♦ Verronne, Patric M. - President of The Writers Guild of America, West
♦ Wall, Angus - Editor
♦ West, Jacqueline - Costume Designer
♦ Wilkinson, Christopher - Screenwriter and Producer
♦ Zsigmund, Vilmos - Cinematographer
♦ John August - Screenwriter and Filmmaker (Coming Soon)
♦ Alan Ball - Screenwriter (Coming Soon)
♦ Eric Barba - Visual Effects Supervisor
Eric
Barba is the Academy Award®™-winning Visual Effects Supervisor of "The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button".
Like many of the other top directors he collaborates with, Eric is
equally comfortable working in the worlds of film and advertising. His
visual effects credits span films including "The Fifth Element",
"Supernova", "Zodiac", and "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" to
dozens of high-end commercials for Nike, Heineken, Jaguar, and many
other leading brands.
Eric began working with Director David Fincher in 2002, on an
award-winning commercial for Adidas. Since then Eric has worked on
nearly all of Fincher's commercial and film projects. He was involved
with Fincher's "Benjamin Button" from the film's inception, developing
the team and approach to creating a digital human used in a test that
helped sell the project to the studio. Eric also directs commercials
himself, including campaigns for American Express, Nike, and Honda.
Prior to joining Digital Domain in 1996 Eric worked at Steven
Spielberg's Amblin Imaging on shows including "SeQuest DSV", "Star
Trek: The Next Generation", and others. He is a graduate of the Art
Center College of Design.
Don Burgess (Director of Photography) most recently lensed the Albert and Allen Hughes post-apocalyptic drama, “The Book of Eli,” starring Denzel Washington. Burgess was previously honored with an Academy Award®-nomination for his cinematography on Robert Zemeckis’ Oscar®™-winning hit, “Forrest Gump”. Burgess also received BAFTA®™ and American Society of Cinematographers®™ Award nominations for his work on that film. He has enjoyed a long association with Zemeckis, having also lensed the directors’ films, “The Polar Express”, “Cast Away”, “What Lies Beneath”, and “Contact”. Before this, Don won a CableACE®™ Award for his work on a Zemeckis-directed episode of “Tales From The Crypt.”
Burgess’ diverse feature film credits also include the smash hit comedy fable “Enchanted,” the blockbuster action hits “Spiderman” and
“Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines”, the adventure film “Eight Below”, and the comedies “Fool’s Gold”, “My Super Ex-Girlfriend”, “13 Going On 30”, “Christmas With The Kranks”, and “Forget Paris”.
Don Burgess, ASC is a native of Los Angeles. He studied filmmaking at
the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He launched
his career shooting industrial films, documentaries and commercials.
Don also worked as a camera operator and was soon tabbed as the
"go-to-guy" when you needed a second-unit cameraman who could shoot
while skiing backwards.
By the mid-80's, Burgess was lensing a steady diet of telefilms and
rejecting most second-unit assignments. However he bent that rule on
"Back To the Future II" and "Death Becomes Her" which were directed by
Robert Zemekis. That led to a chance to shoot an episode of "Tales
From The Crypt" and then "Forrest Gump" with Zemekis, which earned
Burgess Academy and A.S.C. Award nominations. Don also worked with
Zemekis on such memorable films as, "Contact", "Cast Away", "What Lies
Beneath", and "The Polar Express". Burgess' additional film credits
include: the non-stop action/adventure spy mega-hit "The Bourne
Identity".
Jay Cassidy A.C.E. most recent credit was "Into The Wild" released in 2007 by Paramount Vantage for which he received the 2008 Academy Award® nomination for editing and an ACE "Eddie" nomination for best edited feature film (dramatic).
Recent work include Jim Sheridan's film "Brothers" with Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman to be released in Dec. of 2009. Currently, he's been editing "Betty Anne Waters" starring Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell, Minnie Drive, directed by Tony Goldwyn.
His long editorial association with Sean Penn
began with Penn's first film, "The Indian Runner" and continued with
"The Crossing Guard", "The Pledge", and "11.09.01". Most
recently, Cassidy co-edited the "An Inconvenient Truth", which won the
2007 Academy Award®™ for Best Documentary and the ACE “Eddie Award” for Best Documentary.
Cassidy also had the opportunity edit Penn's performance in "The Assination Of Richard Nixon".
Cassidy’s other credits include "Tuck Everlasting" for Disney, "The Replacement Killers" for Columbia, "Gossip" for Warner Bros., "Urban Legend" for Tri-Star and "Albino Alligator" for Miramax. He also edited the Peabody Award®™-winning PBS documentary, "The First Year", about five "first-year" teachers in the L.A. County school system.
Born in Chicago and raised in Highland Park, Illinois, Cassidy earned a degree in American Culture from the University of Michigan.
His early background was editing documentaries and political
advertisements in Washington, D.C., where he worked for filmmaker Charles Guggenheim. In 1976, he moved to Los Angeles to attend the American Film
Institute’s Center for Advanced Film Studies.
♦ Bruce Cohen- Producer and Partner of The Jinks-Cohen Company
Feature film producer Bruce Cohen, and his
business partner, Dan Jinks, have produced 5 internationally acclaimed
films, adored by film-lovers, film critics, and filmmakers alike.
Bruce's film credits are as follows: The 5-Time Oscar®™-winning movie,
"American Beauty" (which swept every major Academy Award®™ Category in
2000 including - Best Picture(Bruce Cohen & Dan Jinks), Best
Actor(Kevin Spacey), Best Cinematography(Legendary Cinematographer
Conrad Hall- "Cool Hand Luke", "In Cold Blood", "Butch Cassidy and The
Sundance Kid", "Searching For Bobby Fischer", "American Beauty", "Road
To Perdition", etc.), Best Director(Sam Mendes- "The Kite Runner",
"Revolutionary Road", "Road To Perdition"), Best Writing of a
Screenplay Written Directly for The Screen(Alan Ball- "American Beauty"
and "Six Feet Under"). Mr. Cohen also garnered the entertainment industry's 4
most highly-coveted awards for "American Beauty" in the "Best Picture
Of The Year" Category(the hardest award of ALL to win): the Academy
Award®™(Oscar®™), the Foreign Press Association's Golden Globe®™ Award,
the British Academy Award®™(BAFTA®™),
and the Producers Guild Award®™, which very few producers have ever
achieved for any one movie!
In
2008, Mr. Cohen's ground-beaking feature, "Milk", is a story about
Harvey Milk, the 1st openly gay U.S. politician. "Milk" was nominated
for 6 Academy Awards®™ including "Best Picture" at both The Oscars®™, and The British Academy Awards®™(BAFTA®™), and won 2 Oscars®™ for "Best Writing Of A Screenplay Written Directly For the Screen"(Dustin Lance Black) in addition to winning Sean Penn his 2nd Oscar®™ for "Best Actor In A Leading Role". "Milk" also received The Producer's Guild of America's Stanley Kramer Award®™.
Bruce Cohen's other films include, "Down With Love," starring
Oscar®™-winner Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor("Moulin Rouge", "Star
Wars: Episodes I & III", "Trainspotting", "Black Hawk Down", and
"Big Fish"); "Big Fish"(starring an All-Star Cast),
directed by Oscar®™-nominated film genius Tim Burton; and "The
Forgotten", starring the 4-time Oscar®™-nominee & Emmy®™
Award-winning actress Julianne Moore.
Before partnering with Dan Jinks, Bruce also produced, "The Flintstones"(starring Screen Legend and 2-time Oscar®™-winner
Elizabeth Taylor, and veteran award-winning comedians Jonathan Winters
and John Goodman), the Prequel, "The Flintstones In: Viva Rock
Vegas"(starring Mark Addy, Joan Collins, and Harvey Corman),
"Mousehunt",(starring Veteran Actors Nathan Lane & Oscar®™-winner
Christopher Walken). Bruce also Executive Produced "To Wong Foo Thanks
For Everything, Julie Newmar!"(starring an All-Star Cast).
Mr.
Bruce Cohen
began his film career as the D.G.A. trainee on Legendary Director
Steven Spielberg's 11-time Oscar®™-nominated 1985 slave epic, "The
Color Purple", and went
on to serve as the 1st-Assistant Director of Frank Marshall's
"Arachnophobia"(starring Jeff Daniels and John Goodman). He was the
Associate Producer/1st-Assistant Director of Steven Spielberg's 5-time
Oscar®™-nominated children's movie classic "Hook"(Starring 6 Academy
Award®™-winners including: Dustin Hoffman(2-times), Maggie
Smith(2-times), Robin Williams(1-time), Julia Roberts(1-time), Gwyneth
Paltrow(1-time), and Phil Collins(1-time)). Bruce also Co-Produced
John Patrick Shanley's Emmy®™-nominated Screen Adaptation of the Piers Paul Read book, "Alive", (starring Ethan Hawke and Vincent Spano).
