Hello! My name is James Magedman…
… though I’m sure you’ve already figured that out from my website address. I thought you might want to take a look at my last name one more time before I share with you how to pronounce it correctly.
Mag-ed-man
That’s “Mag” as in magazine; “ed” as in editor; and “man” as in woman. Seriously, it’s pronounced more like woman than man. Magedman, loosely translate from Hebrew means “storyteller.” More specifically, a Maggid is a traveling storyteller with moral and ethical tales. The “man” in my name is a Russian ending.
Since people often trip over my name, students simply call me, “Mr. M.” My CTE industry sector is Arts, Media, & Entertainment. I’m looking forward to finding a position in the Video Production pathway. You can learn more about that HERE.
My professional experience has been a wild ride. After obtaining a B.F.A. in Theater Arts, I worked as an actor on stage, television and film. At the time, I was pretty “meh.” You can find this “meh” most notably in the Nickelodeon TV series, “All That,” and Disney’s “The Even Steven’s Movie. You can see some of this “meh” on my Video Clips page. Years of experience later, I am a fantastic acting teacher, having developed my own teaching theory and enlighteningly fun exercises. Yet, I digress, because my passion is Video Production.
Ann Shoket: Seventeen Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief, 2014. This is not me. This is not my wife. This is a MAGazine EDitor woMAN
image from https://www.tubefilter.com/2014/09/16/seventeen-magazine-ann-shoket-blog/
One Thing Leads to Another
Multi-Platinum Sales Commemoration Presented to me for Justin Timberlake’s “Futuresex/Lovesounds”
While I had some odd jobs to keep me going, mostly as a clerk for CPAs and as a waiter (obviously), I found great Arts, Media, & Entertainment work in Los Angeles, where I spent most of my life. I was the Technical Director for a small theater operated by the Hollywood Improvisation comedy club, owned by Budd Friedman. He was a great guy. I was told never to get on his bad side. I never did. I never had any reason to. Well, Budd sold the theater to Second City and with it went my job.
Over the years, I got a variety of jobs in film and television as a production assistant. Eventually, I got into Post-Production on reality shows, most notably “The Amazing Race.” After several seasons, they offered me a promotion to Associate Producer. However, I got another offer to do Photography and Video Tech on Verizon sponsored music tours. It paid over twice as much. I lived on a tour bus (on and off) for 5 years working with artists such as Green Day, The Black Eyed Peas, The Pussycat Dolls, Fergie’s Solo Tour, Justin Timberlake, Keith Urban and more.
In 2009, the economy came crashing down and the tour needs were downsized. Coincidentally, I had met my then-future wife. I moved to Sacramento, CA and 2 years later, we were married. During this time, I had to find a job. There’s not much in the way of well paying Arts, Media & Entertainment jobs up here, so I worked for 3 years as a website designer for Eight51, inc. before landing a job as a Theatre Technician for the Elk Grove Unified School District (EGUSD). In 2020, I begin my career as a CTE Teacher at Center High School in Antelope, CA.
Career Technical Education
While working at the EGUSD Performing Arts Center on the Cosumnes Oaks High School Campus, I was fortunate enough to meet and work with a lot of Theater and Video students. They kept telling me I should be a teacher. Several students actually thought I was a teacher. You can see a great testimonial video from them about me becoming a teacher HERE. I am happy to let those former students know that I have acheived that goal.
Family
“Wife,” as I call her, is an English Teacher at Del Campo High School in the San Juan Unified School District. She goes by Mrs. M.
“Little Dude” is my son. We share the same birthdate. Pretty cool. He is 4 years old and a drummer by nature.
“Little Chick” is my daughter. She’s pretty much brand new, just off the shelf and out of the package.
Hobbies & Interests
I love storytelling and I love music. I play guitar and I dabble in electric bass and piano.
For the past decade, I’ve been writing a musical of which I have finished 18 songs.
Currently, I’m rewriting the script. This stuff takes time, especially with a full time job and (now) a family.
Filming and editing video is a great joy. I’ve made several shorts and have created some industrial videos as well.
My favorite thing to do is play music with my son.