The following is a brief overview of some of our successful alumni.
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Murwarid Abdiani
Director
Murwarid Abdiani worked at Crossroads Films, where he worked as both a Directors Representative and Director of Business Development for the West Coast Television Division. Most recently, she spent an entire summer working in Afghanistan for the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, where she researched and compiled information for an assistance guide. Abdiani is currently working toward her M.F.A. in Non Fiction Writing at Columbia University.

Michael Albright
Director/Editor
Michael Albright is the organization’s primary founder and also serves as the director and editor of Project Moonshine’s documentaries.  He has a bachelor’s degree in Film Studies and English from the University of California, Santa Barbara and has experience working in New York City with Albert Maysles, one of the pioneers of direct cinema.   Michael also makes other independent documentaries on unique and eccentric cultural personalities under the production company, “Moonpix.” He is currently getting his masters degree in cinema and media studies at UCLA and working towards a PhD. His eventual goal is to send a group of student filmmakers to the moon to make a documentary, but in the meantime will focus on events happening on earth.

Matt Allen
Screenwriter
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0020820/
Matt Allen, a film major from the start at UCSB was Caleb Wilson’s freshman year roommate and they have remained best friends and writing partners since 1998. Shortly after graduation in 1994, Allen got a job as an “agent trainee” at a small talent agency in Beverly Hills, The Irv Schechter Agency. It was at this small talent agency that he got his first real sense of how the film and television industry worked.  After roughly at year at the Schechter Agency, Allen got a better job at one of the top five agencies in town, International Creative Management. At ICM, Matt was promoted to “agent” in the celebrity endorsement department. As a remedy to his impending “executive” status, Matt with Caleb came up with the idea for a comedy screenplay entitled Manchild. Finally, in summer of 1998, using the agent connections he and Wilson had nurtured since the Irv Schechter days, they got the script to New Line Cinema who bought it. Matt quit his job the very next day. In 2003, Allen and Wilson sold their spec screenplay, Four Christmases to Spyglass Entertainment and now, in 2008, the film, which stars Vince Vaughn, Reese Witherspoon, will be released for the holiday season. Aside from their current film, Allen with Wilson is working on a new comedy for Ice Cube for Dimension Entertainment.

Gregg Araki
Director/Writer/Producer –
Gregg Araki is the director of award-winning independent films with a cult following.  His films range from the avant-garde to black and romantic comedies that often explore adolescent and gay themes.  Among Araki’s cult classics are three that could be hailed as his "Teen Apocalypse" Trilogy: Totally F***ed Up (1993), Doom Generation (1995), and Nowhere (1997).  Araki’s most recent success, Mysterious Skin (2004), has received numerous awards and nominations at international film festivals. 

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Chad Baron
Field Producer\
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0056207/
Chad Baron worked on the television show, “The Amazing Race” (2008), as a field producer but now works on the show, “Celebracadabra" ” (2008) for Vh1.

Roko Belic
Producer/Director/Cinematographer -
Roko Belic is a documentary filmmaker.  He directed and co-produced (with his brother Adrian Belic) Genghis Blues (1999) for which he won 7 awards at various film festivals including Audience Award at Sundance and was nominated for an Academy Award.  Since Genghis Blues, Belic has continued his efforts to make documentaries tackling political and/or religious material.  Belic served as field producer on Homecoming (2004), co-producer for his brother’s film Beyond the Call (2006), and co-producer and cinematographer for Indestructible (2007).

Renee Bergan
Filmmaker -
Renee Bergan is the founder of Renegade Pictures Inc., a documentary film company based in Santa Barbara that is dedicated to educate, inspire and provoke change.  Renegade Pictures Inc. produces social justice and art films that encourage viewers to fight prejudice and be proactive participants in life.  Bergan produced and directed Paul Soldner: Playing with Fire (2005) as well as Voices of Women (2003), winner of the 2003 Social Justice Documentary Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.  Bergan’s most current project is Poto Mitan (2006), a story of struggle, resistance, and democracy told through the lives of five courageous Haitian women. 

Craig Borders
TV Director/Producer/Cinematographer -
Craig Borders spent over a decade as the director and/or producer of television shows like ABC’s “The Mole” (2001), MTV’s “The Real World” (1992), “Road Rules” (1994), “Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County” (2004),  FOX’s “Renovate My Family” (2004), and “Cartoon Network’s Fridays” (2006).  Borders is most recently the director of “Who Wants to be a Superhero?” (2007) and also completed a short film Keeping Up With The Jonesers (2005) that he produced, directed, and wrote which was critically acclaimed at numerous film festivals.

Zoe Bower
Post Production Coordinator
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2111681/
Zoe Bower worked as a Post Production coordinator on the feature film Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008) and as a Production Assistant on Spike TV’s "MANSwers" (2007/8) and Punks Not Dead Productions’s Punks Not Dead The Movie (2008). She currently works for Walden Media Group as Post Production coordinator on the film, Rock On (2009).

Joshua Braun Journalist http://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuabraun Josh Braun has been alternating between journalism and academia.  Since graduating, he has worked as a Production Assistant for several Discovery and Discovery Health shows, and then moved out East, where he got his Masters in Medical Ethics from the University of Pennsylvania.  He than took a semester off to serve as a Production Intern at ABC News Nightline, then moved to New York upon graduation, where he worked as a Junior Editor for Seed Magazine and a Producer for NPR's “Radio Lab,” which is produced by the New York affiliate, WNYC.  Finally, he left New York to get his Ph.D. from the Cornell University Department of Communication. Currently, he continues to work as a freelance journalist, mostly in print and online, for places like Seed and Scientific American.  Since starting at Cornell, he has been the recipient of a graduate fellowship at the National Academy of Sciences, and the International Communication Association's award for "Outstanding Teaching by a Graduate Student."

