{"id":1335,"date":"2013-12-12T14:18:59","date_gmt":"2013-12-12T19:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/dev-mag\/?p=1335"},"modified":"2016-02-02T12:01:53","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T17:01:53","slug":"from-statesboro-to-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.georgiasouthern.edu\/news\/magazine\/2013\/12\/12\/from-statesboro-to-hollywood\/","title":{"rendered":"From Statesboro to Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"From<\/a>
“Fast and Furious 7” is among the set designer’s favorite projects.
Nissan GTR courtesy of Robert Hewlett.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Alumnus Turns Dreams into Show Business Career<\/h4>\n

Picture billionaire industrialist Tony Stark\u2019s garage\/workshop, or Air Force One in the movie \u201cIron Man 3,\u201d starring Robert Downey Jr. Those sets were designed by Georgia Southern alumnus Timothy Martin Earls (\u201992), who has amassed an impressive list of film and television set design credits that include 38 episodes of the television series \u201cGlee,\u201d and movies such as \u201cMission: Impossible III\u201d starring Tom Cruise, \u201cFlightplan\u201d with Jodie Foster and \u201cValentine\u2019s Day,\u201d which featured an ensemble cast of Hollywood superstars. As the set designer, Earls is responsible for \u201ccreating the working drawings used by the construction or effects crew to build both physical and virtual sets.\u201d He adds, \u201cI enjoy creating environments that literally pull a viewer into the picture if just on a subconscious level. It enhances the audience\u2019s experience and helps further the writer\u2019s or director\u2019s vision to sell the story being told.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did this alumnus born in Coventry, England, find success in Hollywood in the two decades since he left Georgia Southern? Earls began his career training to become an architect and spent several years working at the James W. Buckley and Associates architectural firm in Swainsboro, Ga., where his family relocated just before his senior year in high school. At heart though, Earls always wanted to design for film and television, but he says, \u201cLiving in Swainsboro, nobody knew how to get into the film industry.\u201d He credits the owner of the firm for encouraging him to return to school, and he explains, \u201cI had a unique experience because I was working full time while I was going to school full time, and I still managed to have a social life. I had a really good time at Georgia Southern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Timothy
Timothy Earls on the set of “Star Trek: Voyager.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Armed with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, the Georgia Southern graduate headed to California to take a job as art director for a gaming company owned by hometown friends. He was soon looking for work when the company ran into financial trouble. \u201cI sent out blanket emails to anybody that I thought worked in the movie business,\u201d he remembers. \u201cWithin weeks I got an email from someone saying they needed an art director on a short film.\u201d That two-day shoot led to the television series \u201cBabylon 5\u201d for which he earned his first screen credit as a concept designer for illustrations he developed for the show. When that job ended two-and-a-half years later, Earls found a position on the series \u201cStar Trek: Voyager,\u201d and worked there for a couple of years.<\/p>\n

He managed to break into feature films with 2003\u2019s \u201cTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines.\u201d Since then he has designed sets for more than a dozen films and most recently served as the senior lead set designer for \u201cThe Lone Ranger.\u201d Currently, he is working on the seventh installment of the \u201cFast and Furious\u201d franchise. Earls can\u2019t reveal his specific designs in that film but acknowledges his work has a definite design style. \u201cI try to create objects, devices and sets which heighten the illusion or reality or workability. Due to my interest in engineering and architecture I tend to design things the audience would believe could be real regardless of whether they’re actually possible or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

The one project he regrets turning down: \u201cAvatar,\u201d the 2009 science fiction action film that set new box office records. \u201cI was working on \u2018Walk Hard\u2019 and received a request to design ships for \u2018Avatar,\u2019 but declined because I felt a little loyal to the production designer I was working for, not knowing I would be let go the next day anyway,\u201d he says. Still, Earls admits his show business career has exceeded his expectations. \u201cFor me to move to California and get into the union within three months, I was very lucky,\u201d he says. \u201cI count myself very fortunate, more fortunate than I ever expected to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although show business may be his first love, his passion for British sports cars is not far behind. He bought his first before attending Georgia Southern, has restored several since then, and currently drives a Jaguar. “It was my father’s time at the Triumph factory in Coventry that sparked my interest in British roadsters,\u201d Earls says. – Sandra Bennett<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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