CREW
ANNE RENTON – DIRECTOR
Anne Renton graduated from Sydney University with a B.S. in Physiotherapy. Her passion for the healing arts led her to travel the world studying many forms of complementary medicine, psychology and spirituality. During that time she also studied extensively as an actor and voice-over artist and worked in independent film and television. After actively pursuing courses at UCLA and the One on One Film Institute, Anne turned her focus to directing and producing, using the awareness she gained in the healing profession as the foundation for how she worked. In 2007, Anne directed and produced the award winning short film LOVE IS LOVE, starring Emmy winner Jane Lynch (GLEE). After given the opportunity to shadow a well-known director on a feature film, Anne was inspired to continue directing and brought the heart-warming indie film THE PERFECT FAMILY to life. THE PERFECT FAMILY (Kathleen Turner, Emily Deschanel, Jason Ritter) premiered to critical acclaim at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Anne has since formed Certainty Films with Executive Producer Connie Cummings. They look forward to continuing to blend entertainment that weaves a sense of true purpose and meaning into our lives with a more conscious approach to filmmaking.
JENNIFER DUBIN – PRODUCER
JENNIFER DUBIN is the co-founder of Present Pictures with partner Cora Olson. She has produced the feature films, THE BABYSITTERS, starring John Leguizamo, Cynthia Nixon and Katherine Waterston which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival; the 2008 Sundance selection GOOD DICK; and the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival selection THE PERFECT FAMILY starring Kathleen Turner and Emily Deschanel. Their latest film, I AM I, is currently in post-production. Present Pictures also handled the U.S. distribution of GOOD DICK, the 2009 indie rom-com, TiMER, and is currently working on the release of THE PERFECT FAMILY. Born in Miami, Jennifer atttended Ransom Everglades School before moving to New York to attend NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She began her career working in film production on such pictures as STEPMOM, YOU’VE GOT MAIL, LITTLE NICKY and KNOCKAROUND GUYS and the independent features CHUTNEY POPCORN, COMING SOON, and INTERVIEW WITH THE ASSASSIN. In 2000, Jennifer moved from New York to Los Angeles and joined ICM‘s Motion Picture Talent Department before working in feature film development at Cosmic Entertainment, the production shingle for Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, Kate Hudson, and Oliver Hudson. Jennifer has been producing since 2005; she is a Trans Atlantic Partners fellow for IFP and is also a member of the Producer’s Guild of America.
CORA OLSON – PRODUCER
Cora Olson grew up in Washington, D.C. and graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After college, Olson moved to Los Angeles and worked in the feature literary department of The Gersh Agency before becoming the Director of Development at Collision Entertainment, where she oversaw projects at Miramax/Dimension, Focus Features and Disney. She founded Present Pictures with partner Jennifer Dubin in 2006. Their credits include THE BABYSITTERS, which premiered at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival; Marianna Palka’s debut feature, GOOD DICK, which premiered at Sundance in 2008; and THE PERFECT FAMILY, starring Kathleen Turner, which premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Present Pictures also executes full-fledged hybrid releases of select films across all platforms, including GOOD DICK, TiMER and the upcoming THE PERFECT FAMILY. Olson and Dubin are currently in post-production on Jocelyn Towne’s debut feature I AM I, and the duo recently executive- produced Jenny Deller’s debut feature FUTURE WEATHER, which will premiere at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival. Olson is a fellow of the Trans Atlantic Partners program and a member of the Producers Guild of America.
CONNIE CUMMINGS – EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Connie Cummings recently retired as CFO of Business Wire, the global market leader in commercial news distribution and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she studied drama and theater production in high school. She graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of California at Santa Cruz, became a licensed CPA and worked in finance for 28 years before turning her attention to documentary filmmaking. She founded the Foundation for Global Humanity in 2006 and has produced various documentaries exploring healing, spiritual evolution and indigenous ways of knowing. She is a graduate of the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and was on the teaching faculty there for six years. She has two beautiful children, Danny and Nicole Alfaro. In 2008 Connie partnered with Anne Renton to form Certainty Films. THE PERFECT FAMILY is her first feature production.
PAULA GOLDBERG – SCREENWRITER
Prior to THE PERFECT FAMILY, Paula completed a series of feature films for Regent Entertainment including the thrillers ALIEN PRESENCE and MURDER.COM and the actioner IN HER LINE OF FIRE, starring Mariel Hemingway and David Keith. Paula directed 30 episodes of the Roland Joffe MTV series, UNDRESSED. She has written, directed and produced several short films including TRAVELING COMPANION, starring SEX IN THE CITY’s Kristin Davis and THE BLAIR PRINCESS PROJECT, a spoof on THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, which sold 5,000 copies with its own home video release.
INAPPROPRIATE WORKPLACE, her original web series, is distributed by the Independent Comedy Network and aired on Comedy Central. Her original screenplay, OUT AT THE WEDDING, is a romantic comedy starring Mike Farrell, Charlie Schlatter, and Mink Stole. It won LOGO’s Audience Choice Award for Best Feature Film and debuted on the LOGO channel on Valentine’s Day 2009. Paula is currently teaching screenwriting at SMU and loving it!
