Mark Jonathan Harris
After graduating from Harvard College, Mark Jonathan Harris started his professional
career as a reporter for the famed City News Bureau of Chicago, covering crime from
five in the afternoon to two in the morning. Within a year he moved on to reporting
national news for the Associated Press and then to television, where he started
making documentary films for the King Broadcasting Co. stations in Portland, Oregon,
and Seattle, Washington.
Harris's award-winning early films document some of the most important and contentious
political issues of the 60s. Huelga! is a portrait of Cesar Chavez's United
Farmworkers Union and the first year of the union's historic Delano grape strike.
The Redwoods presents the Sierra Club's successful case for establishing
a Redwoods National Park. The Foreigners explores the work of a group of
Peace Corps volunteers confronting the contradictions of U.S. foreign policy as
they try to bring about social change in Colombia.
In 1973 Harris and his family moved to Los Angeles where he returned to print journalism
at the same time that he continued making films. For several years a contributing
editor to New West magazine, he also wrote articles, essays, and reviews
in a number of national newspapers and magazines including TV Guide, American
Heritage, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and
The Washington Post. During this period he also began writing fiction.
His short stories have appeared in literary journals, and he has published five
novels for children, which have won multiple awards.
In the following years Harris alternated fiction, journalism, and filmmaking. Many
of his later films deal with historical subjects. The Homefront examines
the social and economic impact of World War II on this country. Unchained Memories:
Readings from the Slave Narratives looks at slavery in America. His two
Oscar-winning feature documentaries explore the Holocaust. The Long Way Home
documents what happened to the survivors of the concentration camps in the period
immediately following their liberation. Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the
Kindertransport chronicles Britain's rescue mission of 10,000 children
in the nine months prior to World War II.
In recent years Harris has focused on producing. He produced the award-winning Darfur
Now and executive produced two other high profile documentary features,
Spirit of the Marathon and Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without
Borders.
Since 1983 he has taught filmmaking at the School of Cinematic Arts at the University
of Southern California, where he is a Distinguished Professor. From 1990-96 he was
the Chair of Film and TV Production. In 2010, Harris was honored with the IDA Preservation
and Scholarship Award.
More information can be obtained here.
Jack Epps Jr.
Jack Epps, Jr. is an award winning writer and filmmaker who first became involved
in making films while an undergraduate at Michigan State University. Inspired by
a student film festival, Epps made his first film the following semester and has
been making movies ever since. His student film The Pigs Vs the Freaks,
was purchased by NBC and made into a Movie of the Week, re-titled Off Sides
Epps produced and worked as second unit director on the film.
Upon arriving in California, Epps wrote an episode of Hawaii Five-O and
Kojak. While continuing to pursue his writing, Epps also worked as a cinematographer
and an assistant cameraman on various local productions. Epps had the good fortune
to work for Orson Welles on Mr. Welles' last film, The Other Side of he Wind.
Epps acted as a second unit cameraman and assistant cameraman to cinematographer
Gary Graever.
Epps reunited with his screenwriting professor from Michigan State University, Jim
Cash, and began writing screenplays together. After writing seven unproduced screenplays,
their first produced screenplay was Top Gun which went on to become the
number-one world wide box office hit in 1986. Within eleven months, the writing
team of Cash & Epps had three produced screenplays in the theaters: Top Gun,
Legal Eagles, and The Secret of My Success. As a screenwriter,
Epps co-authored over 25 screenplays and eight produced motion pictures including
Dick Tracy, Turner & Hooch, and Anaconda. Epps also did
extensive revisions on Sister Act And Die Hard III.
Epps had the pleasure to write for some of the most successful actors in the motion
picture industry including Robert Redford, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty,
Michael J. Fox, Debra Winger, Al Pacino, Anthony Edwards, Bruce Willis, Meg Ryan,
and John Voight. He also worked with such motion picture giants as Ivan Reitman,
Jerry Breckheimer, Joel Silver, Herb Ross, Tony Scott and Dick Donner.