Geoffrey Burdick
Vice President
Geoffrey Burdick worked on the visual effects for Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and worked his way up to Vice President of Lightstorm Entertainment (James Cameron’s production company) which produced True Lies (1994), Titanic (1997), and Solaris (2002).

Ilana Butu
Student
Ilana Butu is currently in law school at McGeorge University in Sacramento, California.


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Sean Casey
Filmmaker
Filmmaker Sean Casey set out to capture IMAX footage from the vortex of a twister in “Tornado Intercept” (2005) for the first time ever.   The resulting documentary was shown on the National Geographic Channel. 

Aisha Corpas
Director of Development
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2395371/
Aisha Corpas is currently the Director of Development at Robyn Nash Productions handling scripted and reality programming. Prior to that, she was the Development Coordinator at New Line's Television Department working with Lori Huck, also an UCSB film alum. Her past experience, also, includes working in production for HBO's "Deadwood" (2003) and "Six Feet Under" (2002).

Ryan Crego
Story Artist
Ryan Crego works as a Story Artist at Dreamworks Animation, where he worked on the television special for ABC called "Shrek the Halls" (2007) and now works on the feature film, Shrek 4 (2010).

Julie Cutright
Senior Level  Manager
Julie Cutright works at the VPI, the Analytic Intelligence Software company since 2003. She still continues to work on screenplays with fellow alums and friends as well as travel stateside and aboard for work and Irish dance competitions.

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Jonathon Dabach
Artist
Jonathon Dabach is cartoonist of a new generation by utilizing the Internet. His work includes the webs series cartoon called “Brooke and Lonely” (2005) that is Beavis and Butthead in tone.

Joshua Deighton
Vice President of Development
Joshua Deighton formerly was the Vice President of Production at Fox Searchlight Pictures and is currently working for Sidney Kimmel Entertainment.  He is a production executive on Lars and the Real Girl (2007) and Talk to Me (2007).  Earlier in his career he was Tony Bill’s assistant on “Truman Capote’s One Christmas” (1994) and a production assistant on Greed (1994). 

Elizabeth Dixon
Production Supervisor
Elizabeth Dixon is the Production Supervisor at DIRECTV for the Latin America for Entertainment and Brand Services, where she helps develop original content and promotional materials for DIRECTV.

Stephanye Dussud
Actress/Producer
Stephanye Dussud works as actress and producer in NYC.  She has recently performed off-Broadway with Ensemble Studio Theatre and Peculiar Works Project.  Her voice can be heard in the online video game, “Sword of the New World,” and in an Antalya commercial for the Turkish Board of Tourism.  She also played the co-lead in Tatsushi Tahara's festival-bound 1920's short film, Madeline. Stephanye's production company, Nombril productions has a play in pre-production for 2010 and several feature films in development.

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Arik Ehle
Crowd Animation Lead
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1492612/
Arik Ehle has had a successful career with Pixar Animation Studios beginning as a production assistant for Monsters, Inc. (2001) and moving up to crowd animation lead on Ratatouille (2007) and  resumed that position again on the recently wrapped Wall-E (2008) and his next animation feature film, Up (2009).

Brett Ermilio
Writer/Director/Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2776703/
Brett Ermilio during college won the Sherill C. Corwin Award for “Best Screenplay” in 1998 for his script entitled “Jacob” and had the opportunity of working with the writer, Paul Hunter. He has worked on a number of rewrites of scripts freelance, taught a screenwriting class, and just finished his 65th full-length screenplay. He is now working on a political book as his next project.

Jan Evans
Script Supervisor
Jan Evans has been a script supervisor for many well-known films such as Mystic Pizza (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), Dances with Wolves (1990), Only the Lonely (1991), The Public Eye (1992), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Dennis the Menace (1991), and City of Industry (1997), among others. 

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Denis Faye
Writer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1996819/
Denis Faye is a screenwriter and journalist. He has written for The New York Times, Wired, Outside, Men's Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Written By and the WGA website. Currently, his screenplay High Midnight is in development at Treasure Entertainment with Mary Lambert attached to direct. His comic book “The Monocle and Jimmy Specs” is hitting newsstands in 2008.

Jesse Felsot
Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0271599/
After working with companies such as Outlaw Productions and A Band Apart, Jesse was a producer on MGM’s crime-drama, Harsh Times written and directed by David Ayer (Training Day, Street Kings).  Following this, Jesse through is own company, Treasure Entertainment has executive produced for a number of record labels in all musical genres including groups such as: Slum Village, Lil Rob, Jim Jones and John Michael Montgomery.  More recently Jesse was executive producer on Hallmark Television’s family film, You’ve Got a Friend and served as producer on the basketball docu-drama, Flintown Kids being released on DVD through Koch Entertainment.  Further, Jesse is currently writing and producing the R&B film, Who Stole the Soul? in conjunction with the Motown 50th anniversary.

Lindsey Fox
Director
Lindsey Fox, along with fellow UCSB Film and Media Studies Alum, Matt Weddle, made a documentary about 8 New Orleans musicians post-Katrina, called Swing Low: Hope and Music Helping New Orleans Rise that won Best Documentary at The Big Easy Shorts Festival in 2007.