Bruce has served on The
Producer's Guild of America's Board of Governors since 2002 and as Co-Chair of the P.G.A. Awards
in 2001, 2002 and 2005. He grew up in Falls Church, Virginia and
received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Film Studies from Yale University
in 1983.
♦ Wiliiam Corso - Make -Up & Special Effects Artist
William Corso (Make-up Artist) is a veteran in the film
industry he has been
nominated twice for his work on "Click" and he won his first Academy
Award®™ for his oustanding work on "Lemony Snicket's: A Series of
Unfortunate Events" directed by Brad Silberling.
William was
a key character make-up artist on "How The Grinch Stole Christmas",
"Planet Of The Apes", and "Life", all collaborations with the legendary
Rick Baker.
Corso's credits as a make-up artist include "X Men: The Last Stand", "Indiana Jones And The
Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull" directed By Steven Speilberg, "Yes Man",
"Valkyrie" and the upcoming release of "A Christmas Carol" directed by
Robert Zemekis, "Crowley" and "Mourning Glory" to name but a few.
William
has also worked with Frank Darabont's "The Majestic", D.J. Caruso's
"Salton Sea", Milos Forman's "Man On The Moon", Steven Soderberg's "Out
Of Sight", Steven Spielberg's "A.I." and "Amistad," Joel Schumacher's
"Batman And Robin", "Bruce Almighty", directed by Tom Shadyac and
starring Jim Carrey.
Corso spent ten years at Steve Johnson's
XFX - the company which created the monsters in "Ghostbusters" and "The
Abyss" - where he became an art director and head make-up artist. The
collaboration resulted in two Emmys®™ for outstanding achievement in
make-up, for the Stephen King mini-series "The Stand" and "The Shining."
♦ James Chressanthis - Cinematographer, Director, and Producer
James Chressanthis, A.S.C.,
is a cinematographer who has earned a diverse range of nearly 40
credits since the early 1990's, including documentaries, independent
features, television movies and episodic series. He shot the
Emmy®™-nominated "Four Minutes" and "Life With Judy Garland: Me and My
Shadows" and additional photography on the Oscar®™-winning "Chicago". He
studied cinematography at American Film Institute and began his career
shooting nearly 100 break-through music videos with such artists as
Bobby McFerrin, James Brown, MC Hammer, NWA and Dr. Dre.
Since 2005,
Chressanthis has been a director and cinematographer of the popular
dramatic series "Ghost Whisperer". He recently completed the Renée
Zellweger produced film "Living Proof", starring Harry Connick Jr. "No
Subtitles Necessary" is his feature film directing debut.
Sharen Davis (Costume Designer) is a favorite among
Directors, thanks to her attention to detail. Twice nominated for the Academy Award®™ for Best Costume Design, first for her work in Taylor Hackford’s "Ray" and then again last year in Bill Condon’s "Dreamgirls", the talented designer was also honored by the New York Women in Film & Television organization during their 7th Annual Designing Hollywood tribute.
Some of Davis’ other credits include "The Pursuit of Happyness", "The Great Debaters", "Akeelah And The Bee", "Out Of Time", "High Crimes", "Rush Hour", "Doctor Doolittle", "Devil In A Blue Dress", and Alan Rudolph’s "Equinox", which marked her first feature film.
In addition, Davis worked with Director Denzel Washington on his directorial debut film, "Antwone Fisher". Davis is currently in production on "Seven Pounds" for Columbia Pictures which marks her second collaboration Will Smith and director Gabriele Muccino ("The Pursuit of Happyness").
April Ferry is an Academy Award®™-nominated and Emmy®™-winning
Costume Designer and has been in the entertainment business for over 3
decades. As well as being nominated by the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences®™ for her work in the smash remake of the great
western "Maverick", starring Oscar®™-winners Mel Gibson(2-times),
Jodie foster(2-times), and James Coburn(1-time), April has been
nominated for an Emmy®™ Award 3-times by The Academy of Television Arts
and Sciences®™, and in 2006 she won the Emmy®™ Award for her
Outstanding Costume Design work in the hit T.V. series, "Rome".
Between 2006-2008, Ms. Ferry was acknowledged 3-years in-a-row by the Costume
Designers Guild for
her head-turning costumes in the hit series, "Rome", winning her 2
Costume Designer®™ Awards, one in 2006 and another in 2007.
Throughout
April's illustrious career
she has worked on such notable film classics as Lawrence Lasden's "The
Big Chill" (All-Star Cast), the John Hughes comedy classic, "Planes,
Trains, and
Automobiles" (starring Steve Martin, John Candy, Michael McKean, and
Kevin Bacon), "Radio Flyer" (starring Lorraine Bracco, John Heard, Adam
Baldwin, and Elija Wood), "U-571" (starring Matthew McConaughey, Bill
Paxton, Harvey Keitel, Jon Bon Jovi, and David Keith), "Donnie Darko"
(starring Jake & Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, and Patrick
Swayze), "15 Minutes" (starring the award-winning cast of Robert
DeNiro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammer, Avery Brooks, Charlize Theron,
Kim Cattrall and David Alan Grier), "Terminator 3: Rise of the
Machines" (starring Arnold Swarzenegger., Nick Stahl, and Claire
Danes).
She most
recently collaborated
with Director Richard Kelly on his upcoming film, "The Box", with
Cameron
Diaz and James Marsden and April's costumes can be seen in Jonathan
Mostow's new feature, "Surrogates", starring Bruce Willis and Ving
Rhames - Both films will be released later this year.
Richard Francis-Bruce (Film Editor) collected his first Academy Award®™ nomination for his editing of "The Shawshank Redemption".
Born
in Sydney, Australia, Francis-Bruce began his career as an assistant
editor for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1966, moving into
current affairs and documentaries three years later. In the 1970s, he
began editing television drama series such as "Ben Hall," "The
Outsiders," "Patrol Boat," "Golden Soak," "The Timeless Land" and "The
Levkas Man."
With
Carl Schultz’ "Goodbye Paradise", Francis-Bruce entered the feature
film arena. He reunited with director Schultz on the award-winning
movie "Careful, He Might Hear You", for which he received an Australian
Film Institute®™ nomination for Best Editing.
He began a long
association with filmmaker George Miller on the TV miniseries "The
Dismissal", which led to his motion picture work on such Miller films
as "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome", "The Witches Of Eastwick" and
"Lorenzo’s Oil".
Following "The Shawshank Redemption", he
received two additional Oscar®™ nominations for "Air Force One" and
"Seven". His other feature credits include "The Rock", "Speechless",
"Sliver", "Dead Calm", "The Blood Of Heroes", "Cadillac Man", "Crooked
Hearts", the Australian portion of Peter Weir’s "The Mosquito Coast"
and "Instinct".
Danny Glicker was nominated for an Academy Award™ for his painstakingly accurate wardrobe on "Milk" directed by Gus Van Sant (Starring 2-Time Academy Award®™-winning actor Sean Penn). For the past decade, Danny has been a sought after costume designer by top screenwriters and directors. You can see his work in the upcoming film "Up In The Air" (Starring Academy Award®™-winner George Clooney and Vera Farmiga) directed by frequent collaborator Jason Reitman. His costume designs can also be seen in 5 other Jason Reitman films such as: "Thank You For Smoking", "TransAmerica", "We Are Marshall", "The Hills Have Eyes", and "Pretty Persuasion".
Danny has also created the look of the costumes for the hugely successful H.B.O.®™ series "True Blood" which was created by the Academy Award®™-winning Director/Writer Alan Ball ("American Beauty" and "Six Feet Under")(Ball's Other Awards Won: Golden Globe Award®™, Emmy®™ Award, D.G.A. Award®™, P.G.A. Award®™, W.G.A. Award®™, and B.A.F.T.A. Award®™-nominated, among many others) with whom he designed the film "Towelhead".
Mr. Glicker was the winner of The Costume Designer's Guild Award®™ for "TransAmerica" (Starring Golden Globe Award®™-winner and Academy Award®™-nominee Felicity Huffman) for Excellence in Contemporary Costume Design. He was also recently nominated for the Costume Designer's Guild Award®™ for he critically acclaimed film "Milk" (Starring 2-Time Oscar®™-winner Sean Penn) for Excellence in Period Costume Design. Danny was profiled by "The Hollywood Reporter's" NextGen Craft Issue as "One Of The Most Influential Young Artists Working In Hollywood".
