Lev Gartman — Writer, Producer & Creative Director

01 / About

An engineer who
learned to tell stories.
A storyteller who
never forgot the math.

I spent 20 years in the business of making people care. At NBCUniversal, I ran creative for Bravo, USA Network, and SYFY WIRE. I wrote and directed launch campaigns that had to cut through in an impossibly crowded landscape. Not with bigger budgets. With better ideas.

My background is in engineering (University of Michigan, Industrial and Operations Engineering), which sounds like a strange detour into creative work until you realize that the best campaigns are systems: inputs, feedback loops, outputs, designed to move specific people in specific directions. I just happen to care about the prose.

Today I'm working with Novo Nordisk, one of the most talked-about brands in the world right now, producing video content and helping build out the in-house production team. I also introduced AI video capability, a first for the department, and helped build out the in-house production team from the ground up.

427M

Media impressions,
Mr. Robot launch experience

113M

Cross-platform engagements,
BravoCon 2022

20+

Years launching things
people actually watched

$2.8M

Enterprise value created
at Novo Nordisk

02 / The Work

Launch campaigns, brand storytelling, and the rare project where you invent a new format and somehow it works.

Curious Refuge Curriculum, Final Project

Marked Territory

A nervous dog sheriff faces her biggest adversary: a vacuum...with a knife. Marked Territory is a 1:45 claymation western set in a frontier town called Dogtown, starring my dog Luna. Final project for the Curious Refuge AI Animation curriculum.

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Marked Territory (2026)

I love telling stories about dogs, and I love working AI into production.

The process followed a traditional shape: script, then a character and environment sheet, then an animatic storyboard, then animation. About sixteen working days of actual production from blank page to finished short.

The hard parts

The shots that fought me hardest were the ones that asked the AI to reveal something the starting frame didn't already contain. A character starting with their eyes closed and then opening them (waking up), when the eyes weren't yet drawn. Walking through saloon doors into a saloon interior that didn't exist. Some were a challenge even when using an ending frame. The fix was sometimes more text description, and sometimes less. And sometimes just a lot of re-rolling.

Another fix when the physics of a shot were particularly difficult: generate the reverse action, then play it backward in Premiere.

What stood out

One delight: generating with a starting frame but no ending frame, and watching how the AI chose to "perform" the actor or move the camera. Plenty of misfires, but every so often a happy accident I'd never have thought to direct.

Another thing that surprised me was how much further these tools have come in a year. The last short I made in 2025 took noticeably more work for similar results. The capability curve is real and steep.

What hasn't changed: the things that make a short worth watching. A keen eye. A sense of humor. Twenty years of video production and editing telling you when a shot is working and when it isn't. The tools are catching up fast. The craft still has to lead.

"Dogtown just ain't for suckers."

Credits

Story, direction, animation: Lev Gartman

Starring: Luna

Images and poster: Nano Banana, Photoshop

Video: Nano Banana, Veo (Google Flow), Kling (Freepik / Magnific)

Voices: ElevenLabs

Music and SFX: Envato

Edit: Adobe Premiere, After Effects

working days,
start to finish

Novo Nordisk, Video and Executive Content

High-Stakes Storytelling at Global Scale

Working with Novo Nordisk means producing content where every word is reviewed, every claim has to be accurate, and the storytelling still has to land. I produce executive messaging, internal communications, and video content for one of the most-watched brands in the world right now. I also introduced AI video capability, a first for the department, and helped build out the in-house production team from the ground up.

Executive Content AI Video Video Production Studio Build-Out

$2.8M

enterprise
value created

NBCUniversal, Brand and Live Event

Bravo: From Network to Cultural Force

Over three years as Creative Director, I helped take Bravo to the #1 entertainment network for women. That meant building the creative system: franchise launch campaigns for Real Housewives, Summer House, and more, along with BravoCon, where 30,000+ fans showed up because we fueled their fandom with over-the-top drama and excessive glam. On-air content, event programming, and brand identity work across 20 to 25 campaigns a year. The standard was simple: it had to be fabulous.

Brand Identity Launch Campaigns Live Event Team of 9

1 / 4

Bravo Moments Brand Spot

113M

cross-platform
engagements

USA Network, Campaign

Mr. Robot: The Launch Experience

For the final season of Mr. Robot, we didn't just promote a TV show. We built an alternate reality. The Comic-Con launch experience treated the show's universe as real: coded messaging and immersive environments for an audience that showed up for the details. At New York Comic-Con, it generated 427M media impressions and 22.9M social impressions. The dec0d3d documentary, a companion piece to the series, won a Clio Award.

Launch Experience Experiential Documentary Clio Award

1 / 3

eCoin Event: New York Comic-Con Activation

427M

media
impressions

USA Network, Franchise Campaigns

Suits, SVU and the Art of Staying #1

For nearly a decade, USA Network was the #1 cable network. Staying there meant launching every season of Suits, Law and Order: SVU, Psych, and a dozen others, with campaigns that had to feel fresh after years of familiarity. I wrote and produced across all of it: promos, key art, digital content, and the in-house content agency I built to handle the volume without sacrificing quality.

Multi-Season Campaigns Franchise Strategy In-House Agency

cable network
status maintained

USA Network / NBCU, Because Why Not

Dogs. Obviously.

Barknado. American Ninja Warrior: Puppy vs. Puppy. The Beverly Hills Dog Show. Not every project has to be a meditation on the human condition. Some of the best creative work is finding the exact right tone for something inherently ridiculous and committing to it completely. These did well. The puppies were professionals.

Barknado Beverly Hills Dog Show American Ninja Warrior: PvP

1 / 3

Barknado

🐕

such good
boys.

03 / On AI

Not a feature.
A new way
to work.

I've been working with AI tools daily — Midjourney, Runway, Veo, Claude Code, and a deep bench beyond them. I use them the way a good writer uses a thesaurus: to accelerate craft, not a substitute for having something to say.

At Novo Nordisk, I built workflows that cut production timelines significantly while maintaining the quality bar a regulated, highly visible industry demands. I introduced AI video to a team that had never used it. The tools handle the mechanical. I handle the judgment calls. That's the only split that makes sense.

The hardest problem in this space isn't the technology. It's the narrative. People need help understanding what these tools actually are, what they're genuinely capable of, and why any of it matters to them. That's a creative problem. That's my problem.

Toolkit

Midjourney Runway Veo Nano Banana Claude Code Gemini Copilot ChatGPT Firefly Kling ElevenLabs Topaz

AI Reel

The best AI-assisted work looks indistinguishable from work that wasn't. That's the goal. Not just faster and cheaper, but genuinely better. Work that wouldn't have existed without it.

I've completed Curious Refuge's AI Animation course, one of the more rigorous and creatively focused programs in the space. Beyond the certification, I've shipped real work with these tools, and I know where they help and where they embarrass you.

LevGartman

An engineer wholearned to tell stories.A storyteller whonever forgot the math.