2006 - 2010
New York City and Chicago
Brent received the John Cannon Presidential Memorial Scholarship Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in Times Square, New York City
PANCHINILLO, 2006
NATAS Award Winning Short
2007
Brent attended Columbia College Chicago School of Cinema Arts and Sciences and produced over one hundred films on 35mm, Super 16mm, Super 8mm and digital
Brent founds The Cinematographer's Guild of Columbia with mentorship from IATSE Local 600 International Cinematographers Guild and the American Society of Cinematographers, ASC and serves as it's first President
WET, 2007 - Super 16mm Film
Director: Brad Bischoff
Producer / DP: Brent Yontz
*Chicago Award, Chicago International Film Festival
2008
Brent met Jill Jones at the Telluride Film Festival student symposium in Telluride, Colorado, where they were mentored by filmmakers Ken Burns, David Fincher, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Werner Herzog, Alexander Payne, Tom Shadyac and Laura Linney
2009
Brent and Jill write and develop his 35mm thesis film, NANUQ, and Jill graduates from Emerson College Film School in Boston and moves to Los Angeles to begin pre-production
2010
NANUQ, an 18-minute live action animated short film, is completed with grant funding from Columbia College Chicago's School of Cinema, Panavision and Kodak NewFilmmaker Programs and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Student Emmy® Award
NANUQ Premieres at the Hollyshorts Film Festival at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood and travels the international film festival circuit, playing at 40 film festivals and winning awards for best short film, cinematography, vfx, animation, sound design, music and editing
2011 - Current
Burbank, California
Brent and Jill start Nanuq Original, LLC Holdings, Doing Business As (DBA) CLAY Partners, a private small business-to-big business (B2B) loan-out company, and work for top film and television brands including PBS, Walt Disney's National Geographic, Warner Brothers Discovery, Apple, CNN, Netflix, HBO, FOX Sports Network, Amazon Prime, Princess Cruises, YouTube, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Johnson & Johnson, XBOX, Activision, Getty Images, Shutterstock, MTV, A&E, Hulu, SyFy and Lionsgate
Brent and Jill travel all over the world for work including across the United States, Greece, Bulgaria, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Nepal
Highlights of Jill's Film and Television work as a Supervising Producer and Story Producer
2016
Brent and Jill produce the PBS Documentary film SPECTRUM: A Story of the Mind, which wins the CINE Golden Eagle Award in Washington D.C. for Best Documentary and premieres at the United Nations
Jill Supervising Produces CNN's United Shades of America and wins the Primetime Emmy Award, becoming a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences
2017 - 2019
Brent and Jill produce the feature length documentary film, SNOW TO SAND, based on the New York Times story about the first winter expedition of the Pacific Crest Trail
SNOW TO SAND premieres at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Brent and Jill attend the 89th Academy Awards
2020
Brent and Jill are married in Beverly Hills and Nepal, where they produce the documentary STAIRWAY TO EVEREST.
2021 - 2022
Brent writes the feature length screenplay, WAR HORN.
