Tim Reckart

Tim Reckart

Class of 2009, America and Latin America
Director, Sony Pictures Animation
Tim Reckart

Thesis Title: "Martinka's on Saturday Night": The Society of American Magicians and the Professionalization of Magic

What Now: Director of upcoming animated feature film HIGH IN THE CLOUDS, a musical with songs by Paul McCartney, for Netflix

When I started at Harvard, I knew I wanted to work in film eventually, but I didn’t want to study it academically. I wanted to learn about the world before making movies about it. History & Literature was a great fit for me because it is more of a methodological approach than a defined set of subjects. I was able to study the conquest of Mexico, American westward expansion, science fiction, scientific history, magical realism, circuses, sideshow freaks, Buffalo Bill, and stage magic—thanks not only to Hist & Lit’s liberal definition of its subject matter, but also the unique student-planned junior tutorial. Even though I intended my stint in academia to be a temporary detour from film, I found myself falling in love with Hist & Lit, largely because I was having so much fun. As a film professional, I don’t often use the content that I studied, but that passion for research and writing that I developed by accident has helped me at every moment of my career. I’m still exploring the world, finding those little stories hidden in every corner. But instead of writing term papers, I’m making movies.