In 2004, Matt Ryan met with Martin Scorsese who encouraged Matt to give up his career in NY to pursue a film education focused on screenwriting and the study of film history. In 2008, Matt earned a MFA in Screenwriting from Loyola Marymount University.
From 2010-2024, Matt was the UCSB Pollock Theater Director. He created and hosted the Script to Screen series that connected filmmakers with Santa Barbara Academy voters, UCSB Students and Matt’s online video followers. His event hosting and Academy Q&A moderating credits include Get Out with writer/director Jordan Peele, Whiplash with writer/director Damien Chazelle, Spotlight with screenwriter Josh Singer , La La Land with production designers Dave & Sandy Wasco and a last minute 12 Years A Slave Q&A with screenwriter John Ridley. Fox Searchlight credited Matt for helping reach the final voters in a tight Oscar race.
Matt has hosted and moderated Television events that include Game of Thrones with director Jeremy Podeswa, Only Murders in the Building with Editors Shelly Westerman and Matthew Barbato, VEEP with actress Julia Louis–Dreyfus, actor Tony Hale and writer/director/executive producer David Mandel, Lost with executive producer/director Jack Bender, and All the Way with director Jay Roach.
Matt is the creator/host of the series Moderated by Matt that moderates events that include 2026 Oscar-Nominated Live Action Short – Butcher’s Stain with Meyer Levinson-Blount (Writer/Director) and Oron Caspi (Producer), Everything’s Goint to Be Great with screenwriter/producer Steven Rogers, The Art of Editing with editors Myron Kerstein (Wicked), Shelly Westerman (Only Murders in the Building), Tatiana S. Riegel (I,Tonya), and Maryann Brandon (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), the 35th Anniversary of Beetlejuice with make-up artist Ve Neill and Twilight with director Catherine Hardwicke.
Matt conducts interviews at awards show and Film festivals that include the Toronto Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, DGA, WGA, ASC VES, MUAHS, Annie, ADG and Saturn Awards. Matt’s interviews include; The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power with the entire ensemble cast, Wicked with director Jon M. Chu, co-screenwriters Dana Fox & Winnie Holzman, cinematographer Alice Brooks and editor Myron Kerstein, Frankenstein with director Guillermo del Toro, production designer Tamara Deverell, supervising art director Brandt Gordon, prosthetic make-up effects artist Mike Hill, Megan Many, prosthetic make-up effects artist Megan Many, make-up department head Jordan Samuel, key hair stylist Tori Binns, hair stylist Katarina Chovanec, hair designer Cliona Furey & editor Evan Schiff and Paradise Records with writer/director/actor Logic, editor Kevin Smith and cast.
Aside from event hosting and moderating, Matt is the creator and Instructor of the Moderated by Matt: Interviewing and Production Class that integrates broadcast journalism (researching, writing and interviewing filmmakers), multi-camera television production, field production (red carpet and press line interviews) and event curation & hosting. After 12 years of teaching this class at UCSB, Matt will teach it in Los Angeles in Summer 2026. Working professionals and current Students are welcome to apply.