The Author
Filmmaker · Futurist · Production Technologist · Entrepreneur
Thudiyanplackal — Thoo‑dee‑yen‑PLA‑kull. Five syllables that roll off your tongue; the emphasis is on the "Pla."
A practitioner across advertising, cinema, and emerging production technology — and the author of In Defense of Cinema. He has given close to forty years to the medium he set out to understand, become worthy of, and remain in service of.
Biography
Tom Thudiyanplackal is a filmmaker and storyteller who began in Mumbai's media landscape and rebuilt his craft in the United States. Across three decades he moved through roles and industries — pioneering digital work at Ogilvy & Mather, creative supervision for India's fastest-growing mobile network at Reliance, and a stint at The Times of India — before formal training in Direction & Cinematography at Prague Film School. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from the University of Mumbai, an education in the sciences that still shapes how he thinks about the medium.
As Vice President of Development at Vinod Chopra Films, he contributed to acclaimed Indian cinema including 3 Idiots and Carry On Munna Bhai. His later work spans a Hollywood tentpole, an Oscar campaign, and an Emmy-nominated documentary — and, most recently, the front line of how production technology shapes narrative.
After completing Epic Games' Unreal Engine Virtual Production Fellowship during the pandemic, he was drawn to USC's Entertainment Technology Center, where he serves as Executive Producer on five short film productions. There he authored a nearly 200-page white paper on the virtual production of the short film Fathead, and has gone on to shape the pipelines, vendors, and collaborators behind the productions that followed. He has also mentored several PhD and MFA thesis productions at USC's School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) and its Media Arts + Practice (MA+P) program.
He writes, in his own words, not as a professional theorist or film critic but as “a practitioner in adjacent fields who has watched the medium I love progressively dismantled by forces the surrounding cultural apparatus has been unwilling or unable to name accurately.”
Transforming what could be instruments of distraction into catalysts for meaningful change.— Tom Thudiyanplackal, on his mission
The path
Digital and creative work at Ogilvy & Mather and The Times of India; creative supervision at Reliance during India's mobile boom.
Formal training in Direction & Cinematography — the turn from advertising toward the medium itself.
Development and marketing on acclaimed Indian cinema, including 3 Idiots and Carry On Munna Bhai.
Shadowing a leading producer on a tentpole, working on an Oscar campaign, and producing an Emmy-nominated documentary.
A global cohort of artists and technologists — the gateway into real-time, virtual production.
Authored a ~200-page white paper on Fathead and shaped the pipelines, vendors, and studio-sponsor collaborations behind the productions that followed; mentored PhD and MFA thesis productions at SCA and MA+P.
Founder of a transmedia story-development think tank; leading discussions and education on the production technology poised to reshape the medium — toward fluid, accessible, and far more capable pipelines.
Community & reach
The book does not arrive from the margins. It arrives from someone working at the center of where the medium is being remade — and convening others around the question of what it is for.
A transmedia story- and script-development think tank he founded, guided by the principle “Empowering Voices that Deepen Empathy” — championing human-centered narratives over spectacle.
Visit ➞Storytelling in the Age of AI — an eight-session initiation built on the book, coming online and, city by city, in person. Read the book, then prepare.
Prepare ➞As Executive Producer on five short film productions at the Entertainment Technology Center, he sits in the room with the major studios that sponsor its research — and mentors PhD and MFA thesis productions at SCA and MA+P.
Industry research & mentorshipHe leads discussions and education on the production technology poised to reshape the medium and its many crafts — toward fluid, accessible, and infinitely more capable pipelines that lower gatekeeping and let imagination, daring, and new altitude flourish.
Shaping what's nextWork with Tom
For a keynote or the Storytelling Workshop, studio consulting, production troubleshooting, or IP development — the fastest way to reach Tom is LinkedIn or through The Storyteller's Desk. For the book's release and dispatches, join the list.