Paul Holtzhausen

I grew up in South Africa. That's where I learned to watch the people who hold a place together — the ones doing the work, mostly out of the spotlight. They've been the thread running through everything I've done since.

I spent twenty years in film. I studied at Florida State, assisted one of my heroes, Spike Jonze, and by twenty-eight I was sitting one-on-one with Sam Raimi cutting the Spider-Man trailer. Then I built a company. When I started Vibe Creative I couldn't afford experienced people, so I hired young talent with nothing on their résumés and taught them everything I knew. A lot of them run studios and agencies now.

That's the part I'm proudest of. Not the films — the people.

I've always called myself a storyteller, but a story doesn't have to be a film. It can be a company. It can be an app. Locals Only comes from the same instinct that made me hire those kids: back the people who keep the thing running, the ones who don't get the spotlight.

Then I moved my family to Park City. In 2021 I bought a vacation-rental management company and ran it until 2025 as owner-operator — sales, owner relationships, vendors, cleaners, the turnovers nobody else would cover. That business is where I learned what a four-month season does to a town, and to the people who work in it.

I still run Greenhaus Studios, where I work on how AI actually changes the way stories get made.

Three kids growing up here. That's the reason for all of it.