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Joseph Alexandre: Writer, Director, Producer
Joseph F. Alexandre was born in Manhasset, NY and currently lives in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of Marquette University, with a BA majoring in Political Science. Alexandre has directed several shorts and narrative and documentary features starting with Psychotropic Overload, a psychological thriller in the vein of Jodowrowsky or E. Elais Merhige. In Hock and Staying There is a narrative/doc hybrid about a no-budget Indie's filmmaker's vexing path to sustainability and success, but instead leads to a gradual descent into insanity. Into The Chasm which comes under the guise of a thriller, but is really a meditative piece on the nature of gun violence in the U.S. and offers in it's subtext a few possible reasons why. And, the truncated short version of Into the Chasm entitled Shadow Play, which stars noted stage actor and screenwriter John Crowther (co-wrote Charles Bronson film The Evil That Men Do) and son of legendary New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther. In Hock and Staying There got indie gurus' John & Janet Pierson’s attention (Janet is currently chief executive of the SxSW Film Fest) and prompted the Piersons to commission, The Real Casino, for their show Split Screen for IFC/ Bravo, where The Blair Witch Project and American Movie originated.
The full- length version Back Home Years Ago: The Real Casino aired on Image Union, WTTW Channel 11, the Chicago PBS affiliate. It has screened in some 25 festivals worldwide and is included on the TF 1 Collector’s Edition 3 disc DVD of Casino in France and all French speaking territories. It was released in the U.S. on DVD with several versions, deleted scenes, and extra interview footage and is available at amazon, netflix, and Blockbuster.com. The film has appeared on IFC, Bravo, PBS, Time-Warner cable, Moviola cable in Canada, as well as being licensed by French media giant TF 1, Delta Airlines, and Air Canada. The Real Casino is an impressionistic, de- glamorization of the Hollywood mob film, removing a bit of the sheen B-independent.com said, "it's scarier than anything in Casino or GoodFellas....", efilmcritic described it as, "a primer for Indie filmmakers..." Alexandre is developing the aforementioned short film into a feature called WiseAcre with the attachment of Jonas Ball (The Killing of John Lennon, The Blind, and The Objective), and has written several other narrative scripts, some at studio level. In addition to his Independent film work, he has worked on larger budgeted films like the BMW Film series, The Hire, specifically, Ticker, which was directed by Joe Carnahan and starred Don Cheadle, Ray Liotta, and Clive Owen. Continuing his collaboration with Carnahan, Alexandre was commissioned by Film Engine and New Line Cinema to write a script for Joe Carnahan to direct. Most recently, Alexandre wrote and directed the award winning documentary, Warriors of the Discotheque: The Starck Club Documentary, that premiered at the USA Film Festival in Dallas as well as Holly Shorts, New Filmmakers- Anthology Film Archives, Moors Bar screening series in London, UK and Queer Fruits Film Festival in Australia. The film is about the notorious Starck Club (so called because it was the first major project designed by Philippe Starck in North America, it put him on the map in the US.) The Starck Club opened in Dallas in 1984 and not long after hosted the 1984 national Republican Convention in the form of a “Starcktari” party complete with baby elephant. Ironically, it was actually legal to buy MDMA, aka ecstasy there, people would put it on their credit cards. The DEA stepped in and made it a category 1 drug on July 1, 1985... The Club would become ground zero for the entire rave/ecstasy scene. In addition, the club had a significant hand in introducing LGBT culture to the heart of Texas. The doc is being developed into a narrative episodic for cable, with a complete pilot and series bible. Alexandre is currently repped by Michael Lewis & Associates and a current member in good standing of the WGA west.Radio interview www.imdb.com/name
AGENT:
Michael Lewis & Associates
Land 310 399 1999 Mobile 310 717 4027
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michael@mlewisagency.com
ATTORNEY:
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HUGHES MEDIA LAW
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Member WGAw www.wga.org
Collaborators: CREW
Scott Simerly Jr- Editor Warriors of the Discotheque Raised in a creative household, Scottie started exploring his artistic side at an early age. At North Carolina State University, he became more serious about his film career and after graduating, made the move to Los Angeles. This path has led him to work with numerous companies including Nike, Toyota, American Idol, Levi’s, Old Navy, GAP, Giro, Easton, Queen Mary, American Eagle, LEGO, Self, and Tiger Beat. He has worked on films that have appeared in Sundance, Cannes, Ghana Movie Awards, International Film Festival Manhattan, and USA Film Festival. Scottie’s passion is in storytelling, whether it be for a documentary, wedding video, music video, or corporate promo. His website: http://simileproductions.com/
Taylor Wigton: Director of Photography Warriors of the Discotheque
Largely self-taught, Wigton begun taking 35mm nature photographs in his native Maine, discovering, somewhat to his surprise, that people were willing to pay decent money for copies of his prints.
After graduation from college, he made his way to New York seeking an entry into the film business, and soon caught on as a location manager and all-round trouble-shooter for an independent feature. He had a beautiful view of lower Manhattan from his sublet in Brooklyn. On September 11, 2001, he watched from his window as the Twin Towers fell. No doubt one of the more trivial disruptions that stemmed from that day way that production work in the city simply dried up in the wake of the tragedy. Wigton went back to Maine, but with a mission. Based on his on set experience, he set his sights on becoming a Director of Photography.
