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Partners in Storytelling

Prairie Surf

Focused on delivering high-impact narratives, documentarian work, and original content to amplify community and empower storytelling.

Latest Release


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Edith Head: Hollywood’s Costume Designer

With over 400 films to her credit, Head ruled the costume design departments at Paramount and Universal Studios from the early 1920s to the early 1980s, earning 35 Oscar nominations and eight Oscar wins—more than any other woman to date. 70 of her iconic costumes worn by Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and the biggest starts of the 20th century are on display now at the OKC MOA.

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Featured Project


In 1942, the United States launched the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb, with Dr. Robert Wilson among its brilliant scientists. Disillusioned by the destruction, he later pioneered Proton Therapy in 1946, a groundbreaking cancer treatment used worldwide today.

Directed By

Wendy Garrett

Release Date

Summer 2024

Production Team

Matt Payne Producer
Tanya Ruby Line Producer
David Raubach Executive Producer
Christopher Hunt Editor
Steven Drozd Composer
Travis Tindell Fermilab Cinematographer
Christopher Hunt Loma Linda and Patient Cinematographer
Alex Semikopenko Oklahoma City - Cinematograper
Clarissa Cozzoni Assistant Director / Production Researcher
Nicole Palmer Production Coordinator
Jackson Hoover Production Sound Mixer
Picture Shop Post Sound
Oliver Stedman Post Sound Producer
Khonor Patterson Additional Sound Mixer

Production Team

Brandon Kob Gaffer
Ty McMahan Key Grip
Todd Gill, CSI Post Color Correction
Sylvia Lambert Assistant Editor
William Warner Assistant Researcher
Cassie Pierce Production Assistant
Caroline Hill Production Assistant
Max Kreigel Production Assistant
Ryan Young Animator
Christopher Lee Graphic Designer
Abby Baldwin Archival Assistant
Charlton McCormick Archival Assistant
Rachel Rose Archival Assistant
R. Trent Shores Fair Use Attorney
Christopher Shrock Fair Use Attorney
Jay Shanker Attorney

Partnership

Prairie Surf Creative presents in association with Bragg Peak Productions and 1577 Productions.

Our Work


Stories that Captivate, Inform, and Inspire

Cadillac Tour
Cadillac Home Tour | Episode 2 | 405 Magazine

University of Oklahoma/Price College of Business

Cadillac Home Tour | Episode 1 | 405 Magazine

Clara Luper 100th Birthday Tribute Video

Grey Has No Allegiance | Grey Sweater

Artist Spotlight – Tony Tee | Visit OKC Modern Frontier

Artist Spotlight – Nicole Poole | Visit OKC Modern Frontier

Douglass High School Hype Video | PSM & FEIO & Notis Studios

A Tribute To Deborah McAuliffe Senner | Allied Arts

5 Year Anniversary Party | The Jones
Assembly

2023 Fundraiser Campaign | Allied Arts

Jesse McCartney – Selfless | The Kelly Clarkson Show

About


The Next Wave of World-class Storytelling

Prairie Surf Creative is a division of Prairie Surf Media, a production company located in downtown Oklahoma City.  Leveraging their knowledge, connections and commitment helped our local industry become a premier production prospect.

Under Matt Payne’s leadership, PSC produces high-impact narratives, documentarian work, and original content for visionary businesses, nonprofits, and institutions across the region. The PSC team has extensive experience working with major entertainment brands like Disney, HBO, Marvel, NFL, and Netflix and is augmented by a global network of resources and partnerships.

Our Team


Uncommon Company

You can learn a lot about someone by the company they keep and we’re proud to mingle with brilliant investigators, foul-mouthed superheroes and a century-old mouse. We confidently embrace that collaboration, knowing the product connects on a deeper level, and engages the emotions of the audience.

OVER

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Combined Years of
Experience

