Paul Sirmons

Paul Sirmons is a producer, director, line producer, UPM and first assistant director in both movies and TV. He served as Florida's State Film Commissioner in the office of Governor Jeb Bush from 2005 to 2008. He now focuses on family and faith-based product -- movies that can make a difference in people's lives -- and line-produced the faith-based movies Home Run (2013) and Letters to God (2010), as well as the upcoming Dr. James Dobson documentary series, Building A Family Legacy, and To Write Love On Her Arms (formerly Day One (2012)). He's the producer of Te Ata, a dramatic movie for the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, about their legendary storyteller. He directed and produced the family movie The First of May (1999), which starred Broadway legend Julie Harris, Mickey Rooney, Charles Nelson Reilly, Dan Byrd, and featured baseball's legendary Joe DiMaggio. It won 13 film festival awards, and has aired on HBO, TBN, Cinemax and around the world. He worked as a DGA first assistant director for 17 years on many TV series, including the first two seasons of the critically-acclaimed Quantum Leap (1989), three seasons of Falcon Crest (1981), two seasons of SeaQuest 2032 (1993), and Our House (1986). His first series as a 2nd assistant director was on the classic family series, _The Waltons_. As Florida's State Film Commissioner, he re-wrote Florida's film incentive program and helped increase its funding, attracting hundreds of millions of dollars to the state and creating thousands of new jobs. He also created a hurricane plan for productions, a 'green' production plan, and a tourist movie map in partnership with Visit Florida. Sirmons serves on film or telecommunications advisory boards for three colleges: the University of Florida, Valencia College, and Full Sail University. He's a member of NRB (National Religious Broadcasters) and ICVM (International Christian Visual Media Association).