Carl Bird McLaughlin grew up in the northern stretches of Los Angeles county. He began to study filmmaking at College of the Canyons where he received the Filmmaker of the Year award two years in a row. He later attended California Institute for the Arts for his undergrad. While at CalArts, he completed numerous short films as well as collaborating with fellow filmmaker Mike Ott as co-writer and cinematographer of the film LiTTLEROCK (2011). Also in collaboration with fellow CalArts alumni David Nordstrom (Trona, Pincus), he starred in Nordstrom's directorial debut Sawdust City.