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ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS
Jon Favreau (Director)
Jon Favreau made his feature film directorial debut with Made, a script he wrote and starred in opposite Vince Vaughn and Sean Puffy Combs. After establishing himself as an actor and writer of considerable talent with the acclaimed hipster comedy, Swingers, Favreau has continued to challenge himself with a variety of eclectic projects.
Favreau is next set to direct Dreamwork's Date School starring Drew Barrymore for Red Hour Films.
Favreau will next be seen in Universal Pictures Wimbledon opposite Kirsten Dunst and Paul Bettany, and Columbia Pictures' Something's Gotta Give with Jack Nicholson for director, Nancy Meyers.
Favreau was most recently seen in Mark Steven Johnson’s film Daredevil with Ben Affleck, an adaptation of the Marvel Comics franchise for The 20th Century Fox-Regency Enterprises. He also starred in a career-defining turn portraying legendary heavyweight champion, Rocky Marciano, in the MGM biopic Marciano. Favreau's other feature film credits include Love and Sex opposite Famke Janssen; The Replacements with Keanu Reeves;
Very Bad Things, opposite Christian Slater and Cameron Diaz; and Deep Impact with Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman, and Vanessa Redgrave.
Favreau's television credits include a recurring role on the popular situation
comedy “Friends”; and a special appearance on HBO's critically acclaimed “The Sopranos”, playing himself. He is also the creator, producer and host of the IFC series "Dinner for Five."
David Berenbaum (Screenwriter)
David Berenbaum is a native of Philadelphia and a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
In 2000, Berenbaum wrote and directed, “Shalom”, a one-minute short homage to the “Whassup” ads that caused an international sensation amongst rabbis the world over.
In 2001, Berenbaum was asked to join the Disney Writers in Residence Program. During his tenure there, he wrote The Haunted Mansion, a screenplay based upon the popular Disney Theme Park ride. The movie stars Eddie Murphy, is directed by Rob Minkoff (The Lion King, Stuart Little) and produced by Don Hahn (Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) and Andrew Gunn (Country Bears, Freaky Friday). The film will be released through Walt
Disney Pictures on November 26th, 2003.
Berenbaum is currently writing The Spiderwick Cronicles for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon films. The screenplay is an adaptation of the Simon & Schuster, New York Times best-selling children series by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black.
Berenbaum is represented by the William Morris Agency, attorney Eric Feig and Bar Management (the management division of Guy Walks into a Bar).
Jon Berg (Producer)
In January of 2000, Berg founded a management and production company, which soon thereafter evolved into Guy Walks into a Bar, a collaboration with long-time friend, screenwriter, director and novelist, Todd Komarnicki. Elf is the first film produced through their shingle.
Berg began his career at Brillstein-Grey Entertainment (BGE) in 1995, where he worked under famed entertainment mogul manager Bernie Brillstein in his motion-picture department. There, while still an assistant, Berg set-up his first picture, a remake of The Toy, for Sony. While at BGE, Mark Canton, the former head of Sony Pictures, tapped Berg to help start his production company at Warner Bros. studios. During his three-year
tenure at Canton, he oversaw the development of 30 projects including Get Carter and Angel Eyes starring Jennifer Lopez.
In 1998, Universal Studios Chairwoman, Stacey Snider, hired Berg away as a Director of Development. At Universal, Berg was instrumental in finding, buying and developing The Bourne Identity starring Matt Damon and directed by Doug Liman. He was also an executive on American Pie, Josie and the Pussycats, and Big Fat Liar.
Berg runs Guy Walks into a Bar’s production division and is developing many projects at different studios including The Retreat with David Dorfman (Anger Management) at New Line and Dillinger with Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney at Warners.
Berg is the executive producer on MGM’s Out of Time, a thriller directed by Carl Franklin starring Denzel Washington, which premiered at this year’s Toronto Film Festival and was released nationwide in October, 2003.
Todd Komarnicki (Producer)
Todd Komarnicki is a novelist, director, screenwriter and playwright whose work has received worldwide critical acclaim. As a filmmaker, Komarnicki directed Resistance, which was produced by Academy Award-winning producer Laurens Geels and Paige Simpson. The film stars Julia Ormond and Bill Paxton and is based on a screenplay which Komarnicki adapted from an Anita Shreve novel. Having opened the Stony brook Film Festival this summer, Resistance is slated for a spring 2004 release.
Komarnicki is the principal partner in the production/management company, Guy Walks into a Bar, which has eight projects, set up at various studios, including: The Retreat (New Line); Fat Chance with Gone Fishin’ Productions (Universal); Number One Girl with Mark Johnson Productions (Intermedia Films); and Dillinger, with Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney producing. Komarnicki will write and serve as Executive Producer on “The Flash” for Warner Bros. television.
