M O T O R
Motor is a creative platform that generates big ideas and brings them to life through the lens of compelling characters. We pursue unique ideas that turn actions into emotion, and emotion into a shared understanding of the human experience.
Don Handfield – CEO/President
Don is a filmmaker, screenwriter, producer and novelist. He is the co-creator of History Channel's drama series Knightfall. He produced The Founder starring Michael Keaton and Kill The Messenger starring two-time academy award nominated actor Jeremy Renner, with whom Handfield co-founded production company The Combine.
Handfield wrote and directed the Saturn Award winning film Touchback that starred Kurt Russell and Christine Lahti. Handfield also wrote the novel, which was a top seller on Amazon and received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly. He has co-written three comic series, including The Rift, published in 2017 and the upcoming series The Source and The Mall.
His short film My Name Is starring French Stewart won best short at several film festivals including the top prize at the Atlanta Film Festival, qualifying it for entry into the Academy Awards. He was named one of the top new faces of independent film by Filmmaker Magazine in 2005 and has written screenplays for Warner Brothers, DreamWorks, Paramount and Lionsgate, among others.
RICHARD RAYNER – CHIEF CREATIVE OFFICER
Richard Rayner was published ten books, including Los Angeles Without a Map, filmed from Rayner’s own screenplay (starring David Tennant, Julie Delpy and Johnny Depp), and A Bright & Guilty Place, a history of true crimes that occurred in Los Angeles in the late 1920s and early 1930s. The book was a New York Times and Washington Post bestseller, and is currently under option to Christopher Nolan, director of Batman, Interstellar, Dunkirk.
His writing has been published in the New Yorker, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Esquire, GQ, the Guardian, and numerous other publications. He is the co-creator of the 10 part History Channel drama Knightfall. Prior to Knightfall, he has sold pilots to Fox FX and Channel 4. He is the co-creator of ‘The Rift’ comic series.
Rayner has taught at USC and currently teaches at UCLA.