Currently he is designing costumes for Academy Award®™-winner Dustin Lance Black's "What's Wrong With Virginia" (Starring Academy Award®™-winner Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris, and Emma Roberts) and immediately after that he starts work on 2-Time Oscar-®™nominated ("Milk" & "Good Will Hunting" + another 21 Awards won!) Director/Producer/Writer/Actor Gus Van Sant's "Restless".
Education: Rhode Island School Of Design - B.F.A. in Industrial Design.
♦ Randy Greenberg -President & C.E.O. of The Greenberg Group
Randy
Greenberg is considered one of the best strategic and creative
marketing and distribution minds in the global entertainment industry
today. Over the past 22 years, Randy has been involved in the
"greenlighting", marketing and distribution of more than 200 films
and his campaigns have produced over $5 Billion in theatrical revenues
alone. Greenberg is well-known for bringing a U.S.-type campaign strategy
to a reluctant international marketplace. He has broken the molds in
several marketing avenues and has motivated U.S.-centric media
organizations to relinquish their authoritarian grasp on exclusive
audio-visual material, allowing it to be used internationally
day-and-date.
In January of 2005, Randy Greenberg started The
Greenberg Group, a global entertainment branding, marketing and
distribution consultancy for Hollywood's "A" list of actors, actresses,
directors, producers and financiers. As a Transactional Executive
Producer, Greenberg negotiates rights deals, financing deals, talent
deals, production deals and international sales agent deals. In
addition, he strategizes and coordinates worldwide pre-production,
production , release marketing and distribution campaigns on films
for his clients. The Greenberg Group has clients ranging from
world-renowned star actors to award-winning writer-directors to
multi-faceted production companies and a global comic book
character-based media company.
Randy is currently Executive Producing a $20+ Million
independently-financed film, in which he put together all of the
financing pieces, it's entitled, "Dead Of Night", which is being produced by Valkyrie, "Constantin" and "Superman Returns" producer Gil Adler, Platinum Studios and Hyde Park Entertainment. The film is shooting in New Orleans, Louisiana. Mr. Greenberg is also Executive Producing "Atlantis Rising" at Dreamworks with Len Wiseman, attached to direct with Kurtzman/Orci and Platinum Studios producing, "Witchblade" with "Battlestar Galactica's" Michael Rymer, and Top Cow Productions. Other current projects in the works are "Aphrodite IX" with Threshold Entertainment, Platinum Studios and Top Cow Productions; an untitled animated feature with Platinum Studios and Sony Pictures Animation: and "Final Orbit" with producer Gale Anne Hurd and Platinum Studios with writer Russell Gerwitz ("Righteous Kill" and "The Inside Man") penning the script.
Prior
to starting The Greenberg Group, Randy was the Head of/Senior Vice
President, International Theatrical Distribution and Marketing for Universal Pictures from April 2001
to April 2004, giving him responsibilities over international
theatrical greenlight and acquisitions plus international marketing and
distribution including creative, media, publicity, promotions, new
media, research, prints, duplication, dubbing and subtitling. He
coordinated the execution of these campaigns on a day-to-day basis with United International Pictures (U.I.P.), the joint- venture marketing and distribution arm for Universal Pictures and Paramount Pictures, and served on the UIP Board Of Directors.
During
his tenure at Universal, Greenberg strategized and spear-headed the
international theatrical division to over $2.7 Billion at the international box office - $1 Billion at the international box office in 2001 (only the 2nd time
Universal had reached the $1 Billion milestone and Universal's 2nd biggest
international box office total ever), and in 2003, Randy's division
produced six (6) $100M+ international releases (breaking a company
record and tying an industry record) and produced Universal's 3rd biggest international box office total ever ($931+M).
Randy Greenberg was involved with the record-breaking overseas releases of such films as "The Mummy Returns" ($233+ Million), "Jurassic Park III" ($187+ Million), "American Pie 2" ($120+ Million), "The Fast And The Furious" ($63+ Million), "The Bourne Identity" ($97+ Million), "Red Dragon" ($120+ Million), "8 Mile" ($125+ Million), "The Hulk" ($110+ Million), "2Fast 2Furious" ($107+ Million), "American Pie: The Wedding" ($125+ Million), and "Intolerable Cruelty" ($88+ Million).
From 1995 to 2000, Mr. Greenberg served for five years as Vice President, International Theatrical Marketing for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), where he worked on and strategized campaigns for such films as, "The World Is Not Enough", "The Thomas Crown Affair", "Stigmata", "Tomorrow Never Dies", "Ulee's Gold", "The Birdcage", "GoldenEye", "Get Shorty" and "Rob Roy".
Before joining MGM, he worked as a Senior Account Executive/Publicist in the Los Angeles office of Dennis Davidson Associates (DDA) for 6 years - handling international publicity for such clients as Carolco, Cinergi, Miramax, Polygram, 20th Century Fox, Morgan Creek and Village Roadshow and working on such films as, "StarGate", "Mr. Holland's Opus", "Pulp Fiction", "Reservoir Dogs", "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", "Basic Instinct", "Cliffhanger", "The Last of the Mohicans", "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves", "Total Recall", and "Field of Dreams".
Randy Greenberg
began his career in October 1988, working for Edwards Cinemas as the
Assistant Manager of the Woodbridge Theatre in Irvine, California,
after receiving his Bachelor's Degree in Marketing and Finance in June 1988 from the University of Denver.
Paul Griffin has been working in
animation and visual effects for over 25 years now and has enjoyed
providing direction to character performance for TV, feature film and
commercial animation. The variety of work from fantasy creatures to
cartoon characters have kept his life interesting. Every project brings
opportunities to work with new people and learn something fresh about
the craft of animation.
Currently
Paul is an animation director at Griffin Interplantary Studios. Senior
Animator at Weta Digital, Animation Director at ILM, Five VFX, Series
Director/ Supervising Producer at Bardel Entertainment Inc. Senior
Animator at Dome Productions, Animation Director at Arcca Animation.
Specialties: Director, Animation Director, Animation Supervisor, Composition and
Art Direction, CG Motion Design, Supervising Producer, Music and Sound
Supervision, Editorial Content.
Conrad W. Hall, Director of Photography, is the son of celebrated cinematographer, the late Conrad
L. Hall, and the grandson of "Mutiny On The Bounty" co-author James
Norman Hall. He is a graduate of the U.S.C. and currently resides in Los
Angeles with his wife Lisa and two children Logan and Jordan.
Hall's credits include "A Gentleman's Game", David Fincher's "Panic Room",
"The Punisher", "Two For The Money" starring Al Pacino, "Elvis And Anabelle",
"The Longshots" and the upcoming "Oka Amerikee". He has worked with his
father on several occasions, including "A Civil Action" (1998) and
Academy Award®™-winner "American Beauty" (1999), as Camera Operator and Director of Photography of 2nd Unit, respectively.
Mike Hill, A.C.E. (born 1952 in Omaha, Nebraska) is a Film Editor who won an Academy Award®™ for the film "Apollo 13" (1995). Hill and his editing partner Dan Hanley have had a longstanding, notable career with the director Ron Howard having edited all of Howard's films since "Night Shift" (1982).
Hill was raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and received a criminal justice degree at the University Of Omaha in Nebraska in 1972. His first job was as a guard at Chino prison
in California.
He then entered the film editing profession, and worked
on several television programs and on two feature films before starting
his association with Hanley and Howard on "Night Shift"(1982). After many years in California, Hill moved back to Nebraska around
2000; in addition to his continuing work on major studio films with Howard, Hill edits independent films produced in Nebraska such as "Full Ride" (2001).
In addition to "Apollo 13", Hanley and Hill have been nominated for Academy Awards®™ for Howard's, "A Beautiful Mind" (2001), "Cinderella Man" (2005), and "Frost/Nixon" (2008). Hanley and Hill's longstanding partnership, which includes 18 films through the 2009 "Angels and Demons",
may be unique among major Film Editors. An important aspect of the
partnership is that the 2 editors have developed a sufficiently
uniform style that they can simply split up the scenes of each film
without specialization.
Hill has been elected as a member of the American Cinema Editors.
♦ James Jacks - Producer and Partner at Alphaville Productions
James Jacks was the producer(uncredited) and the executive producer(credited) of the Coen Brothers’ cult film, "Raising Arizona",
before joining Universal Pictures as Vice President of Acquisitions.
During his 5-year tenure there, Jacks was involved in making such film
classics as,
"Field Of Dreams", "Do The Right Thing", "Darkman", "Jungle Fever" and "American Me".
