AFTER (2019) About The Crew

JENNY GAGE (Director/Screenplay), ANNA TODD (Author/Producer), SUSAN MCMARTIN (Screenplay), TAMARA CHESTNA (Screenplay), JENNIFER GIBGOT (Producer), COURTNEY SOLOMON (Producer), MARK CANTON (Producer), ARON LEVITZ (Producer), DENNIS PELINO (Producer), ADAM SHANKMAN (Executive Producer), BRIAN PITT (Executive Producer), SCOTT KAROL (Executive Producer), SARAH JORGE LEON (Executive Producer/Professor Martinez), WILLIAM SADLEIR (Executive Producer ), DAVID DINERSTEIN (Executive Producer), JASON RESNICK (Executive Producer), NICOLAS CHARTIER (Executive Producer), JONATHAN DECKTER (Executive Producer), MARY VERNIEU (Casting Director), ELIZABETH UMSTEAD (Music Supervisor), JUSTIN BURNETT (Composer), ALANA MORSHEAD (Costume Designer), LYNNE MITCHELL (Co-Production Designer), RUSTY SMITH (Co-Production Designer), ADAM SILVER (Co-Director of Photography), TOM BETTERTON (Co-Director of Photography/Screenplay), MICHELLE HARRISON (Editor)

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JENNY GAGE (Director/Screenplay) is both a skilled filmmaker and a fine arts photographer, having previously worked in art, fashion, and advertising along with husband, Director of Photography Tom Betterton. Their editorial work included stories for W magazine, Vogue, and Vanity Fair. They have collaborated on advertising campaigns for Ralph Lauren, Estée Lauder, IBM, and Sony.

Gage made her mark as a director with the debut of her feature documentary All This Panic in 2016. The project received much critical acclaim, appeared at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016, and was released in March 2017. Shot over three years, the film takes an intimate look at the interior lives of a group of teenage girls as they come of age in Brooklyn. The New York Times described the documentary as a “Cinematic Confidant of Teenage Girls.”

ANNA TODD (Author/Producer) is the New York Times bestselling author of the After series of books, The Spring Girls , and the recent The Brightest Stars .

Always an avid reader, Todd began writing stories on her phone on Wattpad, the reading and writing multiplatform for original stories, with After becoming its most-read series with over 1.5 billion reads.

The print edition of After was published in 2014 by Simon & Schuster and has since been released in over 30 languages with more than 11 million copies sold worldwide. After has been a #1 bestseller across the globe including Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

Todd has been hailed by Cosmopolitan as “the biggest literary phenomenon of her generation.” A native of Ohio, she and her husband currently live in Los Angeles.

SUSAN MCMARTIN’s (Screenplay) television credits include “Californication,” “Two and a Half Men,” and “Mom,” which she is currently co-executive producer on. Her feature films include Mr. Church , starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Bruce Beresford, and her feature adaptation of the international bestselling book series by Anna Todd, After , is set to be released in theaters April 2019. McMartin is currently adapting the novel Miracle on Voodoo Mountain as a feature for Sony and Affirm Studios with Doug Belgrad producing.

TAMARA CHESTNA (Screenplay ) was an EP on the final season of “The Art of More” starring Dennis Quaid and Kate Bosworth and spent the last year working on her project “Wildside” for YouTube Premium, with Gary Fleder directing, and “Scartlett’s Method” for Snapchat. It was recently announced that Amy Poehler would direct her adaptation of the Jennifer Mathieu novel, Moxie , for Netflix, with Poehler’s Paper Kite and “Veep”’s Morgan Sackett producing. On the feature side, she wrote Other People’s Love Letters and Revenge Wedding for CBS Films. The latter just brought on Cheryl Hines to direct. Additionally, she wrote Everything’s Cool for Iconolocast/Anonymous Content, and wrote After , which just wrapped with Jenny Gage directing.

JENNIFER GIBGOT (Producer) started Offspring Entertainment with her brother, director Adam Shankman, in 2002.

Since then, she has produced sixteen movies including such successful films as the Golden Globe nominated Hairspray , The Last Song , 17 Again , and the Step Up franchise. The Step Up franchise has grossed more than $500 million worldwide, and inspired “Step Up: High Water” for Lionsgate Television. Other film credits are the Tom Cruise starrer Rock of Ages , and Going the Distance starring Drew Barrymore.

Prior to Offspring, Gibgot was a producer for Tapestry Films where her projects included She’s All That and The Wedding Planner . She executive produced several Adam Shankman films including Bedtime Stories , Cheaper by the Dozen 2 , and The Pacifier .

She is currently working on a biopic about ballerina Misty Copeland, and a romantic drama starring Shailene Woodley.

COURTNEY SOLOMON (Producer) is Co-CEO and Partner of CalMaple Media and Cinelou Films, has run numerous successful production companies over the years, and is an accomplished writer, director, producer and entrepreneur.

Starting with his first venture Sweetpea Entertainment, Solomon produced, directed and released Dungeons & Dragons in 2000.

