David Arond has spent his career doing one thing exceptionally well — telling stories that matter.
As founder of eVideo Creations, he has turned that skill into a body of work that reads less like a résumé and more like a screenplay treatment: international journalism in Cold War Moscow, pioneering internet television, Fortune 500 brand storytelling and independent filmmaking.
The only thing missing is a Hollywood agent.
From the Berlin Wall to the Kremlin
Go back to Nov. 9, 1989 — the day the Berlin Wall fell.
Now picture a young PBS journalist watching history unfold from inside Moscow. That was David Arond.
David Arond, founder of eVideo Creations, has developed his storytelling skills into a body of work that could be fit for a screenplay.
Assigned as Bureau Chief for PBS' "Nightly Business Report," Arond spent five years reporting from Russia during one of the most volatile periods of the 20th century — a collapsing empire, shifting power structures and streets dangerous enough to require a full-time bodyguard armed with an AK-47.
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Arond says he used up eight of his nine lives during those years.
By 1994, a little-known former KGB officer named Vladimir Putin was beginning his rise. Arond read the room and left.
Demystifying the internet
Never one to chase small stories, Arond returned to PBS with a new mission: making the internet understandable to ordinary Americans. His show "On the Internet" arrived in the late 1990s — precisely when the web was exploding into everyday life — and became the largest, most successful show launch in PBS history.
That success caught the attention of the technology industry. Companies like 3Com, Sprint, Intel, and IBM hired Arond to do what he does best: put a human face on complex technology and explain why it matters to real people.
Arond
Other notable credits include producing "Headbangers Ball" for MTV and a project that helped the University of Arizona's Hydrology Department become top-ranked in the world. Hydrology — the science of water, arguably the planet's most critical resource — can be a hard sell to a general audience. Arond made it compelling. Within a year, the program reached full enrollment.
The happiest country in the world
Arond's next major documentary project took him far from the tech world.
The "Happiest Country in the World: Finland," is a three-part PBS documentary examining why the country topped the World Happiness Report for seven consecutive years.
The answers are layered. Finland's government funds free education through college for any citizen who wants it. Teachers build customized curricula for individual students, with school days balancing academics and social development. Even the prison system reflects this philosophy: inmates receive education and rehabilitation support, contributing to one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world. It's a portrait of a society that decided to invest in its people — at every stage of life.
Serial Killers on the Arizona Range
Arond's latest project is a sharp departure from Scandinavian optimism.
Hell's Half Acre profiles the Bender family — America's first documented family of serial killers.
The studio filming is taking place at Mescal Movie Set, east of Tucson near Benson — the same location used for the classic film "Tombstone."
The production carries real economic weight for Southern Arizona.
Arond has employed 12 actors and 22 production crew members, generating revenue across Benson through hotels, car rentals, equipment, and restaurants. It's also a timely vote of confidence in Arizona's film industry, which recently reinstated a 15% tax credit for productions shooting in-state.
The next chapter
Arond is already at work on his next PBS documentary, "The Future of Transportation" — yet another story with implications that reach well beyond any single community.
Imagine the film version of David Arond's own journey: from a Moscow under siege to the sun-baked film sets of southern Arizona.
It would be a story worth telling.
And every time Arond decides to tell another one, Southern Arizona benefits from the telling.