In 1992, James formed Alphaville Productions, one of America's most successful production companies with partner Sean Daniel. In addition to "The Mummy" series, together they have produced such acclaimed movies as Richard Linklater's "Dazed and Confused", Kevin Smith’s "Mallrats", "The Scorpion King", William Friedkin's "The Hunted", "Dark Blue", "Rat Race", "A Simple Plan" (Note: Sean Daniel was not involved in this particular film), it was directed by Sam Raimi and starred Billy Bob Thornton, the Coen Brothers' comedy "Intolerable Cruelty", the Nora Ephron Comedy "Michael", starring John Travolta, the acclaimed Western "Tombstone", John Woo's first American film "Hard Target", "The Jackal", starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, "The Gift", starring Cate Blanchett, Hilary Swank and Director Sam Raimi, and lastly the Weitz Brothers’ Comedy "Down To Earth", starring comedian Chris Rock.
Richard King was born in Tampa, Florida and attended the University of South Florida, graduating with a B.F.A. in painting and film. He moved to New York City after graduation and found work on low-budget features and documentaries, primarily as a picture and sound editor.
He also continued to pursue his interest in painting and drawing, in
addition to, sound designing several Off-Broadway plays. Since moving to Los Angeles, Ca. in the eighties, he has worked exclusively in film sound design and editing.
Richard has been fortunate to have worked with such great directors as Nicolas Roeg("Cold Heaven"), M. Night
Shyamalan("Signs"), Robert Altman("Kansas City"), Paul Thomas Anderson("There Will Be Blood"), William Friedkin("The Exorcist"-2000 Release), Peter Weir("Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World"), Steven Spielberg("War Of The Worlds"), and Christopher Nolan("The Dark Knight").
In 2004, Richard received the Academy Award®™ and the British Academy®™ Award for his excellence in sound design on "Master and Commander: The Far Side Of The World". In 2006, he received an Academy Award®™-nomination for his sound work on Steven Spielberg's "War Of The Worlds".
In 2009, Mr. Richard King was once again presented a second Academy
Award®™ for his outstanding sound editing on Christopher Nolan's
feature "Dark Knight" starring Christian Bale and Heath Ledger.
He
currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and son. On weekends he can often be
found sailing off the California coast on his 43 ft. sloop, "Surprise".
Jeff Maguire (born in 1952) is an American Screenwriter. Regarded for his talent for writing sports films, Jeff Maguire got his first screenwriting break with his script "Escape To Victory", a film about soccer directed by John Huston in 1981.
His most recent contribution is "Gridiron Gang", released in 2006.
Maguire's most famous film is "In The Line Of Fire" starring Clint
Eastwood and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, for which he received a
Best Original Screenplay Oscar®™ nomination for in 1993.
In 1990, Maguire was approached by producer Jeff Apple to develop his
Secret Service agent concept into a film treatment. Maguire was in debt
to his relatives and about to have his utilities turned off when his
script based on Apple's concept, "In the Line of Fire," went into a
bidding war between Tom Cruise, Sean Connery, and Clint Eastwood.
When he received a call from Eastwood congratulating him on the
completed deal (over $1,000,000.00). Jeff's wife reportedly had to
return a dress so they could afford to go out to dinner to celebrate.
Prior to this, various moguls had rejected and almost destroyed the
story. Dustin Hoffman
cleverly added the hero's guilt over failing to save J.F.K., then
exited. Tom Cruise's people demanded this be deleted, because a
28-year-old
hero wouldn't have been around for J.F.K. The dead-broke writer
spurned
about $100,000 from Cruise, but wound up with Clint Eastwood and about
$1,000,000.
Jeff Maguire is a graduate of Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts. Raised in Greenwich, Connecticut, Maguire was once a railroad worker, a waiter, and a volunteer counselor with Mother Teresa's group, "Missionaries Of Charity", in the Pico-Union section of downtown Los Angeles, working primarily with Hispanic gangs.
In the
1980's and 90's, he also frequented the famous Manhattan Beach,
California video store "Video Archives" where future filmmakers Quentin
Tarantino and Roger
Avary were clerks. Today, Jeff Maguire is a follower of Meher Baba and
has contributed to the Meher Baba journal, "Glow International".
Tech-savvy, inspired and
highly-polished production designer Jeff Mann’s recent feature credits
read like a list of contemporary visual masterpieces. In the last few
years, he has worked alongside directors Ben Stiller on "Tropic Thunder", Michael Bay on "Transformers", Doug Liman on "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" and Jonathan Mostow on "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines" as well as on the recent "Surrogates".
Not
only does Mann bring a sense of artistry and forward-looking
imagination to his design work, his knowledge of the business
incorporates an understanding of the logistic and financial impact
involved in creative decision-making. His ability to consult on the
mechanical details between idea and product combines with a genuine
resourcefulness. This expertise has proven invaluable to countless
producers and creative visionaries.
Other feature credits include "Showtime" with director Tom Dey, as well as "Swordfish " and "Gone in 60 Seconds" with director Dominic Sena.
He has
designed spots for clients including Gucci, Nissan, AOL, Mercedes,
Budweiser, Visa, Nike, Levi’s, L’Oreal and Coca-Cola.
Mann has taken an unorthodox route to success in the industry. The son of costumer Bernadene Morgan ("Evita", "Dick Tracy", "The Larry Sanders Show") and a sports car mechanic father, his family lived on humble means in a caravan above Malibu, the sprawl and lure of Hollywood not very far away.
Leaving
home at age 16 to play out his wild teen years in the thick of LA’s
burgeoning music culture, Mann worked with many artists who would stick
with him for life. Concurrently, he worked as a marine mechanic until
he reached 20, when the call of the film industry and the glut of jobs
on music videos and commercials pulled him into full-time motion
picture work.
Mann’s
mechanical sensibility, sense of proportion,
scale, color and unique perspective developed until he became known as
the “how-to” man. The scale of his jobs and responsibilities grew
until
he was inevitably employed on features.
Mann
remains a production designer with something to say. He has a talent
for generating unorthodox ideas and selling them. This often includes
exploring the farthest reaches of what directors think they want –
presented in a way they can’t resist. Informal, good-natured ,and
top-end professionalism are key to his ability to get along with fellow
workers: complacency is Mann’s one and only enemy.
Represented for commercials in Los Angeles by Dattner Dispoto and Associates, Mann continues to call this city his home. He lives in South Pasadena with his wife and two daughters.
Mr.
Donald McAlpine is one of the most well-respected and in-demand
cinematographers currently working in the film industry. An important
figure in the development of the
new Australian cinema in the late 1970's, Donald McAlpine
has gone on to become an influential figure in Hollywood. For the past 30+ years, Mr.
McAlpine has worked with the top directors in the entertainment
industry on some of the most successful films of the 1980's, 1990's,
and 2000's.
In 2001, Donald
was nominated for an Academy Award®™ for "Moulin Rouge" as well as being nominated for an Australian Film Institute Award®™ for The Best Achievement in Cinematography for "The Fringe Dwellers" in 1986 and "Wu Ting" in 1981. Mr. McAlpine was also nominated for a Golden Satellite Award®™ for Outstanding Cinematography and the British Academy Award®™(BAFTA) for Best Cinematography for "Romeo + Juliet" in 1996.
Donald McAlpine's Awards Include:
Australian Film Institute:
Awards for Best Achievement in Cinematography for "Moulin Rouge"(2001),
Awards for Best Achievement in Cinematography for"Breaker Morant"(1980),
Awards for Best Achievement in Cinematography for"My Brilliant Career"(1979)
Australian Cinematographers Society:
The Award of Distinction for "Romeo + Juliet"(1997)
Cinematographer of The Year Award for "My Brilliant Career"(1981)
Donald was also awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in the 2001 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to Australian Society and Australian film production.
He is a current member of the Australian Cinematographers Society(ACS) and the American Society of Cinematographers(ASC).
Since the mid-1980's, McAlpine's career has centered on Hollywood. Some of his most impressive work has been on tough thrillers, such as "Patriot Games" and its sequel "Clear and Present Danger", both of which were directed by Australian director Phillip Noyce,
in which McAlpine's skill with positioning the camera enhanced the sense
of narrowing possibilities. It was on these films that McAlpine became
involved with the development of computer generated images(CGI), and
many of the skills that enhance these films are on show in John
Badham's comedy, "The Hard Way", in which an actor joins a cop in the hunt
for a serial killer.
The hit of 1996, "Romeo+Juliet" set Shakespeare's
play in Verona Beach, California, and has been praised for it's
"tongue-in-cheek" inventiveness of updating the archaic text (ex.
handguns made by the "Sword" gun company). The film features rapid
editing and swooping tracking shots that create a tension and sense of
space that is all but impossible to achieve in the live theater.
