Deborah Del Prete - PRODUCER
Deborah Del Prete’s many producing credits include the hit Columbia Pictures comedy THE WEDDING PLANNER, starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey; GREEN STREET HOOLIGANS, starring Elijah Wood and Charlie Hunnam, winner of the SXSW Audience and Grand Jury Prizes; GREEN STREET 2, starring Ross McCall; Lionsgate’s THE SPIRIT, starring Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Mendes, and Scarlett Johansson;; Dimension’s BURIED ALIVE, starring Tobin Bell; the romantic comedy SUBURBAN GIRL, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Alec Baldwin, based on the best-seller Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing; and the creature feature LIVING HELL for The SyFy Channel.
Under her label Coronet Films, she produced the film LIFTED, directed by Academy Award nominee Lexi Alexander, THE SUBMARINE KID, starring Emilie De Ravin and Finn Wittrock, LOCATING SILVER LAKE, starring Josh Peck and Aubrey Peeples and THE DEBT COLLECTOR 1 & 2 starring Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor. In addition, Del Prete served as executive producer on Paramount Classic’s MEAN CREAK, starring Rory Culkin, which won both an Independent Spirit Award and a Humanitas Award; THE OPEN ROAD, starring Jeff Bridges, Justin Timberlake, and Kate Mara; Lionsgate’s FROM PRADA TO NADA, starring Camilla Belle and Alexa Vega; HBO’S HOSTILE INTENT, starring Rob Lowe; and ENDER’S GAME, starring Harrison Ford, Viola Davis, and Asa Butterfield for Summit/Lionsgate Entertainment.
Under her previous shingle, Dee Gee Entertainment, Del Prete produced and/or directed a myriad of TV programs, music videos, commercials, and documentaries. After producing and directing the long running travel show, JOURNEY TO ADVENTURE for NBC, she directed her first feature film SIMPLE JUSTICE, starring Doris Roberts and John Spencer. She then produced and directed Kate Hudson’s film debut, RICOCHET RIVER.
In 2001 she co-founded Odd Lot Entertainment with her former partner, Gigi Pritzker. Together they ran the L.A. based company where they developed, financed, and produced films and television along with producing live stage productions, through their company Dee Gee Theatricals, housed in the historic Coronet Theatre which they owned and operated. Some of Dee Gee Theatricals’ original works which they produced included KISS AT CITY HALL, by Tony Award winner Joe DiPietro (MEMPHIS); SNAPSHOTS, book by David Stern, music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (WICKED); ONE RED FLOWER, written and directed by Paris Barclay; F. Scott Fitzgerald’s THE GREAT GATSBY which was the premiere production at the New Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis; and many others, the most noted being MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, which ended up with a long Broadway run and multiple Tony award nominations.
In 2005, under the Odd Lot banner, she created a domestic distribution division which provided and managed P&A for a number of films, starting with the cult-hit Green Street Hooligans. This led in 2006 to the establishment of her international sales and distribution company, Odd Lot International, which handled worldwide distribution for a multitude of films with total P&A spends in the millions. Del Prete is also the co-founder of New Antics Media, formed in 2011, an online marketing and technology company.
A past multiple-term treasurer of the board of directors for the New York chapter of Women In Film and Television, she was also an artistic advocate for the Foundation of the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and has served as an executive mentor for both the Producers Guild of America and Step Up Women’s Network. Del Prete is currently Treasurer on the Board of Directors of WordTheater in Los Angeles and is a member of the Producers Guild of America, Women in Film, and the Talent Managers Association, for whom she produced the 2014 and 2016 Heller Awards.
DIRECTOR/WRITERS
Cady McClain
Justine Wentzell-Chang
Francisco Lorite
Cady McClain is a history making three-time Emmy© Award winning actress, two-time Emmy© nominated director, as well as an accomplished producer, editor and writer. Her focus is on making work that creates a positive cultural impact.
Her multiple award-winning feature documentary on female-identifying directors, “Seeing is Believing: Women Direct,” had its theatrical release at the ArenaCinelounge in Los Angeles, opening for Chloe Zhao’s Oscar-winning “Nomadland.” The film is now distributed educationally by Collective Eye and can be seen on multiple PBS stations as well as the educational platform, Kanopy. McClain received the International Matrix Award from the Association of Women in Communications for her work related to the film. The film features directors Lesli Linka Glatter, Kimberly Peirce, John Wells, Sarah Gavron, Betty Thomas, Mike Robin, Bethany Rooney and many others, all of whom she interviewed. McClain continues her advocacy work as an Ambassador for The Chimaera Project, an organization that supports female-identifying filmmakers through grant funding and amplifying new voices.