Recognized with

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National &
Regional Awards

Hands-on Work With

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Major Hollywood Studios

Matt Payne

Matt Payne is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, writer, photographer, and educator based in Oklahoma City. During his 15 years in Los Angeles, Payne worked as a writer on the hit CBS series Vegas and Defenders, and TNT’s Memphis Beat, additionally he was a part of the production team of Fox’s 24 and CBS’ Without a Trace. As a graduate of the film school at the University of Oklahoma, Payne returned to Oklahoma in 2015 with the goal to create an industry that empowers other storytellers, allows them to be the mentors they wish they’d had, and to help shape the rapidly expanding entertainment industry in Oklahoma. Since his return, Payne has taken a key role in the Oklahoma film community, producing documentaries for Griffin Communications and the OETA Foundation, as well as serving as an adjunct professor at Oklahoma City University for three years. Payne was the Travel Editor of 405 Magazine and has been a contributing writer and photographer to National Geographic Traveler, Travel Age West, Explorer Magazine and many other travel publications. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Society of American Travel Writers, is a regular speaker at the deadCenter Film Festival, a participant in the Oklahoma Conservation Leadership Academy and sits on the board of directors of the Oklahoma City Zoological Society, the Moderns Board at the Oklahoma Museum of Art, deadCenter, and the Film Education Institute of Oklahoma. Today, he serves as the Co-CEO and Founder of Prairie Surf Media.

Tanya Ruby

Tanya Ruby, serves as EVP, Head of Finance at Prairie Surf Media. With over 25 years of experience in the film industry, Ruby started her career working as a production coordinator at Walden Media. Eventually transitioning into Finance, she spent a decade accumulating extensive international experience working on AAA films like Captain Phillips, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Prometheus, and Wonder Woman. In 2017, she returned to Los Angeles where she shared her expertise at Amazon, Netflix and Big Beach. Ruby moved to Oklahoma and joined Prairie Surf Media in early 2022. Ruby is committed to empowering women in film through leadership, mentorship, and community building.

Nader Tavangar

Nader Tavangar is a storyteller at heart. He’s spent hours watching reruns of the great classics, hundreds of hours on the stage performing classical works and the rest of his time behind the camera leading business strategy. Nader joined Prairie Surf Media as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of its Creative Division. In this newly created role, Nader will reach audiences through short and long-form films as well as brand partnerships and intentional brand campaigns.

Nader brings 25 years of experience guiding corporate initiatives across the globe, earning deep and abiding trust of people who don’t give it away easily. Prior to joining Prairie Surf, Nader was tapped to lead a new startup in the entertainment space developing and executing scripted and unscripted works across episodic and feature length films. Leading business strategy to develop creative IP for 26 different projects across documentary, feature, and Indie films. Nader partnered with brands, media companies and people to kickstart using internal resources while maintaining ownership of creative IP through financing and distribution.

No matter the company or the assignment, chief among his roles is to be a fountain of positivity.

Kevin Ford

Kevin Ford produced, shot, and edited the Netflix feature documentary “Sr.” about the life and works of filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. which premiered at Telluride 2022 and also won Best Documentary from the National Board of Review. Some other notable works by Ford include The Pathway, a doc series about NBA basketball prospects for TNT, which he shot and directed with James D. Stern. In 2021 Kevin directed Face The River, a documentary for RCA Records featuring musician Gavin DeGraw. In 2020 Kevin directed, shot, and edited a documentary, The Pushback, produced by Richard Linklater, which was an official selection of SXSW 2020 and also won 3 awards at El Paso Film Festival, including Best Director. In 2018, Ford produced, shot, and edited the Sony Pictures Classics documentary American Chaos. Other acclaimed projects include The Bomb (director, editor) a chilling archival documentary about nuclear weapons which was the closing night film of Tribeca 2016 and was also featured at the 2017 Nobel Peace Awards Ceremony. Ford was a director of Stone Barn Castle, a soul-searching documentary with Adrien Brody which premiered at SXSW 2015, as well as the Rock n’ Roll feature Three Days starring Jane’s Addiction which premiered at Slamdance 1999. Kevin has also made his fair share of independent narrative feature films, including the drama Legs, starring Eddie Steeples which premiered at the 2014 Cinesander Film Series, as well as two other features featuring Ellar Coltrane — an indie-romance, Drowned, and a road film, By The River, which was produced by Adrien Brody and premiered at 2016 Sidewalk Film Festival. As cinematographer, Ford worked on a forthcoming documentary series for A24 and HBO, and previously he shot the feature film Roman produced by Lucky McKee, as well as the 2003 political documentary The Party’s Over starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Wendy Garrett

Wendy Garrett

Wendy Garrett was drawn to the stage at an early age and has been working in the entertainment business for 20 years. Garrett has worked as an Imagineer for The Walt Disney Company, as an associate casting director on “Law & Order” and has performed on Broadway. Upon arriving back in Oklahoma, Garrett worked as Associate Director for the famed director, Francis Ford Coppola (THE GODFATHER), on Coppola’s live cinema project, DISTANT VISION. Garrett currently lives in Tulsa and is writing, directing and producing fiction and nonfiction films. In 2020, she produced the documentary “Eddie, the cost of greatness”, on basketball legend Coach Eddie Sutton that aired on ESPN and ABC. Wendy is the lead producer for Cinema Eye Honors Annual Documentary Awards Ceremony in New York City and is a member of Women in Film LA and Actor’s Equity Association. She is a graduate of Oklahoma City University with a degree in theater and dance.

