Matty Arnold
Filmmaker, Photographer, and Teacher in West Hollywood, CA
Matthew Arnold is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, and photographer based in Los Angeles, CA. Arnold was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, and has been creating entertainment content for the past fifteen years.
As a documentary filmmaker, he made his directing debut with The Long Green Line, a true story about the legacy and impact of legendary high school cross-country coach Joe Newton. (voted #10 Best Sports Film of All Time by ESPNrise.com).
He went on to direct and produceFarm To Fork, a feature documentary about the Sustainable Life Project, a nonprofit run by Tender Greens. This call-to-arms follows food from the farm to the family table through the eyes of at-risk youth raised in urban food deserts.
In addition to his documentary work, Arnold has created several fake documentaries, or as he calls them, “creative non-fiction” stories. This style merges improvisation and documentary techniques which he honed during his training at Second City’s Conservatory in Chicago.
His first web-series, Legends of La La, delves into the world of aspiring singer/songwriters in the LA music scene. The series features live performances by real artists, and dramatizes the all-too-true stories of these artists’ crazy lives.
Based on the success of Legends of La La, Arnold wrote and directed a feature film using the same characters. The Last Playlist captures the comeback story of Nick Silver, the legendary music producer who, after a 20 year hiatus from the business, finds out he’s going deaf. With this news, ‘The Golden Ear’ sets out to prove he’s still relevant by curating his first and final playlist.
Following The Last Playlist, Arnold wrote, shot, and directed another creative non-fiction web series, Downward Doug; a satire about LA Yoga and Silicon Beach. The first three episodes are available now.
As a photographer, he has traveled around the world, capturing a range of subjects from musicians in L.A. to mountain villagers in Tibetan.
Over the years, Arnold has created many pieces of art using photographs and a specialized digital editing technique. The works have been featured in film and television as well as in private collections.