Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

ALAN L. GANSBERG Dean of the College of Columbia College Hollywood, a fully accredited private college offering degrees in Cinema and Cinema/TV. While running the key areas of the College, Gansberg continues his career as a writer-producer and occasional director. He has written and/or produced more than 100 hours of television, created more than a dozen nationally-distributed documentaries, and directed several longform TV projects. Gansberg has been nominated for four Emmy Awards (two for writing, one for producing, and one for documentary writing), and is a part winner and long-time trustee of The Humanitas Prize, which Daily Variety has called “The Pulitzer Prize of television writing.” He has also been honored with two Ohio State Awards, and been nominated or won a host of other honors, including nominations for the Writers Guild of America Award and the NAACP Image Award. Among his credits are “My Past is My Own?” a CBS film starring Whoopi Goldberg, for which Gansberg won the Humanitas Prize, “Littl

Director of Photography Jenny Stolte has been interested in filmmaking since she was ten years old. Through middle and high school she made many short and feature length films. Some were great and were selected for film festivals and won awards - some were not as great. However, there was never any doubt when she started college at the University of Iowa in 2003 that filmmaking was the career she wanted to pursue. While at the University of Iowa, Jenny interned with Scott Duncan, a television and commercial director of photography. Scott proved an excellent mentor and played a key role in her realization that cinematography was where her true talent and passion lied. This led to her transferring to Columbia College in Chicago where she felt she could get a more hands-on, cinematography specific education. There she majored in Film & Video with an emphasis in Cinematography. She was able to refine her talent, make contacts, and get the hands on experience she wanted and needed. While attending Columbia

Reed Martin Pt 5 interviewed for his book are independent film icons Kim Peirce, Terry Zwigoff, Werner Herzog, Doug Liman, Harmony Korine, Atom Egoyan, documentary flimmakers Barbara Kopple, Ken Burns, Ric Burns, and 'Pulp Fiction' producer Lawrence Bender, 'Juno' producer Lianne Halfon, and 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' producer Anthony Bregman, among others. Among the directors that talked with Martin were recent Oscar winner Danny Boyle ("Slumdog Millionaire"), Kenneth Lonergan ("You Can Count on Me"), Seth Gordon ("The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters") and Harmony Korine ("Kids"). Since 2001, Reed Martin has taught "Film Marketing, Distribution, and Exhibition," a course he created at Columbia Business School and later developed at NYU's Stern School of Business. The course seeks to teach students how to apply effective film industry marketing and brand-building techniques to the launching and brand-building of traditional consumer products.

Julie Richardson (PT 2) producer and Managing Member of Imaginarium Entertainment Group. She is best known for finding, developing, and producing the box office sensation COLLATERAL, starring Tom Cruise and Jamie Fox, which received two Academy Award nominations, two Golden Globe nominations and received the Critics Choice Award, along with twenty three other nationally or internationally sponsored honors. As of November 2008, Ms. Richardson is in post-production on the THE MIDNIGHT MAN for Dimension, the first in a 3 film horror franchise, and is producing the comedy pilot NICE GIRLS DON’T GET THE CORNER OFFICE for ABC, along with her partners at Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Television (24, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS). Ms. Richardson is also in negotiations with J2 Productions (BLONDE AMBITION) on her teen comedy COVER GIRL, fielding offers on her period cop drama HOLLOW-POINT, and out to directors on INSIDERS, a French comic which is a starring vehicle for Jessica Alba. Ms. Richardson’s strong relationshi

Ian Agard is a 34 year-old screenwriter/film producer/director started his filmmaking journey in 2000 after watching Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon at the Toronto International Film Festival. “Watching the movie changed my life forever” said Ian. In 2004, he studied acting at HB Studio in New York City and later that year he landed a principal role in the off off Broadway play Fiorello and a supporting role in the short film, The Diploma. Early 2005, Ian moved back to Toronto where he continued studying acting at Seneca College. Throughout 2006 he appeared in a TV commercial for Falls Views Casino and a 1-800-got-junk commercial which aired on a T.B.S. network show of one of the world’s funniest TV commercials for 2006. The year 2007 he had roles in two student films, Nothing to Die For and Arthur Moore and the Lone Wolf. In 2008, Ian shifted his talents towards writing, directing and producing movies through his own film production company, Agardfilm. He produce two short films. Karma (2008) which a

