Mohamad Abu Shally
Creative producer & experience designer
Creative producer and experience designer working across learning, games and media. I design programs, rule systems and production plans from scratch, and lead the people and partners who bring them to life.
Experience
2023-present
Founder and game designer, Shally Games
- Started a community of board game nights in 2023 and founded a tabletop studio for culturally relevant Arabic games in 2024.
- Designed and launched Sheep & Wolves: The Last Survivor (2024): research, prototypes, playtest rounds, rulebook iterations. 300+ copies sold.
- Hosted 40+ game nights with 10 to 60 players each, mostly in partnership with Hasoub.
- Developed a facilitation method: fast game teaching, structured icebreakers and shared closing games, refined after a player survey.
2024-present
Filmmaking teacher and curriculum developer, Ministry of Education programs (Gefen)
- Wrote Perspective, a project-based filmmaking curriculum, from scratch: learning goals, session sequence, lesson plans, success criteria and tasks.
- Adapted it for elementary (grades 3-6) and secondary school. Both editions were accepted into the Gefen catalog.
- Introduced filmmaking as a new subject at Taha Hussein Elementary School (2024).
2023-2025
Lead media producer and program developer, Mersal Media
- Designed two youth workshop programs (media and communication, community podcasting) for Umm al-Fahm Municipality, coordinated with the municipality and co-led the sessions.
- Produced and edited educational and cultural series reaching thousands of viewers, including a 165-episode series.
- Redesigned the intake process for a media archive of thousands of items and built the registry the team still uses.
2016-present
Producer, editor and translator, Freelance
- Produced, edited or crewed on 100+ short films, including festival selections.
- Lead producer of Aya (TISFF): 20+ crew, cast, extras and partners including Tel Aviv University and Arara Local Council. Delivered on time and on budget.
2021
Volunteer coordinator, AJEEC-NISPED
- Coordinated and trained about 15 young volunteers, organized events and built partnerships with other volunteer groups.
Education
2020-2021
Teaching diploma: film studies through PBL, Tel Aviv University
2015-2020
BFA in Film and Television Studies, Tel Aviv University
- Graduated as a media producer. Final grade 85. Psychometric 724 (733 quantitative).
2012-2014
Filmmaking program, Far Beyond Association with Keshet Media Group
Volunteering
2016-2021
Mentor, translator and volunteer, Tel Aviv International Student Film Festival
2014-2018
Event documentation, Hasoub
Skills
- Design
- Curriculum design, Project-based learning (PBL), Capability-based evaluation, Game and rule design, Gamification, Playtesting
- Delivery
- Production management, Process & archive design, Budgets and schedules, Stakeholder coordination, Group facilitation, Community building
- Media
- Producing, Directing, Editing, Translation and localization
- Tools
- Adobe Premiere and Photoshop, Google Sheets, ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, Replit, Base44, Midjourney, Sora, Flow, ElevenLabs, Udio
Languages
- Arabic
- Native. Mother tongue, and the language of most of my media and community work.
- Hebrew
- Professional. YAEL Hebrew test 145, matriculation 5 units (97), psychometric 724 (733 quantitative).
- English
- Professional. Psychometric English 141, matriculation 5 units (97).