George Back

George Back started GB Creatives in the studio lots of Hollywood. He put the “free” in freelance by offering to write feature film marketing copy in exchange for opportunity. His big break came in 2015, when he landed a two-day writing assignment with 20th Century Fox. The project was “Deadpool.” The irreverent IP matched George’s unique creative stylings perfectly and the resulting copy absolutely crushed.

Following the massive success of “Deadpool,” George’s career as a writer took off. He found himself writing everything from taglines to brand integration for multiple studios. He even wrote a daily column for Yahoo! Entertainment – over 800 articles!

Working for such large media outlets involved a significant amount of co-branding. Writing copy that makes one brand happy is challenging, writing copy that makes two separate brands happy can be downright herculean.

The co-branding gauntlet not only galvanized George’s skills, it also revealed that a lot of corporate marketing isn’t very creative. GB Creatives was founded to bring the magic of storytelling back to the overly logical and statistics driven creative of modern marketing.

Mark Steele

Mark is the Founder of Mark Steele Creative and a well-known author, speaker, comedian, songwriter, playwright, and film writer/director. For 20 years, he was the Co-Founder and Executive Creative of Steelehouse Productions, where he led a team of creatives as they crafted narratives for film, animation, and virtual reality.

Mark also has a long-standing history of stand-up comedy and performance in both stage and film as well as producing and directing film projects for both the corporate and artistic worlds. He speaks regularly at media and artistic conferences and events across America.

Mark has written several books incorporating humorous stories from his personal life that weave in life truths, including “Flashbang” (2005, Relevant Books), “Half-Life/Die Already” (2008, David C Cook Publishing), and his collection of fictional short stories “The Most Important Thing Happening” (2011, David C Cook Publishing). All have been released to great commercial success and overwhelmingly positive reviews. Mark has also written episodes and songs extensively for the hit series VeggieTales. His songwriting has landed him membership in the Recording Academy/Grammy organization. He is the playwright of several produced theater works including “Fiction Is Revolting,” “Panic in Suite 1612,” “The Bema,” and “Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.”

Richard Rosser

Richard Rosser is a filmmaker, author and educator based in Los Angeles. He honed his story skills on hit TV shows, including This Is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, MacGyver and 24. Rosser has written award-winning books and taught storytelling workshops to 15,000+ students of all ages. Richard’s passion for the creative process led him to develop school programs that empower students to express themselves through storytelling and conquer their fear of speaking in public. He has guest lectured at numerous colleges and universities, including Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and NYU.

Rosser’s most recent book, ChatGPT Simplified, is available on Amazon. It offers non-tech professionals a unique and accessible approach to unlock the power of ChatGPT and amplify creativity.

Clarissa Cozzoni

Clarissa Cozzoni is a Telly award winning producer, SAG-E actress, and director located in Oklahoma City, OK. A born and raised Oklahoman, Cozzoni has drawn much of her artistic inspiration from the memoirs and music of Red-Dirt country. Beginning her career in the theatre at thirteen, Cozzoni shifted into film upon her arrival to college. Clarissa has worked in a variety of theatrical/film mediums as both an actress and director. Cozzoni is a proud alumni of the University of Oklahoma where she received her BFA in Acting & Dramaturgy. During her time at OU, she received the Rupel J. Jones Directing Award for Excellence in Directing. Currently, she serves as the Creative Services Coordinator at Prairie Surf Media where she produces, directs, and coordinates in-house productions ranging from commercial, narrative, and documentary all the while developing IP with her colleagues. When she isn’t being a workaholic, Clarissa enjoys reading, cooking, and hiking with her dog, Brontë!