Peter Marshall The Director's Series PT 4 - We continue tip[s for being a better director & the nuts & bolts of directing film and television with Peter Marshall. Peter has had a 35-year career & has worked as a PA, dolly grip, electrician, assistant cameraman, commercial production manager, first assistant director, TV series creative consultant, television producer & director. He has worked on industrial films, documentaries; television commercials, music videos; Emmy Award nominated TV series & features. Peter has directed over 30 TV episodes& written, directed or produced over 50 hours of documentary/educational programs. His works have won, or been nominated for 14 International awards. He's worked for directors such as Zack Snyder, John Woo, Ed Wick, Phillip Noyce, John Balham, Roger Adam, Anne Wheeler, Bobby Roth & Kim Manners. He has worked with actors including Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Kathy Bates, Adam Sandler and Peter

Sam Witwer, actor, has worked as a regular on the series Battlestar Galactica and Smallville. Among his numerous television appearances are Bones, Dexter, Csi, Jag, NCIS, Cold Case, Angel, Dark Angel, ER and many more. He’s has appeared in movies as well, recently in No God No Master directed by friend of Rex Sikes’ Movie Beat Terry Green and The Return of Joe Rich directed by friend of RSMB Sam Auster. Samuel Witwer, was raised in Glenview, a suburb of Chicago, Illinois and attended Glenbrook South High School where he was active in theater and drama. He dropped out of Juliard in New York and moved to California to pursue acting as a profession. He appeared in several TV series and eventually landed the role of Lieutenant Alex "Crashdown" Quartararo on Battlestar Galactica. For three episodes Sam played Neil Perry, the “supposed” Ice Truck Killer, of Showtime's Dexter in 2006 and Officer Casella in two episodes of CSI. He went on to play Doomsday, the new rival of Superman in the 8th Season Small

Chris Power & Nathan Hynes - co-producers, co-directors, co-screenwriting team. Chris grew up in Toronto. After studying at the Ontario College of Art (now Art and Design) Chris worked for years in the DGC as an Art Director while producing short films, music videos, documentaries and television on the side. Most recently, Chris has sold a number of scripts and has been working in pre-production as a writer and director on “The French Touch” while gearing up for the official release of his first feature film – “Long Pigs”. As well as writing and directing, Chris is also a freelance editor, CGI and storyboard artist. Nathan Hynes: Newfoundland, Canada, birthplace of Nathan Hynes and his horror inspirations. As a teenager, Nathan moved west to Toronto to attend film school at Ryerson University. From there he began making his own work and honing his craft on low budget shorts and music videos. But Newfoundland summoned him back to work on a documentary that would change the direction of his storytelling. Sp

Curtis A. Smith, 1st AD. grew up Oak Park, Michigan enrolled in Specs Howard's School of Broadcasting Arts. After graduation 1997, he landed an internship on the feature film Marriage Material, directed by Jody Poldolsky. The film starred Leslie Ann Warren, James Rebhorn, Alanna Ubach & Michael Silver. Curtis was offered a paid Set Production Assistant position on Out of Sight, directed by Stephen Soderberg, starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez & Ving Rhames. He then worked on Cherry, starring Shalom Harlow & Jake Webber. As 1st Assistant Director, Curtis is responsible for overseeing the majority of the preproduction & production phases of a film. While scheduling the entire photography of the film, Curtis works very closely with directors, assuring their creative vision is adhered to. He also works with producers to insure a film has what it needs to be a quality project, as well as finish on budget and on time. Curtis has worked very close with experienced professionals of the independe

Juliet Landau PT 2 co-starred in Tim Burton’s ED WOOD as Loretta King and starred opposite Whoopi Goldberg in New Line Cinema’s THEODORE REX. She created the role of Drusilla on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, appearing on BUFFY and ANGEL over the course of six seasons. She just completed playing Russian villainess Nataliya Chernov in the adorable kid’s movie, MONSTER MUTT, created and produced by 4X Oscar-winning Greg Canom’s Drac Studios. Juliet directed the short documentary TAKE FLIGHT about and for Gary Oldman, co-directed/ appeared in Godhead’s HERO music video and co-wrote two issues of the ANGEL comic book about Drusilla. Lead roles in Independents include: THE YELLOW WALLPAPER, DARKNESS VISIBLE, HACK, TOOLBOX MURDERS, REPOSSESSED, CARLO’S WAKE, LIFE AMONG THE CANNIBALS, RAVAGER, DIRECT HIT, CITIZENS and a co-starring turn in Henry Jaglom’s GOING SHOPPING. TV guest appearances include: MILLENNIUM, LA FEMME NIKITA, STRONG MEDICINE, a starring role in the Lifetime movie REUNION and a project directed by Jake

