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"A top-notch
communicator."
JOSHUA D. HARNDEN Producer, writer & video editor,
with 20 years of experience, crafting compelling stories for TV & digital.
collage

To be a storyteller...

I have always known I wanted to be a storyteller.
In college, my quest suffered a set back when Joyce Carol Oates questioned the 'verisimilitude' of a sex scene I had written while I was a student in her class, in front of my undergrad classmates. It was a major blow to my confidence, and my voice went into hiding for several years.
sitting at a cafe

* B.A. English, 2000
Princeton University


* Certificate in Screenwriting, 2005
UCLA


* M.F.A. Creative Writing, 2015
Otis College of Art & Design

Rolling Stone Cover

Story Producer, MTV

2005

I was studying screenwriting at UCLA when I was hired on "The Hills." Matter of fact, I had just given two weeks notice at my restaurant job—without a plan for what would be next. I don't recommend this. All I knew was that I'd rather go jobless than continue another day working in Food & Beverage. Was I rewarded for my bravery? Well first, my car broke down. So I was riding an old bicycle to work for one of my last shifts, uphill in West Hollywood, when the call came through for the Hills job. That was a Thursday. I interviewed on Friday and started work on Monday. Over the next 5 years I got an education in reality TV production on one of the most popular shows of the time.
Decoded

Supervising Producer, History Channel

2011

One of my favorite shows to work on was Brad Meltzer's Decoded, for History. We traveled all around the country, from Florida to Alaska, with stops in New Mexico and South Dakota. During this time I was able to prove myself as an apt field general. I can't say that I was "calling the shots" because I had a director and a D.P., but I led the field crew for a portion of principal photography across several states.
images from Brazil trip

Consulting Producer, Sony Pictures International

2013

Brasil

Sony was packaging formats for international markets. They hired me to travel to Brazil and assist a local production company there in the production of two separate pilots. One of them was sort of like a Brazilian version of "The Hills". The other was a medical show that used amateur actors to act out scenarios that could happen in a hospital. Can you guess which was more successful?
otis college of art and design

Master of Fine Arts, Creative Writing

2015

For a brief time I left reality TV to get a Master's degree at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles. It was an invaluable exercise, a time when I got to hone my erudite sensibilities and read a lot. And write a lot. For my thesis, I wrote a novel that peels back the curtain on the makings of the genre that had become my main niche, specifically the docu-soap variety of reality TV.
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Dark Room Productions

2015

While working on my master's, I started a production company geared towards creating content for brands, social media and non-traditional outlets. Particularly useful was the experience I gained shooting run-and-gun and small-footprint styles of production, working cameras and audio, ingesting footage and editing it myself, taking ownership from stem to stern. of shortform projects for web and social as well as sizzle reels for TV.
The greatest thing to come out of this, aside from the learning that I didn't want my own company, was the work we did with women's surfing legend Keala Kennelly, who played herself in the motion picture "Blue Crush".
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Becoming an Editor

2015

When I began on The Hills in 2005, it was far enough in the past that the show was still broadcast in SD, and only the editors had access to digitized footage; story producers had to look at it on VHS or DVD. I thought, "why can't we just look at this stuff on the computer?" It turns out this forward-thinking idea did not originate with me, because companies were already transitioning to a model where each story producer would have his or her own machine with access to all the footage.
It was that very first year when I began learning commands to control the Avid Media Composer interface. And on every job I ever worked, I would get my hands dirty on the Avid.
It was partly because reality TV is a bastard form that I was even allowed to do this. In a union set up, which we specifically were not, a youngun like myself wouldn't be allowed to lay hands on the footage unless I was a properly trained assistant editor. But this was something more like the wild west, and before too long, I could edit at a level that was at least as proficient as some of the editors I was tasked with directing.
guys on chair lift

Supervising Story Editor

2014-2016

When the Kardashians opportunity came along, I was still in grad school but I couldn't turn it down. I was hired for season 10, to lead a team of story editors assembling episodes. Also during that time I had a chance to do some development work for Bunim Murray Productions, and learn firsthand from one of the most successful companies in the business.

During this time I wrote an oddly ill-fitting essay (here) that found neither home nor readers yet today showcases some of my thinking and raises what might be a worthy question.
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Co-Executive Producer, Youtube Red

2017-2018

Once I attended the Emmy's as a nominee. This was for my work on a show for YouTube. Two things were special about the experience for me. Number 1, I was called upon to help define and delineate how the show was to function. I really enjoyed this role. Secondly, it was the first time I worked on a show that was motivated to make a change as a force for good in the world. Through this experience I learned how critically important that component is for my ability to feel fulfilled. That being said, I've worked on plenty of shows that were a delight to work on that didn't have this altruistic spirit. For example "Yoga Girls," which despite being ostensibly about yoga was not necessarily a therapeutic or healthful show. I loved working on it nonetheless.