Shauna Robertson (Producer)
Born in Toronto, Robertson moved to Los Angeles in 1992 and has been connected to some of Hollywood most talented directors and actors. She worked with Mike Binder Productions on Crossing The Bridge and Indian Summer and with Damon Wayans’ production company Wife & Kids on Mo Money and Blankman.’ She also has also worked with the Zucker Brothers. In 1997, Shauna teamed up with director Jay Roach to form Everyman Pictures and released several high profile projects including
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Mystery, Alaska – which she served as associate producer, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and Meet The Parents starring Ben Stiller and Robert DeNiro – as co-producer. Robertson executive produced Anchorman starring Will Ferrell and Christina Applegate, a summer release for DreamWorks.
Jimmy Miller (Executive Producer)
Jimmy Miller, partner in Mosaic Media Group, manages some of the most sought-after acting, writing, and directing talent in the industry, including Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Garry Shandling, Téa Leoni, Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G), writers Judd Apatow (“Freaks and Geeks,” “Undeclared”) and David Hollander (“The Guardian”), and director Jay Roach (The Austin Powers series, Meet the Parents).
Julie Wixson Darmody (Executive Producer)
Julie Wixson Darmody, Talent Manager at Mosaic Media Group, represents and impressive roster of actors and writers. She works with such notable actors as Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn (Old School), Matthew Lillard (Scooby Doo), Sarah Silverman (School of Rock) and Chris Parnell (“Saturday Night Live”) and writers Chris Henchy (“I’m With Her”), Dennis McNicholas (“Saturday Night Live”) and T. Sean Shannon (“Saturday Night Live”).
David Householter (Co-Producer)
David Householter recently handled the dual role of co-producer/unit production manager on the 2003 Paramount sci-fi film The Core directed by Jon Amiel and starring Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank; as well as the teen action movie Clockstoppers, for Paramount and director Jonathan Frakes.
David began working on films in 1984 as a set production assistant on Wes Craven’s seminal horror film A Nightmare on Elm Street and soon took the next step up the ladder as a second assistant director on Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop. His credits as a first assistant director include Drugstore Cowboy, The Marrying Man, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Heavyweights and The Nutty Professor. As a unit production manager,
David worked on a number of projects beginning with The Chamber and including such films as Mystery Men and Little Nicky.
Greg Gardiner (Director of Photography)
Greg Gardiner is currently shooting Dennis Gordon’s NY Minute for Warner Bros. His other recent feature film credits are Reggie Rock Bythewood’s Biker Boyz for Dream Works SKG; Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black 2, for Sony Pictures; and Jake Kasdan’s Orange County for Paramount Pictures.
He also photographed the WWII prisoner of war drama To End All Wars, with Director David Cunningham, and Steven Gyllenhall’s Homegrown. Gardiner won the Best Cinematography Award at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival for the independent feature, Suture, directed by David Siegel and Scott McGehee.
Laura Jean Shannon (Costume Designer)
Costume Designer Laura Jean Shannon's recent credits include Woody Allen's Anything Else and David Goyer's Blade Trinity.
Shannon is known for her designs on many independent classics as well. The list includes Darren Aronofsky's Requiem For a Dream, Rose Troche's The Safety Of Objects, Jon Favereau's Made, Lodge Kerrigan's Claire Dolan, Bob Gosse's Niagara Niagara and many others.
Laura Jean lives in New York City with her beloved dog Hunter.
For more info visit Laurajeanshannon.com
Rusty Smith (Production Designer)
Rusty Smith has served as production designer on the films Agent Cody Banks, Austin Powers in Goldmember, Serving Sara, Meet the Parents, Austin Powers in The Spy Who Shagged Me, Lost and Found, Mystery Alaska, The Beautician and the Beast, Dunston Checks In, Camp Nowhere, and Talia Shire’s One Night Stand. His television credits include Billy Crystal's Emmy nominated “*61” and the movie-of-the-week “A Friend to Die For.” Smith served as art director on
the films The Good Son, Diary of a Hitman, Diggstown, and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom, and as assistant art director on A League of Their Own. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, Smith designed the Broadway production of Athol Fugard’s “Blood Knot”, and the Second Stage production of Lynda Barry’s “The Good Times Are Killing Me.”
Dan Lebental (Editor)
Dan Lebental’s most recent credits include, From Hell and Happy Campers in 2001. Lebental’s next project, The Woods, will be released in 2004. Other film credits include, Where the Money Is, American Pimp, Very Bad Things, Deceiver, Dead Presidents and The Lounge People.
John Debney (Composer)
John Debney is one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood. His unique ability to create memorable work across a variety of genres, as well as his reputation for being remarkably collaborative, have made him the first choice of top-level producers and directors.
John recently scored Bruce Almighty, one of the highest-grossing movies of all time. His previous collaborations with the director Tom Shadyac include another Jim Carrey hit, Liar Liar.
Debney’s other credits include the Robert Rodriguez family action hit Spy Kids, as well as Spy Kids 2; the animated Jimmy Neutron; and the horror hit I Know What You Did Last Summer.
John is currently working on the Disney animated feature Chicken Little, and has reunited with his The Princess Diaries director Gary Marshall for the upcoming Raising Helen. |
