R.J. is an award-winning animated filmmaker, composer, and screenwriter. He creates hand drawn 2D animated films for adults as well as children.
His short films have been shown in film festivals internationally including Australia's biggest Oscar qualifying short film festival, St. Kilda Film Festival, the Oscar-qualifying Flicker's Rhode Island International Film Festival, Dances With Films (in LA and New York), Breaking TV Film Festival in London, and Birmingham Film Festival in Birmingham, England. Notably, his short animated film, Arlo Sings the Blues (In the Middle of the Night) won Best Animation Film in the 2023 BAMkids Film Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York.
R.J. hand-painted watercolor backgrounds for his children’s short Pinto the Mean Bean, which had its West Coast premiere at the 26th Annual Dances With Films festival in June 2023 at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatres in Los Angeles.
In 2024, he produced The Pinto Variety Hour, an adult animated comedy series pilot, which had its world premiere at the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology in August 2024. Since then, the pilot has screened at numerous international festivals, earning multiple awards including Best TV Show, Best TV Pilot, Best Animation, Best Screenplay, Best Web Series, Special Jury Award for Animation, and Best Director for a TV Pilot.
Both of his children’s shorts and The Pinto Variety Hour have been featured in showcases at the Hollywood Theatre in the Portland, OR, Airport. Arlo Sings the Blues was part of the Fall 2023 program (September - December), while Pinto the Mean Bean was showcased in the Winter 2024 program (January - March). An abridged 10-minute version of The Pinto Variety Hour pilot was also included in the Fall 2025 shorts program.
R.J. grew up in Ventura, CA, but now lives in Portland with his wife, baby daughter, and their orange dog, Lucy. He earned a B.A. in Arts and Letters from Portland State University in 2004 and founded Catch and Hatch Studios in 2022.
Currently, R.J. is seeking a production company to help complete season one of The Pinto Variety Hour.