CLAIRE V. RILEY – SCREENWRITER
Claire V. Riley is a screenwriter who lives in NYC and specializes in comedies. She came up with the idea for THE PERFECT FAMILY while she was writing her Ph.D. dissertation on lesbian families. While interviewing women, she found their personal stories more interesting than the social theory she was studying, and the characters and story for this film came to her. Her original screenplay for THE PERFECT FAMILY, took third place in the 2004 One-In-Ten contest and was a top ten finalist in the 2004 Red Inkworks contest. Her drama, THE BRAVEST, took first place in that same contest. Her broad comedy MRS. FELDSCHREIBER, SECRET AGENT received the “Best Female Character Not Used As A Murder Prop Or Decoration On The Leading Man’s Arm” award from A Feeding Frenzy screenplay competition, and has been a finalist in other several contests. Claire received her Ph.D. from the Anthropology Program at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center.
ANDRE LASCARIS – DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Recipient of the Hollywood Foreign Press Award from the American Film Institute, Greek born, Los Angeles based cinematographer, Andre Lascaris, began his career as a reportage photographer traveling around the world on assignment. Combining his experience of the world through reportage photography with narrative storytelling he inevitably grew into a filmmaker, collaborating on a wide variety of films shot all over the world: the United States, Central and South America, Asia and across Africa from coast to coast. Andre’s narrative cinematography ranges from the critically acclaimed GOOD DICK – NOMINATED for the GRAND JURY PRIZE at the 2008 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL, to the documentary STOLEN SEAS which examines the explosive phenomenon of modern day Piracy off the coast of Somalia. His recent feature credits include, ASS BACKWARDS (starring June Raphael, Casey Wilson, and Alicia Silverstone) and THE NORMALS (starring Brian Greenberg and Jess Wexler).
With over a decade of work as cinematographer, Andre’s work has been recognized with two EMMY nominations, one EMMY Award, a TELLY and an ADDY Award for Excellence in Cinematography in his commercial work.
MEGAN HUTCHISON – PRODUCTION DESIGNER
Megan developed her love for cinema while studying Design and Media at UCLA. She later attended the American Film Institute as a Production Design fellow. After graduating she went on to art direct and production design numerous features, music videos and commercials. Focusing on independent film, she has had the fortune of working on features that have premiered at Sundance, Toronto International Film Festival, SXSW and recently opened the Newport Beach Film Fest with 5 Star Day starring Cam Gigandet and Jena Malone. When not working on set, she is diligently working on her numerous illustration projects, oil paintings and coming up with new ways to make the world a better looking place.
JANINE SCALISE – MUSIC SUPERVISOR
Janine Scalise has taken a lifetime’s passion for music, coupled with a strong affinity for business, then applied it towards helping to create a music department within the business and legal affairs unit of Starz Entertainment, one of the fastest growing entertainment companies.
In her nearly six years at the company, Scalise has built and overseen such functions for Starz Originals TV series, Film Roman animated projects, in-house and third-party projects. Her responsibilities include negotiating and drafting music agreements for TV series, direct-to-DVDs and feature films; instituting a publishing arm for Starz; managing budgets for license fees, composer fees and more; overseeing music recording sessions; recommending music options to producers and show runners; and other jobs that involve maximizing the music in live action and animated productions. Scalise began shooting music videos and working in video production when she was still a teenager in Long Island. After studying video production and music in college, she spent five years in the fashion industry in New York, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue her ambitions in music. In her spare time, Scalise volunteers with the music-focused non-profit organization rytmo.org, which helps at-risk youth pursue music careers.
ANDREW KAISER – COMPOSER
Andrew Kaiser is a freelance composer based in Los Angeles. His primary concentration is music for film
and he also regularly writes for television shows and the concert stage.
Kaiser was classically trained in composition by Dinu Ghezzo at NYU. He went on to graduate from the USC Scoring for Motion Pictures and Television program, and has since amassed credits in an eclectic range of projects (including modern technology stuff such as AI vocal remover). His recent works include the score for the feature film TiMER, music for various television shows through David Vanacore Productions (including “Expedition: Africa” (History), “The Apprentice” (NBC), and many more), and additional scoring for Christophe Beck on the film WHAT HAPPENED IN VEGAS.
CHRISTOPHER KROLL – EDITOR
Chris Kroll started his career in the 1980′s honing his storytelling skills while the industry was making the digital transition. His credits include a wide variety of genres from teen comedy to dark sci-fi. He’s been an Assistant Editor on numerous studio and independent features, including: MY COUSIN VINNY, MOLL FLANDERS and MALIBU’S MOST WANTED. Chris went on to cut Marianna Palka’s debut feature GOOD DICK, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and KEITH, starring Elisabeth Harnois and Jesse McCartney. More recently, Chris edited Anne Renton’s debut feature THE PERFECT FAMILY, starring Kathleen Turner, Emily Deschanel and Jason Ritter, which premiered at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival.