Ian Helm was born the same year as the Nintendo Entertainment System and should thusly be considered an opening act at best. The machine started entertaining millions of people right out of the box, while the infant really only held the interest of a handful of people charged with feeding and cleaning it. Also, Ian did not come packaged with a toy robot, and this shortcoming continues to haunt him.

Helm has worked as an independent designer, television production specialist, equipment technician and costumer in Denver, Colorado since 2003. Along with fellow Denverites like master puppet-builder K.C. Weatherman and producer Syd Mulholland, he has specialized in science fiction, fantasy and surrealist creature, set, prop and costume design for film, television and theater. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film and television production in 2008 from the University of Colorado at Denver. While attending there he acted as production designer for over 30 short films, as well as writing and directing several shorts and taking home multiple awards (Best Director and Best Film, Fall 2006 student symposium) and has had his work featured in several festivals (Colorado Film School Fall student symposium 2006, Starz First-Look festival 2007, Indy Spirit festival 2008, et al.)

Ian currently lives in Denver, Colorado in a little apartment strewn with tropical tiki kitsch, shelves of old puppets and a giant fountain out front for some reason. His neighbor has a pet crocodile he walks every now and then, and for some reasons moths come there to die. Currently, Ian is attending Regis University in pursuit of his Master’s degree, and always on the lookout for projects that involve the usual weirdness of complicated props, sets and costumes, and maybe a good story here or there to boot.