Carlo Petrick has been involved in the business of film for more than 30 years, primarily on the exhibition side, but also on the creative side. Petrick, grew up a movie fan and was captivated by the images that flickered across the big screen, determined to someday be part of the magic that was movies. Petrick’s filmmaking career began when he bought a Kodak 8MM camera and started to document the world around him. Petrick graduated with a degree in communications from UW-Green Bay. Petrick figured that a movie theatre was a great place to work, because he could see all the movies he wanted for free. and it was a good way to learn the movie business. When Werner Herzog when he was filming Strozek in central Wisconsin. Herzog need a place to screen dailies and chose the theatre that Petrick managed. Petrick’s experience in marketing and promotion includes developing local and regional campaigns for films, PR as the official spokesperson for his company (including a cutaway on Oprah) as well as working closely

Colleen Nystedt, PT 2 MovieSet's CEO, President and Founder is a motion picture producer and production executive who drew on her extensive 20+ year experience in physical production, finance, business affairs and creative development to engineer a platform and toolkit that seamlessly brings the traditional motion picture Industry online. ??First recognized in 2006 with the Vortex Award for Excellence in New Media Innovation by the Marshall McLuhan Festival of the Future, MovieSet continues to receive accolades for its disruptive technology and inventive business processes. MovieSet’s mandate is to build core audiences around film and television projects beginning while they’re being made, in order to capitalize on fan’s insatiable appetite for behind-the-scenes content. MovieSet’s suite of production tools efficiently integrates with the actual production process, making it possible to mine content in real time and thereby provide an authentic view to fans. MovieSet’s social media strategies help build c

Larry Thomas is an actor most recognized for his Emmy nominated performance as "The Soup Nazi" from Seinfeld. Larry has been an actor for twenty-five years and is a veteran of dozens of Films, TV shows and hundreds of theatre performances. Some of his credits include the film, Postal, Arrested Development, Hot Properties, Threshold, Scrubs and a Lexus commercial as a crazed pre-Bugsy visionary selling the idea of Vegas. As far as theatre goes, last year Larry completed a thirty-five city, one hundred and forty show production of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple-Female Version starring Barbara Eden, and rumor has it that it's not over yet. Larry grew up dreaming of being on the big or small screen. As an Olympic gold medalist in the insomnia-athalon Larry watched a lot of all night TV. Major comedy influences were W.C. Fields, The Three Stooges and Laurel and Hardy. Also getting lost in those great golden era of Hollywood films wishing he could be Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Gene Kelly,

Edoardo Ballerini PT 2recently completed filming the feature film “No God, No Master,” opposite Academy Award Nominee David Strathairn. Also in 2009, Edoardo was seen in “The Caller,” with Frank Langella, “Corrado” opposite Tom Sizemore, and in the ensemble “Life is Hot in Cracktown” with Kerry Washington and Illeana Douglas. Edoardo has been called “an actor to watch” (Variety), “a most promising actor” (Los Angeles Times), and a ‘heartthrob” (The Hollywood Reporter).He has appeared in over forty films and television series, including the blockbuster “Romeo Must Die,” the highly acclaimed indie “Dinner Rush,” co-starring with Danny Aiello, and in a memorable recurring turn in “The Sopranos.” Edoardo’s directorial debut "Good Night Valentino" premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival and later screened at the Museum of Modern Art (New York) and the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, in Italy. He also played the title character, silent screen idol Rudolph Valentino. The short film is permanently archived

Sarah Nean Bruce runs Bel Age Pix. A twenty year veteran in the entertainment biz, Recent projects: Additional Unit Producer of “The Delphi Effect” (aka “Kiss Me Deadly”) for Regent Entertainment; Co-Executive Producer of film festival award-winning noir sci-fi feature “Yesterday Was A Lie” for Helicon Arts Cooperative; Co-Executive Producer of the Hallmark film “Where There’s A Will” (Love, Clyde)” directed by John Putch, starring Marion Ross, Frank Whaley, & Christine Elise for Larry Levinson Productions; Co-Executive Producer of the Hallmark Romantic Comedy “The Family Plan” starring Tori Spelling & Little Miss Sunshine’s “Olive” Abigail Breslin for Larry Levinson Productions released domestically and worldwide; Director of the thriller / horror feature film “Bram Stoker’s Way of The Vampire” released domestically through Blockbuster Entertainment and worldwide; Director / Producer of the dramatic ensemble piece “The Marriage Undone”; Producer of the hybridized Live-Action / CGI television pilot pr