As a director, McClain has two Emmy nominations for her work on the team directing the groundbreaking LGBTQ series “Venice the Series.” Her short doc on foster girls struggling with addition (which she directed and produced), “Burnt Feathers, Broken Wings," was the first documentary for the organization Kids in the Spotlight, winning Best Impact Film at the Santa Fe Film Festival and Best Short Doc at the Mystic Film Festival. The film is distributed by IndieFlix. McClain is now an Ambassador for KITS alongside Ty Burrell and others.
As a producer on the multi award-winning sex-trafficking awareness film “The Lost Girls” (released on Lifetime) she was instrumental in getting production rolling and seeing the filming through all obstacles. Under the title “Angie: Lost Girls” the film won Best Impact Film at the Raindance Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the Socially Relevant Film Festival NY, and a Festival Award at Hot Springs International Film Festival, among others. Distributed by Freestyle, it is currently available on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Google Play, and Vudu.
McClain is also a Creative Partner at the US Coalition on Sustainability, helping to create its first website, promotional video, and outreach campaign for their public service platform, SustainChain - a result of which was a partnership with We Don’t Have Time. An experienced editor, she has written and edited several videos for the National Breast Cancer Coalition, which helped them to raise 1 million dollars at their first post pandemic public event.
As a screenwriter, her screenplay adaptation of “Paint Made Flesh” (co-written with Howard Meyer based on his original play) made the Shortlist at Barnstorm Fest 2021, was a quarterfinalist at the 2021 BlueCat Screenplay competition, and was a semi-finalist at the 2021 Big Apple Screenplay Competition. The screenplay is an extension of her work as a director developing the play and directing an invitation only production at “The Cell” in NYC with Meredith Garretson (“The Offer.”)
As a memoirist, her story of growing up in showbiz, “Murdering My Youth,” has earned over 100 five star reviews on Amazon and garnered a rave review from Michael Logan of TV Guide Magazine.
McClain enjoys speaking with both students and professionals on issues related to leadership, mentorship, and independent filmmaking. Her speaking engagements include the National Student Leadership Conference, graduating students at The University of North Carolina, the University of San Diego, the DRI Women in the Law Conference, Huntington Beach High School, Hahn Loesser Law Firm, LA City College Film Studies students, Rochester School of Technology and Animation students, and Webster University and Pepperdine College film students, to name a few.
Francisco Lorite
Justine Wentzell-Chang
Francisco Lorite
Francisco Lorite is from Spain. He wrote-directed his first film at 14 and left for the US six years later, teaching himself English by reading voraciously, watching tons of great films and loads of bad TV.
While in NYC, he appeared in OffBroadway plays, indie films and too many car commercials. He also became a member of the Shakespeare Lab at the celebrated Joseph Papp Public Theatre.
His no-budget/no-crew short CUCO GOMEZ-GOMEZ IS DEAD! won 5 Best-of awards -- including the prestigious Imagen Award for Best Theatrical Short Film. This success led to various writing assignments including the crime drama THE PEARL for State Street Pictures and directing work for SiTV Networks, Red Bull, WildSound, etc.
His subsequent award-winning short, MEDIATION, stars Freddy Rodriguez (6 Feet Under and Grind House) & Marley Shelton.
After an extremely successful festival run (70+ international screenings, close to 20 Best of nominations and 8 awards in several categories), the film has been licensed for broadcast in the U.S. and internationally (Sin City . Scream 4).
Next, he was called on by Disney to write and direct a PG comedy action pilot, NELSON BIXBY TAKES ON
THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD and commissioned to write and direct a feature film for Mar Vista Entertainment, THE CHEERLEADER AND THE HITMAN, which will begin preproduction shortly.
Justine Wentzell-Chang
Justine Wentzell-Chang
Justine Wentzell-Chang
Justine Wentzell-Chang is a lot of things, but also a writer and producer. In 2019, she was selected to participate in the PGA’s Power of Diversity Workshop with her pilot, Identity Crisis of a Banana, a half-hour kids’ comedy inspired by her own multicultural identity confusion.
With her global & multilingual background, she possibly should’ve been an international spy; but instead, uses her creative and strategic storytelling strengths, to write, develop scripts for others, and produce.
