''All-American Muslim Girl'', ''Romancing the Throne'', '' Beauty Co ...

Early and Collegiate Life

Courtney attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, where he founded the Columbia University Film Productions Club in 2000. He is the holder of an IMAX Patent created in 2009, for a method for recomposing large format media, relating to a process for shooting an entire scene on a single large format film camera and recomposing the filmed scene into a video stream suitable for transfer to conventional formats. He has a Master's Degree in Film Production from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

Filmmaking

After graduating from UCLA, Courtney worked in feature development at

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker. A major figure in the post- New Hollywood era, he is considered one of the industry's most innovative filmmakers, regularly pushing the boundaries of cinematic capability ...

's Lightstorm Entertainment. In 2005, Courtney wrote and directed a four-minute real-time

short film called The Persistence of Dreams. It was the first recreation of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

's assassination to be filmed in

Ford's Theatre Ford's Theatre is a theater located in Washington, D.C., which opened in August 1863. The theater is infamous for being the site of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. On the night of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the theater bo ...

. The film debuts the use of Large Format Negative Repurposing (LFNR™), a post-production process that involves zooming into an IMAX negative to create shot coverage. In 2008, Courtney won the Grand Prize at the Seattle

Science Fiction Fantasy Short Film Festival The Science Fiction Fantasy Short Film Festival (SFFSFF) is an international genre film festival devoted to fantasy and science fiction cinema from across the globe. The SFFSFF takes place annually every winter in Seattle, Washington at the worl ...

for his film Forecast, which was also selected in September 2008 to open the

Santa Monica Film Festival The Santa Monica Film Festival & Moxie Awards is an annual film series and awards show held in Santa Monica, California, United States. History The Santa Monica Film Festival & Moxie Awards was created by Albert Birdie deQuay, also known as Bi ...

. As a

visual effects Visual effects (sometimes abbreviated VFX) is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and other live-action foota ...

artist, Courtney has worked on films including Red Riding Hood, Hitchcock, The Tourist, City of Ember, and Apocalypto, and the TV show Star Trek: Picard.

Personal life

His paternal grandmother is vaudeville dancer

Signe Paterson Signe Paterson (May 6, 1890 – August 15, 1963), sometimes written as Signe Patterson, was a Swedish-born American vaudeville dancer, celebrated both for her solo performances and as one-half of the jazz duo Hale and Paterson alongside Frank Hale. ...

. In January 2015, Courtney was announced as a cast member on season 2 of

's reality documentary television series Newlyweds: The First Year alongside his wife, author

. The couple lives in

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

with their daughters Aurelia and Charlotte.

References

External links

Official WebsitePersistence of DreamsForecast Film
{{DEFAULTSORT:Courtney, Erik American filmmakers Living people 1973 births Participants in American reality television series People from Hialeah, Florida Columbia University School of General Studies alumni UCLA Film School alumni