Scott Frank
Writer/Director 
Scott Frank’s screen credits include some of the better known films of the last decade such as Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report (2002), as well as Steven Soderburgh’s Out of Sight (1998).  Out of Sight won major awards from the Writer’s Guild of America, Mystery Writers of America, the National Society of Film Critics, and the Boston Society of Film Critics and Frank was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.  He was also nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award and a Golden Globe Award for the critically acclaimed Get Shorty (1995).  Other well-known screenplays of Frank’s include Malice (1993), Dead Again (1991) directed by Kenneth Branagh; and Jody Foster’s directorial debut, Little Man Tate (1991), which he had been working on as a student at UCSB in the late Paul Lazarus’s screenwriting class.  Recent writing credits include Flight of the Phoenix (2004), The Interpreter (2005) and most recently The Lookout (2007) which Frank also directed.  

Morgan J. Freeman
Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0293533/
Morgan J.  Freeman’s first feature film, Hurricane Streets (1997), won Best Director, Best Cinematography, and the Audience Award (the first film to win three awards) at the Sundance Film Festival.  Freeman’s next film, Desert Blue (1998), was an independent comedy.  Freeman’s other credits include The Cherry Picker (2000) (which he wrote and directed), “Dawson's Creek” (2001 episodes), American Psycho 2 (2001), and Piggy Banks (2003).  Freeman also produced the hit series “Laguna Beach” (2004) and “Maui Fever” (2007) for MTV.  Freeman has also directed his latest feature Homecoming (2008).

Joshua Frey
Commander
Joshua Frey served three years in the Arabian Gulf as a Media Operations officer working with embedded reporters in and around Iraq. He is now stationed in San Diego.

Kevin Furta
Lead Producer
Kevin Furta works at E! Entertainment as the Lead producer of short form production for the international department. He writes, produces, and edits packages while also guiding the direction of the department in terms of short form production.

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Evan Gaines 
Future Partner, Gaines, Gaines & Gaines, APLC.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1424860/
Evan Gaines is currently applying to Law Schools.  He made numerous short films while at UCSB including the popular Danger Cliff (2003) and Jewface aka Isla Vista: The Movie (2005).  After graduating, he moved back home to Los Angeles where he held numerous positions throughout the assistant world at United Talent Agency, The Gotham Group, and Manage-ment, but realized he wanted to get home at 6PM and was much better fit as a consumer.

Melissa Gallo
Teacher
Melissa Gallo graduated UCSB in 2002 and is currently an Elementary school teacher for the Los Angeles School District.

Alessandro Gentile
Director of Photography / Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1445449/
Alessandro Gentile has gone on to DP and produce numerous independent feature films, shorts, documentaries, and music videos. As a Director of Photography some credits include "Untracked: The Bryon Friedman Story" (2009), "In Your Eyes" (2004), and Firefall: Road to Burning Man (2004). As a producer some credits include "The History of Argentine Tennis" (2008), " Killers" (2008) - HBO, "Night of Henna" (2005)., "The Invitation" (2005), “Firefall: Road to Burning Man” (2004), "The Guatemala Incident" (2003), and music videos for artist like Michael Franti and Spearhead. Having studied Cinematography at UCLA and mentoring under ASC member Hiro Narita, Gentile is currently dedicating himself to solely working as a DP. 

Toni Graphia
Writer/Producer
Toni Graphia began her career writing episodes for such popular TV series as “Quantum Leap” (1989), “Life Goes On” (1989), “China Beach” (1989-1990), “Melrose Place” (1992), “Dr.  Quinn Medicine Woman” (1993-1995), “Roswell” (2000), “Carnivale (2003)” and “Battlestar Galactica” (2004-2006).   Graphia has since climbed the ranks to Co-Executive Producer for “Battlestar Galactica.”

Emily Gray
Music Assistant
Emily Gray graduated from UCSB in 2006 and worked at a large theatrical trailer production house in Hollywood called Trailer Park Inc. as a music assistant in the music department. Gray now works as a Production Coordinator and Associate Producer at a small trailer house called Happy Hour Creative, located in Culver City.  Happy Hour Creative was just nominated for 3 Golden Trailer Awards and even took one home.

Amanda Greenblatt
Assistant
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1716375/
Amanda Greenblatt moved to New York City, where she lives with fellow Gaucho, Nicole Means, and worked as an assistant for the television shows, “The Black Donneleys” (2007) and “Lipstick Jungle” (2008), and the feature film, What Happened in Vegas (2008).

Amanda Greenman
Account Representative
Since graduating UCSB, Amanda worked for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival as Filmmaker Liaison, then as Development Coordinator.  A seasonal gig with the LA Film Festival came next where she worked as Media Liaison, connecting media partners with filmmakers and setting up media sponsorships.  As an Account Representative, she now manages catalogue, television and special interest titles for Warner Bros.' subtitling department in Burbank.

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Charlie Hart
Agent
Charlie Hart works at IFA Talent Agency, which is a boutique agency, where she gets to work with an excellent client list and closely with agents and casting as well as fellow UCSB film alums! She is also enrolled in USC film classes as a test trial for their graduate production program. 

Ryan Hartnett
Special Effects Technician
Ryan Hartnett has worked on the special effects of such series as “Xena: Warrior Princess” (1995), “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” (1995), and “Young Hercules” (1998) and has done special effects for many films such as Vertical Limit (2000), The Four Feathers (2002), and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005).

