ALUMNI NEWS
Andy Bader (FST 2005) was the director of photography on “The Drill”, which has earned multiple film festival awards and was a national finalist in the 2007 student academy award competition. He worked as a production assistant on “One Tree Hill” and “Hounddog” and as camera department production assistant under Vilmos Zsigmond on “Bolden!”.
Dominique Barnes (FST 2007) is a camera department intern on the feature film “Bolden!”. She has worked as a foley artist for a number of films, including “The Cricket”, “Red Means Go”, “The Last Stand”, and “The List”.
Kevin Black’s (FST 2004) production credits include set production assistant on Terrence Malick’s “The New World”, the NBC television series “Surface”, “The Water is Wide”, “Employee of the Month”, the SCIFI network’s “The Lost Room”, “Dead Heist”, the mini-series “Comanche Moon”, and James Mangold’s new feature “3:10 to Yuma”. He served as 2nd 2nd assistant director on “Dirt Nap” and “The Gravedancers”. He is working toward joining the Director’s Guild of America as an Assistant Director.
Kellista (Sidwell) Blunt (FST 2002) runs camera and directs live television for the First Family Church’s daily online broadcast.
Ashli Bogart (FST 2007) is the extras casting coordinator for the Lifetime Network television series “Army Wives” filming in Charleston, SC.
Chris Bowen (FST 2005) and a production team including Film Studies alumni Paul Blackmore and Josh Woll won first place the 2007 Wilmington One Take Film Festival competition with their film “Mime Unit”( www.myspace.com/far2bowen). Chris directed and co-wrote the post-modern zombie feature “Blackwood”. The film premiered locally in 2006 and will hit the festival circuit in 2007.
Jenn Brett’s (FST 2004) crew credits include production secretary on “Bolden!” and “Idlewild”; production assistant on “Loggerheads”, “The Strangers” “The Beautiful Ordinary” and “Find Love”; accounting assistant on “The List”, and set dresser intern on “Dawson’s Creek”.
Phillip Bryant (FST 2004) completed graduate film school in Melbourne Australia and currently works in the Australian film industry.
Jessica Buchanan (FST 2005) helps coordinate studio film test screenings for the Los Angeles based Nielsen Research Group, the organization behind the Nielsen ratings. She recently completed an internship at the Braun Entertainment Group in Beverly Hills.
Lisa Cannazzaro (FST 2004) worked in the casting offices for the NBC television series “Surface”, and “Friday Night Lights”. As an actress (working as Lila Lucchetti), she has appeared in “Friday Night Lights”, a nationally broadcast commercial, a television pilot, and the feature film “Cabin Fever 2”.
Justin Cioppa’s (FST 2005) plays “Castropolis” and “Frankenstein is Dead”, have been staged by the Guerrilla Theatre Company at the Soapbox in downtown Wilmington. He wrote and co-directed “Oyster Bummins”, a feature comedy that premiered in 2006 at the Hollywood East Cinema Grill.
Nate Daniel (FST 2007) recently edited a behind the scenes special features segment for the upcoming “One Tree Hill” DVD release. Nathan works as an editor for Legion Production Services in Wilmington, NC.
Carrie Defresne (FST 2003): After a year working on reality shows in Los Angeles, including “Top Model”, “I Wanna Be A Soap Star”, “Apprentice LA”, Carrie landed a steady gig in the field department of The Megan Mullally Show, a talk show hosted by the popular co-star of “Will & Grace”.
Ewart DeVisser (FST 2005) begins his Ph.D. in Human Factors and Applied Cognition at George Mason University in Fall 2007. He is currently working on a documentary about a habitat for humanity project in Tanzania. The project will be used to promote the Tanzanian Habitat office, as well as to raise money for the Korogwe elementary school.
Alison Diviney works at The Weinstein Company as assistant to the Vice President of Acquisitions Genna Terranova and VP of Acquisitions/Co-production Michael Schaefer.
Kristin Dombroski’s (FST 2006) crew credits include: locations production assistant on The Beautiful Ordinary, and One Tree Hill; locations assistant on Hounddog; set production assistant on Patriotville; assistant location manager for an HBO pilot produced by Will Ferrell. She will serve as the assistant location manager on the fifth season of “One Tree Hill”.
Ben Donnelly (FST 2005) is a news production assistant for WRAL TV 5 in Raleigh. He is currently working on a documentary.
Kathleen Durkin’s (FST 2006) crew credits include assistant to the director on “Asylum” and second assistant camera on “From Bubba with Love”.
Mitch Eakins (FST 2003) played team member Dick Meyers in the 2006 basketball feature “Glory Road”, and has since appeared in the features “Boxboarders!”, “Evil Bong” and “Tunnel Rats” (as Private Peter Harris), and the television series “Justice”. Before moving to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career, Mitch was a production assistant on “Loggerheads”.
Jason Edwards (FST 2001) is a reality TV producer in Los Angeles. He recently finished writing, directing and producing "Blood, Sweat and Gears", an award-winning documentary about America’s top custom bike builders. His television credits include "Flip This House" (A&E).
Marco Esposito (FST 2006) served as assistant to director Bryan Barber on the feature film “Idlewild”, assists with extras casting for the CW television series “One Tree Hill”, and collaborated on a behind the scenes documentary for the horror feature “Twisted”. He travels the country videotaping photographers and edits the footage for PhotoVision, a bi-monthly DVD-magazine with a national circulation of 7,000 subscribers.
Tina Fuchs (FST 2003) produced Joel Davenport’s FST Honors film THE DRILL, which has earned multiple film festival awards and was a national finalist in the 2007 student academy award competition. She recently began training with Wilmington stunt professionals Dino Muccio and John Copeman. So far, Tina has performed stunts for “One Tree Hill” (doubling Barbara Alyn Woods), “Twisted” (doubling Bevin Prince and Kelly Kruger), and “Cabin Fever 2” (stunt utility).
Janine Gericke (FST 2006) recently completed an internship at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City. She also plans to go to graduate school in archival studies in 2007.
Taylor Gill (JR, FST) recently completed a behind the scenes documentary for “Twisted” for planned inclusion on the horror feature’s DVD special features. He is a freelance editor for Legion Production Services and film co-chair for the UNCW Association for Campus Entertainment.
Grant Goodman’s (FST 2006) short film “Tomorrow” was featured at the Cucalorus Film Festival’s Jengo’s Playhouse Friday Night Film series. He is currently writing and marketing feature scripts.
Jenn Goodman (FST 2006) is a co-founder of Oriana East Productions, which she owns and operates with her husband William Mullans. She recently served as Assistant Editor on “Pointe Break”, a feature doc about the short-lived PAX network series Palmetto Pointe.
Dustin Griffin (FST 2006) crewed as office production assistant and video village PA for the HBO miniseries "John Adams" and as office PA, 24 playback PA and locations PA on the Disney feature “National Treasure 2”. He was recently hired as a cruise line photographer with Norwegian Cruise Lines in Hawaii. Dustin placed as one of three honorable mentions in Film International’s” First Annual Frank Capra Award For Under-Graduate Film Criticism contest. His article can be found at: http://www.filmint.nu/?q=node/62. He was invited to present his paper at the annual “Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association” (RMMLA) meeting in Calgary.
Nick Grimm (FST 2006) is assistant to Richard LaGravenese, the screenwriter of “The Fisher King”, “The Horse Whisperer”, and “The Ref”.
Ryan Haggerty (FST 2005) co-founded Changing Elevations, a production company based in Ashville, North Carolina, with fellow Film Studies alumnus Martin Ramsey. They’ve filmed a pilot for a music/cooking show entitled “SoundBites” and are in the final stages of production of a radio show entitled “The H.P. Lovecraft Radio Hour”.
Jay Hardie’s crew credits include: loader on “Nights in Rodanthe”, “The Marc Pease Experience”, and “Loggerheads”; assistant camera on “Hounddog”, “The List” and “The Beautiful Ordinary”; and additional camera assistant on the NBC television series “Surface”.
Reggie Hayes' (FST 2006) crew credits include rigging electrician on "The Beautiful Ordinary"; best boy electric on "Pirate Kids: Blackbeard¹s Lost Treasure"; location manager on "The Derby Stallion".
Logan Hendricks (FST 2006) is an editor at The Lighthouse Film Company in Wilmington and is currently editing the documentary “Yo Tek: A Uganda Tennis Story” with director Rex Miller.
Chris Horney (FST 2006) crewed as a 1st assistant camera on professor Renee Vincent’s short film “La Quintrala”, 2nd assistant camera on the feature film “Twisted”, and camera production assistant on “One Tree Hill”.
Cory Howard (FST 2004) has produced feature stories and commentaries at WHQR public radio, performed with the “The Other Side” improv comedy group and the two man show "The Superkiiids!", acted in the feature films “American Primitive” and “Dirt Nap”, was featured in two short tutorial films for the text book “Looking At Movies”, and worked as the utility stand in and photo double for character Miles Bennett on the NBC television series “Surface”. Since moving to California, Cory has worked with the North Coast Reparatory Theatre in San Diego and The Actors Gang group in Los Angeles. He studied improv comedy at The Groundlings School in Los Angeles and is currently a student at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. He recently toured the U.S. (with UNCW alumnus and fellow Superkiiiiid! Jonathan Guggenheim) in a two person retelling of “The Hobbit”. His film “The Short Life of Billy Britches” screened at the 2005 Cucalorus Film Festival.
Bryan Howser edits trailers in Los Angeles.
Chad Keith was the production designer on the feature films “Three Words and a Star”, “Dead Heist”, “RedMeansGo”, “Strike The Tent”, and “Fearsome”. He worked in the art department on feature films such as “Loggerheads” and “Dirt Nap”. He worked in the locations department for the television series “Dawson’s Creek” and “Surface”.
Roy Knauf’s (FST 2004) crew credits include: additional assistant camera on “Bolden!”, “The Strangers”, and “Idlewild”; camera loader on “Home of the Giants”, “The List”, “The Beautiful Ordinary”, “Southern Belles” and “Hounddog”.
Lexi Lekowitz's experimental film "What To Do On A Date: If Your Partner Likes It!" screened at The 40th Humboldt Film Festival in Arcata, CA.
Brandon Leonard (FST 2006) was the assistant director and editor of "The Drill" -- a national finalist for the student Academy Award. He edited Terry Linehan¹s documentary "Made of Salt and Water" for the North Carolina History Museum, and co-edited a behind the scenes documentary about the Cucalorus Film Festival that was incuded on the Best of Cucalorus compilation DVD. He was a set production assistant on "Bolden" and crews as a set PA on the television series "One Tree Hill".
Alex Lepp (FST 2004) earned a Masters of Business Administration at Kent State University. She wrote and designed the business plan for www.rollindependent.com, a website distribution gateway for short independent films. The site allows the filmmakers to earn revenue off each purchase and to mass distribute their films without the costs of inventory, packaging, and shipping.
Laura Lett (FST 2003) works as a multi-media specialist for the state of North Carolina. She produces promotional and educational videos and takes photographs for use in NC community college advertisements. She will open a portrait studio in the Raleigh area in the Fall of 2007.
Kyle Lewis's (FST 2006) recently joined I.A.T.S.E. as a property person. His crew credits include prop assistant on "The Beautiful Ordinary" and "Patriotville"; 2nd props assistant on "Hounddog", and Set Design Assistant on "Twisted". He recently completed work as assistant prop master on "Cabin Fever 2" and 3rd prop assistant on "Bolden!". Kyle was the production designer on "The Drill", a national finalist for the student Academy Award. He¹s currently working towards producing his own feature film.
Leif Lindhjem (FST 2004) recently graduated from the American Film Institute with an Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting. While at AFI, he wrote and directed two short films and wrote two feature scripts. He was the 2006 recipient of the Richard Levinson Endowed Scholarship. In May 2007, Leif received the William J. Fadiman Screenwriter Award of $15,000 in support of his work at the American Film Institute Conservatory, including his thesis script about former Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh of Iran, the first victim in history of a CIA coup d'etat. The Fadiman award for artistic and academic achievement represents one of the highest honors bestowed upon Fellows by AFI and the highest Screenwriting Fellows award at the AFI. Leif is currently writing a post-apocalyptic samurai feature.
Jim Mahorney’s (FST 2004) crew credits include best boy grip on “Furnace”, and dolly grip on “Pearl Diver” and “For the Love of a Dog”. He recently gripped the Julio Inglesias feature “The Music of You” and is currently gripping the television series “Army Wives”. A high point of his career thus far is getting shot by Tom Sizemore in a prison riot scene in the horror film “Furnace”.
Kevin Martinek’s (FST 2005) crew credits include 2nd Assistant Camera on “One Tree Hill” and “Forgiven”, and assistant camera on “Find Love” and “She House Cinema”. He was the set dresser for “Strike the Tent” and art department assistant on “Loggerheads”. He recently worked as camera intern on “Idlewild”.
Ben Mize (FST 2005) was accepted into North Carolina State University’s Master of Arts program in English with a concentration in Film. He starts work on his degree in Fall, 2007.
Colby Moore (FST 2007) is a camera tech at Joe Dunton & Company International in Wilmington.
Kaitln Oyler (FST 2007) was accepted into the Higher Education and Student Affairs Program at the University of South Carolina for Fall 2007. She will pursue a Master of Arts degree as the first step toward a doctorate.
Joe Paull (FST 2006) is the multi media editor for the Columbus, GA Ledger Enquirer newspaper, where he shoots and edits a daily webcast. His FST Senior Seminar sci-fi film “Star Boy” placed second in the Chattahoochee Valley Film Festival and screened at the 2006 Cucalorus Film Festival.
Michael Pearce (FST 2006) crewed as a location production assistant on “Bolden!”.
Kenneth Price (FST 2004) has edited several short films, and produced and edited the UNC TV broadcast Civil War documentary “Confederate Goliath”. His feature film production assistant credits include “The Marc Pease Experience”, “Idlewild”, “Southern Belles”, and “Loggerheads”. Kenneth co-founded Legion Production Services, a full service production and post-production facility in Wilmington, NC. He has served as colorist on a number of features and shorts including “Cocaine Angel”, an official selection of the South by Southwest & Rotterdam International Film Festivals. He recently co-produced a 16mm short entitled “Sadie’s Waltz” starring Richard Beymer (“West Side Story”, “Twin Peaks”).
Bevin Prince (FST 2005) has played the recurring role of Bevin Maskey on 32 episodes of the television series “One Tree Hill”. She plays principal roles in two recently wrapped 2007 feature films: “The Artifact” and “Twisted”.
Derek Pons (FST 2007) recently edited a behind the scenes special features segment for the upcoming “One Tree Hill” DVD release. Derek works as an editor for Legion Production Services in Wilmington, NC, and is set PA on “One Tree Hill”.
Martin Ramsey (FST 2004) founded Changing Elevations, a production company based in Ashville, North Carolina with fellow Film Studies alumnus Ryan Haggerty. They’ve filmed a pilot for a music/cooking show entitled “SoundBites” and are in the final stages of production of a radio show entitled “The H.P. Lovecraft Radio Hour”. Martin’s script “The Elevator Styx”, co-written with Mark Sink (FST 2004), is a Slamdance Screenplay Competition quarterfinalist.
Stephen Rogers (FST 2004) crewed as second assistant camera on the horror feature “Southern Gothic” and has worked as a loader on nationally broadcast commercials for NAPA Auto Parts, NASCAR, and Subway. He is currently producing a music video for the band Secondhand Stories and works as a wedding photographer in Charlotte. As an actor, he has appeared in a Bojangles commercial and the upcoming slasher film “Carver”.
Andrea Redder’s (FST 2005) crew credits include: production assistant on “Bolden!”, “The Marc Pease Experience”, “Patriotville”, “Three Words and a Star”, and “Hounddog”; second second assistant director on “Cabin Fever 2”. She was the director of photography for “Lemonade Stand”, an FST Senior Seminar student film that has played at the Lake County Film Festival in Lake County, OH, the George Lindsay Film Festival in Florence, AL, and the Open Aperture Film Festival at Appalachian State University, where it was awarded the Best Fiction prize.
Jonathan Rice (FST 2006) shoots and edits commercials and wedding videos for Cherry Productions in Wilmington. He is in preproduction on a documentary about his great uncle, a WWII pilot shot down behind enemy lines who endured a death march across Europe.
Laura Riddle (FST 2004) is a news production assistant for WRAL TV 5 in Raleigh.
Flake Shaw (FST 2003) is a post production supervisor working in L.A. Two of his most recent projects are the Travel Channel’s "1,000 Places To See Before You Die" and "The Kids Are In Charge”. His other credits include "The Club" (Spike TV - Post Production Assistant); "Blow Out 2" (Bravo - Post Production Coordinator); "Master Blasters" (SCI FI Network - Post Coordinator/Post Production Supervisor); "Hi-Jinks" (Nick at Nite - Post Production Supervisor).
Bob Shober crews as a grip on the CW Network television series “One Tree Hill”.
Mark Sink’s (FST 2004) script “The Elevator Styx”, co-written with Martin Ramsey (FST 2004), is a 2007 Slamdance Screenplay Competition quarterfinalist.
Kara Still wrote and directed the feature film “Altared” in the summer of 2006. The film in the final stages of post production and will hit the festival circuit later this year. She works full time as a script supervisor on television productions such as “Surface”, “One Tree Hill”, and feature films such as “Hound Dog”, “The List”, and “Don’t Fade Away”. Her most recent script supervisor position is on “Gospel Hill”, a feature film staring Samuel Jackson, Julie Stiles, and Danny Glover.
Julia Tasker (FST 2004) works as a script supervisor. Her credits include “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever”, “Three Words and a Star”, “Dead Heist”, “Home of the Giants”, “Altared”, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”, and “Bolton!”.
Brian Teague’s (FST 2003) mockumentary “AT3: Air to the Throne” won best picture at the 2007 Kennesaw Film Festival and was recently broadcast on the GA PBS show Atlanta Shorts. He recently wrote and directed a short as part of Atlanta’s 50 hour Rapid I Movement competition that screened at the Atlanta Film Festival and ran on Atlanta cable television. He was the assistant director on the short comedy “Understanding The Blues” and is producing a commercial for an urban clothing line. He’s currently busy writing more scripts.
Perry Thurman (FST 2003) was an associate producer on the ESPN2 television series “K9 Nation”.
John Tymus is an executive development assistant at development executive Jeffrey Kramer’s Juniper Place Productions, a production company housed under CBS Paramount Network TV. The company recently produced the celebrity reality show "Armed & Famous". John was a camera intern on “Dawson’s Creek” during his time as an exchange student at UNCW. After moving to Los Angeles, he attended the UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting and was a production assistant on the CBS series "Threshold" and an assistant for CBS Paramount Network TV Production.
Jessica Ward’s (FST 2006) crew credits include second assistant camera on “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever”, “Three Words and a Star”, “The List”, and the NBC television series “Surface”. She began her most recent project -- an action feature for Showtime shooting in Los Angeles and Las Vegas -- as 2nd Assistant Camera, but was promoted to “B” Camera 1st AC. She recently finished work as first assistant camera in “Able Danger”, a noir spy thriller shooting in New York City. Her FST Honors film “Age of Consent“, which she wrote, directed, shot and edited, screened at the Cucalorus Film Festival in 2006 and the Scene First National Student Film Festival in 2007.
Joel Wells (FST 2007) is the office manager of the Cucalorus Film Festival, and is a projectionist at Screen Gems Studios.
Matt Whisnant (FST2007) was the office production assistant for the horror feature “Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever”, a horror feature in which he also appears in the role of “Blake”.
Elaine White (FST 2007) was awarded an internship at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences internship in Los Angeles. Her short film “Buy In!” screened at the 2007 WE Music Festival in Wilmington.
Richard Wiebe (FST 2004) recently returned from directing and shooting a documentary about birds, culture, place and politics in the divided country of Cyprus. In the Fall of 2007 he starts graduate school at the University of Iowa, where he’ll pursue a Ph.D. in Film Studies. Richard co-edited a series of films with FST faculty Dave Monahan that have screened widely in international film festivals: “Snapshot”, “Ringo”, and “Finders Keepers”. “Ringo” was awarded the grand jury prize for Best Short Animation at the Seattle International Film Festival. He also served as a writer and editor and occasional co-star of a number of tutorial films for the textbook “Looking At Movies”.
Leigh Wiley (FST 2005) is the production office PA for the CW television series “One Tree Hill”. Previously she worked as the production office PA on “Bolden!”, and as the administrative assistant and tour coordinator at EUE Screen Gems Studios.
Josh Woll (FST 2005) is the proprietor of Digital Era Productions and the wedding videography company Capturing The Moment. He has worked on numerous local and regional commercials; multi-camera live events at Thalian Hall; and as a videographer on Terry Linehan’s documentary “Made of Salt and Water”, the DVD tutorials for the nationally distributed film textbook “Looking At Movies”, and an ongoing documentary project by FST faculty Terry Linehan and Dave Monahan. Working with fellow Film Studies alumni Paul Blackmore and Chris Bowen, Josh won first place the 2007 Wilmington One Take Film Festival competition. Josh was the director of photography for the post-modern zombie feature “Blackwood”. The film premiered locally in 2006 and will hit the festival circuit in 2007.