Solomon teamed up with Hong Kong entrepreneur and entertainment tycoon Allan Zeman to create After Dark Films in 2005. In his first year as CEO and Partner in the horror-centric film production company, he wrote, produced and directed An American Haunting starring Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland, which grossed $30 million worldwide. After Dark Films has gone on to finance, produce, and distribute a long list of independent horror films, and gave way to a successful run of Solomon’s “Horrorfest” – an annual horror film festival presenting eight independent features, all domestically distributed by After Dark Films.

In 2014, Courtney co-founded Cinelou Films with Co-CEO and Partner, former EVP of Worldwide Motion Pictures at Warner Brothers, Mark Canton. The company’s first film Cake starred Jennifer Aniston, William H. Macy, Anna Kendrick, and Sam Worthington, and earned vast praise from critics with SAG®, BFCA® and Golden Globe® nominations for Aniston.

Following Cake is a diverse roster of independent films produced by Cinelou, including Mr. Church , directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Eddie Murphy, Britt Robertson and Natasha McElhone; The Comedian starring Robert De Niro and Leslie Mann; Burn Your Maps starring Vera Farmiga and Jacob Tremblay; Phoenix Forgotten directed by Justin Barber; The Yellow Birds directed by Alexandre Moors and starring Tye Sheridan, Alden Ehrenreich, Jack Huston, Jennifer Aniston, Toni Collette and Jason Patric; and Nightmare Cinema directed by genre legends Mick Garris, Joe Dante, David Slade, Ryuhei Kitamura and Alejandro Brugues, and starring Mickey Rourke.

2018 marks the start of Solomon and Canton’s second and less indie co-venture, CalMaple Media – a film and television production company geared toward mid to high-budget commercial properties. The company’s highly anticipated debut feature After will hit theatres in April 2019. The film is set to be the first in a franchise based on Anna Todd’s bestselling YA novel series – a millennial phenomenon with over 1.5 billion reads worldwide and a massive fandom across 40 countries.

Solomon is currently in the development stages of an animated network series and branding company based on “The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers” – an underground comic strip created in the late 60’s by American artist Gilbert Shelton. He continues to spearhead operations at both Cinelou Films and CalMaple Media with a vast slate of film and television projects in development.

MARK CANTON (Producer) has been a preeminent force in the entertainment industry helping to bring hundreds of pictures to the screen in his capacity as a senior studio executive and producer. Canton controls many high-profile projects in various stages of development, pre-production, production and post-production.

Recently released to exceptional business worldwide is STX’s Den of Thieves , a crime thriller about a gang of outlaws who try to rob the Federal Reserve in Los Angeles and a gang of renegade cops who try to stop them. It was written and directed by Christian Gudegast starring Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Pablo Schreiber and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson. Tucker Tooley produced with Canton, and the sequel is presently being developed by Gudegast from an original idea.

Other recent projects include: Escape Plan 2: Hades, the sequel to the hit 2013 Sylvester Stallone-Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller, was released in June 2018 by Lionsgate. Escape Plan 3 has completed filming on location in Ohio and is in postproduction. Both films were produced with Randall Emmett and George Furla of Emmett-Furla Films, as was the original film.

In early 2015 Cake , a dark comedy written by Patrick Tobin, directed by Daniel Barnz, produced by Canton and starring Jennifer Aniston as an acerbic woman who becomes fascinated by the suicide of a person in her chronic pain group, was released to critical and audience acclaim. Aniston’s performance garnered nominations for major awards including a Golden Globe®. Cake was the first project made under a new venture between Cinelou Films and China’s Shenghua Entertainment. Courtney Solomon, Cinelou’s CEO and Co-Chairman also produced the film.

In September 2016, Cinelou released its second film Mr. Church , an emotional drama starring Eddie Murphy and directed by Bruce Beresford. It completed filming in Los Angeles in January 2015, with Lee Nelson and David Buelow producing alongside Canton and Solomon.

The Comedian , a dark comedy starring Robert DeNiro, Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito, and Harvey Keitel and directed by Taylor Hackford, had its World Premiere at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles in November 2016, and opened in the US in February 2017, with Sony Pictures Classics distributing. The screenplay is by Art Linson, Jeffrey Ross, and Richard Lagravenese (Academy Award®-winning writer of The Fisher King ) and focuses on the life of an aging insult comic.

Among the many projects being readied by Canton are: Red Sonja , the projected franchise, which is being rebooted as the first in a new film franchise in partnership with Millennium Media. It is based on a heroine created by Robert E. Howard as adapted into the Marvel comics of the 1970's. Filming begins in Bulgaria in early 2019; Robotech with Andrès Muschietti ( It ) directing from a script by Jason Fuchs ( Wonder Woman ) for Sony Pictures Entertainment, Robotech is the classic anime that launched in the 1980s and has fervent fans all over the world; and working closely with Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley and their longtime manager Doc McGhee, Canton secured the rights to one of the all-time great and inspirational rock n roll stories “KISS,” they are currently developing a take with William Blake Herron ( The Bourne Identity , Role Models ).