Mark Heidelberger
Co-Chairman/CEO
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0373914/
In 2000, Mark started Treasure Entertainment with partner and fellow UCSB alum Jesse Felsot, where he currently serves as Co-Chairman/CEO. Mark has produced dozens of music videos and commercials and also manages feature film and television writers and directors. His producing credits include the independent feature film Cycles, NBA basketball documentary Flintown Kids, and The Making of Harsh Times, released to DVD by The Weinstein Company, which takes a look at the work that went into making the gritty, urban drama Harsh Times. Most recently, Mark developed and co-executive produced the family feature film You've Got A Friend for The Hallmark Channel, which was their highest ever rated original movie premiere for the month of June. He is currently producing three features, including documentary Who Stole The Soul?, indie comedy Man Overboard (2008), and dark teen comedy Twisted. Additionally, he is prepping the vampire-Western High Midnight (2009), to be directed by horror vet Mary Lambert, starring Billy Baldwin, Thomas Kretschmann and Rachael Leigh Cook, and teen comedy Prom Date, to be directed by Oliver Robins, starring Eddie Griffin, Dan Byrd and Jeremy Sumpter. Mark holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in motion picture and television producing from the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television.

Don Hertzfeldt
Animator
In 2001 Don Hertzfeldt was named one of the "Top 25 Directors to Watch" by Filmmaker Magazine, an honor not surprising given that he has created some of the most popular animated shorts of our time.  While a college student, Hertzfeldt wrote and directed four animated shorts (one for each of his four years at UCSB) including: Ah, L’Amour (1995), Genre (1996), Lily and Jim (1997), and Billy’s Balloon (1998).  Along with Hertzfeldt’s nomination for an Academy Award for his critically acclaimed animated short Rejected (2005), he has won 99 awards at film festivals for his films to date.  Hertzfeldt also co-founded The Animation Show in 2003, a festival of animation that puts an unprecedented number of animated shorts into North American movie theaters.

Tim Hicks Film Maker During his time at UCSB, Tim Hicks was picked to direct a short narrative/documentary hybrid film entitled Public Damage. It screened at the Isla Vista Theater in Santa Barbara, and was shown at an international film festival in Belgium. After graduation, he completed several experimental videos, surfing videos, a narrative short, and an instructional video for anesthesia patients. He has worked as a production assistant, art department assistant, and 2nd A.C. on several feature films including All The King’s Men (2006). Presently Tim is working as a producer/director, on his first horror short entitled The Aphrikan (2008).

Jesse Hoy
Musician/Director
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1418365/
Since graduating from UCSB, Hoy took a job on the MTV Show “Trippin,” (2005) where he got to go to Africa and shoot Super 8mm on MTV's dime and than took a job as the Post-Coordinator on the feature, Jackass Number Two (2006). Moving from television to music, Hoy put all of his creative energy towards his band, The Deadly Syndrome, with fellow film major, Will Etling. The Deadly Syndrome actually came together at UCSB’s annual silent film festival, Reel Loud. In the last two years, The Deadly Syndrome has released their first record, where Hoy directed two of their music videos and cut a short-form documentary about their second trip to SXSW music festival, and has gone on two national tours!

Lori Huck
Vice President of Original Programming
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2771757/
Lori Huck is a development and current programming executive at New Line Television.  At New Line TV, Huck has worked on dozens of scripted and alternative series.  Most recently she was Co-Executive Producer on “Fridays The Animated Series” (2007) for MTV, Consultant on “The Secret Society” for Lifetime, Co-Producer on “Blade The Series” (2006) for Spike TV; Production Executive on “Kitchen Confidential” (2005) for FOX and “The Twilight Zone” (2002) for UPN.

Josephine Hunt-Korn Assistant Director http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2574115/ Josephine Hunt-Korn currently resides in Los Angeles and works in film and television on the AD team as an Assistant Director. She now works on the show “Life” for NBC and was recently working on NBC's hit “Medium” (2008). Before these two shows, she worked on shows such as “Grey's Anatomy” (2005) and “Close to Home,” (2005) and features such as Sinner (2007), Adventures of Power (2008), and Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007).

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Elisa Iovine
Marketing
Elisa started her career managing the office at Santa Barbara Location Services. She moved to Los Angeles in 2004 and worked in the Awards Office at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences handling the submissions and voting screenings of the Foreign Language Films, Shorts, and Animated Features. She also worked with the writing and music Branches to verify credits and eligibility requirements. In 2007, she moved over to marketing at Warner Independent Pictures where she assists the Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing Operations. Since moving to Warner Independent Productions, she has worked on the campaigns for In The Valley Of Elah (2007), The 11th Hour (2007) and Funny Games (2007).

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Jessica Jardine
Writer/Graduate Student
Jessica Jardine lived and worked in San Francisco, where she works for The Onion’s AV Club city section. But she made the move to Los Angeles to attend USC’s Annenberg Graduate School to get her Masters in Journalism.

Jack Johnson
Musician 
Jack Johnson, singer-songwriter, filmmaker and surfer, is probably best known for the music of his albums, Brushfire Fairytales (2001) and In Between Dreams (2005) which he released on his own record label, Brushfire Records.   While a Film Studies major at UCSB he began pursuing his two dreams: songwriting and documentary surf films.  In 1995 (while still in college) Johnson was in the band Soil that opened for the Dave Matthews Band and Sublime at the Santa Barbara Bowl and in 2002, Johnson produced a 16mm surf documentary, September Sessions.  Most recently, he created the soundtrack for Curious George (2006) which rose to #1 in the charts and featured the song “Upside Down.”

Mihae Jung Creative Content Developer http://www.linkedin.com/in/mihaestevens Mihae Jung works for Groundspeak as a story writer for a new GPS location based game called “Wherigo.” At Groundspeak, she assists a development process by testing, logging bugs, programming in LUA, and creating a more efficient and effective User Intereface.

Kenny Krauss
Assistant
Kenny Krauss worked for five years for Andy Davis but now works for Ashton Kutcher’s company, Katalyst Films.

Steve Kroopnick
Television Producer
Steve Kroopnick is a very busy television producer who is perhaps best known for the hit series “Iron Chef America: The Series” (2005) and has produced quite a few “behind the scenes” programs such as “Bugsy: The Dark Passion of an American Dreamer” (1991), Aladdin: Inside the Magic (1992), “In the Line of Fire: Behind the Scenes with the Secret Service” (1993), “HBO First Look” (1997-2000), “Into the Breach: 'Saving Private Ryan'” (1998), and “Food Network Awards 2007”.  Kroopnick has been nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards.

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Angela Laprete
Producer/Production Coordinator
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1040616/
Laprete began her career as production coordinator with “Baywatch” (1989) and moved on to many other television series such as “Beverly Hills 90210” (1990), “ER” (1994), and “Hawaii” (2004).  She has also worked on the films Godzilla (1998), Blue Crush (2002), Along Came Polly (2004), You, Me and Dupree (2006), and Snakes on a Plane (2006). She just wrapped Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), where she was production manager. Laprete is now the production supervisor for a an MGM film called The Reef (2008) and her own production company, A Laprete Productions, is in development for its first feature called The Tattoo adapted from local author of Hawaii, Chris McKinney's book.

Darl Larsen
Associate Professor/Graduate Coordinator of Media Arts
Darl Larsen, Ph.D is a tenured associate professor at Brigham Young University, where he teaches Film Studies Courses, like genres and animation history. He just published his latest book called, “Monty Python’s Flying Circus: An utterly Complete, Thoroughly Unillustrated, Absolutely Unauthorized Guide to Possibly All the References From Arthur "Two-Sheds" Jackson to Zambesi” from Scarecrow Press.

Francisco Leon
Film Producer
Francisco Leon produced Honor Thy Children (XXXX) has just recently directed and produced a documentary called Banned Plays (2007) set to come out in 2008.

Bo Liebman
Personal Assistant
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1416181/
Bo Liebman works as the assistant to writer/producer Frank Beddor (There's Something About Mary (1998)) at his production company, Automatic Pictures.  Bo also continues to write, direct, and produce his own projects, and is currently preparing to film his next short, Wasted on the Young (2008).

Elana Joy Livneh Lessem
Assistant Editor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0515354/
Elana Joy Livneh Lessem is an Assistant Editor for feature films, including Mr. Woodcock (2007), Eragon (2006), Fever Pitch (2005), and Starsky & Hutch (2004), and is now working on her 17th movie, Star Trek (2009).

Jeff Lynn
Camera
Jeff Lynn has been working consistently since 1997 as a camera loader, assistant camera, second assistant camera, and first assistant camera for various films.  Lynn was assistant camera on Behind Enemy Lines (2001) and more recently the Wong Kar Wai film, My Blueberry Nights (2007).

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David Maekawa
Digital Production and Content Manger
David Maekawa is the Digital Production and Content Manager at Interscope, Geffen, and A&M Records New Media department. He is in charge of the creation, legal clearance, and delivery of digital products through e-commerce. He manages all audio and video content that goes up on their artist's and label's websites. 

Bill Marmor
Editor
Bill Marmor owns his own editorial post-production house called Rex Edit in Venice, California, where he edits television commercials working with the Directors and agencies directly.

Erik Martinez
Writer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2397780/
Erik Martinez just wrapped his first feature titled, Beyond the Mat (2009).
Beyond that, Martinez has a script called Los Coyotes in development at Treasure Entertainment, while working on developing a number of projects with Hong Kong film director, Kirk Wong, and, also, has a short comic book story titled “Everybody’s Hero” being published in Image Comic’s Popgun Volume 2. Lastly, he is working on a 120 page graphic novel called “Solomon Wakes,” which should be out by the end of 2008.

Julie Marsh
Producer/Writer/Story Consultant
Julie Marsh is a Producer, Writer, and Story Consultant with nearly 15 years of professional development and story editing experience. She works on projects at any point, from breaking raw story to story consulting in the editing room. Her clients are mainly professional screenwriters and producers, and her primary base of experience is theatrical film and spec pilots for television. Additionally, she works with professionals to adapt narratives between multiple mediums. Julie is fascinated by the new storytelling opportunities offered by emerging and converging technologies, particularly the web, and continues to apply proven story tactics to pioneering media endeavors. She has worked on countless treatments, pitch packages and pitches.  Julie has written for Acclaim on MMO games and for Disney on TV cartoons.  She has read as a judge for the Creative Screenwriting Expo Contest, Slamdance, and Cynosure. She was also invited as a mentoring filmmaker for the Duke City Shootout. She lectures occasionally at the Los Angeles Film School and holds an MFA in Screenwriting and a degree in Film Studies from UC Santa Barbara.

Jason Matthews Writer Jason Matthews is the head writer for the acclaimed humor site TheJay.com (twice nominated for Best Culture Blog by the Weblog Awards).  He is also an accomplished playwright. Through the Ruskin Group Theatre and their showcase “Café Plays”, The Jay has written and produced twenty-two one-act plays. His work has also been produced in several independent festivals, including the Secret Rose Theatre’s Play-A-Thon 2006, the W.E.T. One Act Festival, was a finalist in the 2007 North Park Play Festival, and was a grand prize winner in Theatre Limina’s 2007 Summer Shorts Festival. Jason currently resides in the luxurious San Fernando Valley.

Nicole Means
Producer/Editor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2340132/
www.cloudedskyproductions.com
Nicole currently lives in New York City where she produces and edits. She worked as an editorial production assistant on I Am Legend (2007) and Sex and the City Movie (2008) and has since gone into freelance production with a partner. Some recent clients include Nike and Atlantic Records.

Victoria (Tori) Metzger
Agent
Tory Metzger is a senior agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), a literary and talent agency based in Los Angeles.   Metzger represents many of the world’s most acclaimed actors, writers and directors in entertainment including: Tom Cruise, Danny DeVito, Ang Lee, Cameron Crowe, Spike Jonze, Gwyneth Paltrow, Denise Di Novi and Callie Khouri.  Metzger began her career in Hollywood as a development executive.   She worked as an agent at the United Talent Agency for two years before joining CAA in 1992.

Matthew Mishory Director http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1416389/ Matthew Mishory has worked in many different aspects of feature film and television production by being a producer, line producer, assistant director, and segment director, but his latest role is director in the upcoming feature film, Portland (2008).

Michelle Motta
Digital Paint and Rotoscope Artist
Michelle Motta began her visual effects career as a digital paint and rotoscope artist on The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and has been busy ever since.  Motta has worked on Pearl Harbor (2001), Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001), Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), Men in Black II (2002), Hulk (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004), Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005), War of the Worlds (2005), Jarhead (2005), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006), and most recently Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007), Evan Almighty (2007) and Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix (2007).

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Ronan Nagle
Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0619368/
Ronan Nagle has spent his career devoted to producing. Most notably, a film he produced called On the Road with Judas (2007) went to Sundance and screened at the AFI Film Festival. He was also a co-executive producer and cast member of the Discovery Series, “Storm Chasers” (2007).

Jeff Nathanson
Writer/Director 
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0622288/
Jeff Nathanson has worked on a variety of film and television projects in the last ten years, including Twister (1996), Rush Hour 2 and 3 (2001 and 2007), and he wrote and directed The Last Shot (2004), an original comedy for Disney. Also, he has collaborated with Steven Spielberg on Catch Me If You Can (2002) and The Terminal (2004, but most recently shares story credit with Spielberg on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008). 

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Jamin O’Brien
Owner/Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0639596/
Jamin O’Brien owns and producers the company, John Doe Entertainment in New York City. He has produced Doynton Beach Club (2005), Just Like the Son (2006),
West 32nd (2007), and  Lymelife (2008).

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Georgia Packard
Camera Operator
Georgia Packard is very successful camera operator.  Just a few of her credits include: “Third Rock from the Sun”, “The Dave Chapelle Project”, “Seinfeld” (1996-1998), “Charmed” (1999-2002), Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me (1999), Must Love Dogs (2005), “House” (2005-06), and “Scrubs” (2007).  Packard is also President of the Camera Operators Union. 

Mark Panik
Writer/Editor/Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0659518/
Mark Panik has been working as a Writer, Producer and Editor in Hollywood for 11 years, working on everything from TV commercials to feature films. Mark edited and co-produced the Emmy-nominated "Hail Sid Caesar! The Golden Age of Comedy", the critically acclaimed "Stan Lee's Mutants, Monsters & Marvels" and has been nominated for several Key Art Awards for his work in television advertising. He currently works as a Writer/Producer at CBS On-Air Promotions on shows such as “How I Met Your Mother,” “Two and a Half Men,” and “CSI: New York.”

Grace Park
Career Counselor
Grace is representing those students who graduated with a film degree but are doing something unrelated.  Grace Park is a Career Counselor at UCLA's Career Center.  Grace worked at Entertainment Tonight for almost a year after graduation but found that it didn't align with her values.  She decided to pursue goals of becoming a counselor/therapist and received her MSW from UC Berkeley.  She worked a variety of jobs including several college recruiting/relations positions, one of which was at The Walt Disney Company's Corporate Talent Acquisition.  At UCLA, Grace enjoys working with all types of students especially those that have artistic, creative and film endeavors.  Grace's love for film is still alive with hopes of directing and producing documentaries in the future.

Jason Penarelli
Producer/Director/Cinematographer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1425753/
Jason Penarelli graduated from UCSB film studies in 2002.  His short film, NOHASFRONTWO, was well received at a number of film festivals around the country, including the Los Angeles International Science-Fiction and Horror Film Festival.  Currently, he is producing a feature length documentary about international volunteers and the psychology behind volunteerism.  Jason worked in Hollywood mainly as a Cinematographer, but also as a Director and as a Gaffer.  In 2006, he became US Peace Corps volunteer.   He lived and worked in an orphanage in a small village in Bulgaria from 2006 to 2008.  There he taught the children English, guitar, drums, football, and computer skills.  Along with his duties in the orphanage, he produced a DVD series for teaching English to children and helped facilitate a traveling film festival to raise awareness for Trafficking in Persons.

Jared M. Pfeifer
Creative Executive
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0679474/
Jared Pfeifer is Creative Executive at Scott Subter Films, which has an exclusive producing deal with Universal Pictures. Pfeifer works on projects in development as well looks for books, comics, and video games to be adapted to film. He has helped produce The Break Up (2006), You, Me & Dupree (2006), The Kingdom (2007), and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins (2008). His company is currently working on The Wolf Man (2009), Repossession Mambo (2009), Traveling (2008), and Mentors.

Matt Powers
Producer/Director/Cinematographer/Editor/Actor/Writer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1551353/
Since graduating from UCSB, Matthew has made various award winning independent films. In 2004, his skateboarding documentary "Never Been Done (The Jon Comer Story)" told the inspiring story of the first amputee professional skateboarder. In 2006, his rockumentary "Blame It On The Fish" provided an abstract view of the band, Primus, and their 2003 reunion Tour de Fromage. In 2008, his mockumentary film "Electric Apricot (Quest for Festeroo)" was released via National Lampoon.  He executive produced, dp'd, and acted in this project, which was Les Claypool's, Primus, directorial debut. He is currently directing a series of music videos for musician Zach Gill's solo album that will be released through Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records.

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Garrett Reichwald
Editor
Ever since graduating UCSB, Garrett Recihwald has been an editor cutting trailers. He currently cuts trailers at In Sync Advertising

Carissa Remitz
Account Supervisor
Carissa Remitz began at Paradigm, a Talent & Literary Agency, where she was an agent trainee and assistant on the Literary side for nearly two years. She next worked for a literary manager and then as an assistant at New Regency Productions. Seeking a change of pace, she moved to San Francisco and attended the California Culinary Academy, completing her courses in December 2005. She interned for the San Francisco Chronicle in the Food & Wine departments; recipe testing, fact checking and writing articles. Hired as an Account Coordinator in 2006 by Wagstaff Worldwide, Inc., she was recently promoted to Account Supervisor and works on public relations for restaurants in the Bay Area.

Andy Robertson
Editor
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0731721/
Andy Robertson has spent most of his career working as a freelance film and television editor in Los Angeles, CA.  His resume includes the documentary Rhyme & Reason (1997), which was distributed by Miramax. He worked in the Visual Effects department on Titanic (1997) and The X-Files Movie (1998). Also, he was the Editor and Co-Director on American High (2000) which won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Nonfiction Series.  He was, also, the Editor on the Discovery Channel Documentary Black Sky: The Race for Space (2004) which won a Peabody Award. In addition at FX, he cut three episodes of the Morgan Spurlock documentary series 30 Days -- "Muslims in America", "Binge Drinking Mom" and "Outsourcing and he was Editor and Supervising Producer on the controversial series Black. White. (2006). In 2007, he was personally nominated for an Emmy Award for his editing work on Project Runway, which recently became the first Reality Show to ever be honored with a Peabody Award.

Carrie L. Rosenbaum
Lawyer
Carrie L. Rosenbaum was an Interdisciplinary Studies major, including film studies, political science and French, where she was a teaching assistant for Professor Branigan and Professor Parks. She is now a practicing public interest attorney, working in San Francisco as an immigration attorney

Caroline Rutter
Assistant to Robert Kraft
Caroline Rutter works for the President of Music at 20th Century Fox.

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Tony Safford
Vice President
Tony Safford is Executive Vice President of Acquisitions and Co-Production for 20th Century Fox including Searchlight Pictures. After graduating UCSB with a BA in Film Studies in 1977, Tony went on to graduate study of film theory and criticism at the University of Iowa, completing his MA in 1980. He then began his professional career at Walker Art Museum in Minneapolis, moved to The American Film Institute in Washington DC, and then became the first year-round Festival Program Director for what was to become the Sundance Film Festival from 1985 to 1990. From there he moved to New LIne Cinema and to Miramax Films. He has been at Fox since 1998.

Clayton Sakoda
Personal Assistant
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1803885/
Clayton Sakoda works for Shadow Ranch Productions by working closely with Jeff Nathanson, also, a UC Santa Barbara Film Studies alum!

Mamdooh Salih
Director
Mamdooh Salih and his wife, Krishna, both Gauchos are documentary filmmakers. He just directed a documentary on The Michael Jordan Flight School Camp.

Ethan Salter
Agent
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2248539/
Ethan Salter is currently an agent at Henderson and Hogan in Beverley Hills, California.

Scott Sampila
Filmmaker
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1399100/
Scott Sampila has established himself as a Hollywood Gaucho by working with many other UCSB alumni, also, in the industry.  He has produced independent feature films including Fall and Spring (1996) and Resin (1999) both of which were directed by UCSB Alum Steve Sobel. He also co-wrote and produced independent feature Remarkable Power! (2007) starring Kevin Nealon and Tom Arnold, where the film was also co-written and directed by UCSB alum Brandon Beckner, and edited by UCSB alum Eric Archer. Recently, he sold a one-hour television pilot to Fox Studios entitled "Darkside" (2005) but currently he is developing new projects for Parrot Poet Pictures, a production company started by Sampila and Brandon Beckner.

Maximilian Schmige 
Graduate Student
Maximilian Schmige is attending the AFI Graduate Film School for Cinematography for his MFA

Roberto Serrini
Editor/Director
After his argued defeat against Lou Graci at the 12 annual international Ultimate Fighting Championship, Roberto returned home to New York City in 2005 to rebuild his empire. Currently working as a full time editor and director, he still is in disbelief that he's actually doing what he studied in college. You can catch some of his cuts at www.nystreetfilms.com, mostly prime time television commercials, and some selective pornography.

Ameet Shukla
Assistant
After graduating from UCSB, Ameet moved to Los Angeles where he now works for as the assistant to Co-Chair and prolific producer, Stacey Sher of Double Feature Films, where Double Feature Films has a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures. In his time at Double Feature Films, the company released World Trade Center (2006), Freedom Writers (2007), and Reno! 911: Miami (2007). 