Epps was the fall 2008 commencement speaker at the Michigan State University graduation
ceremonies and was awarded an honorary doctorate of fine arts by Michigan State
University. In addition, Epps is recipient of the Michigan State University Spartans
in Hollywood Award. Epps is a thirty year member of the Writer's Guild of America,
and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Epps, Jr. is Chair
and Associate Professor of the Division of Writing for Screen and Television at
the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
More information can be obtained here.
Allan Jay Friedman
Allan Jay Friedman is an Award Winning Producer-Writer-Composer-Lyricist. Mr. Friedman's
theatrical career began when he wrote a modern day adaptation of the fairytale,
Rapunzel. Soon thereafter, he was commissioned by The Dramatic Publishing Company
to compose the score for the only authorized versions of J.R.R. Tolkien musical
stage adaptation of The Hobbit and A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh. It was Jackie Kennedy
who gave Friedman's career a jump-start. She approved him as the Producer-Creator
and Composer of the Emmy Award winning Television Special based on the life of JFK,
The Young Man From Boston. Later, Bobby Kennedy chose Friedman as the Producer-Writer-Composer
of the TV Series, The 1000 Days of JFK.
Along with winning Emmy Awards, UPI and Catholic Association Awards, and many other
Theatrical Awards, Friedman has written over 5000 pieces of music and 15 produced
musicals, later published by such companies as the Dramatic Publishing Company and
Samuel French. Mr. Friedman gets hundreds of productions a year of his works, many
of which have been performed at such places as the Lincoln Center and Kennedy Center.
Some of Mr. Friedman's projects for which he wrote either the music or music and
lyrics or Libretto, music and lyrics include: the musical version of The Emperor's
New Clothes with Academy Award Winner Paul Francis Webster; Pinocchio and Mounette,
with Bob Merrill; One Shining Moment with Multi-Academy-Tony- Award Winner Leslie
Bricusse (longest running Musical at Chicago's Drury Lane); The Bad Children with
Shirley Jackson; Lady Windemere's Fan, the musical, written with Dorothy Parker;
Shakespeare and the Indians, written with Tony Award Winner Dale Wasserman; A Walk
In The Sky, written with Dale Wasserman; Walden Pond, written with Academy Award
Winner Eddie Heyman; The Piano Bench (a one-person musical review of Friedman's
life); The Princess of Forever (based on the New York Times Best Selling Novel),
and The Legend of Holly Claus by Brittney Ryan.
Mr. Friedman attended the University of Texas In El Paso, where he majored in Pre-Med,
History and Pre-Law. He was President of the Student Council and Honor Society and
elected to Who's Who In American Colleges and Universities. He won the Distinguished
Military Award and was an Officer in the US Army. Friedman attended Law Schools
at the University of Texas and New York University Law School and received a Masters
Degree at UCLA in Public Health Administration.
He is the Founder and Chairman of Picture Book Productions, LLC (PBP), which presents
a revolutionary new 3-D Art Form that combines Hollywood with Broadway to bring
value-based entertainment at minimal production costs and ticket prices to people
of the world who could not formerly afford to see a First Class Musical.
Jonathan Tunick
Jonathan Tunick is an orchestrator, musical director and composer, who is a member
of a very exclusive and elite group of artists who have won all four major American
performing awards: the Oscar, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy. In particular, he won the
1977 Oscar for Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation
Score for A Little Night Music, the 1997 Tony Award, for Best Orchestrations for
Titanic, the 1988 Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for No One Is Alone,
performed by Cleo Laine, and the 1982 Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Music
Direction for Night of 100 Stars. Regarded by many as one of the greatest orchestrators
of our time, the bulk of his work has arisen from his involvement in live theatre,
and he is associated especially with the musicals of Stephen Sondheim.
His extensive compilation of work includes Here's Where I Belong (1968), A Chorus
Line (1975), Sweeney Todd (1979), Nine (1982), Phantom (1992), Patti LuPone on Broadway
(1995), Titanic (1997), Minnelli on Minnelli (1999), The Color Purple (2005), and
A Chorus Line (re-orchestrated, 2006) for theatre, and Blazing Saddles (1974), Young
Frankenstein (1974), Reds (1981), Alice in Wonderland (1983), Murder, She Wrote
(1984), Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (1985), The Birdcage (1996), and The
Fantasticks (2000) for film and television.
More information can be obtained here.
Mark Lansky
Mark Lansky, during four decades of professional achievements, has held key positions
in the architecture of global projects with successful endeavors in finance, oil,
energy, foreign installations, transportation, communication and entertainment.
Lansky, who has traditionally remained quietly behind the scenes of his influence,
has now for the first time in his career, decided to go on record as the executive
producer of ANGELS IN THE SKY:The Birth of Israel.
Lansky has unassumingly held positions as an investment advisor, trustee, administrator,
mediator and lobbyist in the US, Europe and in Asia. A major force throughout his
career, Lansky has played significant roles in both the private and public sectors
of the US and other world economies and international business affairs. Maintaining
offices in New York, Florida and California, Lansky travels extensively between
locations on a monthly basis.
Mike Flint
Mike Flint founded
Producer and Management Entertainment Group (PMEG), located in the heart
of Hollywood, in 1993. This company has evolved into a central producing and managing
entity that enables an individual or a company in association with the group to
be networked to studio executives, writers, directors, actors, musicians, and specialized
experts, thereby providing the individual and project everything required to become
a success in the entertainment business.
Currently, Flint is developing and is the producer of a feature length documentary,
ANGELS IN THE SKY: The Birth of the Israel Air Force. The project has attracted
MARK JONATHAN HARRIS, a three time Academy Award Winner to direct, the talent of
the legendary Hollywood screenwriter, JACK EPPS, JR. to write, and the award winning
composing team of ALLAN JAY FRIEDMAN and JONATHAN TUNICK to score. The expected
release date is in Spring 2011.
Flint attended the prestigious UCLA film school, and graduated with a degree in
Communications. While at UCLA he was one of the heads of the on-campus radio station,
worked in various capacities at several production companies and started his path
into the world of entertainment. In the course of his career, his passion for music
led to a managerial role with each of the three members of the Mary Jane Girls.
MOTOWN RECORDS recognized Flint’s contribution with a GOLD RECORD AWARD for the
album, ONLY FOR YOU, and VIRGIN RECORDS awarded him a PLATINUM RECORD AWARD for
their release of FOREVER YOUR GIRL. Of note, is Flint’s receipt from Epic Records
of a PLATINUM RECORD AWARD for his efforts in the success of the all-time record
breaking MICHAEL JACKSON album THRILLER while he was still a student at UCLA.
It was Mike Flint’s destiny to land at Paramount Pictures under the leadership of
legendary studio boss FRANK MANCUSO, along with famed production heads NED TANEN,
DAWN STEEL and the most recent president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and
Sciences, SIDNEY GANIS. Flint was the youngest creative executive in Paramount’s
history to head the vaunted story department, where he supervised the work of 12
story analysts and reviewed a cumulative of 9000 screenplay submissions. This was
a golden age at Paramount, both critically and commercially, when the studio was
riding high on the success of such titles as TOP GUN, CHILDREN OF A LESSOR GOD,
STAR TREK IV, COMING TO AMERICA and FATAL ATTRACTION, a series of blockbusters that
were the birth of the tent-pole era.
Stepping out of studio life to create his own company, PMEG, Flint was an initial
contributing creative force in the development of STEVEN SPIELBERG’S AMISTAD, and
an instrumental contributor to JADA PINKETT-SMITH’S breakout feature film JASON’S
LYRIC.
In Flint’s wide-scope of producer involvements and as a black belt himself, he has
produced domestic and international Mixed Martial Arts reality fighting events,
handled Ultimate Fighting Champions, and was co-creator of the World Grappling Federation
for Martial Arts with the celebrated legend of the field, GENE LEBELL.
