StoryTel Team
Don Carney
Directing, Producing, Interviews, Publishing
Don oversees StoryTel Foundation , directs most of its films and is the publisher for StoryTel Press. 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 Halpin
Editing, Producing, Managing Editor
Phil loves telling stories through the editing and graphic design process. He loves being Catholic and thinks inspiring stories should be accessible to all people by focusing on human virtues and authenticity. Phil is one of StoryTel's story developers, is responsible for making sure our productions hit our deadlines, and runs our publishing distribution network.
Phil is part of sprawling a extended Catholic family from California and he graduated from Thomas Aquinas College. He has collaborated with Don on video production in one form or another for over 35 years, starting when he was 14. Before working at StoryTel for over ten years, he worked at U.S. Inspect for 15 years, where he honed his skills as a corporate video producer and marketer. He worked his way up from entry level to Vice President of Marketing.
Phil lives in Memphis and spends his free time hiking, kayaking, camping, and other outdoor adventures with his wife Jen, as well as spending time with their nine children and growing number of grandchildren.
Regular Contributors:
Annemarie Drvol
Writing, Marketing
Annemarie brings a passion for good writing to StoryTel. Nothing excites her quite as much as communicating the real message in an impactful way. She lends her expertise wherever needed: marketing campaigns, Web content, film narration, and social media.
A native of Omaha, Neb., Annemarie studied creative writing at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. She expanded her writing and editorial skills while working in a corporate marketing setting. The desire to write for faith-based nonprofits drove her to pursue freelance writing, which eventually brought her to StoryTel. Annemarie is thrilled to be part of a mission which spreads a reverence for God and strives to touch people through engaging storytelling.
When she's not writing for StoryTel, Annemarie can usually be found outdoors having adventures with her husband and son. In her spare time, she also writes poetry and children's stories and volunteers at her parish.
Bob Barwegan
Director of Photography, Camera Operator
Bob is one of the key people responsible for StoryTel's high-end look and has workedas one of StoryTel's Directors of Photography since 1997.
Bob has been working with cameras, lighting and audio since 1983. Bob has done work for6 Flags, Nightly News, TV38, TLN, Sears, Kmart, Q-Center,Willow Creek Church, Gospel for Asia, and has traveled 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.
Bob Ervin
Director of Photography, Photographer
Bob is one of StoryTel's Directors of Photography and one of the main 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 Grasinski
Camera, Jibs, Cranes, Data
Garry 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.
Tom Krol
Audio Recording, Sound Mixing, Foreign Languages
Tom is responsible for the highly polish sound heard in most of 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 foreign 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, music, and time with his wife and two children.
Luke Halpin
Music Supervision, Composing, Scoring
Luke joins 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.