In the television arena, Canton is an Executive Producer of the Starz mega hit “Power,” which is the #1 show on premium cable in both popularity and ratings. The series’ fifth season finale aired in early September, with ratings matching that of the season’s record breaking first episode. Its sixth outing is now in production in New York City. Winner of a 2018 NAACP Image Awards including Outstanding Drama Series, the series was developed with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and CBS Studios with Courtney Kemp (“The Good Wife”) as the writer/showrunner and Randall Emmett as Executive Producer.

Additional TV projects in development include: “Untitled Daymon John,” working with award winning writer/director Emil Pinnock (“Up North”), Canton is developing a fictional story loosely based on legendary entrepreneur and Shark Tank member Daymond John; and “Rashomon,” based on Kurosawa’s ground-breaking classic film, Canton is bringing this story to whole new audiences with writer/director Peter Landesman (“Concussion,” “Felt”). In an era of fake news and post-truth, the idea of everyone having their own version of “the truth” couldn’t be timelier.

Amongst his most notable films are 300 , 300: Rise of an Empire , The Spiderwick Chronicles , and Immortals . 300 , based on the Frank Miller graphic novel and directed by Zack Snyder for Warner Bros Pictures, opened in 2007 to record-setting box office numbers, having grossed more than $460 million worldwide and is the highest-grossing March release in the history of the motion picture business. The Spiderwick Chronicles , based on the best-selling children books by Tony DiTerlizzi & Holly Black with Mark Waters ( Mean Girls ) directing, was released in February 2008 by Paramount Pictures and was the highest-grossing family film of early 2008. Immortals , an epic mythological tale set in war torn ancient Greece, was released on 11/11/11 and has amassed a worldwide gross of almost $250 million.

In March 2014, his film 300: Rise of an Empire , the companion to 300 , opened to new box office records around the world. In December 2014, Twentieth Century Fox released The Pyramid , a horror film set against the intersection of ancient Egyptology and modern Archeology, which was directed by Gregory Levasseur.

Canton initially joined Warner Bros. as Vice President of Production, rising to Senior Vice President and President of Worldwide Theatrical Production. During his tenure at the studio, Canton was instrumental in creating the notable Batman , Lethal Weapon , and National Lampoon’s Vacation film franchises. His creative influence brought some of today’s most powerful filmmakers to the fore and some of the studio’s most successful films to the screen. The latter included Tim Burton’s Pee Wee’s Big Adventure , Batman , Beetlejuice , the Academy award winning Driving Miss Daisy , and Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas . Canton also put into production such popular hits as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves , Purple Rain , Above the Law , The Witches of Eastwick , The Mission , and Presumed Innocent , among others.

He departed Warner Bros. to join Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Columbia Pictures as Chairman. In the ensuing years, he rose to Chairman of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Companies, with all creative, operational and management responsibility for Columbia Pictures, Triumph Films, Sony Pictures Classics SPE’s international theatrical operations and Columbia TriStar’s strategic motion picture alliances.

Among the films produced under Canton’s aegis at Sony were the Academy Award winning As Good as It Gets , starring Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt; Oscar-winner Jerry Maguire , starring Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr.; Men in Black , starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones; the Julia Roberts romantic comedy My Best Friend’s Wedding ; the thriller Anaconda ; and the Wolfgang Peterson film Air Force One , starring Harrison Ford.

A native of New York, Canton is a UCLA graduate (magna cum laude) and a member of UCLA’s National Honor Society for American Studies. He delivered the 2011 commencement address at UCLA’s School of History. In addition to serving on the UCLA Board of Councilors and the Deans Advisory Board for the School of Theatre, Film, and Television, Canton was Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Film Institute and Founder and is Chairman Emeritus of AFI’s Third Decade Council. In recent years, he has been Honorary Chair of the prestigious Ischia Global Film & Music Festival and the Los Angeles, Italia Film Festival.

In April he was presented with the National Arthritis Foundation’s 2018 Jane Wyman Humanitarian Award at the 2018 Champions for A Cure Gala, which took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

ARON LEVITZ (Producer) is Head of Wattpad Studios, connecting the entertainment and publishing industries with new voices and original content on Wattpad. Leveraging data and community insights, Levitz works with the industry to co-produce Wattpad stories for film, television, print and digital formats.

Previously, his Head of Business Development, Levitz helped establish the company’s monetization strategy and launched Wattpad Brand Stories, a native advertising solution. He was also instrumental in launching the Wattpad Stars program that gives top influencers access to a variety of opportunities.

Throughout his career, Levitz has connected the entertainment industry with emerging technology and mobile platforms. As Senior Director of Strategic Alliances at Xtreme Labs, he developed business and mobile strategies for the world’s top media brands including MTV. Prior to Xtreme Labs, he was Director of Entertainment and Global Content Acquisition at BlackBerry where he worked with artists and other talent, as well as launched innovative music, movie, TV, and gaming services. Levitz received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Waterloo.

DENNIS PELINO (Producer) is New China Media's Chairman and Founder and has been involved in International business for over 30 years. Most of his early career was in the International shipping and transportation Logistics services industry. From the early 1990's and thru 2006, Mr. Pelino built two very successful International Logistics services businesses, acquiring over 75 companies around the world and generating revenues in excess of 1.4 billion USD per annum. Both firms were listed on public markets in the USA and both were successfully acquired by larger Logistic companies. During the last decade, Mr. Pelino was also a partner in a very successful financial and consulting services company in China putting together over a dozen mergers of China businesses with foreign investors.

As the scope of his consulting business grew, Mr. Pelino formed New China Media in August of 2004 as an investment and consulting firm specializing in providing Investment opportunities to Western firms looking to do business in the Film, Television, Radio, Internet and Print Media sectors in China. Mr. Pelino is a founder of Xinhua Finance Ltd, a leading diversified Chinese financial Services company listed on the Tokyo Exchange in November of 2004. He is also a Founder in Xinhua Finance Media Ltd, a very successful Advertising and entertainment Media Company listed on the Nasdaq in the USA in March of 2007.

During the past eight years Mr. Pelino has Produced or Financed many independent film productions in partnership with major Hollywood Production companies. He is also a Senior Consultant for South China Investments who he assists in acquisitions and financial guidance on their many international transactions. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and family and remains a successful entrepreneur in International business, Film and Television Production and Distribution.

ADAM SHANKMAN (Executive Producer) is a 2-time Emmy Award nominee and recipient of the Bob Fosse Award, has made a name for himself as one of the most diverse and sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood. As no stranger to the silver or small screen, he has enjoyed success as a director, producer, choreographer and author in a career spanning nearly three decades.

Most recently, Shankman directed and executive produced the Paramount Pictures comedy, What Men Want , starring Taraji P. Henson. What Men Want , Shankman’s fresh take on the romantic comedy What Women Want, features an all-star cast including Tracy Morgan, Erkyah Badu, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Max Greenfield, Pete Davidson, and Kellan Lutz. The film follows a female sports agent unjustly passed up for a promotion to a male cohort. After given the ability to read men’s minds, will her new power be enough to succeed in a man’s world? What Men Want was released nationwide by Paramount on February 8th, 2019.

Upcoming, Shankman has been announced to direct Walt Disney Pictures’ highly anticipated Disenchated , the sequel to the global smash Enchated , with Amy Adams set to reprise her unforgettable role as ‘Giselle’, an animated princess who finds herself suddenly trapped, in human form, in a live-action, modern-day New York City. The original film—which starred Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden, Idina Menzel and Susan Saradon—was both a popular and critical success, and garnered Oscar, Globe Globe and Grammy Award nominations.

As director, Shankman’s previous films include the movie musical, Hairspray , the feature film adaptation of the Tony Award–winning Broadway musical, starring John Travolta, Nikki Blonsky, Michelle Pfeiffer, Queen Latifah, Zac Efron, James Mardsen, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, Allison Janney, and Brittany Snow. In addition to directing, Shankman also choreographed and executive produced the film which received Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture—Musical or Comedy; and won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble. The smash hit was also nominated for Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA Awards, and received a Grammy nomination for its chart-topping soundtrack.

He directed another long-running Broadway hit musical, Rock of Ages , for the screen in a film that starred Tom Cruise, Julianna Hough, Diego Boneta, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand, Bryan Cranston, Paul Giamatti, Mary J. Blige and Alec Baldwin. The film’s hit soundtrack, featuring cast-led recreations of some of the most popular rock songs of the 1980s, received a 2013 Grammy Award nomination for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.

Shankman’s directing career began with his debut feature, The Wedding Planner , starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, which celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year. He is additionally known for directing A Walk to Remember , the much-loved romantic drama starring Mandy Moore and Shane West; the hilarious comedy Bringing Down The House starring Steve Martin and Queen Latifah; the Vin Diesel comedy The Pacifier ; the hit sequel Cheaper by The Dozen 2 and Walt Disney Pictures’ Bedtime Stories .

For television, Shankman has directed on the Emmy-winning primetime series Modern Family , Glee and Monk , plus five episodes of Mary J. Blige’s Being Mary Jane . As a television personality, he also appeared as a judge for eight seasons on the Emmy-winning reality dance competition series, So You Think You Can Dance?

In 2010, he co-produced and served as lead choreographer of the 82nd Annual Academy Awards , hosted by Alec Baldwin, which received 12 Emmy Award nominations, including two individual nominations for Shankman for Producing as well as Choreography. One of the highest-rated telecasts in recent history, the ceremony memorably included the crowning of the first-ever female winner of Best Director, Kathryn Bigelow, for The Hurt Locker .

Shankman is Director and Partner of the production company Offspring Entertainment, which has produced the entire Step Up series of films, plus 17 Again , The Last Song and Going The Distance . Offspring is also a producing partner in YouTube Red’s new series, Step Up: Highwater .

Before he began directing and producing, Shankman has been one of the entertainment industry’s premier dance and physical comedy choreographers, putting his creative stamp on many well-known comedies, dramas, thrillers and animated films including The Addams Family , Boogie Nights , She’s All That , and The Flinstones , to name a few; plus music videos with Whitney Houston, Paul Abdul, the B-52s, Barry White, Aaron Neville, Chic, and Stevie Wonder.

Shankman is also an acclaimed author, having penned two highly-reviewed young adult novels, Girl About Town and Murder Among the Stars , with Laura Lee Sullivan for Simon and Schuster’s imprint Atheneum Books. He currently resides in Los Angeles.

BRIAN PITT (Executive Producer) ensures that each project moves smoothly from budgeting to casting and on into shooting, editing and distributing in his role as executive producer, head of production and line producer. Pitt has worked with a diverse list of production companies, directors and actors over the last twenty years, giving him a breadth of experience to pull from for each shoot. He helps the production company get more film for their money, all without denying the filmmaker their personal vision.

Pitt was previously head of production for Gambit Films, where he designed corporate and production business models, as well as collaborated with foreign sales agencies and negotiated production offers. Prior to his work at Gambit Films, Pitt was the head of physical production at Element Films. He has also co-founded Chapman Film Entertainment, a partnership with Chapman University to produce and distribute films aligned with the University’s curriculum.

SCOTT KAROL (Executive Producer) oversees all business dealings for Cinelou Films including financing, production, distribution, and negotiation of all above-the-line talent deals. In addition, he is also actively involved in creative matters and serves as an executive producer on all Cinelou projects.

Educated at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and Lee Business School, Carol furthered his education with a J.D. from Loyola Law School and began his storied career in the ICM mailroom. He currently serves as a partner at the boutique entertainment law firm KarolWilliams and is President of Cinelou Films.

He has been instrumental in ushering in the new slate of Cinelou films including: Mr. Church with Eddie Murphy; Burn Your Maps , starring Vera Farmiga and Jacob Tremblay; The Yellow Birds , starring Jennifer Aniston and Toni Collette; and The Comedian , starring Robert De Niro and Leslie Mann.

SARAH JORGE LEON (Executive Producer/Professor Martinez) is a Psychology graduate (concentration: Drama / Communications) (Cum Laude) from Manhattanville College and has a Master of Fine Arts (Acting) from the ART / MXAT program at Harvard University; this program requires a six month residency at the MXAT theater (Moscow, Russia), founded by Stanislavski.

Some of her roles include classics such as Suki from the play Celebration by Harold Pinter; Hermia in Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare and Kleopatra in Diary of a Scoundrel by Astrovsky. She participated as part of the cast of the Spanish Repertoire of New York, where she acted in classics such as: Rosita the Solterona and Bodas de Sangre directed by René Buch, as well as the role of “La Brasileña” in Pantaleón and its Visitors , among others.

Her film credits include starring roles in shorts such as 729 and In the Face of Madness , as well as in feature films such as Women , Lotoman , Lotoman 2.0 , South of Innocence (where she was nominated for best actress for the Soberano Awards and La Silla Awards), Beast of Cardo , The Seven Deaths , etc.

Jorge Leon starred in television roles such as Sofia in the mini-series The Don , Sara in the pilot Dumped , Karina in the pilot Slit NYC , Adriana for the American series Jane The Virgin (currently on the digital platform Netflix).

Jorge León just wrapped a leading performance on the film Candela directed by Andrés Farías (which project was selected at the Fabrique Du Cinema Du Monde in Cannes 2018, as well as selected winner of the IBERMEDIA development fund 2016 and Sundance Screenwriters Lab 2016), where she played the role of Sera Peñablanca.

Jorge León has a participation in the upcoming film, After , starring Hero Fiennes Tiffin and Josephine Langford. Later this year, Sarah is scheduled to star in the role of Ría, for the film Huracán , (inspired by Nilo Cruz’s "Hurricane" (Pulitzer 2003) where she also serves as executive producer. The latter will be directed by the director Ernesto Daranas (Los Dioses Rotos, Conducta), nominated for awards such as Goya, Platino, among others.

Projected also for this year, Jorge León will be participating in the film “Muero de Felicidad” (Dying of happiness) , which starts principal photography in the fall.

WILLIAM SADLEIR (Executive Producer) is the chairman and CEO of Aviron Capital. He has more than 30 years of experience in transaction financing, filmmaking, strategic marketing and operational leadership, at the senior executive level in both private enterprise and in government. Sadleir was previously CEO of Clarius Entertainment, a domestic film distribution company. He was also chairman of Dayna Communications Inc., a venture capital-backed technology company he founded in 1985. Intel acquired Dayna in 1997. He was founder and CEO of the Genesis Group, an agribusiness consolidation later acquired by Lebanon Chemicals. He was also founder and CEO of Tempus Entertainment Group, a joint venture with the Walt Disney Company/ABC Multimedia and Electronic Arts.

