Randy Olson earned his Ph.D. at Harvard University and achieved tenure at the University of New Hampshire before resigning and moving to Hollywood, obtaining an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California School of Cinema, and embarking on a second career as a filmmaker. Since film school he has written and directed the critically acclaimed films Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus (Tribeca, '06, Showtime) and Sizzle: A Global Warming Comedy (Outfest, '08), and co-founded The Shifting Baselines Ocean Media Project, a partnership between scientists and Hollywood to communicate the crisis facing our oceans.
Doug Passon is a lawyer, filmmaker, writer, and musician. He has been practicing criminal defense for twenty-five years. He is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker who combines his passion for filmmaking and storytelling with his practice of law by producing short documentaries for use as mitigation at sentencing and post-conviction proceedings.
He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of sentencing advocacy, and described by the Wall Street Journal as a pioneer in the emerging field of sentencing mitigation videos. His groundbreaking work has been featured, among other places, in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and was even the subject of an episode of his all-time favorite T.V. show, The Simpsons (S30, Ep. 15).
Passon routinely consults with and teaches legal professionals across the country how to effectively integrate this highly persuasive form of advocacy into their practice, as well as how to build a powerful case narrative in the absence of video. He has given over 100 lectures in the U.S. and abroad on this and other topics.
Passon has published numerous articles on sentencing and criminal justice issues, including, Mitigation and the Movies: Using Moving Pictures To Put Your Client In The Best Light at Sentencing, THE DEFENDER, Spring 2007, reprinted in THE LIBERTY LEGEND, Vol. III, Issue 5, Summer 2007; Using Mitigation Videos to Build the Bridge of Empathy at Sentencing, Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense (3rd ed.)(Linda Friedman Ramirez ed., 2010); Using Mitigation Videos to Build the Bridge of Empathy at Sentencing (Revised & & Updated), THE CHAMPION, June 2014; Winning at Sentencing with Theories, Themes, & the Creative Demonstration of Truth, THE CHAMPION, March 2017; and The “3Rs” of Sentencing Storytelling, THE CHAMPION, April 2021.
Passon was born and raised in the Midwest. He completed a dual degree at Indiana University in Criminal Justice and Speech Communications in 1992, and graduated from Washington University School of Law in 1996. He currently lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