Her versatile background has led her down an unorthodox career path—from obtaining her Juris Doctorate to working in country music, acquiring and producing independent films for worldwide distribution, publishing her first book, Pocket Full of Dreams, and even writing songs for movies. To this day, she maintains her license to practice law in the state of Tennessee, even though she’s much happier living her childhood dreams of writing and living in Los Angeles where she grew up.
Her multicultural family and upbringing inspire her writing and incessant exploration of cultural identity. It is her mission to build bridges through storytelling and be part of the cultural shifts that elevate the voices and issues of historically marginalized groups.
Jason Gurvitz
John Farmanesh-Bocca
Justine Wentzell-Chang
Jason is the founder of Green Dog Films and Hidden Tears Project. In addition to directing the documentary short UNTIL THEY ALL COME HOME, featuring Mira Sorvino, about special forces who rescued American children from human traffickers,
Jason produced the features AVENGED, THE THREE HIKERS, THE RUSSIAN BRIDE, THE SUBMARINE KID, BROKEN KINGDOM, and THE PERFECT WITNESS and he was the Director of Production and Acquisitions at Maya Pictures, under award winning Producer Moctesuma Esparza.
Recently Jason won a coveted spot in the Imagine Impact screenwriting lab (2019), created by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, where he developed his one hour drama THE INTERPRETER, with co-creator Greg Kading (UNSOLVED on USA).
His feature hybrid animated/ live action, UNWRITTEN, was one of the Blacklist's Top 10 Unproduced Animated Scripts.
John Farmanesh-Bocca
John Farmanesh-Bocca
John Farmanesh-Bocca
Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca is a multi-award winning theatre director and the Founding Artistic Director of both Not Man Apart – Physical Theatre Ensemble (2005-2015) and Shakespeare Santa Monica (2003–2014).
He now serves as Emeritus Director of the award-winning Not Man Apart Ensemble, which under his watch was named by Backstage Magazine in 2014 as one of the 13 most innovative physical theatre companies in the world.
A Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation and Drama Critics Circle award nominated artist, Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca's works include Pericles Redux (European and U.S. Premieres), Wish I Had A Sylvia Plath (Co-conceived, World Premiere, Edinburgh Fringe First Award Winner), Titus Redux, As/Is, Hercules Furens, Tempest Redux (13 Nominations and 3 Stage Raw Awards), Ajax in Iraq (LA Premiere ), Lysistrata Unbound (World Premiere).
Mr. Farmanesh-Bocca’s first endeavor in filmmaking, a narrative short film drama called I DID NOT FORGET YOU, which he both wrote and directed, garnered 14 nominations and 7 awards from various national and international film festivals, including the People’s Choice Award at The Hollywood Independent Film Festival.
Awarded an American Theatre Wing Scholarship, John trained at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts in Acting (‘94) before serving as a Directing Fellow at the Julliard School - Drama Division (2003-2005).
Cassandra Pimentel
John Farmanesh-Bocca
John Farmanesh-Bocca
Cassandra Pimentel is a Filipina-American filmmaker most known for her festival selected short film PLAZA BLVD (2017), IT'S NOT YOU, IT'S ME (2014) starring Yoshi Sudarso (Nickelodeon’s Power Rangers Dino Charge) and MyxTV's original digital series A.S.S. - A SCARY SLEEPOVER (2018) starring Thia Megia (American Idol, NBC's Days of Our Lives). PLAZA BLVD premiered at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival, and to name a few, it was also a finalist at the FACINE Philippine Arts & Cinema International Film Festival and Los Angeles Cinefest.
Not only does she direct films, but Cassandra enjoys directing music videos. She has directed music videos for artists such as The Filharmonic (NBC The Sing Off, CBS The Late Late show with James Corden), Jules Aurora, Jej Vinson (The Voice), Garth Garcia, and Common Kings.
Cassandra aims to incorporate culture and diversity in her projects; her short film, BATTLE OF THE STICKS (2016) presents the Filipino cultural dance, Tinikling. In her efforts to be a voice for inclusion, she participated in the 2019 Easterseals Disability Film Challenge and directed the short film TAKE IT BACK starring Santina Muha (Netflix One Day At A Time). Out of 71 film entries, Take It Back was 1 of 5 nominated for BEST FILM. The Take It Back cast and crew were also featured on CNN Entertainment, and RJ Mitte (Breaking Bad) "singled out TAKE IT BACK as a movie designed to change the perspective of how someone with a disability is viewed" (The Wrap).
