Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Jack Perez is a 20-year veteran of the motion picture and television industry. He has directed nine feature films, is the recipient of awards for both writing and directing, and has received the critical praise of Roger Ebert, Harry Knowles from Ain’t It Cool News, drive-in critic Joe Bob Briggs, Fangoria, Film Threat, The LA Weekly, The Austin Chronicle and The New York Times. Perez graduated with honors from New York University’s Department of Film and Television. In his early career, he was hired by Sam Raimi & Universal Studios to direct the pilot for the popular television series, Xena: Princess Warrior.   Following his work on Xena, Perez directed two acclaimed feature films: The Big Empty, a revisionist private eye tale which competed at the AFI International Film Festival (winning the WGA’s Best New Writer Award); and the black-comic thriller, La Cucaracha, which was honored with the Best Feature Award at the Austin Film Festival and was released theatrically to excellent reviews. In recent yea

Helen McCready, casting director, C.S.A., began working as an actor in 1985 in British Columbia. as an extra on 21 Jump Street. She assisted in extra casting at Denise Love Talent Agency. In 1999, Helen launched Helen Wheels Productions, LLC in Arizona. Now in Burbank  Helen’s success as a casting director has continued with projects such as Director Sam Mendes’s Away We Go, Nancy Meyer’s - Meryl Streep’s and Alec Balwdwin’s It’s Complicated. McCready is casting director for a number of films Margarine Wars with Doris Roberts, Robert Loggia, Terri Moore, Dee Wallace, Zombie Drugs and Suspicion. She is currently casting two SAG web series The Resolve and “Writers Block”. She is casting Just Like Me, starring Chris Kattan and location casting for Sleeping Around  along with eight other feature films in 2011. She is VP of casting for two inde production companies, Bengal Pictures and DB Rich Productions. Helen will executive produce  and cast her screenpla Racetrack in 2012. Helen uncovers everything an actor ne

Carlo Petrick ,PT 2, film PR marketer, has more than 30 years experience in film exhibition and marketing. He's developed local and regional campaigns for films, as the official spokesperson for Marcus Cinema, and works closely with the exhibitor relations departments of all major studios. His efforts include media planning and buying; launching new theatres in markets throughout the Midwest; developing and directing direct mail campaigns; coordinating art direction for photo and video shoots; and extensive market research. He's worked with local filmmakers to help bring their films to the big screen. By connecting filmmaker with exhibition venues with his company’s film department several films have had regional runs. Petrick continues to work on new projects for his company, including production of 35mm institutional trailers, TV spots and video presentations. He also is a producer for the International UFO Congress, one of the largest UFO conventions in the world. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes' Movie Beat for ot

Casey Ryan is the creator and host of the Cutting Room Floor talk-radio podcast. For the past 3 years, the show has sought to highlight the works of independent entertainers of all types including filmmakers, actors, authors, and musicians. The half hour segments air live on Sundays at 12 PM EST with recorded copies posted shortly afterward. A self proclaimed pop-culture addict, Casey is always trying to read up on the latest entertainment news stories. His film education consists of a lifetime of watching and studying movies. He is also an avid reader and enjoys learning more about the lives of his favorite actors, actresses, and filmmakers by reading their memoirs or critical essays about their work. Such favorites include (but, are not limited to): Michael Caine, Rachel McAdams, and Norman Jewison. He holds a BA in Industrial Relations and Economics as well as a diploma in Sciences. For the past 10 years he has enjoyed a prolific career in corporate sales – often using his skills to help his guests market

Anthony Timpone, VP of Fangoria Entertainment, manages the Video on Demand, DVD and digital divisions. He is Editor Emeritus of Fangoria Magazine and Editor of the brand’s award-winning website Fangoria. As a Producer/Co-host, Timpone worked on Fangoria Radio for Sirius XM Satellite Radio and is the Producer/Interviewer for Fangoria TV’s Screamography series. In the 1990s he helped guide the first three Fangoria feature films: Mindwarp (starring Bruce Campbell and Angus Scrimm), Children of the Night (with Karen Black, Peter DeLuise and Amy Dolenz) and Severed Ties (with Oliver Reed, Garrett Morris and Elke Sommer), all released by Columbia TriStar Home Video. In 2004 he served as an Associate Producer to Bravo’s widely successful 100 Scariest Movie Moments, 5-hour documentary miniseries. He served as a VP of Acquisitions for Fangoria’s three separate home video labels, and co-created Fangoria’ Blood Drive short film DVD collection, hosted by Rob Zombie. The Horror Channel engaged him as a Creative Advisor. F