Prior to his business initiatives, Sadleir served as special assistant to the president of the United States at the White House. He later served as deputy assistant secretary of state and deputy chief of protocol. He was also appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve two terms on the Peace Corps Advisory Council.

Sadleir is a magna cum laude graduate of Brigham Young University, where he was a Hinckley scholar, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School

DAVID DINERSTEIN (Executive Producer) is the president of Aviron Pictures, LLC. Among the most accomplished film industry executives working today, he has been responsible for distributing many of the most significant independent films of the past 20 years. Releases he has been involved with have garnered a staggering 96 Academy Award nominations and 15 wins.

Dinerstein has a broad range of experience in entertainment marketing, distribution, production, programming, acquisitions, finance and international sales. He has built and managed several independent companies from their inception. Dinerstein has contributed to the release of more than 200 movies, helping to launch the careers of numerous iconic filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Paul Greengrass, Justin Lin, Sofia Coppola, Baz Luhrmann, Jane Campion and Kevin Smith.

Most recently, Dinerstein worked on the releases of the surprise hits Kidnap , starring Halle Berry, and 47 Meters Down . He also executive produced Cries From Syria , an HBO documentary that premiered at Sundance, and Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom , a Netflix documentary nominated for both an Oscar and an Emmy.

Film credits include American Hustle , Her , Pulp Fiction , The Illusionist , The Full Monty , Hustle & Flow , Mad Hot Ballroom , The Virgin Suicides , You Can Count on Me , The Brothers McMullen , The Ice Storm , The Piano , The Crow , sex, lies, and videotape , The Crying Game , My Left Foot , Reservoir Dogs and Clerks .

Dinerstein co-founded Paramount Classics and was one of the original architects of Fox Searchlight. He also served as the president of Lakeshore Entertainment. He started his career at Miramax Films, where he served as the head of marketing.

A graduate of Boston University, Dinerstein is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

JASON RESNICK (Executive Producer) is executive vice president of acquisitions at Aviron Pictures. Most recently, he has been a consultant and executive producer advising organizations and filmmakers on opportunities for production, financing and distribution in the independent film marketplace. His clients have included MGM Studios, Relativity Media, Millennium Entertainment and Sky Italia, an Italian TV channel.

Previously, Resnick served as senior vice president and general manager, worldwide acquisitions, for the Universal Pictures Group. He was in charge of acquisitions and co-productions for all of Universal’s distribution platforms worldwide: Universal Pictures, Focus Features, Rogue Pictures and Universal Home Entertainment. Resnick’s acquisitions included The Motorcycle Diaries , Lost in Translation , Swimming Pool , Brick , Mean Creek , My Summer of Love , Fearless , Block Party , Unleashed , Ray , Drag Me to Hell, Step Up 2 , Land of the Dead , Mulholland Drive , Brotherhood of the Wolf, Gosford Park and In the Bedroom.

Resnick is fluent in French and Spanish, proficient in Italian and Portuguese and holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, graduating cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania.

NICOLAS CHARTIER (Executive Producer) , the Academy Award winning producer of The Hurt Locker , has been involved in the financing, production and distribution of over five hundred films. In 2005, he founded Voltage Pictures, an international financing, sales and production operation. The Hurt Locker was Voltage's first in-house production and won six Oscars in 2009, including Best Picture. Killer Joe was Voltage’s second production, directed by William Friedkin and starring Matthew McConaughey. Shortly after, Nicolas exec produced Dallas Buyers Club , which won Best Actor for Matthew McConaughey and Best Supporting Actor for Jared Leto. He also produced The Company You Keep , directed by Robert Redford and starring Robert Redford and Shia LaBeouf, The Zero Theorem directed by Terry Gilliam, starring Christoph Waltz; Don Jon , directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, starring Scarlett Johansson and Julianne Moore; Good Kill, directed by Andrew Niccol, starring Ethan Hawke; Fathers and Daughters , starring Russell Crowe, Amanda Seyfried and Aaron Paul; I.T. starring Pierce Brosnan and is an executive producer on A Tale of Love and Darkness, written, directed by and starring Natalie Portman. Recent movies include I Feel Pretty with Amy Schumer and Michelle Williams, The Professor and the Madman starring Mel Gibson and Sean Penn; Once Upon a Time in Venice starring Bruce Willis; Colossal starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis, Family Man starring Gerard Butler; Keep Watching starring Bella Thorne; Revolt directed by Joe Miale; and Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile starting Zac Efron and Lily Collins.

Prior to forming Voltage, Chartier was VP of sales and acquisitions at Myriad Pictures. He was involved in the sale of a diverse range of films there such as The Good Girl and Van Wilder . As the president of Vortex Pictures, he sold titles such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Nicolas Cage’s Sonny . As head of sales and acquisitions at Arclight Films, Chartier acquired Dean Devlin’s The Librarian , 2006 Academy Award winner Crash, and The Matador starring Pierce Brosnan. During his time at Arclight, Chartier also sold Lord of War starring Nicolas Cage and The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino.

JONATHAN DECKTER (Executive Producer) joined Voltage Pictures in March 2015, as a partner and serves President & COO. Deckter oversees Voltage’s: International and Domestic Sales, Business and Legal Affairs, Finance, Accounting, third party Acquisitions, Delivery, and Strategic Planning. In addition, Deckter in conjunction with Chartier manage all new Voltage business ventures.

Prior to joining Voltage, Jonathan Deckter spent five years at IM Global, where he served as President for three of those years. While there, he oversaw and ran the day-to-day operations for IM Global’s International Sales and Distribution activities (over 250 films with $5 billion dollars in worldwide box office); it’s Pan-Asian rights vehicle APSARA; the company’s strategic sales partnerships (Blumhouse International and Dolphin Films); and the company’s interest in Mundial, a Latin American based sales company focusing on Spanish language content. During his tenure at IM Global the company held the number-one box-office share for independent sales companies for two years straight, 2014 and 2013. The company sold over 100 new features into the market place, twenty of which were either financed in-house or co-financed with budgets totaling $450 million. In addition, Deckter was instrumental in acquiring the distribution rights to the Spyglass, Beacon and Intermedia catalogues – over 150 films in total. The Butler ($176m WW box-office), Walking with Dinosaurs ($135m WW box-office) and Insidious ($97m WW box-office) were among the films distributed by IM Global during Deckter’s tenure.

Deckter joined IMG from Lakeshore Films, where he was Senior Vice President of International Sales for three years, with oversight for all foreign sales and management of a varied range of motion pictures that comprised Lakeshore’s 500+ title library. Before joining Lakeshore, Deckter served as President of International Sales at Arclight Films, managing the worldwide sales, distribution and acquisitions of the company’s theatrical films and creating new alliances with companies such as Joel Silver’s Zinc Pictures.

For five years prior to his tenure at Arclight, Deckter served as Vice President of Morgan Creek International, and before joining Morgan Creek, Deckter established FILMDECK, a boutique sales agency. Additionally, Deckter worked as a consultant for Screen Media Ventures and worked closely with industry veteran John Hyde, CEO of Crossroads V Communications.

Deckter is a frequent speaker on industry panels as well as a guest lecturer at USC’s Stark program and his alma matter the University of Arizona. He is also active with the National MS Society, serving as a co-chair for the Dinner of Champions in 2015.

MARY VERNIEU (Casting Director) has cast over 300 features during her career. With an eye for talent in both actors and filmmakers, she has developed and enjoyed long-standing working relationships with many acclaimed directors such as Darren Aronofsky, David Ayer, David O. Russell, Robert Rodriguez, and Oliver Stone. In 2013, Vernieu won an Artios Award for the casting of Silver Linings Playbook . Vernieu’s company, Betty Mae, is named in a loving homage to her mother and grandmother.

ELIZABETH UMSTEAD (Music Supervisor) , known as Libby, is a music supervisor with over a decade of experience. For nearly 10 years she worked with industry great Dana Sano at her boutique supervision firm Zenden in Santa Monica. Their credits include films Fifty Shades of Grey , The Giver , August: Osage County , Horrible Bosses , Identity Thief , Lee Daniels’ The Butler , Going the Distance , The Odd Life of Timothy Green , The Immigrant , The Incredible Burt Wonderstone , Dan In Real Life , Cabin in the Woods , Fright Night , Hot Tub Time Machine , We Own the Night, Butter , Ashby , Good Kill and Fox’s TV Series “Breaking In” and ABC’s “The Goldbergs.” With a foot in both Film and TV, Umstead served as the Music Supervisor for Lifetime's hit series “Drop Dead Diva” and Fox’s “The Mob Doctor.” Since embarking on her own, Umstead’s credits include ABC’s “Notorious,” Lifetime’s “Daytime Divas,” Season 1 of ABC’s “The Good Doctor’ as well as films Birdbox and After, based on Anna Todd’s bestselling book series.

She was featured in Glamour Magazine’s September 2013 issue as one of the 35 under 35 Top Women in Hollywood. Graduating from American University in Washington DC with a BA in Literature and a lifelong love of music and storytelling, music supervision is Umstead's perfect melding of worlds.

Further marrying her love of music and storytelling, Umstead is also a lyricist and songwriter with songs featured in TV, trailers and commercials. Writing collaborations include Mattis, Daphne Willis, Sonia Leigh, AG, Kyler England (The Rescues), Jeff Pardo, Josh Wilson, Toby Lightman, Louque, Jason Walker, David Frank, Grace Fulmer, Rick Seibold, Garrison Starr, Aron Wright, Amy Stroup, Phillip LaRue, Ben Glover, Trent Dabbs, Jaden Michaels, Joey Zapata (Junior Empire), Striking Matches, Bryce Jacobs (composer), Whissell, Matt Beckley, Aaron Miller, The New Respects, Justin Ebach, Walker Hayes and Madeline Slate.

