Sean Sullivan
Emmy nominated creative director with 20 years shipping work for Nike, Jordan Brand, Apple, NFL, Spotify, and IBM. Six years championing AI to the creative industry: first as an evangelist teaching the tools in public, then defending them when the backlash hit, then helping displaced creatives retool and get back to work. Today I direct AI assisted films end to end and design agentic production systems that turn generative tools into repeatable, governed creative pipelines.
// Why I’m Built For This
- The champion. Six years making the public case for AI in creative work: teaching it, defending it, and mentoring creatives through the transition, post by post on LinkedIn since 2020.
- The practitioner. Directed “Never Look Down,” an AI short film, and currently producing a chaptered AI video essay through a full generative pipeline I designed: Midjourney, Kling, Seedance, ElevenLabs, Suno, Whisper, Hugging Face.
- The systems builder. Designed and run an agentic content studio: eight role based AI agents with creative director QC gates, manifests, and versioned handoffs, deployed on Paperclip, the open source agent orchestration platform (org charts, budgets, governance, heartbeats), with 24/7 cloud infrastructure in development with a partner. Playbooks other people can run, not one off experiments.
- The thesis. One person, zero employees, agency scale output. The studio is the proof of concept; the next decade is the build.
- The creative director. Cannes Grand Prix, Emmy nomination, Webby, Clio. Two decades inside the world’s biggest brand organizations and their agencies. I know what enterprise grade creative demands.
Experience
AI Creative Director / Founder
Independent AI first creative direction for agencies and brand direct clients, and a personal content brand where I build AI production systems in public.
- Directed “Never Look Down,” an AI assisted short film (Kling pipeline), made in the aftermath of the LA fires
- Designed and run an agentic AI content studio: eight role based agents across script, design, animation, audio, and edit, with QC gates, manifests, and versioned handoffs, orchestrated on Paperclip with per agent budgets and governance
- Full generative stack in production: Midjourney, Kling 3.0, Seedance, ElevenLabs, Suno, Whisper, Hugging Face, Descript, Premiere
- Ship hand coded sites and creative tools via AI pair programming (Claude Code, HTML/CSS/JS, Remotion)
- AI accelerated creative and content direction on agency and brand direct engagements
AI Champion, Educator & Mentor
Six years teaching AI to the creative industry in public: before it was popular, and through the years it was contested.
- Taught AI tools and workflows to the creative community: posts, breakdowns, and hands on guidance
- Defended responsible adoption through the backlash: craft, ethics, and where the tools actually fit
- Mentored creatives who couldn’t find work into AI augmented skills and new roles
Founder / Creative Director / Executive Producer
Founded and led a fully remote creative studio: creative strategy, visual development, and production across motion design, VFX, and branded content for Fortune 500 brands.
- Creative directed NFL × Amazon “Thursday Night Football” open (Emmy nomination)
- Creative directed Spotify “The Algorithm” for Vox Media (Webby Award)
- Led creative on Intel, IBM, and Cricket Wireless × PSYOP
- Built and directed a distributed team of 15+ artists across motion, VFX, and editorial: proof I can lead creative teams through a technology shift
Art Director / Lead Creative Producer, Jordan Brand
Helped build the agency and lead the Jordan Brand account. Directed alongside athletes, ambassadors, and on camera talent.
- Jordan × AKQA “The Last Shot” (Cannes Lions Grand Prix + 6 Golds)
- Jordan “Kaboom Room” experiential: interactive LED installation, Las Vegas
- Jordan “Innovation” ft. King Bach: branded content direction
Producer → Senior Producer
Built the foundation in CG, VFX pipelines, and brand storytelling at two of New York’s top studios, where I learned that new production technology is adopted through craft, not hype.
- Nike Hyperdunk and Hyundai Azera: full CG/motion production
- LG “Something’s Lurking” × PSYOP / McCann (Clio Award)
Core Competencies
Generative AI Production
- Midjourney · keyframes & visdev
- Kling 3.0 / Seedance · video
- ElevenLabs · voice
- Suno · music
- Whisper · transcription pipelines
- Continuous platform benchmarking
AI Systems & Workflow
- Agent Orchestration · Paperclip, Claude Code
- Hugging Face · models & spaces
- Prompt Frameworks & Playbooks
- QC Gates & Versioned Handoffs
- Creative Coding (HTML/CSS/JS, Remotion)
- Responsible Use Guidelines
Creative Leadership
- Creative & Art Direction
- Team Upskilling & Mentorship
- Campaign Concepting
- Cross Functional Leadership
- Stakeholder Management
- Production at Scale
Awards & Recognition
- Emmy Nomination NFL × Amazon “Thursday Night Football” · Outstanding Motion Design
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix + 6 Golds Jordan Brand × AKQA “The Last Shot”
- Webby Award Spotify “The Algorithm” × Vox Media
- Clio Award LG “Something’s Lurking” × PSYOP / McCann
Select Clients & Brands
Nike · Jordan Brand · Apple · NFL · Amazon · Spotify · IBM · Intel · Niantic · Disney · LG · Cricket Wireless · Fox/FX · Hyundai · KFC