Media

Lee Schneider: novelist, producer, and digital media expert.

Lee Schneider is a novelist, producer, public speaker, and the owner and founder of Red Cup Agency.

He leads a masterclass series in storytelling, with special editions of the masterclass for startup founders, architects, and social changemakers.

Red Cup is a digital publishing agency specializing in video and audio podcast production and ebook publishing. Red Cup’s client base includes Fortune 500 companies innovating in tech, education, the future, employment, and health and wellness.

He is an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Southern California, teaching a popular online course for the School of Architecture about media, marketing, and entrepreneurial thinking. He has also taught marketing courses for General Assembly in Santa Monica, CA.

The company was founded in 2010. The “red cup” in the name comes from Mr. Schneider’s mother Jane, who was an award-winning sculptor whose work is in collections and museums nationally. Before she started any new project, she drank from a red cup. The image has always symbolized the creative nature of the company.

Lee was the founder of Digital Fundraising School, an online school that offered crowdfunding classes to entrepreneurs, media makers and tech startups. He was the founder of DocuCinema, a media production company. He was a co-creative director of The Shelter Media Project, a multi-media chronicle of the design for good movement in architecture.

Lee Schneider has written, produced, directed and edited documentaries for The History Channel, Discovery Health Channel, The Learning Channel, Bravo, Food Network, Court TV, ReelzChannel, A&E and many corporate clients. He started his career as a freelance writer at Good Morning America and was a producer at Fox and Dateline NBC. While still in college, he wrote forThe Fort Worth Star-Telegram, as a general assignment reporter. He is married and has three children.

View a detailed career history on LinkedIn.

Fun fact: He was a writer on the iconic cartoon series ThunderCats.

Courses, Classes, and Talks

Speaker, How to Bring Storytelling to Your Startup Pitch, FoundersBoost LA.

Program creator, The Storyline Sessions.

USC School of Architecture, member of the faculty. Course: Visual Storytelling and Entrepreneurship in Media

Going Hollywood: Get Your Podcast Optioned by a Network or Studio – Moderator – Outlier Podcast Festival LA

Fiction Storytelling: Acting, Directing, and Writing the Audio Drama – Moderator – Outlier Podcast Festival LA

What’s the Worst that Can Happen in AI – panelist – Outlier Podcast Festival Austin

How to Build a Loyal Online Community for your Startup– General Assembly

How to Write a Pitch to Bloggers and Journalists – General Assembly

Launch Your Crowdfunding Video with Your iPhone or Smartphone – General Assembly

Online Marketing Analytics – General Assembly

Capital Idea: Getting Started with Crowdfunding – General Assembly

Design Open Mic: Shelter:connect. Lee Schneider and Richard Neill discussing design activism at Architecture for Humanity in San Francisco

Panel Moderator – Start, Sustain, and Get Paid for Your Podcast, Village Workspaces

USC School of Architecture – Lecture and Presentation about Design Activism

Panel Moderator – San Francisco Green Film Festival – Activist Architecture

Panelist – Design for Good, Room & Board, Culver City

Workshops and Webinars

Moderator, lead panel at Digital Hollywood Podcast Forum. Podcasting In Hollywood: Leadership in the Industry.

Digital Fundraising School – online conferences and crowdfunding classes

How to Publish Your Book on Amazon: An Indie Publishing Guide – BigMarker

How to Tell A Story Online – Talk for photographers who want to expand their portfolio into video

Secrets of Social Media – Public Architecture

Digital Storytelling for Design Activists – Architecture for Humanity

Designing Media for Social Change – University of Minnesota, College of Design

Digital Storytelling – University of Minnesota, College of Design

Selected Podcast Productions

The Glo Podcast, producer
Same Same but Tech powered by BCG, producer, editor
Planet V. Profit from Global Witness, producer, editor
In Pursuit by Glassdoor, producer, editor
The Future Lab with Lee Schneider, producer, host
The Future of Food from FutureX Studio, producer, editor, mixer, host
The Future of Activism from FutureX Studio, producer
TechSmart, producer, host
Cult/Tech podcast, producer, host
Be Global, producer, host

Selected Documentary Productions

DIRECTOR

Joan Collins: A Personal Dynasty, Arts and Entertainment, 1997
Jimmy Stewart, Arts and Entertainment, 1997
Harrison Ford: The Reluctant Hero, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
George C. Scott, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
Gene Hackman: Portrait of an Artist, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
Ernie Kovacs: Please Stand By, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
Route 66—Main Street America, The Learning Channel, 2000
Dick Powell: Thanks a Million, Arts and Entertainment, 2000
PRODUCER
The Whole World Is Watching, E! Entertainment Television, 1992
In Censors We Trust, E! Entertainment Television, 1993
Joan Collins: A Personal Dynasty, Arts and Entertainment, 1997
Jimmy Stewart, Arts and Entertainment, 1997
Harrison Ford: The Reluctant Hero, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
George C. Scott, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
Gene Hackman: Portrait of an Artist, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
Ernie Kovacs: Please Stand By, Arts and Entertainment, 1998
(also executive producer) Route 66—Main Street America, The Learning Channel, 2000
Dick Powell: Thanks a Million, Arts and Entertainment, 2000
Engineering Disasters 3, History Channel, 2001
Apollo 13, History Channel, 2001
Remote Control, History Channel, 2002
The Wrecking Ball, Arts and Entertainment.
Executive producer, Motorcycles: Born to Be Wild, The Learning Channel, 1999
Executive producer, Arnold Schwartzenegger: Hollywood Hero, The Learning Channel, 1999
SERIES PRODUCTION
Script editor, The Silverhawks, syndicated, 1986
Segment producer, Front Page, Fox, 1993
Segment producer, Dateline NBC, 1994-1995
Senior producer, Strange Universe, syndicated, 1996
Managing editor, Vital Signs, ABC, 1997
WRITER
Route 66–Main Street America, The Learning Channel, 2000
Engineering Disasters 3, History Channel, 2001
Apollo 13, History Channel, 2001
Remote Control, History Channel, 2002
The Wrecking Ball, Arts and Entertainment.

Publications

LIBERATION, novel, 2025, FutureX Studio. Publication info here.

RESIST, novel, 2024, FutureX Studio

SURRENDER, novel, 2023, FutureX Studio

ACE YOUR EBOOK Smashwords edition and Kindle Edition, 2017.

The Angel Playbook: An Essential Guide for Entrepreneurs and Angel Investors. Amazon Kindle edition and audiobook 2017.

Powerful Online Message Delivery: Free and Low-Cost Platforms for Creative Companies and Individuals. Amazon Kindle Edition 2016 .

Chronicle of a Startup Town: Los Angeles. Amazon Kindle edition published 2015 . Paperback edition released in 2016. Smashwords edition 2017 .

Be More Popular: Culture Building For Startups. Amazon. Kindle edition published 2014 . Paperback edition published 2015. Audiobook edition published 2016. Smashwords edition 2017. Amazon Author page.