McAlpine's ability to use camera positioning to capture not only the
action, but also the context for the action is undoubtedly one of the
many reasons for the film's success.
An important figure in the
development of the new Australian cinema in the late 1970's, Donald
McAlpine has gone on to become an influential figure in Hollywood. His collaboration with Australian director Bruce Beresford began in the early 1970's with the slapstick "Barry MacKenzie" films, but went
on to create some of the key films for Australian filmmakers.
Donald has worked with several of the key directors of this revival, including Gillian Armstrong, but his collaboration with Beresford, with whom he has worked on many
film projects, has proved the most productive. Films such as "Breaker Morant", that dramatizes an episode in the Boer War in which Australian officers were court-martialed for killing prisoners takes a polemical approach to British Imperialism. Brian McFarlane
argues that although detailed, the film's approach to historical fact
is heavily influenced by contemporary Australian attitudes to the
influence of British authority. Nevertheless, McFarlane praises
McAlpine's use of the camera to "underline the drama."
Yet
despite being so well-suited to the demands of the thriller, perhaps
McAlpine's most productive Hollywood collaboration has been with
director Chris Columbus, who's famous for romantic comedies
and sentimental dramas. Their first project together was on the Robin Williams ' film, "Mrs. Doubtfire",
which is reminiscent in many ways of McAlpine's earlier Ron Howard film, "Parenthood," in
which three generations of sons and fathers try to understand their
relationships with one another. The small-scale settings for these films
allow the characters to dominate scenes with often hilarious results, and
are ideal for Williams' slapstick style in the later film.
Donald McAlpine learned the rudiments of this business
with the Commonwealth Film Unit in the 1960s. The 1972 comedy feature
"The Adventures Of Barry McKenzie" launched McAlpine's longtime
collaboration with director Bruce
Beresford, which extended into the 1980's with such major releases as "Breaker Morant"(1980) and "King David"(1985). Before transferring his
base of operations to the U.S., McAlpine worked with other notable Australian filmmakers like George T. Miller ("Man From Snowy River") and Gillian Armstrong ("My Brilliant Career").
In Hollywood, he frequently worked with director Paul Mazursky. Films emerging from this professional association include, "Down and Out In Beverly Hills"(1986), "Moon Over Parador"
(1988), and "Tempest"(1982).
Donald McAlpine's 1990's credits include the Box-Office hits
"Mrs. Doubtfire"(1993), Phillip Noyce's "Clear and Present
Danger"(1994), Chris Columbus' "9 Months"(1995), and the updated
"barrio" version of Baz Luhrmann's "Romeo and Juliet"(1996).
Since 2000, Mr. McAlpine's credits include Baz Lurmann's "Moulin Rouge"(2001),
Andrew Adamson's "The Chronicles of Narnia: "The Lion,The Witch, and
The Wardrobe"(2005), "Gavin Hood's X-Men Origins: Wolverine"(2009).
Other notable films in Mr. McAlpine's filmography include the Orlando Bloom and Colin Firth film
"Main Street"(2009-Still In Post-Production), P.J. Hogan's "Peter
Pan"(2003), Peter Segal's "Anger Management"(2003), Simon Well's "The
Time Machine"(2002), Chris Columbus' "Stepmom"(1998), Lee Tamahori's
"The Edge"(1997), Mel Gibson's "The Man Without A Face"(1993), John
McTiernan's "Medicine Man"(1992), Bryan Gordon's "Career
Opportunities"(1991), Martin Ritt's "Stanley And Iris"(1990), Alan J.
Pakula's "See You In The Morning"(1989), Alan Metter's "Moving"(1988),
"Orphans"(1987), John McTiernan's "Predator"(1987), Paul Newman's "Harry And Son"(1984), Peter Collinson's "The Earthling"(1980), among many others.
♦ Patrick J. Mulvihill - President Of Film Fund; President Of Vicious Circle Entertainment
Patrick Mulvihill most recently served as Producer for New
World Sun Productions. Before this he ran his own marketing and
creative advertising consultancy, providing creative strategies for
such feature films as, "Rush Hour III", "Spiderman 3", "The Game Plan",
"American Gangster", "Righteous Kill", "Flyboys", "The DaVinci Code",
"The Nativity Story", "Ghost Rider", "Beowulf", "The Departed", "Miami
Vice", "Next" and "Titanic: 10th Anniversary Special Edition" DVD.
Prior to marketing consulting, Mr. Mulvihill was the
recipient of a prestigious, exclusive contract as a screenwriter for
Warner Brothers Pictures – the first position of it's kind since
Oscar®™-winners Brian Helgeland in the 1970's (and William Faulkner in
the 1940’s before him). Mr. Mulvihill was also a finalist for the
I.F.P. Director’s Lab with his script, "So Long, Superman" and the
Sundance Screenwriter’s Lab with his script, "Leaving". His project,
"The Chicago Fire", remains in active development at Warner Brothers
Pictures.
Before receiving his highly sought after screenwriting
position, Mr. Mulvihill played an integral role in the marketing
campaigns for New Line Cinema’s Academy Award®™-winning "Lord of the
Rings" Trilogy, "Rush Hour 2", "Life As A House", "I Am Sam", "John Q",
"Blade II", Austin Powers In: "Goldmember", "About Schmidt", "Traffic",
"Maria Full Of Grace", "Elf", and "The Notebook", among others. Mr.
Mulvihill joined New Line Cinema with Mr. Schwartz after a short but
highly successful turn at USA Films, where they shepherded "Traffic" to
4 Academy Awards®™.
♦ John Myhre - Production Designer
John Myhre is an AmericanProduction Designer who has been working in Hollywood since the late 1980s. He has been nominated four times and took home the Academy Award®™ twice. He received his first Academy Award nomination, for Best Art Direction, in 1998, for Shekhar Kapur's, "Elizabeth", bringing him to the forefront of Hollywood production designers and he went on to win for "Memoirs of a Geisha" and "Chicago", both pictures directed by Rob Marshall. Most recently he was nominated for best production design in 2006 on Bill Condon's"Dreamgirls".
John has just wrapped production on the new Rob Marshall picture, "Nine" starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion
Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Judi Dench and Nicole Kidman which is slated for release later this year.
Ronald L. Nyswaner (born October 5, 1956 in Clarksville, Pennsylvania) is an American screenwriter and Film Director.
Nyswaner
wrote his first screenplay for the Susan Seidelman film,
"Smithereens". After two other notable screenplays for "Swing Shift"
and "Mrs. Soffel", he
gave his directorial debut with "The Prince of Pennsylvania" in 1988, a
film with Keanu Reeves and Fred Ward.
Nyswaner,
who is openly gay and an activist for gay rights, has often worked
on movies with the subjects homosexuality, homophobia, and AIDS.
Examples are the documentary "Celluloid Closet" and the television
drama
"Soldier's Girl," about the homicide of Private Barry Winchell. In
1993,
he came into worldwide prominence for his screenplay of the Academy
Award®™-winning movie "Philadelphia", directed by Jonathan Demme. It
earned him
nominations for the Academy Award®™, the Golden Globe®™ and the BAFTA®™.
After
several years of working for television, he wrote the screenplay for the
2006 film "The Painted Veil" which is based on the novel by W. Somerset
Maugham. He received a nomination for the Independent Spirit Award®™ and
won the award of the National Board of Review®™ in 2006.
In 2004, he published "Blue Days, Black Nights: A Memoir",
which chronicles his relationship with alcohol, drugs, and hustlers.
♦ Scott Ross - Founder, Ex-Chairman and C.E.O. of Digital Domain, Inc.
As one of the pioneers in digital media, Scott Ross’ career in entertainment and technology has spanned 3 decades. In the 1980’s, he led George Lucas’ vast entertainment empire and from 1993 until 2006, he was the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Digital Domain, Inc., one of the largest digital production studios in the motion picture and advertising industries. In 2006, he successfully sold Digital Domain to director Michael Bay
and a group of private equity investors. Since 2006, Mr. Ross has
developed and produced films, TV and location-based entertainment
around the world.
As An 8-time Academy Award®™-nominee,
Digital
Domain received it's first Oscar®™ win in 1997 for the ground-breaking
visual effects in director James Cameron's highly-acclaimed box office
hit, "Titanic". That success was followed by a second Oscar®™ in 1998
for, "What Dreams May Come", starring Academy Award®™-winner Robin
Williams. Digital Domain received additional
nominations for, "True Lies", "Apollo 13", and "I, Robot", and has won
another 4 Scientific and Technical Achievement Academy Awards®™ for
it's proprietary
special effects software.
