Who IS THIS RYAN?

MY NAME IS RYAN McFAUL

I am a New York based television director. I’ve been working in the business for almost thirty years, and directing for twenty. Wow, how time has flown.

I came up as an editor and visual effects artist. Those skills prepared me for a transition into directing commercials and web shorts. Finally I found kindred spirits in the comedy world, shooting shows for Adult Swim and Comedy Central. My big break was “Inside Amy Schumer” for which I won an Emmy for Directing in 2016.

Since then, I’ve worked mostly in episodic television. I often shoot the bulk of a season, and in recent years as a Producing-Director.

I love this work: the long arcs of episodic stories; the collaboration of a big creative team; the challenge of figuring out how to pull it off, both in creative approach and in the logistics of getting it done.

Please reach out to my reps at UTA if you have a project you’d like to talk about.

Who IS NOT THIS RYAN?

Despite all the confusion and rampant speculation, Fred Armisen and I are not the same person.

BIOGRAPHY

I grew up in coastal Maine, drawing and building crazy things in the basement while my mom gently asked if I wanted to go outside, perhaps, to play with the other kids.

Good thing I took her advice. When I got my hands on a video camera in high school, I started shooting videos with my buddies. I knew right away that I wanted to spend my life making films; it was where every creative impulse intersected.

I went to NYU undergrad film. There I volunteered to storyboard other students’ films. I also jumped on low budget indy features each summer to build sets and props. I made no money and loved every minute.

I made a few short films in college, but still had so much to learn. Continuing to make films was unfathomable when I existed on ramen noodles.

Meanwhile, this was the era where post was going digital. I found my way into AVID rooms as an assistant editor. The old guard needed help with these new-fangled gizmos. I spent a lot of overnight shifts grinding away organizing footage, until someone let me edit an industrial.

It was there, in the quiet of the editing room, that I had an epiphany with storytelling. I soon began editing full time. Working on other people’s material was exactly the perspective I needed to understand film’s language.

Also I saw the craft in action. I would cut the worst commercial ever and see the ramifications of bad choices. And then I would cut a music video from a talented filmmaker and see their smart ideas come together. I learned so much.

I also taught myself visual effects with After Effects and Cinema 4D. And about this same time you could finally buy a decent digital video camera for $1000. I could now shoot my own projects cheaply and create the rich, cinematic worlds I loved.

In my late twenties I began again. This is where the work on this website begins. I posted my first video in the year 2000.

Ryantown has changed a lot over the years, but I still treasure the collection here: so many beautiful stories both inside and outside of the frame.