carole mccarty /// executive producer
A California native, Carole McCarty grew up in Evergreen Valley which no longer exists because Silicon Valley swallowed it. Her childhood was spent “riding dirt bikes through orchards and getting shot in the ass with rock salt pellets by farmers”. After attending high school for five years, she packed it up in an orange VW bug, headed to Los Angeles and got a job in the mailroom at Della Femina, McNamee, WCRS -- braintrust of the Joe Isuzu TV campaign. When the mail was sorted and delivered, she worked extra hours refilling the soda machines with beer and cleaning the coffee cups of Dick Sittig, Rick Carpenter, Matt Bogen and Jerry Della Femina. And once took Jerry’s glasses up the street to have them fixed before a Singapore Airlines pitch.
After a brief sabbatical to complete some judge-ordered community service in theatrical set design, she then moved up the pecking order to broadcast traffic, producer, and ultimately V.P. Executive Producer with stints at BBDO LA, Saatchi & Saatchi SF, Colby Effler & Partners, and Campbell-Ewald, Los Angeles -- where her legendary reputation was solidified during the week she spent bribing Mexican Federales with flat-screen tv’s to get some bears across the border for a Farmers Insurance shoot. Bottom Feeder projects were juggled after hours and on weekends during the latter of those gigs, and the COUCH show in particular owes sizable thanks to her freewheeling access to color xerox machines.
Inspired by “The Simple Life”, she quit full time production in 2005, moved to Maine, and “actually loved it”. A self-taught designer, editor, director, screenprinter and web coder also proficient in construction, during this basement studio on creative projects or whipping up some group trouble, she can generally be found surfing, snowboarding, riding Harleys with her dad, mountain biking, road biking, watching a ballgame or at a movie.
The short lived 3 year sabbatical ended in 2008 when her bank account dried up. She jumped right into the freelance world and got her first gig in Austin Texas with GSD&M, working on an AT&T full 360 campaign, from there it was all up ….. She finally entered the Mad Man New York Ad scene and got her first NYC gig with Publicis working on Pepto Bismol. She thought she had won the jackpot. Turns out it was only the tip of the iceberg. From there she had an amazing 12 year run freelancing in NYC, working with top brands and agencies, including two Super Bowl Spots: TEN6 (Irish Spring 2022 Super Bowl Spot), R/GA (Tonal) (PwC) , Arts & Letters (NFL on ESPN), BBDO (Allianz) Airbnb, Mural, Droga5 (UA) and Translation (NFL 2017 Super Bowl Spot), NBA, Champs Sports, State Farm Neighborhood Sessions)
In 2019 she took on the undertaking of her first IRONMAN in Lake Placid, while working on a docu film for Under Armour while running the account at Droga5. During that same time she found love while working in Portland OR with Steph Curry and Gotham Chopra. Flying through the night to see her new love, while training and filming for an entire year.
She wanted to be closer to her west coast love, this amazing opportunity came up to work in house at Airbnb. A completely different beast and it seemed everyone was doing it. She really enjoyed the experience, then, well we all know what happens next. COVID 19 shuts down the entire world. She was laid off in April 2020 alongside 5,000 other Airbnb folks. She did not miss a beat and started a podcast called Laid Off Lounge. Airbnb did bring her back at the end of 2020 to work on the IPO Roadshow Film, what an experience filming during a worldwide pandemic. During the pandemic, she has worked the hardest and most since going freelance in 2008.
At the end of 2020 Carole and her partner Christina and their two cats Samantha and Le Verne decide to pack it up from both Portlands (ME being the OG) and find the west coast simple life and buy a house in Bend, OR. They are both working side by side in their amazing 1,500 sq foot studio called Camelot Studios, let the love story continue!