Digital Domain’s Commercials Division has continually established itself as the premiere visual effects studio in the advertising industry. With Fortune 500 clients such as Nike®™, American Express®™, Gatorade®™, Anheuser-Busch®™, Coca-Cola®™ and Mercedes Benz®™, the Commercials Division has garnered dozens of Clio®™ Awards.
In addition to the visual effects divisions, Mr. Ross launched Digital Domain Films, a feature film production division. The first feature film produced by Mr. Ross was the New Line Cinema release, "Secondhand Lions", which achieved both critical and box office success.
A native of New York City, Mr. Ross began his career in Media Studies at Hofstra University, where he graduated with a BS in Communication Arts in 1974. He returned to Hofstra in June of 1997 to receive an honorary doctorate degree from his Alma Mater.
During the 70’s, Ross toured with numerous bands such as, "The Miles Davis Group" and "The Allman Brothers Band". In the 80’s, Ross was General Manager of Lucasfilm’s Industrial Light and Magic and under his leadership, I.L.M. won 5 Academy Awards®™ for Best Visual Effects.
The company re-organized in 1991, and Mr. Ross was named Vice President
of the LucasArts Entertainment Group, which was comprised of Skywalker Sound,
LucasArts Commercial Productions, LucasArts Attractions,
Editdroid/Soundroid and I.L.M. Prior to his LucasFilm tenure, Ross was
President of One Pass Inc., San Francisco’s pre-eminent video post-production facility.
Mr. Ross is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
(OSCARS®™), The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (EMMYS®™) and has
spoken extensively about the creative process, content, and technology
in over 30 countries around the world.
Mr. Scott Ross has also served or serves in Executive Management at the following Companies:
Founder, Ex-Chairman and C.E.O. of Digital Domain, Inc.
Mr. William Sandell is a production designer working in Hollywood. He
was nominated for an Academy Award®™ for the Peter Weir picture "Master
and Commander: Far Side Of The World". Mr. Sandell has also worked on
the sets of "Mean Streets" (1973) and "Black Belt Jones" art director for "Fast Charlie...The Moonbeam Rider" (1979),
"Serial" (1980), "Blood Beach" and "Dead & Buried" (Both in 1981) and "St.
Elmo's Fire" (1985).
His production design credits include "The Promise"
(1979), "Airplane II: The Sequel " (1982), "Robocop" (1987), "Big Business"
(1988), "Total Recall" (1990), "Nothing But Trouble" (1991), "Newsies"
(1992), "Hocus Pocus" (1993), "The Flintstones" (1994), "Outbreak" (1995),
"Glimmer Man" (1996), "Air Force One" (1997), "Small Soldiers Deep
Blue Sea" (1999), "The Perfect Storm" (2000), "Dr. Doolittle 2" (2001), "The
First $20 Million Is Always The Hardest" (2002), "Master And Commander:
The Far Side Of The World" and "Paycheck" (Both in 2003), "Poseidon" (2006),
"Next" (2007).
Christopher Scarabosio has
accumulated over 80 credits in the last two decades alone. He was
most recently nominated for an Academy Award®™ and a B.A.F.T.A. Award®™ for his outstanding sound design work on the
Paul Thomas Anderson film "There Will Be Blood" and “Punch Drunk Love”. Christopher recently worked with director Joe
Wright on “The Soloist” and Drew Barrymore on “Whip It!”. Chris also
worked with Steven Spielberg on “Munich” and “Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls” and George Lucas on “Star Wars: Episode
One The Phantom Menace", which earned Academy®™ nominations in both sound
categories. Other notable work includes “Titanic”, which won both sound
category Oscars®™, and working with the sound design team on “Pearl
Harbor”, another Oscar®™-winning sound team.
Christopher
most recent credits include James Cameron film "Avatar", "The Soloist",
"Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull directed by Steven
Speilberg, "Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End", "Eragon", "Ice
Age: The Meltdown", "Munich", "Star Wars: Revenge Of The Sith/ Phantom
Menace/ Attack Of The Clones", "Hellboy", "Pearl Harbor", "Fight Club"
, "A.I" and dozens of others.
Christopher has been nominated for numerous awards in the course of his career thus far. This includes,
an Academy Award®™, BAFTA®™, Emmy®™, and has been nominated over eight times for
a Golden Reel®™ Award. Christopher continues to be a sought after sound
designer with many of top filmmakers working in the film industry today.
Chris
began working at Skywalker Sound in 1989 as an intern while he was a
student at San Francisco State's Broadcast Communication Arts Program. He started as a software tester for the project SoundDroid - a digital
sound for film application. Soon after, he was asked to join the
facility on a full time basis.
Prior to working
for Skywalker Sound, Scarabosio worked on the claymation cartoon "Gumby"
at San Francisco's Focused Audio Studio. As a sound designer and
editor, he is involved with many aspects of creating sound for a film.
This ranges from field recording, designing new sound effects, editing
sound effects, music, dialogue, ADR and assembling the crew to create
the soundtrack for a film.
♦ Scott Schneider - Digital Set Designer/Lead Artist at New Deal Studios
Scott
has 21 years of experience in design, illustration ,miniature and
physical effects and has worked at some of the top visual effects
companies in the industry. In 2005, Scott won a Visual Effects Society Award®™ for his work on "The Aviator". In 2007, Scott received a nomination
for his work on the "Dodge Fairy" commercial and in 2008 received a
nomination for "Live Free Or Die Hard".
Scott has just finished designing
sets and vehicles for Adult Swims new show "Titan Maximum" airing in
September of 2009. You can all see his work in the upcoming Martin
Scorsese film "Shutter Island". Some of his credits include "Night At The
Museum 2", "The Dark Knight",
"Whiteout",
"Watchmen",
"The Mummy: Tomb Of The Dragon Emperor",
"Iron Man", "I Am Legend",
"Live Free Or Die Hard",
"X-Men: The Last Stand",
"The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe",
"Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines",
"Reign Of Fire", "The Scorpion King",
"The One",
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King",
"The Lord OF The Rings: The Two Towers",
"The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring",
"Blade",
"The X Files",
"Alien: Resurrection",
"Men In Black",
"A Dangerous Woman",
"Jurassic Park",
"Edward Scissorhands" and many more.
Canadian-born Christina Smith began her career in make-up after assisting the renowned fashion photographer Bud Fraker. Christina began by advising Fraker on innovative make-up trends, and soon found herself one of the most sought after make-up artists. With a growing reputation, Christina opened a small make-up boutique at the front of Fraker’s studio. After a short time, Christina caught the eye of Liza Minnelli and Minnelli asked Christina to work with her on "Caberet". At this point, Christina was one of the first female make-up artists to hold a union card in
California.
Christina’s career has since flourished. She has worked on such films as Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List" which earned Christina two Academy Award®™-nominations and a BAFTA®™, and also Spielberg's "Hook". Her recent films include "How Do You Know?", "Law Abiding Citizen", "The Fourth Kind", "A Perfect Getaway", "Untraceable" and "Drillbit Tatlor". Additionally, Christina has worked on "Slipstream", "Seraphim", "Falls", 'Red Eye", "Sky High" , "The Skeleton Key", "Raising Helen" and "American History X".
In addition to her Academy Award®™ and BAFTA®™ nominations, Christina is also the recipient of an Emmy®™ for her work on “King”. She has been honored twice by the Canadian Film Council®™ for her outstanding contributions to film. In 1994, Christina was the recipient of the Crystal Award®™ presented by the prestigious "Women In Film" Organization, as well as being honored
by "The Girl Scouts of America" as an Outstanding Female Achiever.
2003 brought a nomination from the IATSE Local Union 706 Make-Up Guild ®™for her work on "Life As A House". In 2004, Maria Shriver listed her as an outstanding female achiever in California. In addition to her film career, Christina has created a couture eyelash atelier that provides lashes to some of the biggest female celebrities in the world. Her clients include Kate Hudson, Lindsay Lohan, Julia Roberts, Rachel McAdams, Milla Jovovich, Monica Bellucci, Amber Valletta, Catherine Zeta Jones, Liza Minnelli, Cher, Dolly Parton and Shirley MacLaine, to name a few. This success is due to her amazing beauty work and the fact that Christina makes the only handmade eyelashes on the market.
Most
recently, Christina has partnered with M•A•C®™ Cosmetics to develop a
line of lashes. She has also been featured in numerous editorial
features for her work and has appeared on QVC®™ and HSN®™. Christina is a
member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences®™ and currently resides in Los Angeles.
♦ Russell Smith - Producer and John Malkovich/Lianne Halfon's Partner at Mr. Mudd
Russell Smith began his career producing plays for Steppenwolf
Theatre Company. In a five-year period, he produced fifty plays, notable among
them: "True West" and "Balm in
Gilead". During that time, Steppenwolf
became known as one of America's finest theatres. The notable alumni of Steppenwolf
include Academy Award®™-nominees John Malkovich, Gary Sinise and Joan Allen.