Wigton had corresponded with Ken Freed, a top engineer at JVC, about technical issues during the shoots, and when he forwarded samples of his footage to JVC, Freed said he found the work to be of superior quality and inquired about using it to demonstrate the capabilities of JVC camera in trade shows. With this encouragement, Wigton headed off to Los Angeles. In between short-term DP gigs on an assortment of forgettable projects, he continued to develop his relationship with equipment manufacturers, and build a reputation for creating high quality imagery with medium-to-low-end HD gear. He became a ‘go to guy' for JVC, Canon and Sony, as they rolled out new cameras and sought to get the DP perspective (as opposed to a mere engineering analysis) on their gear. Wigton became a leading expert on the use of 35mm lens adapters with HDV cameras, and collaborated with Rodney Charters, DP of the TV show 24, on a series of review articles published in a leading trade magazine. At the 2008 NAB conference, Wigton was a featured panelist on the “SuperSession” program “A Million Dollar Look on a Thousand Dollar Budget.”
Paul Forte: Editor- Warriors of the Discotheque
Paul is originally from the UK and spent more than a few nights at the Ministry of Sound nightclub. He cut his teeth editing commercials and promos as well as several feature films including Tao Ruspoli’s 2007 Slamdance winner Fix as well as Ruspoli’s new documentary Behind the Wheel!
Nathan Anderson: editor Shadow Play, God Save the Queen, The Real Casino DVD
http://shotgundigital.com/
Nathan is the owner of Shotgun Digital and has been cutting demos and films in LA for 10 years.
An actor himself as well as an editor, Nathan received his theatre degree from St. Olaf College, followed by graduate work at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
His television work includes guest spots on Mad Men, Without A Trace, Bones, Shark, Joey, Will & , NCIS, The West Wing, and most notably, a starringGrace role as Scott Peterson in the CBS movie Witness: The Amber Frey Story. He recently starred opposite Jennie Garth in the Lifetime Original movie Girl Positive.
Matt Ehling: DP The Real Casino
Matt's a talented a director, producer, cameraman, writer and editor with over 15 years experience in the television and communications industries.
John & Janet Pierson Executive Producers The Real Casino
JOHN PIERSON graduated from NYU Film School in January 1977. Twenty- five years later, he left America behind to show free movies at the world¹s most remote theater, Fiji¹s 180 Meridian Cinema. This adventure with his family became the subject of the Steve James documentary REEL PARADISE. In between, he played many pivotal roles in bringing the work of first-time filmmakers like Spike Lee, Michael Moore, Kevin Smith and Richard Linklater to the screen, a portfolio that Premiere called "a virtual hit parade of the independent movement." These tales are chronicled in John's book Spike, Mike, Slackers & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema, revised and reissued in 2004 as Spike Mike Reloaded. Peter Biskind calls it "the bible for independents."
He was also creator and host of Split Screen, a half-hour magazine-format television show on IFC. Over its four year run, Split Screen put well over 100 indie filmmakers to work and also spawned features ranging from THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT to HOW¹S YOUR NEWS? Often in partnership with his wife and Grainy Pictures co-president Janet Pierson, John has directed film festivals, staged annual film workshops, and formed a completion funding company. He also executive produced CHASING AMY and once acted opposite Chris Noth. In addition, he appeared last year on Real World Austin as the guy who assigns the kids their 'job.'
The Piersons now live in Austin, TX where John teaches in the UT film department. One of his classes "reps" films like CAVITE and JAM. He still awaits the release of the long-delayed Split Screen 3-DVD box set. Janet now heads the SxSW film festival.
Talent
Warriors of the Discotheque:
Miss Chow holds a Masters in Architecture from Harvard University and BA in Architecture from UC- Berkeley and is currently a Professor and lecturer at USC’s School of Architecture and Design. She’s also a member of SAG and looking to get a reality based show on Design off the ground. She’s studied Philippe Starck’s work extensively.
Luis Barajas: Onscreen talent
www.flauntmagazine.com
Luis co- founded Detour magazine in Dallas and created Flaunt magazine in Los Angeles. He was a regular at Starck from the day the doors opened in 1984 to when they closed in 1989!
David McDonald: Onscreen talent
David worked at the Starck as a bartender from 1985 to 1989. He currently lives in Los Angeles and works in the film industry. David has also come aboard in a Producer capacity to help enhance the project to feature length status!
Michael R. Moore: Onscreen talent
Michael was “The Starck Club artist-in-residence” and was there from opening to close as well. He currently teaches Photography.
Shadow Play:
John Crowther
John was one of the leads in "Shadow Play", and is a noted stage actor and screenwriter (co-wrote Bronson film "The Evil That Men Do") John Crowther, son of legendary New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther. His interest has veered into painting more recently.
www.artist-perspectives.com
LINKS:
Film courage
Film threat
Usa film estival
Holly shorts
New film makers
Shorts international
srs cinema
ifctv
Shortstv
Variety
