Don

Directing, Producing, Interviews, Story

Don Carney oversees StoryTel Foundation and directs most of its films. He is an expert in bringing teams of creative people together and loves working with them to tell the stories of people who say "yes" to God's work in the world.

Don has a long history in the entertainment, film, and video industries. He spent many years as an entertainer with the comedy/variety band, the Magic If. He worked in Hollywood for a time, and then produced educational videos for the California Correctional System for 12 years. During that time he also volunteered his time in Catholic Radio, and was a popular emcee at many Catholic events, drawing on his comedic talent and experience. A pro-life activist, he eventually became a successful independent film producer with a focus on pro-life causes.

Don currently lives in Omaha with his wife, who he met at a Pro-Life demonstration, and their children. He spends his free time with his family, chauffeuring his eight kids from one sports activity to the next.

Phil

Editing, Story Development, Producing

Phil Halpin loves telling stories through the editing process. He loves being Catholic and thinks inspiring stories should to be accessible to all people by focusing on human virtues and authenticity. Phil is one of StoryTel's story developers, and is also responsible for making sure the productions hit their deadlines and for our Web presence. 

Phil is part of the huge extended Halpin clan in California. He had a blast for four years at Thomas Aquinas College, where he met his wife. He has collaborated with Don on video production in one form or another for over 25 years, starting when he was just 14. He worked at U.S. Inspect for 15 years, where he honed his skills as a corporate video producer and web developer. He worked his way up from entry level to Vice President of Marketing.

Phil currently lives in the Memphis area and spends his free time with his wife and four kids, watching great movies, playing with Apple technology, and making special effects movies with his sons.

Bob

Director of Photography, Camera Operator

Bob Barwegan is one of the key people responsible for StoryTel's high-end look and has worked as StoryTel's Director of Photography since 1997.

Bob has been working with cameras, lighting and audio since 1983. Bob has done work for 6 Flags, Nightly News, TV38, TLN, Sears, Kmart, Q-Center,Willow Creek Church, Gospel for Asia, and has travelled across the globe to capture documentaries. He has won numerous awards and has run camera for such people as President Ronald Reagan, Colin Powell, Oprah Winfrey, and many others.

A fun fact about Bob is that he used to race sled dogs. He now lives with his wife and three children in Chicago. They love taking vacations , having family parties, and going to movies and concerts.

Tom

Audio Recording, Sound Mixing, Foreign Languages

Tom Krol is responsible for the highly polish sound heard in StoryTel's films and Web videos. He provides the audio services field recording as well as production and mixing at his own audio studio at Level 10 Sound. He also oversees all our foriegn language translations.

Tom grew up with interests in music and sound recording. He was raised in the Catholic faith and is an Eagle Scout who earned the "Ad Altare Dei" award. He started his career at Universal Recording in Chicago in 1986 where he eventually worked as a first engineer and session guitarist. In 1994, Tom went out on his own to provide recording, digital audio production, CD mastering, and custom music. He managed audio projects of long-form narration in English and Spanish. In 2010, Tom mixed and mastered the acclaimed 18-CD New Testament dramatized Audio Bible "Truth & Life" with numerous celebrity actor voices, distributed by Sony and Zondervan. Tom is also a guitarist and vocalist, writing original music and performing classical guitar concerts. His credits include national commercials, HALO 2 video game soundtrack live radio concerts, and several CD's.

Tom also enjoys racquetball, movies, Thai Chi, anything with music, and time with his wife and two children.

Bob

2nd Unit Director of Photography, Photographer

Bob Ervin is StoryTel's Second Unit Director of Photography, one of the artists giving our projects their thoughtful and beautiful look.

Bob bought his first camera in high school and has been producing award-winning images ever since. He has been shooting a wide variety of projects for over 30 years but especially loves agricultural, food, and faith-based photography. Creativity runs deep in the Ervin family. Six of Bob's nine siblings are in the advertising industry and their father was a top art director at Bozell & Jacobs for over 45 years. The family has a rich Catholic heritage and Bob has donated countless hours of photography time to the Archdiocese and other Catholic organizations and schools.

Bob lives in Omaha with his wife and is the father of two adult sons, one teenage girl, and a little black dog. In his spare time he enjoys movies and playing the drums.

Garry

Camera, Jibs, Cranes, Data

Garry Grasinski is one of our camera operators, with a special emphasis on tools that help the camera move. Cranes, jibs, steadicam and dolly systems all help to deliver the dynamic look of our films. Garry also assists with media wrangling.

Garry has spent the last 30 years creating media of all kinds; commercials, marketing communication, training, and music promotion. He had an animation company, specializing in a fusion of classic cel and computer animation. He likes to direct, shoot and edit as much as possible. His production company is Grayson Media.

Over the last four years Garry has spent time producing pro bono promotional video for fine arts music groups in the Chicago area, in an effort to help them find larger audiences.

Luke

Music, Composing, Producing

Luke Halpin joined his brother at StoryTel to be the creative force behind the original scores used in StoryTel's films. He sees excellent, unique music as another character that helps to propel the story forward.

Luke has been performing ever since his father handed him a mandolin at the age of eight. He soon mastered the mandolin, fiddle, guitar, and banjo. Starting in the family band, he has worked as a session musician, has played with a number of popular bands and has opened for such greats as Merle Haggard, Lone Star, and the Steve Miller Band. He has settled in Denver as a record producer. When he's not developing awesome music for StoryTel, he also continues performing across the country with his current band, Bettman and Halpin.

In his spare time Luke loves playing and listening to great music, reading, cooking, and helping out the Tennyson Center in Denver.

Brian

Producing, Editing, Marketing

Brian joined StoryTel as a line producer, assistant editor, and handles marketing for StoryTel. He provides the team with energetic talent and has a passion for creative media.

Brian grew up in Indiana and studied at Purdue University. He led a conservative non-profit before joining StoryTel. His passion for helping others matured into film making to tell the stories people doing God's work. Brian is a Knight of Columbus, and served six years in the Army National Guard Infantry, including a tour in Afghanistan, separating at the rank of Sergeant.

Brian lives in Omaha with his wife, whom he met in religion class as a high school freshman, and with his two-year-old son. When not at StoryTel, Brian enjoys family hikes, and playing fetch with his timid dog, who was anachronistically named "Gunner."