Rustle Works is a software studio formed as a partnership between musician/developer Damon Holzborn and writer/filmmaker Betsy Nagler. We combine our talents to design toys, tools and games for creative people. We also collaborate on art projects that mix technology, music and storytelling.
The first app Rustle Works released was A Numbers Game, an iOS puzzle game with interactive music. In spring of 2016, Damon created TextXoX, a text-based drum machine for the web. TextXoX is the first app based on his Park modular composition and performance system (an open source project that will be available soon). We've also just introduced our first Twitter bot, Jerry Botheimer, who pitches ideas for Hollywood blockbusters. In the first half of the summer, we will launch Princessed, a series of subversive, playable fairytales. Later in the summer, we'll be releasing Non Sequitur, a collaborative writing game for iOS.
Damon is an improviser, composer and developer. In performance he uses custom software, traditional effects, and interactive processes to sculpt sounds both novel and familiar. His software designs focus on dynamic instruments that are particularly effective for improvisational performance. He has presented his work in the US, Mexico, Europe and Japan, performing as a solo artist and with several ensembles, including Donkey - a decades-long collaboration with musician/filmmaker Hans Fjellestad. He holds a BA in music from UCSD and a DMA in composition from Columbia University.
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Betsy Nagler is a Brooklyn-based writer and filmmaker. Her most recent completed feature film is Flat Daddy, a documentary that looks at the impact of the war in Iraq on four military families from around the United States. The film premiered at DOC NYC in 2011, had its UK broadcast premiere on PBS America, and is available on iTunes. Betsy's other writing, producing and directing credits include interviews with activists modeling resistance in the current era for the MOBILIZE Podcast; videos for the websites of Code Liberation Foundation and the Working Families Party; and video letters for the popular Nickelodeon television show, Blue's Clues. Her work as a digital video editor includes pieces for Carnegie Hall's LinkUP! Series and the Perception Institute, and fundraising trailers for documentaries on the crash of TWA Flight 800 and the gubernatorial campaign of Zephyr Teachout. She is currently developing an interactive documentary project for the web called Greater Good. She has also worked as a location sound person on movies, television shows and commercials, including The Daytrippers, The Sopranos, The Good Wife, and Girls. Betsy earned her BA from Stanford University and her MFA in Film Production from NYU, and she blogs about all this – and more! – at betsynagler.com.
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