For three summers, Smith worked as an arts consultant
producing the First National Bank of Chicago's famed summer concert series. He
produced the hit play, "Orphans Off-Broadway".
In 1987, Sinise and Smith made their first film together, "Miles From
Home". In 1988, he produced the film "Queen's
Logic".
In 1989, Smith became the head of production for New Visions
Pictures and oversaw the production of five films, among them: "The Long Walk
Home" and "Mortal Thoughts". His other film credits include the award-winning
short film "The Witness" and the
acclaimed "Of Mice and Men". In
1994, Smith formed the company, Smith/Malkovich, with longtime friend Malkovich.
In 1997, he produced the blockbuster United Artists film "The Man in
the Iron Mask", starring Malkovich, Leonardo
Di Caprio, Gerard Depardieu, Gabriel Byrne and Jeremy Irons.
In April of 1998, Smith joined partners Malkovich and Lianne
Halfon in forming the company Mr. Mudd. In 2001, Mr. Mudd produced "Ghost
World", a live-action feature based on Dan
Clowes' comic, directed by Terry Zwigoff ("Crumb") and starring Thora Birch and Steve Buscemi. "Ghost
World" was released to critical acclaim and
earned an Academy Award®™-nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. "The
Dancer Upstairs" directed by Malkovich and
starring Academy Award®™-nominee Javier Bardem was released in May 2003 by Fox
Searchlight.
Along with his partners, Smith served as Executive Producer
on the documentary "How to Draw a Bunny", a
portrait of artist Ray Johnson."How
to Draw a Bunny" won the Jury Prize at the
2002 Sundance Film Festival and the Prix de Public at the famed Recontre Film
Festival in Paris.The film was
nominated for an Independent Spirit Award®™ for best documentary in 2003.
Set in 17th Century London, "The Libertine", starring Malkovich, Johnny Depp, and Samantha Morton
was produced in 2004, and tells the true story of the Earl of Rochester (Depp),
famed poet, sexual provocateur and wit. The film garnered seven British
Independent Film Award®™ nominations and one win. In the same year, Smith and
partners wrapped production on the eagerly anticipated "Art School
Confidential", reuniting the "Ghost
World" team of Zwigoff and Clowes. The film
stars ingénues Max Minghella and Sophia Myles along with veteran actors
Malkovich, Angelica Huston, and Jim Broadbent. Both "The Libertine" and "Art School Confidential" were released domestically in the spring of 2004.
In 2008, Fox Searchlight released the Mandate/Mr. Mudd
produced picture "Juno". Directed by Jason
Reitman and written by Diablo Cody, Smith, Halfon and Malkovich produced along
with Mason Novick."Juno" became the third biggest indie release of all-time.
It received 4 Oscar®™ -nominations including: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and
Best Screenplay.
In late 2008, Mr. Mudd, along with Mexican outfit, Canana,
finished a 15-week sold-out run of Zach Helm's play, "The Good Canary". Directed by Malkovich and starring Diego Luna, "The
Good Canary" toured through several major
Mexican cities including: Mexico City, Guadalajara, Aguascalientes, Monterrey,
Leon. It's critical acclaim and financial success set a new precedent in Mexican
theater.
Most recently, Smith executive produced "Which Way Home", a documentary by Sundance award winner Rebecca
Cammisa. "Which Way Home" tells the
story of children crossing the border from Mexico into the United States and
was developed with HBO. Shot in Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala and the American
southwest, "Which Way Home" premiered
on HBO in August of 2009.
Creativity, ambition and integrity,
amplified by time, have, in his experience, consistently served to produce the
most desirable results.
Wylie Stateman is the co-founder of Soundelux and the Executive Vice
President of CSS Studios. He's had the opportunity to work
on more than 100 films and has also been fortunate to receive Academy
Award®™ nominations
for four of them ("Memoirs of a Geisha", "Cliffhanger", "Born on the
Fourth of July" and, most
recently, "Wanted").
In
2006, Wylie won a Golden Reel®™ Award for "Best Sound Editing in a
Feature" for "Dialog and Automated Dialogue Replacement" for "Memoirs
Of A Geisha" and took home a second Golden Reel®™ Award back in 1990
for "Best Sound Editing for Sound Effects" For "Born On The Fourth Of
July" (he tied with Michael Minkler for "The Abyss").
In 1993, Mr. Stateman also won a B.A.F.T.A.®™Award for "Best Sound Design" for Oliver Stones' "J.F.K.". Wylie's
also benefitted from rich and long-lasting relationships with many talented
filmmakers, including Oliver Stone, Wolfgang Peterson, Quentin Tarantino, Paul
Haggis, Rob Marshall and Timur Bekmambetov.
Sound has been his life-long passion. Wylie's been making and
archiving recordings since he was five. He began his career
as a sound editor,
and in 1982, he joined Lon Bender
in founding Soundelux, one of the first and most prolific independent
sound
companies in Hollywood. They base their success on resolving difficult
filmmaking challenges by putting their clients and their artistry first.
Although Mr. Stateman has been a sound editor for
some 30 years, he feels his best days are ahead of him. Wylie says, "It is a wonderful feeling
to get out of bed every morning knowing that the best work of my career will be
done today."
Randy Thom began
working for Lucasfilm in 1979. His responsibilities as a Sound Designer
and Re-Recording Mixer include working with the director of a film to
design the overall sound of the film to fabricate specific sound
effects. As a Mixer, he combines these sounds with dialogue and music.
Prior to joining Lucasfilm, Thom was
a Production Director at KPFA-FM in Berkeley, Ca. where he was in charge
of recording and mixing for the renowned station. Thom moved on to
work on "Apocalypse Now" for American Zoetrope, a film notable for its
widely-acknowledged sound design.
Randy has been nominated by the Academy nine times for his work on the following films: "Ratatouille", "The
Polar Express", "The Incredibles", "Cast Away," "Contact", "Forrest Gump",
"Backdraft", "Never Cry Wolf" and "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The
Jedi". Randy won his two Oscars®™ for his work on, "The Incredibles" and "The
Right Stuff". In his career he has won and been nominated for dozens of
entertainment industry awards.
Randy Thom is a sought after sound designer in the
industry and has a number of films coming out. Most notably "A
Christams Carol" directed by Robert Zemekis. "Percy Jackson & the
Olympians: The Lightning Thief" directed by Chris Colombus, "How To
Train Your Dragon" directed by Dean DeBlois, and "The Last Airbender"
directed M. Night Shyamalan.
Ethan Van Der Ryan was born in Alameda, Ca. A Sound
Effects and Supervising Sound Editor who entered American film as an
Assistant Sound Editor on "Cadillac Man" (1990). He also assisted on
"Avalon"
and "The Godfather, Part III" (both 1990).
Ethan won two Academy Awards®™ first for his work on "King Kong," and his second for "Lord of the
Rings: The Twin Towers" directed by Peter Jackson and has been nominated
by the Academy for "Transformers" directed by Michael Bay. He's also
been nominated and won numerous other entertainment industry awards in his prolific career,
Most recently Ethan worked on "Kung Fu Panda", "Monsters vs. Aliens" and
"Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen".
Van Der Ryan's other sound effects editing credits include
"Terminator 2:
Judgement Day" and "Bugsy" (Both in 1991), "Single White Female" and
"Toys" (Both
in 1992), "Jumanji" (1995), "One Fine Day" (1996), "Volcano" (1997),
"Saving
Private Ryan" (1998), "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "Dogma" and "The
Haunting"
(All in 1999), "Dinosaur", "X-Men" and "The Legend Of Bagger Vance"
(All in 2000),
"Pearl Harbor" (2001), "The Lord Of The Rings Trilogy" (2001-03), "The
Ring 2" and "King Kong" (Both in 2005), and "Transformers" (in 2007).
♦ Patric M. Verrone - President of Writers Guild of America, West
Patric M. Verrone is a Television Writer, Attorney, and President of The Writers Guild of America, West. In
2007-08, he led that union through the 100-Day strike that won writers
a contract covering the Internet. Patric graduated Magna Cum Laude from
Harvard College where he was an Officer of "The Harvard Lampoon" and
earned his Juris Doctorate from Boston College Law School after serving as Editor
of "The Boston College Law Review". For 10-years he was Issue Editor of
the "Annual Entertainment Law Issue" of "Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine."
He
has been an Adjunct Professor at Loyola Law School and UCLA Extension.
