We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Darin DiNapoli. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Darin below.

Darin, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s start with education – we’d love to hear your thoughts about how we can better prepare students for a more fulfilling life and career.

Colleges and Universities should spend more time focusing on teaching students about how to start their own businesses. These institutions mainly gear their teaching to those looking to apply at a larger company but neglect what you should do in the event no one is hiring. There should be courses in raising money to start a business, building a website, advertising your product, forming an LLC, etc. If students have this knowledge leaving college they can jump right into getting experience with smaller projects and build a more successful plan for their solo career!

Darin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Emmy Award winning director/editor/producer/motion graphics artist with 18 years of professional experience in the advertising/film & video industry. Other notable achievements include being named a 2022 Emerging Artist at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, winning Best Film at the 2014 Pittsburgh 48 Hour Horror Film Festival, Producing nine 48 Hour Films over the course of 3 years (one in Los Angeles which made it to the top 10 out of 300 teams and screened at the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard), and winning an Adfed award aka a Gold Addy award.
Aside from traditional storytelling projects, I also have been involved with producing innovative works including 360 video documentary films, and interactive media (games and short film).
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I owns and operate my own production company, DNAPPS Productions, which specializes in content video development and production.

My career spans back to the year 2000, when I began producing video content programs in High School. I started creating animated shorts, (inspired by South Park and MTV’s Liquid Television), and airing them on the morning announcements at my school. I learned computer animation by reading a ton of books and practicing outside of school. The classes at school were very basic and I wanted to produce video content that could be aired on TV, just like the programs that inspired me. In the early days, I learned on Macromedia Flash 5 and integrated that into Final Cut Pro. My senior year, I got my first taste of success by entering a :60 Public Service Announcement called “Uncle Sam Wants You” in a local student festival and won “Best of Show”. This spot combined live action video and an animated Uncle Sam falling out of a cereal box to get the student to register for Selective Services. This was my first attempt at trying to stand out by trying a technique other students my age weren’t able to achieve. My senior year of High School, I was able to focus on developing a 30 minute news magazine show called “In Phocus” which integrated my animation and innovative video content.

After High School, I went to a four year college (Robert Morris University), to study more about media production and how I could turn this into a full time career. My big break happened my senior year when I was able to collaborate with a few students on a music video project. This was my first real large scale production where I hired talent, coordinated schedules, filming, and editing. The goal of this project was to produce a “film festival” worthy video. After about being rejected by 20+ festivals, there was one last entry I felt we might have a chance but it was a long shot. I entered this video into the College Emmy Awards and long story short, won first place in the Music Programs category. So although my video was rejected by so many film festivals, staying focused and persistent helped lead me to winning the top prize at the Emmy Awards.

Winning the Emmy Award was one of my top achievements of that time and a testament to never give up when your work is rejected so many times.

After college, I worked for 10 years at one of the biggest Advertising Agencies in Pittsburgh, as the in house commercial director/editor. This job really helped train me for where I am now and set the stage for starting my own business.

Aside from producing commercial content and short films, I decided to get back into producing a tv show for the web. I created a sketch comedy series called “Magic Tray Day” which combines elements of absurd humor and improvisational comedy. You can view this series on Youtube.com/@magictrayday .

Also, recently in 2022, I was selected as an Emerging Artist at the Three Rivers Arts Festival for my innovative photography work. This is another endeavor I began exploring and began selling these works in public/online. You can view this work on my instagram @darin_dinapoli

Lastly, I play guitar and write my own music. Currently I play in three bands, Identity X (www.idxmusic.com), Guides (www.guidesmusic.com), and my solo act The Imperfect Strangers. I’ve been playing guitar since age 12 and love writing/producing music.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist/creative is getting to know that your client really enjoyed the product you created for them.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2018, when the ad agency I was working at laid off half their workforce, I had to figure out a way to survive in the video industry. There were essentially no jobs available unless I wanted to move to LA or New York…so I tried to figure out a way to remain in Pittsburgh and still make a living. This is when I decided I had to start my own business instead of focusing on finding another company to work for. There always seemed to be a ceiling when working for someone else, so I decided it’s time to go all in on creating my own business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dnappsproductions.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dnappsproductions/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dnappsproductions
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/darindinapoli/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/darindinapoli
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@darindinapoli