Our Partners


Working Together Where Storytellers Thrive

National Cowboy Museum
Warwick
Wheeler Bio

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Our Team


Matt Payne

Matt Payne is an Emmy award-winning filmmaker, writer, photographer, and educator based in Oklahoma City. During his 15 years in Los Angeles, Payne worked as a writer on the hit CBS series “Vegas” and “Defenders”, and TNT’s “Memphis Beat”, additionally he was a part of the production team of Fox’s “24” and CBS’ “Without a Trace.” As a graduate of the film school at the University of Oklahoma, Payne returned to Oklahoma in 2015 with the goal to create an industry that empowers other storytellers, allows them to be the mentors they wish they’d had, and to help shape the rapidly expanding entertainment industry in Oklahoma. Since his return, Payne has taken a key role in the Oklahoma film community, producing documentaries for Griffin Communications and the OETA Foundation, as well as serving as an adjunct professor at Oklahoma City University for three years. Payne was the Travel Editor of 405 Magazine and has been a contributing writer and photographer to National Geographic Traveler, Travel Age West, Explorer Magazine and many other travel publications. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, the Society of American Travel Writers, is a regular speaker at the deadCenter Film Festival, a participant in the Oklahoma Conservation Leadership Academy and sits on the board of directors of the Oklahoma City Zoological Society, the Moderns Board at the Oklahoma Museum of Art, deadCenter, and the Film Education Institute of Oklahoma. Today, he serves as the Co-CEO and Founder of Prairie Surf Media

Our Team


Tanya Ruby

Tanya Ruby, serves as EVP, Head of Finance at Prairie Surf Media. With over 25 years of experience in the film industry, Ruby started her career working as a production coordinator at Walden Media. Eventually transitioning into Finance, she spent a decade accumulating extensive international experience working on AAA films like Captain Phillips, Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Prometheus, and Wonder Woman. In 2017, she returned to Los Angeles where she shared her expertise at Amazon, Netflix and Big Beach. Ruby moved to Oklahoma and joined Prairie Surf Media in early 2022. Ruby is committed to empowering women in film through leadership, mentorship, and community building.

Our Team


Nader Tavangar

Nader Tavangar is a storyteller at heart. He’s spent hours watching reruns of the great classics, hundreds of hours on the stage performing classical works and the rest of his time behind the camera leading business strategy. Nader joined Prairie Surf Media as Executive Vice President and Managing Director of its Creative Division. In this newly created role, Nader will reach audiences through short and long-form films as well as brand partnerships and intentional brand campaigns.

Nader brings 25 years of experience guiding corporate initiatives across the globe, earning deep and abiding trust of people who don’t give it away easily. Prior to joining Prairie Surf, Nader was tapped to lead a new startup in the entertainment space developing and executing scripted and unscripted works across episodic and feature length films. Leading business strategy to develop creative IP for 26 different projects across documentary, feature, and Indie films. Nader partnered with brands, media companies and people to kickstart using internal resources while maintaining ownership of creative IP through financing and distribution.

No matter the company or the assignment, chief among his roles is to be a fountain of positivity.

Our Team


Kevin Ford

Kevin Ford produced, shot, and edited the Netflix feature documentary “Sr.” about the life and works of filmmaker Robert Downey Sr. which premiered at Telluride 2022 and also won Best Documentary from the National Board of Review. Some other notable works by Ford include The Pathway, a doc series about NBA basketball prospects for TNT, which he shot and directed with James D. Stern. In 2021 Kevin directed Face The River, a documentary for RCA Records featuring musician Gavin DeGraw. In 2020 Kevin directed, shot, and edited a documentary, The Pushback, produced by Richard Linklater, which was an official selection of SXSW 2020 and also won 3 awards at El Paso Film Festival, including Best Director. In 2018, Ford produced, shot, and edited the Sony Pictures Classics documentary American Chaos. Other acclaimed projects include The Bomb (director, editor) a chilling archival documentary about nuclear weapons which was the closing night film of Tribeca 2016 and was also featured at the 2017 Nobel Peace Awards Ceremony. Ford was a director of Stone Barn Castle, a soul-searching documentary with Adrien Brody which premiered at SXSW 2015, as well as the Rock n’ Roll feature Three Days starring Jane’s Addiction which premiered at Slamdance 1999. Kevin has also made his fair share of independent narrative feature films, including the drama Legs, starring Eddie Steeples which premiered at the 2014 Cinesander Film Series, as well as two other features featuring Ellar Coltrane — an indie-romance, Drowned, and a road film, By The River, which was produced by Adrien Brody and premiered at 2016 Sidewalk Film Festival. As cinematographer, Ford worked on a forthcoming documentary series for A24 and HBO, and previously he shot the feature film Roman produced by Lucky McKee, as well as the 2003 political documentary The Party’s Over starring Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Wendy Garrett

Our Team


Wendy Garrett

Wendy Garrett was drawn to the stage at an early age and has been working in the entertainment business for 20 years. Garrett has worked as an Imagineer for The Walt Disney Company, as an associate casting director on “Law & Order” and has performed on Broadway. Upon arriving back in Oklahoma, Garrett worked as Associate Director for the famed director, Francis Ford Coppola (THE GODFATHER), on Coppola’s live cinema project, DISTANT VISION. Garrett currently lives in Tulsa and is writing, directing and producing fiction and nonfiction films. In 2020, she produced the documentary “Eddie, the cost of greatness”, on basketball legend Coach Eddie Sutton that aired on ESPN and ABC. Wendy is the lead producer for Cinema Eye Honors Annual Documentary Awards Ceremony in New York City and is a member of Women in Film LA and Actor’s Equity Association. She is a graduate of Oklahoma City University with a degree in theater and dance.

Our Team


George Back

George Back started GB Creatives in the studio lots of Hollywood. He put the “free” in freelance by offering to write feature film marketing copy in exchange for opportunity. His big break came in 2015, when he landed a two-day writing assignment with 20th Century Fox. The project was “Deadpool.” The irreverent IP matched George’s unique creative stylings perfectly and the resulting copy absolutely crushed.

Following the massive success of “Deadpool,” George’s career as a writer took off. He found himself writing everything from taglines to brand integration for multiple studios. He even wrote a daily column for Yahoo! Entertainment – over 800 articles!

Working for such large media outlets involved a significant amount of co-branding. Writing copy that makes one brand happy is challenging, writing copy that makes two separate brands happy can be downright herculean.

The co-branding gauntlet not only galvanized George’s skills, it also revealed that a lot of corporate marketing isn’t very creative. GB Creatives was founded to bring the magic of storytelling back to the overly logical and statistics driven creative of modern marketing.

Our Team


Mark Steele

Mark is the Founder of Mark Steele Creative and a well-known author, speaker, comedian, songwriter, playwright, and film writer/director. For 20 years, he was the Co-Founder and Executive Creative of Steelehouse Productions, where he led a team of creatives as they crafted narratives for film, animation, and virtual reality.

Mark also has a long-standing history of stand-up comedy and performance in both stage and film as well as producing and directing film projects for both the corporate and artistic worlds. He speaks regularly at media and artistic conferences and events across America.

Mark has written several books incorporating humorous stories from his personal life that weave in life truths, including “Flashbang” (2005, Relevant Books), “Half-Life/Die Already” (2008, David C Cook Publishing), and his collection of fictional short stories “The Most Important Thing Happening” (2011, David C Cook Publishing). All have been released to great commercial success and overwhelmingly positive reviews. Mark has also written episodes and songs extensively for the hit series VeggieTales. His songwriting has landed him membership in the Recording Academy/Grammy organization. He is the playwright of several produced theater works including “Fiction Is Revolting,” “Panic in Suite 1612,” “The Bema,” and “Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.”

Our Team


Richard Rosser

Richard Rosser is a filmmaker, author and educator based in Los Angeles. He honed his story skills on hit TV shows, including This Is Us, Grey’s Anatomy, Chicago Med, MacGyver and 24. Rosser has written award-winning books and taught storytelling workshops to 15,000+ students of all ages. Richard’s passion for the creative process led him to develop school programs that empower students to express themselves through storytelling and conquer their fear of speaking in public. He has guest lectured at numerous colleges and universities, including Columbia, Johns Hopkins, and NYU.

Rosser’s most recent book, ChatGPT Simplified, is available on Amazon. It offers non-tech professionals a unique and accessible approach to unlock the power of ChatGPT and amplify creativity.

Our Team


Clarissa Cozzoni

Clarissa Cozzoni is a Telly award winning producer, SAG-E actress, and director located in Oklahoma City, OK. A born and raised Oklahoman, Cozzoni has drawn much of her artistic inspiration from the memoirs and music of Red-Dirt country. Beginning her career in the theatre at thirteen, Cozzoni shifted into film upon her arrival to college. Clarissa has worked in a variety of theatrical/film mediums as both an actress and director. Cozzoni is a proud alumni of the University of Oklahoma where she received her BFA in Acting & Dramaturgy. During her time at OU, she received the Rupel J. Jones Directing Award for Excellence in Directing. Currently, she serves as the Creative Services Coordinator at Prairie Surf Media where she produces, directs, and coordinates in-house productions ranging from commercial, narrative, and documentary all the while developing IP with her colleagues. When she isn’t being a workaholic, Clarissa enjoys reading, cooking, and hiking with her dog, Brontë!