John Smart
Assistant Location Manager
John Smart has worked for Disney, first as an office Production Assistant and secondly as an Assistant Location Manger for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006). Moving from Burbank to Eastern Caribbean, while on location in the Bahamas, he got promoted to the On Set location Manager. He just finished managing Disney’s biggest set ever for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) in Palmdale, California.

Brad Silberling
Writer/Director
Director Brad Silberling most recently wrote and directed 10 Items or Less (2006), as a personal project.  He has also directed the box-office smash Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004).  He previously wrote, directed, and produced the critically praised Moonlight Mile (2002).  He directed the much lauded box office hit City of Angels (1998).  Silberling's extensive television directing credits include multiple episodes of Steven Bochco's "NYPD Blue," "L.A. Law," "Civil Wars," as well as "Brooklyn Bridge" and the pilot for "Judging Amy," among others.  An award-winning episode of "Brooklyn Bridge" caught the eye of Steven Spielberg which resulted in his backing Silberling's first feature, Casper (1995), which went on to earn over three hundred million dollars worldwide. 

Andrea Sperling
Film Producer
Andrea Sperling has been responsible for a significant amount independent film in the past decade including Desert Blue (1998), No Vacancy (1999), But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), Prozac Nation (2001), and Pumpkin (2002), and Harsh Times (2006).  Her most recent production is Adventures of Power (2007) set to come out this year. 

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Lisa Marie Tobin
Supervising Producer
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1907889/
Lisa Marie Tobin lives in New York City, where she works as a Freelancer in TV. She is the Supervising Producer on a new A&E series with Rocco DiSpirito called “Rocco Gets Real” (2008) . Since graduating from UCSB, she has also been working in reality TV, where she worked on “Top Chef” (2006), “The Celebrity Apprentice” (2004), and “The Next Food Network Star” (2005).

Nick Torchia
Producer
Nick Torchia is a producer at Warner Bros but in the Videogame division.

Fred Toye
Director/Producer
Fred Toye began his career in the editing room working as assistant editor on such successes as Forrest Gump (1994) (uncredited) and Men in Black (1997), and then moved on to title design in the films  The Sunshine Boys (1995) and Dangerous Beauty (1998) and special effects in The Addams Family (1991) and The Addams Family Values (1993).  After working as an editor on “Alias” between 2003 and 2005, he would go on to direct and produce episodes of “Alias”, “Ghost Whisperer”, “The 4400”, and “Lost”.

Christina Trbovich
Production Coordinator
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2614424/
Christina Trbovich works in China as a Production Coordinator.  She recently worked on “White Crane” (2008) (or known in US as “Kung Fu Killers”). It aired on Spike TV starring David Carradine and Daryl Hannah and a few commercials and some other little jobs. She, also,  worked for the critically acclaimed, The Kite Runner (2007), which was shot in Beijing Film Studios, by being a film translator in the transportation department.

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Andy Vaccaro
Writer’s Assistant
Upon graduating from UCSB in 2004, Aaron Vaccaro got his feet wet in the world of post production working as a Post-Production Coordinator on the pilot of CBS' "Ghost Whisperer."  Realizing that writing was his passion, Aaron managed to make his way over to becoming the Writers' Assistant on the same show before moving on to become a Writers' Assistant on "24."  Aaron has been busy writing/producing his own webisode series, "EL NINJA PICANTE," and is busy working on that next script that will make him a millionaire.

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Caleb Wilson
Screenwriter
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0933128/
Caleb Wilson, who dabbled in philosophy and law at UCSB, was Matt Allen’s freshman year roommate and they have remained best friends and, also, writing partners since 1998. Wilson followed Allen to The Irv Schechter Agency, a small talent agency, after graduation. After a year, Caleb landed a better job, working for Brillstein/Grey, the number one talent management company in town. While his careeer was drifting into the executive ranks, he and Allen as a remedy to their impending “executive” status, Matt and Caleb came up with the idea for a comedy screenplay entitled Manchild. In summer of 1998, using the agent connections they had nurtured since the Irv Schechter days, they got the script to New Line Cinema who bought it. Caleb quit his job the very next day. In 2003, Wilson and Allen sold their spec screenplay, Four Christmases to Spyglass Entertainment and now, in 2008, the film, which stars Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon, will be released for the holiday season. Aside from their current film, Wilson with Allen is working on a new comedy for Ice Cube for Dimension Entertainment.

Gabrielle Winicki
Production Coordinator
Gabrielle Winicki works as a Production Coordinator at Spot Runner Ad Agency, which allows small businesses to create and place ads in local markets.

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Chris Yasko
Art Director
Chris Yasko works as an art director at Evans, Hardy & Young, Inc, locally here in Santa Barbara.

David Yeh
Digital Imaging Tech
Upon graduating, David Yeh has worked mostly in the field of television with the Hallmark Channel and then at E!  Since 2003 he has been at NBC Entertainment working in the Publicity Photography Department as a digital imaging tech and retouch artist, working on production stills for shows including “Heroes,” (2006) “The Office,” (2005) “Battlestar Galactica,” (2004) and many others.

Jamie Painter Young National Editor-In-Chief Jamie Painter Young is the National Editor-In-Chief of Back Stage, a trusted place for actors to find performing arts and casting information, that publishes between 800 to 1,000 top casting notices each week for every type of performance.

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Christy Zwicke Producer/Writer Christy Zwicke works for City-TV Channel 18 by producing and writing for their program, “All Things Green” (2008) locally, here, in Santa Barbara.