Flint has served his country as a Lieutenant in the United States Navy, having done
active duty at the Pentagon and the Office of Naval Research. As a reservist he
was Flag Aide to the Reserve Chief of information, and was an award winning public
affairs officer attached to the US Navy’s Hollywood Office where he was involved
in the production of such films as PEARL HARBOR, MEN OF HONOR, ANTWONE FISCHER and
the Television series JAG and NCIS. He was, additionally, part of the producing
team that staged NATO’S 50th Anniversary celebration, as well as the commissioning
of the USS Harry Truman and the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carriers. Working with
Columbia Pictures, Flint master-minded the creation of an award-winning poster that
incorporated the film HELLCATS OF THE NAVY, in which actors Ronald and Nancy Reagan
(then Nancy Davis) starred, into the celebration of the event.
Continuing his deep appreciation for the military Flint was involved in producing
several installments of the American Veteran Awards, has served as a special assistant
to the National President of the Naval Reserve Association, was President of the
Reserve Officers Association of the United States, California Department, and currently
serves as President of the US Navy League Los Angeles/Hollywood Chapter.
A passionate sports fan and enthusiastic world traveler, Flint attends Olympic games,
World Championships and major events around the globe whenever possible.
Keren Perlmutter, Ph.D.
Keren Perlmutter is a successful producer in the entertainment technology domain
and is a leading scientist in her field. Perlmutter earned her Ph.D. degree in Electrical
Engineering, her M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering, and her M.S. degree in Statistics,
all from Stanford University. She earned her B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering
from UCLA. At UCLA, she ranked #1 in her class of approximately 800 students in
the Engineering Department, received the Outstanding Senior Electrical Engineering
Award, graduated summa cum laude, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She has published
over 20 technical papers and has won numerous awards over her academic career, including
the National Science Foundation Fellowship.
After she received her Ph.D., Perlmutter went to work for Johnson-Grace Company,
which was subsequently acquired by America Online (AOL). At AOL, she served as chief
scientist and was co-founder and head of an international research and development
division, with branches in the U.S., India, and China. During her tenure at AOL,
she successfully directed, managed, designed, developed, and shipped numerous products
that impacted millions of consumers and saved hundreds of millions of dollars in
annual savings for the company.
Upon the completion of the AOL and Time Warner merger in 2001, Perlmutter also began
work for Warner Bros., Inc. on various projects. She invented an automated process
for restoring and improving the quality of classic film properties for re-mastering
and re-releasing. This award-winning and critically acclaimed restoration process,
known as Ultra-Resolution, is unique within the industry and has been used to restore
a number of classic films within the last decade. These re-mastered films have subsequently
been released on DVD, shown in theatrical limited release, and broadcast on television.
These films include Singin' in the Rain (released in 2002), whose re-mastered
DVD won Best Restoration at the 2003 DVD Entertainment Awards, The Adventures of
Robin Hood (released in 2003), Gone with the Wind (released in
2004), whose re-mastered DVD won Best in Show at the Inaugural DVD Critics Awards
in 2005, Meet Me in St. Louis (released in 2004), Easter Parade
(released in 2005), The Wizard of OF Oz (released in 2005), The Searchers
(released in 2006), and over a hundred Looney Tunes animated shorts (released
in 2003 through 2008), among others. Perlmutter and her technology were featured
on CNN and in various publications, including The Hollywood Reporter. This
revolutionary invention was considered for a Scientific and Technical Academy of
Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Award in 2007.
During her career, Perlmutter obtained 22 patents (granted or pending) on her work.
Her patents have encompassed such varied topics as automatic film restoration, audio
compression, automatic facial recognition technology, and social networks on the
Internet.
In July 2008, Perlmutter decided to leave AOL, and she subsequently formed KSP Ventures,
a consulting company. She also founded Machal Productions, whose focus is to produce
the feature-length documentary film Angels in the Sky: The Birth of Israel.
Jerry Meadors
Jerry Meadors is a successful marketing executive, producer, and manager based in
Hollywood, California. Meadors began his professional career in the entertainment
industry as an actor, where he worked for six-time Tony Award winner Joe Layton.
Previously, Meadors served as a business manager for the Hatcher Center, a Virginia
workshop that trained developmentally disabled adults. There, Jerry developed a
national market for a range of hand made folk products made by the center's clients.
The clients received national acclaim when they were invited first by President
Jimmy Carter, and later, by Tony Orlando, to create works for them. They also received
international attention and fundraising success when they produced a quilt out of
Queen Elizabeth's dress scraps.
After Meadors moved to Hollywood, he immediately became the Assistant Film Programmer
for the Los Angeles International Film Exposition, the largest film festival in
the world at the time. At the end of the two week festival, Meadors was promoted
to Festivals Director by the Programming Director of the festival. Meadors then
went to work at the newly formed company PolyGram Pictures. He moved from an original
position at Publicity and Promotion into Advertising, then into International Marketing,
and finally into Production. After PolyGram Pictures, Meadors continued his marketing
and advertising career at Seiniger Advertising, a leading creative advertising agency
in the business. Four months later, he joined Paramount Pictures.
At Paramount Pictures, Meadors first served as Manager of Marketing, where his team
was tasked with rebuilding Paramount's marketing department on the West Coast. A
year later, he was promoted to Director of Marketing, and in 1988, he was again
promoted, this time to Vice President of Marketing for the Motion Picture Division,
where he served in that capacity until 1996. Meador's meteoric rise in the company
was accompanied by a historic string of successes over a ten year period, highlighted
by Top Gun, Fatal Attraction, Three Kings, Cool World,
Addams Family, and Forest Gump. During his tenure at Paramount
Pictures, he worked closely with a host of talented executives, producers, and actors,
including Ned Tanen, Nancy Goliger, Dawn Steel, Sherry Lansing, Scott Rudin, Jerry
Bruckheimer, Eddie Murphy, and Tom Cruise, among others. After he departed Paramount,
he returned briefly as a consultant on the release of Mission Impossible.
In 1998, Meadors became the Senior Creative Account Supervisor at BLT Associates/Hollywood,
where he developed award-winning marketing campaigns for Paramount Pictures, Warner
Bros., 20th Century Fox, New Line Cinema, Gramercy Pictures, and others. There he
worked on such titles as Titanic, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Angela's
Ashes, Sleepy Hollow, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,
Blade, Pleasantville, and Being John Malkovich.
Thereafter, he was President of Dazu Advertising, where he supervised a creative
staff, closing out motion picture and home entertainment commitments with all major
film studios during the transition of the company in closing. He was also Executive
Vice President of Bingo Advertising, a successful home video creative marketing
boutique, where he took over the helm and landed the company's first motion picture
theatrical accounts.
In 2003, Meadors relocated to Virginia, where he served as president of the North
Theatre Group, Inc. As part of his duties, he supervised the renovation of an abandoned
theatre and associated properties into a full-service arts complex. In addition,
Meadors directed True West, directed and wrote As Time Goes By,
and produced and directed The Importance of Being Earnest, among others.
In addition to the above productions, Meadors has been a producer, director, and
writer on many theatre productions and independent films throughout his career.
He wrote the original stage comedy Amorous Affairs, directed the original
play Ballad of Lizard Gulch, produced Walk of Fame Café, an original
play by Peter Wren, and mounted Wren's Billy Bob and the Gospel. In addition,
Meadors was producer and writer of the independent film Eden's Curve and
was executive producer of the 1996 film Don's Plum. Meadors also served
as co-producer of the documentary Rhythm and Smoke and was the producer
of Luz De La Mission, the winner of the 1998 Best Drama Award at the Los
Angeles International Short Film Festival.
More information can be obtained here.