Stephen Sanow
Jennifer Grace Cook
Jennifer Grace Cook
Stephen Sanow is a writer and comedian from Washington, D.C. He has written and produced content for AwesomenessTV and has also written short stories for Hooked on Snapchat Discover.
Stephen is the author of numerous short films that have premiered at various festivals and wrote the play, You, Me & That Guy, that was co-produced with the Araca Group as part of their Araca Project program. Also he has been on multiple house teams at the Upright Citizens Brigade theatre and performs comedy all over LA.
In Spring 2019, Stephen participated in the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge as a writer for the short film TAKE IT BACK. Out of 71 films, it was 1 of 5 nominated for BEST FILM.
Jennifer Grace Cook
Jennifer Grace Cook
Jennifer Grace Cook
Jennifer is a writer and producer and has worked in entertainment for more than 20 years in television and film development, production and marketing; including at HBO, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Tri Star, ABC and NBC and was on the team that created the groundbreaking outreach campaign, SAGIndie, for the Screen Actors Guild.
Jennifer has written fifteen feature length screenplays including an adaptation of Jim Harrison’s novella JULIP for director Alison Eastwood. She's currently in development on two TV series, both are period pieces that explore themes of home, life purpose and an individual's need to understand their personal value. Upcoming later this year, Jennifer’s adaptation of LILY, a narrative feature based upon the life of Holocaust survivor Lily Mazur Margules will be directed by award-winning Australian filmmaker Nadia Tass and starring Israeli Film Academy award-winning actress Mili Avital.
Jennifer also serves as Co-Producer on LILY, overseeing the Educational and Social Impact Program that will accompany the release of the film. Partnerships with the Museum of Tolerance, the Foundation on Genocide Education, Life After Hate, Against Violent Extremism and ISD Global will facilitate the creation of unique programs intended to educate audiences and confront attitudes that lead to intolerance, hate crimes and violent extremism.
Richard Allen
Jennifer Grace Cook
Julie Marie Hassett
Richard Allen is a Writer/Director and Producer based in beautiful Burbank, California. Richard's credits include two feature films The Musician and Suite that he wrote and directed. He is an award winning writer of seven musicals that have played around the country including Off-Broadway. Richard sold and directed two pilots with The Walt Disney Company/ABC. He has also worked with Universal Studios, Warner Bros, and Sony. Richard is currently producing and directing Frederick, a romantic biopic centered on Frederick Douglass’ life before his escape from slavery. Richard’s newest short, The Last is an official selection at the Montreal International Film Festival.
Julie Marie Hassett
Julie Marie Hassett
Julie Marie Hassett
Julie Marie Hassett is a writer, actress, producer, and founder of Foundation of Joy nonprofit and Red Love Film.
Her writing includes THE JOY DIVISION, a WWII feature currently in pre production to film early 2022 with Academy Award winner James Skotchdopole, executive producing. Other projects include THE KILLER NEXT DOOR, a feature adaptation of the novel of the same name written by award winning novelist Alex Marwood, currently in development; TEMPAKILL LGBTQ comedy; PUCCINI'S TRIAL, noir legal mystery. She’s a creator and writer on a TV series currently in development, a period piece with a focus on the journey of individual worth and purpose. She’s a creator and producer on a children's educational global series with a focus on wellness issues facing children.
Julie has appeared in PLAY DEAD directed by Teller for the Geffen Playhouse, TEMPAKILL, and PASSPORT which premiered at Slamdance in 2014. Julie also directed and performed in THE VAGINA MONOLOGUES at the Hermosa Beach Playhouse for VDAY Until The Violence Stops, raising over $50,000 for 1736 Family Crisis Center. She's currently filming THE CYRANO EXPERIMENT, a romantic comedy, and benefit for cancer research, suicide prevention and mental health.
Julie founded indie film company Red Love Film with her younger sister Elizabeth Joy. Their business model included a philanthropic branch intended to marry cinema, art, and good works. Upon Elizabeth's untimely death during pregnancy, Julie took the philanthropic arm of Red Love Film and created the public charity, Foundation of Joy, a 501(c)3. FOJ creates art to spread awareness and raise funds for issues facing children as well as in support of other nonprofits that work to better the lives of children.