For Umstead, being a part of collaborative storytelling in such a grand and lasting way is a truly magical experience. With music being such a beautiful time machine and emotional companion for our lives and experience, it's an amazing honor to introduce an audience to a new artist or rediscover a song they love through pairing it with a moving canvas and visual media. It’s an even greater, deeper joy being a part of creating the song itself.

JUSTIN BURNETT (Composer) began his career working for Hans Zimmer at Remote Control Production. During this tenure Burnett worked on films such as Broken Arrow , As Good as it Gets , The Prince of Egypt , The Road to El Dorado , and Gladiator . Burnett scored his first feature film Possums which was featured in 1998 at the Sundance Film Festival. Burnett’s second notable film, Dungeons & Dragons was released in theaters in 2000. Leaving Remote Control in 2000, Burnett began his 15 year collaboration with Harry Gregson-Williams, working on films such as Spy Game , Phone Booth , Veronica Guerin , Passionada , Man on Fire , Déjà Vu , The Taking of Pelham 123 , Unstoppable , Equalizer , Equalizer Two and Blackhat . In 2016 Burnett worked alongside Tyler Bates on the score to John Wick Chapter 2 .

Burnett has composed the music for many other films, including I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, Iron Cross , An American Haunting , Crave , Java Heat , Re-Kill and The 2013 Warner Brothers Release Getaway . More recently, Burnett composed the score for the Indy film Camera Store and the film The Theory of Robin Thilander . Burnett also did the score for the episode The Father Thing from Amazon’s Electric Dreams .

Among the numerous video games for which he has composed music are Unit 13, SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Confrontation , Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow , SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo, Metal Gear 2: Sons of Liberty , and Metal Gear 3: Snake Eater . in 2015, Burnett won best score for his music to the video game hit Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain .

ALANA MORSHEAD (Costume Designer) is a costume designer and wardrobe stylist who was born in England and currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Her past projects include The Peach Plum Pear, “The Story of Elle,” and “Equals.”

LYNNE MITCHELL (Co-Production Designer) is a Miami native who studied Fine Art at Ringling School of Art and Design. After finishing her BFA in Florence, Italy, she returned to New York City where she landed a job as a prop and wardrobe stylist at commercial photography studio in SOHO. In the early ‘90s, Mitchell moved to Atlanta where she began her career production designing TV commercials, one of which won a National News Emmy in 1997. In 2011, she decorated her first television series, “The Walking Dead-Season 2.” Mitchell has been working as a decorator and production designer since then. In her own words, “It is a compelling visual field that allows the opportunity to collaborate with other creative minds.” Mitchell continues to paint and still resides in Atlanta, Georgia.

RUSTY SMITH (Co-Production Designer) is a production designer with a strong comedic background. Smith has managed to have a large presence in the industry with hilarious movies such as Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me , Meet the Parents and Elf. Although he can make an excellent comedy, he is not limited to the genre. Smith designed the Emmy nominated *61 for HBO, Teen Wolf , as well as the pilot episode of Scream: The TV Series for MTV. Smith’ s versatile skill set in production design has been magnified with the Melissa McCarthy feature Life of The Party , and the Oscar Award winning Blumhouse produced and Jordan Peele- directed, Get Out . He mastered the world of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps , starring Jack Black which was released on October 16th 2018. Smith’s latest project is the romance-thriller After directed by Jenny Gage

ADAM SILVER (Co-Director of Photography) is a Seattle bred, Los Angeles based cinematographer whose recent credits include Paramount Television’s “Heathers;” Valley Girl, an 80’s musical for MGM; Krystal directed by and starring William H. Macy; and “A Deadly Adoption” a Lifetime parody starring Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig.

Recent television highlights include the pilot “Playing Dead” for CBS/CW, and the series “I’m Sorry” for truTV, produced by Gary Sanchez and starring Andrea Savage and Judy Greer.

Silver founded the Santa Monica-based production company National Picture Show, which creates content across multiple platforms. He trained as an undergrad at Yale, then went on to an MFA in film at Columbia University. Silver has filmed all over the world and has a special interest in wildlife protection and counter-trafficking, working with conservation organizations in Southeast Asia and Latin America.

TOM BETTERTON (Co-Director of Photography/Screenplay) has created an enviable resume in the fields of photography and film production with his spouse and partner Jenny Gage. Their collaborations have brought a seductive, cinematic aesthetic to their projects in the worlds of art, fashion and advertising. Their photography and films have shown in galleries and museums throughout the world, and they recently published a photography monograph entitled Upstairs, Downstairs and Outside .

Betterton was raised in Lawrenceville, NJ and studied art at Dartmouth College. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

MICHELLE HARRISON (Editor) has more than 30 editing endeavors to her credit ranging from documentaries to television series to motion pictures. Projects include Love Hurts , Father Time , You Get Me , and “Channel Zero.”

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