Draft:Scott McCullough

• Comment: I appreciate that you put work into assembling the sources here, but this draft strongly sounds LLM-assisted, and it sounds more like a resume in narrative form than an encyclopedia article.
  It's ok to write a draft about yourself with disclosure (thank you for disclosing!), but the best way to do it is to write it entirely in your own words, making sure each sentence is cited to a reliable source. This definitely takes a lot of work, I know. The result tends to be much shorter than a LLM-generated draft, which is good! Concise and neutral is appropriate for encyclopedic writing. Not all details are necessary.
  I also encourage fixing the formatting in your citations that ended up with non-standard formatting (16, 23, 24, 25), since that helps reviewers evaluate your draft. Thank you! Dreamyshade (talk) 01:46, 31 August 2026 (UTC)

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Scott McCullough is an American writer, director, cinematographer and editor of films, commercials, music videos and concert films. His work includes projects for Prince, 70mm NASCAR films and narrative and nonprofit projects. McCullough has been a member of the Directors Guild of America since 2001.

Early life and career

McCullough grew up in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and attended the University of Minnesota, initially studying architecture and then advertising at the School of Journalism. He subsequently moved into camera work, music videos and commercial production in Minneapolis.

Work with Prince and music videos

During the early 1990s, McCullough worked with Prince and associated artists across music videos, films and documentary projects.

His work also appeared on three Prince home-video releases: Gett Off, Sexy M.F. and Diamonds and Pearls Video Collection.

A later PRN Alumni Foundation profile described his Gett Off-era work as well as his filming of Prince's Special Olympics rehearsals and European concert material. Decades later, archival material from that period was released, including Live at Glam Slam and This Thing Called Soundcheck.

On January 11, 1992, Prince and the New Power Generation performed at Glam Slam in Minneapolis. The film remained unreleased in Prince's vault for more than three decades. The complete concert was released in 2023 as Prince and the New Power Generation: Live at Glam Slam. The 2023 release identifies McCullough in its original-crew credits as director and cinematographer, a credit also carried in the accompanying hardcover book. In coverage of the release, PAPER interviewed McCullough about filming the "Nothing Compares 2 U" performance, identifying him as the concert film's director, cinematographer and camera operator.

Variety described Prince and the New Power Generation as being in peak form during the 90-minute performance, while The Current called the Glam Slam concert "the real prize of the set".

His early Paisley Park work included Eric Leeds' "Little Rock." In 2000, the Chris Cummings video "That'll Teach Her" reached number 1 on RPM’s Video & Instant Top Forty chart. Screen also discussed McCullough's work with Cummings during that period.

Commercial and advertising work

While continuing music-video work, McCullough moved into commercial directing during the 1990s. Adweek credited him as director of Target Stores' 1995 "Single Step" campaign. In 1998, the magazine included the Jesse Ventura for Governor campaign spot "The Thinker," also directed by McCullough, in its "Best Spots" coverage.

His work expanded into automotive and motorsports filmmaking. For R.J. Reynolds and the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, McCullough created, directed, photographed and edited the large-format films No Bull and 100%, filming NASCAR Winston Cup drivers across multiple race weekends for the traveling Thunder Theater experience. The films were photographed in 65mm five-perf for 70mm exhibition.

McCullough's commercial work includes campaigns for General Motors, Coors Light and Pepsi. For General Motors, McCullough directed and photographed automotive work for Buick, Pontiac and GMC, including a five-commercial GMC package for Boston agency Digitas. In 2008, Reel Chicago reported that McCullough directed Story's largest production to date, a 23-day, two-country automotive shoot divided between Los Angeles and Buenos Aires.

McCullough's motorsports work later extended to open-wheel Champ Car racing. He directed and photographed a campaign featuring Paul Newman and Newman's Champ Car racing team. LA Weekly later described the project as Newman's final filmed appearance and reported that Newman had requested McCullough as director.

For Budweiser and DDB Chicago, McCullough directed and photographed Push On, a tribute to Dale Earnhardt Sr. featuring Dale Earnhardt Jr., produced in the immediate aftermath of Earnhardt Sr.'s death at the Daytona 500. The spot was subsequently featured by Advertising Age's Creativity in its "Who Did That Spot?" coverage.

In 2015, Deadline reported that Artemple-Hollywood named McCullough its in-house director and director of photography, noting his commercial work for clients including Pepsi and Ford. In 2023, LA Weekly included McCullough in its "Top 10 Innovative Minds Disrupting the Entertainment Space," citing his music, commercial, motorsports and narrative work.

Film and narrative work

McCullough later directed, edited and executive produced the series pilot Three Days Gone: Based on the Life of Lucas Snow, substantially reworking material from an earlier production into the new pilot version. The pilot received festival awards, including Best Director at the Florence Film Awards in 2025 and Best Editing at the World Indie Film Awards in 2022.

McCullough later directed and edited the horror project The Exorcism Diaries, written by Kenny Yakkel. The project received a Gold Award for Director at the Florence Film Awards in 2025. It also received coverage connected with the Cannes film market.

The screenplay for Captain for Dark Mornings, co-written with Nancy Froeschle, was a semifinalist in Stage 32's Diversity Springboard Screenwriting Contest.

Public-service and nonprofit work

McCullough created, wrote, directed and photographed The Other Note, a public-service film for the National Veterans Foundation addressing veteran suicide and featuring Martin Sheen. The National Veterans Foundation launched the campaign in 2016. The film received a 2017 CINE Golden Eagle Award.