His television writing credits include, "The Tonight Show" starring Johnny
Carson, "The Larry Sanders Show", "The Critic", "The Simpsons", "Pinky And The
Brain", "Rugrats", "Muppets Tonight!", "Class of 3000", and "Futurama".
Currently, he is supervising the writing and production of 15
television pilots for Machinima.com. Patric has been nominated for 8
Emmys®™ in 4 categories and has won 2 Emmy®™ Awards, one for
Outstanding Animated Program for "Futurama" and another for Outstanding
Children's Program for "Muppets Tonight!".
Mr.
Verrone has also received an
Environmental Media Award®™, an ASIFA Annie Award,®™ a People’s Choice®™
Award nomination, the Writers Guild’s®™ Lifetime Achievement Award for
Animation Writing, and the Association of Media and Entertainment
Counsel’s Labor Counsel of the Year Award®™.
In 2008, Patric Verrone was voted #75 of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" by world-renowned "Time" Magazine. He
has spoken all over the globe on topics ranging from media, entertainment, and law
- including testimony before the Federal Communications Commission, the
U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, and the California State Legislature.
Angus Wall was most recently nominated for
his editing work on “The Curios Case Of Benjamin Button” and numerous
other awards. He is also the Emmy®™ Award-winning creative director
behind the main title sequences for HBO's®™ original series "Carnivale", "Deadwood," "Rome" and "Big Love". Wall is also the founder of L.A.
visual effects and design company a52, whose artists have often made
major contributions to his main title projects for HBO,®™ most notably on
"Carnivale," winner of the 2004 Emmy®™ Award, and "Rome", a 2006 Emmy®™
and British Academy®™ Television Craft Best Titles Award-nominee. Having
created the main titles for HBO's original series "John From
Cincinnati" in 2007 along with his fellow a52 and Rock Paper Scissors
artists, Wall recently launched Santa Monica-based datalab, a company
specializing in implementing digital workflows for high-profile film
and television projects. Recent offerings from his longstanding
legacy of editing high-profile, award-winning commercials and music
videos for top ad agency creatives, directors and recording artists
include David Fincher's Nike "Fate" commercial, which Creativity
Magazine ranked among it's best ads of 2008, as well as the on-air
promos for David Fincher's Academy Award®™-winning feature film, "The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button". For their dual roles in editing "The
Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Wall and his fellow RPS editor Kirk
Baxter also were nominated for the 2009 Best Film Editing Oscar®™.
Angus
Wall had an eclectic academic upbringing, including stints at a
university lab school (Longwood College Campus School), a military
academy (Fork Union), a prep school (Woodberry Forest) and a tiny New
England liberal arts college (Bowdoin, where he graduated with honors
in Fine Arts in 1988). A second education soon began in Hollywood,
where he started Santa Monica-based editorial company Rock Paper
Scissors in 1992.
♦ Christopher Wilkinson - Screenwriter and Producer
Christopher
Wilkinson is writer/producer of "Copying Beethoven" (SKE/Myriad) with Ed
Harris. His writing credits also include "Ali" (Columbia) with Will
Smith, and "Nixon" (Touchstone) which was directed by Oliver Stone and
nominated for an Academy Award®™ for Best Original Screenplay.
He
is currently writing and executive producing "So What" (HBO) for
actor/director Don Cheadle, directing the "Miles Davis" documentary
(HBO), and is writing "Sekunjalo" (Hwy 61) for producer Paul Haggis and
"Mulkey" for producer/director Mike Tollin (ESPN Films).
He
recently completed "Untitled" for producer/director Steven Spielberg
(Dreamworks), "Jackie Robinson" (Fox Searchlight) for actor/producer
Robert Redford, and a rewrite of "Moneyball" (Sony) for producer Mike
DeLuca with Brad Pitt.
In various stages of development are
"Bobby And Boris (Sony) for actor/producer Tobey Maguire, "Sins Of The
Father" (Fox 2000) for producer/director Jim Sheridan, and "Kleopatra"(Warner Bros.) for producer/director Taylor Hackford.
In
addition, Wilkinson will write and direct "Zippy Chippy" with Antonio
Banderas, and has directed three second-units, shooting principal
sequences of "The River" (Universal), "Intersection" (Paramount) and "For
The Boys" (Fox) on which he also served as a producer.
Between these feature projects, he wrote, produced
and directed "Penrod" and "Nobody's Home", children's films for Showtime.
He also served as head of development for Concourse Productions. "The
Man In The Moon" (Pathe), "Nuts" (Warner Bros.), and "Children Of A Lesser
God" (Universal) were produced.
Christopher began his career as a
musician before attending film school at Temple University in
Philadelphia. He went on to write, produce and direct commercials and
documentaries for EUE/Screen Gems, PBS, CBS Sports and ESPN. His films
have won awards at the Chicago International Film Festival®™, The
International Film Festival of New York,®™ and CINE®™ (among others).
Wilkinson is a member of the D.G.A., the W.G.A. and S.A.G.
Jacqueline West recently reunited with director Terrence Malick on his upcoming feature, “Tree of Life”, starring 2-time Oscar®™ and BAFTA®™-nominated actor Brad Pitt and 2-time Oscar®™-winner Sean Penn. West previously worked with Malick and production designer Jack Fisk on, “The New World".
Most recently, West designed the costumes for Kevin MacDonald’s crime drama, “State of Play”, starring screen legend, 2-time Golden Globe®™, 4-time BAFTA®™, 4-time Emmy®™, 1-time Academy Award®™-winner, Helen Mirren, Academy Award®™ and BAFTA®™-winner Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams,
and Ben Affleck. She also designed the wardrobe for Oliver
Hirschbeigel’s, “Invasion” starring Oscar®™-winner Nicole Kidman, and
for Todd Robinson’s “Lonely Hearts”, starring John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Jared Leto, Scott Caan and Laura Dern.
West originally set out to be a doctor, but after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley,
she decided to follow in her mother’s footsteps and become a clothing
designer. From 1988 to 1997, West ran her own company and designed a
nationally acclaimed line of ready-to-wear. She also owned retail
stores and had a contemporary department at Barney’s New York and Japan.
West earned Academy Award®™ and BAFTA®™ nominations for her period costume designs in Philip Kaufman’s biopic about the Marquis de Sade, “Quills”, starring Geoffrey Rush, Kate Winslet and Joaquin Phoenix. Jacqueline West is a respected costume designer she earned an Academy Award® and BAFTA nominations for her period costumes on “Quills”, and most recently for "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". West made her foray into films as a creative consultant on Kaufman’s “Henry & June” and made her debut as a costume designer on Kaufman’s “Rising Sun”, starring Sean Connery and Wesley Snipes. She has since designed costumes for such films as “The Banger Sisters”, starring Oscar®™-winners Susan Sarandon and Goldie Hawn; “Leo”, starring Joseph Fiennes and Elisabeth Shue; and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” starring Scottish film legend Sean Connery.
Vilmos Zsigmond gained prominence during the
1970’s working on Robert Altman's "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" and "The Long
Goodbye" and Steven Spielberg's "The Sugarland Express" and "Close
Encounters Of The Third Kind", the latter of which won him the Academy
Award®™ for Best Cinematography. Zsigmond has worked with Brian De Palma
on "Obsession", "Blow Out," "The Bonfire of the Vanities", and "The Black
Dahlia"; with Michael Cimino on "The Deer Hunter " and "Heaven's Gate"; with
Richard Donner on "Maverick" and "Assassins", and with Woody Allen on
"Melinda and Melinda" and "Cassandra's Dream" and the Untitled Woody Allen
2009 Film Project.
Born in Szeged,
Hungary, the son of Bozena (née Illichman), an administrator, and
Vilmos Zsigmond, a celebrated soccer player and coach. He studied
cinema at the Academy of Drama and Film in Budapest. He received
an M.A. in cinematography. He worked for five years in a Budapest
feature film studio becoming Director of Photography. Together
with his friend and fellow student László Kovács, he chronicled the
events of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution in Budapest on thirty thousand
feet of film and then escaped to Austria shortly afterwards.
In
1962, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. He
settled in Los Angeles and worked in photo labs as a technician and
photographer. During the 1960's, he worked on many low-budget
independent films and educational films, as he attempted to break into
the film industry. Some of the films that he worked on during this
period credited him as William Zsigmond including the classic horror
B-Film, "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became
Mixed-Up Zombies". In 1964, working with a favorite crew which included
László Kovács, Jim Enochs, and Ernie Reed, Vilmos shot the European
style, neo-noir, black and white film "Summer Children" (aka "A Hot
Summer Game") which has recently been fully restored digitally for DVD
release. The first film he worked on in the United States was "The
Sadist" starring Arch Hall, Jr.