Jon Cowley has been entrenched in the VFX industry for the past twelve years - both as an artist, an onset supervisor and within various VFX facilities. Over that time, he has had the pleasure of VFX Supervising feature film work throughout Canada, into the United States and on select projects for the Chinese market. Recent projects include the Academy Award nominated District 9 (both for Best Picture and Best Visual Effects) and the upcoming Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Past credits, both as an artist and a Supervisor, include Smallville, Watchmen, X-Files: I Want to Believe, Panic Room and Stay. Jon is a board member of the Vancouver branch of The Visual Effects Society and stays active within the VFX community. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Uwe Boll is certainly a larger than life character. An intelligent, tough individual who dares to challenge the system at all levels. He is a true film maverick. Dr. Boll studied film directing at HFF in Munich, Germany and the University for Music and Acting in Vienna, Austria. He also pursued German Literature and Economics at the Universities of Cologne and Siegen, Germany and by 1995 Uwe obtained his doctorate in German Literature. He became the Chief Executive of BOLU Film Production and Distribution, Schweinfurt, Germany and BOLL KG, Burscheid, Germany in 1992. By 1995 Uwe began working with Taunus Film-Production GmbH, Wiesbaden, Germany as a producer and director.He embarked upon his directing career, completing over 15 feature films. In 2005, Uwe directed BLOODRAYNE in Romania and IN THE NAME OF KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE, in Vancouver, BC. The Bloodrayne cast included Sir Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) and Kristanna Loken (Terminator III). During the production of Bloodrayne, Uwe rescued and adopted his sec

Sam Auster PT 3Movie Making Nuts & Bolts with Problem solving, directing, the RED camera & more. Sam began shooting news for NBC & CNN in Chicago. Auster has written & directed 3 feature films. “THE RETURN OF JOE RICH”, (currently in post-production) is a pitch-black comedy about a young man seeking redemption by joining the Mafia starring Sam Witwer, Talia Shire & Armand Assante “THE RAPE OF EDEN”, is a futuristic action adventure, released on video by West Side Studios. His first feature, “SCREEN TEST”, a teen sex comedy, was theatrically released by CineTel & shipped a record number of units on home video through RCA/Columbia. Auster has won multiple Echo awards for his commercial work, He recently directed the national spots “Open Road” for ProtectMyID.com, “Haz-Mat” for Reynolds Aluminum, & the animated spot “Missing Something” for TurboTax. Auster has shot & directed numerous other commercials for companies such as AARP, Burger King, Skechers USA, LowerMyBills.com, &

Danielle Eskinazi casting director (PT 2) has been casting for twenty years. We will continue to discuss what she looks for in an actor for a role in a film or TV versus in a commercial. When actors audition for what makes them stand out and how much preperation do they need for a part? What do directors look for? How important is a slate?Should they continually take classes does she accept postcards from actors? What do you look for in their 8x10'sand how important is the picture? How should they be in callbacks and more! She started as a casting assistant for Reesa Bramon and Billy Hopkins (At Close Range), Vickie Thomas (Syd and Nancy), and Amanda Mackey (A League of Their Own). She was later offered a film of her own called Night Train to Kathmandu, during which she discovered Milla Jovovich, who was 13 years old at the time. After that, she cast a film called Cool Blue, starring Woody Harrelson and giving Hank Azaria his first break. When HKM Productions, a commercial production company, wanted a film ca

Director Terry Green PT 2 has 25 years experience in the entertainment industry, with 13 years managing a successful motion picture production company. He is an Award-winning writer & director with access to the highest levels of talent, production staff & project financing. In 1997 he founded an independent company Strata Productions, Inc. that has financed $20 million in private equity for the production of 3 feature films, amassing over 750 financial partners over the past 13 years. Garnered awards from some of the nation’s most prestigious film festivals. Worked with Academy Award caliber talent, including David Strathairn, Timothy Hutton, Virginia Madson & Lindsay Crouse, among others. Strata Productions, Inc. is in Chicago, where it was instrumentally involved in advancing local film education and awareness, offering internships to local high schools and universities. The principals of the company have worked directly with state and local film offices, including the offices of the Honorable