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Approved Executive Bio

Jonathan Lanz

Jonathan Lanz is the founder of Independent Gorilla Productions, a filmmaker, producer, storyteller, and creative technologist building a slate-driven production company grounded in character-forward entertainment, practical production discipline, and emerging media workflows.

Across more than two decades, Lanz has operated at the intersection of sales, psychology, enterprise technology, project management, and film production, giving him an uncommon blend of creative instinct, systems thinking, and executive execution. His early professional trajectory included top-performing sales work while studying psychology, followed by nearly twenty years in information technology, where he advanced from support specialist to project manager, earned Cisco and Microsoft credentials, received awards and peer recognition, and led development teams supporting Fortune 500 client environments.

Lanz later redirected that operational discipline toward film and television, training from the ground up across production departments before producing and directing an award-winning docuseries, short films, and commercial work. His approach emphasizes story architecture, human behavior, crew respect, visual strategy, and production readiness.

As a creative technologist, Lanz applies AI-assisted tools to research synthesis, worldbuilding, visual development, previsualization, pitch materials, and production planning while keeping authorship, ethics, and narrative coherence at the center of the process.

Through Independent Gorilla Productions, Lanz is developing an ambitious slate that includes feature films, television series, proof-of-concept shorts, and new media projects. His work is built for audiences, civic partners, investors, and collaborators seeking disciplined independent filmmaking with both classical craft and modern reach.