Rex Piano, director, PT 2 graduated NYU School of the Arts in 1981. At school he worked on several films and commercials,  “Ms. 45” for director Abel Ferrara, “Mother’s Day”, “When Nature Calls” for director Charles Kaufman. Upon graduating, he worked as a 1st A.D. on dozens of commercials and films until he took a full time position at a NY Commercial Production Company. In 1985 Rex as Head of Production for O’Quinn Productions. he produced numerous videos for Fangoria Magazine. In 1987 Rex became Head of Production for Associated Television International.  Rex wrote, produced and/or directed several TV specials and numerous travel videos. Rex also co-wrote and line produced the feature film “Chill Factor,” starring Paul Williams, Patrick Macnee and Andrew Prine. Rex line produced “Severed Ties” in 1991 for Fangoria Films. In 1995 he produced the syndicated TV show “High Tide,” starring Rick Springfield. Rex became one of the series’ rotating directors. Some of the episodic shows Rex has directed  “Mike Hamm

Ryan Levin, screenwriter, first job in LA was writers’ PA on the sitcom, Scrubs. Levin then spent two more seasons at Scrubs as a writers’ assistant, wrote an episode and proceeded to work as a writers’ assistant on several more shows and pilots.    Levin wrote and directed a short film, The Fifth,  a dark comedy, played over 60 film festivals worldwide, earning a myriad of awards, including Fantasia Fest’s Audience Award for Best Short Film, Dead by Dawn’s Best Short Film, and Fantastic Fest’s Best Short Film Screenplay & Best Short Film Actor. The Fifth was also selected as part of the Just For Laughs “Best of Comedia” Film Event. It was The Fifth that served as the basis for the feature film, Some Guy Who Kills People, which Levin wrote and produced. Some Guy Who Kills People is currently making the festival rounds. The film is repped domestically by The Film Collaborative (founded byRS Movie Beat guest, Orly Ravid). Levin also wrote and directed the comedic-horror short film, Tour de Fright, after

Barry Bostwick, actor.  From his portrayal of Brad Majors in “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” to Mayor Randall Winston on ABC’s “Spin City”, Barry Bostwick has had a career spanning all genres and mediums of show business. Barry has had starring roles in many highly acclaimed television film and miniseries’. “George Washington.” He won a Golden Globe for his performance as Lieutenant “Lady” Aster in ABC’s thirty-hour presentation of “War and Remembrance.” He starred in “Moviola,” “Deceptions,” “A Woman of Substance,” “Murder by Natural Causes,” “Betrayed by Innocence,” “The Chadwicks, “ “You Can’t Take it With You,” “Once Upon a Family,” “Red Flag,” “Uncommon Love,” “Body of Evidence,” “Addicted to Love,” “Parent Trap III,” “Hawaiian Holiday,”  “ The Great Air Race,” “Captive,”  “Challenger,”  ”I’ll Take Manhattan,” “Scruples,” and “’Til We Meet Again,” “Once in a Lifetime.”  He starred in the ABC series “Foul Play,” and “Dads,” the Lifetime Special “Santa and Me” and the science fiction thriller “Tales from a

Pen Denshama writer, producer, director,  prefers to think of himself as a filmmaker. At nineteen he moved to Canada, where he directed commercials and documentaries, working with Marshall McLuhan. He joined John Watson and gainedAcademy Award nominations for the documentary LIFE TIMES NINE. In total the duo received over seventy international awards for their works. IF WISHES WERE HORSES, Pen wrote and directed, won fourteen awards and was reviewed by TV Guide as the best film of any length shown on Canadian Television.  It brought Densham's work to the attention of Norman Jewison who, with Telefilm, sponsored his move to Hollywood. In Hollywood, Pen and John founded the Trilogy Entertainment Group. They acted as creative consultants on ROCKY II, and FOOTLOOSE.  In 1988 Pen directed  THE KISS, for Tri-Star.  In 1990, Densham and Watson sold their spec script for ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, and produced the film for Morgan Creek and Warner Brothers. They produced BACKDRAFT with Ron Howard directing. Pen wr

Monica Lewis (singer/actor) For almost two decades, Monica Lewis was the idealized, wholesomely sexy sound and image of apple-pie America, lending a curvaceous, dimpled smile and melodious voice of hope to thousands of U.S. troops through two of the 20th century's greatest wars. She starred on the very first "Ed Sullivan Show" telecast, had numerous hit records including "Put the Blame on Mame," "A Tree in the Meadow," "A Kiss to Build a Dream On," "Autumn Leaves" and "I Wish You Love," and provided the memorable singing voice for the popular cartoon character "Miss Chiquita Banana" