CWU Public Relations alum builds award-winning career in film

Paul Riordan (’10) got accepted to several universities after spending a couple of years at Edmonds Community College, but he had his sights set on Central Washington University from the start.

“I had heard a lot of good things about Central, and had quite a few friends that had already gone there,” he said. “I liked that it was a smaller school, and after talking to some of the professors, I knew the culture was a good fit for me, too.”

In Ellensburg, Riordan found a great place to call home and a springboard for a career that would end up spanning multiple industries.

“It’s a small community that ends up feeling more like home than you think it will,” the Edmonds native said. “It can be a bit of a culture shift coming from the west side of the mountains, but I really enjoyed my time in Ellensburg.”

After graduating with his degree in public relations, Riordan pursued marketing and sales with companies like Microsoft and Fox Sports before a college friend offered him an opportunity that would come to define his professional life.

“A good friend of mine who’s also a Central alum asked me one day if I’d ever considered becoming a production assistant,” he said. “From there, people noticed how good I was at working with others and problem solving, and I got adopted into the location department learning from some of the best in Washington.”

Working on sets across Washington’s blossoming film industry, Riordan eventually worked his way up to the position of location manager, a crucial player on a film set who ensures that public agencies, homeowners, and other stakeholders are in alignment before, during, and after the shoot. They also serve as the public face of the production in the real world, managing community relations, handling press inquiries from locals when a shoot draws attention, and ensuring the production maintains a positive reputation in every city and neighborhood it enters.

“It’s all about critical thinking and how you go about communicating with the public,” Riordan said. “Once you have an objective and a strategy, you can start to solve for those whenever you encounter obstacles along the way.”

In 2024, Riordan’s talent in the role earned him an Outstanding Commercial award at the 11th annual Location Manager’s Guild International conference for his work on “Present from the Past,” an advertisement for Toyota. The recognition places him in the upper echelons of the field, and he expects it will open up even more opportunities for him in the film world.

"Winning the LMGI Commercial Award in 2024 has been a game changer,” Riordan said. “It's opened doors I didn't expect, more work, advisory rolls in bidding for large projects as a subject matter expert to sitting down with local news, it's given me a platform to represent the craft in a way that goes beyond the set. The recognition has elevated my reputation in the industry and created opportunities that continue to grow."

In March, Riordan’s career came full circle when a shoot for a Bridgestone Tires commercial brought him back to his alma mater.

“We were already shooting around Ellensburg, and I happened to know a beautiful campus in the area,” he said. “It made a lot of sense logistically, and we were able to hire some students and some extras from around the community for it, too.”

The trip to Ellensburg brought back memories of Riordan’s college days and even surprised him with a few new developments since last time he was in town 16 years ago.

“It was super nostalgic to see how much campus has changed over the years, and how much of it has stayed the same,” he said. “It’s cool to see downtown Ellensburg doing so well, too.”

Across his career, Riordan has always found himself returning to the problem-solving toolkit he acquired during his time at CWU, which he sees as the foundation of his success.

“The biggest thing I took away from my time at Central is a solid set of critical thinking skills,” he said. “Being able to take a problem and approach in from several different angles, with curiosity and an open mind, is one of the most important things you can learn. No two challenges are ever the same, so you have to be able to navigate it in the moment and make it work.”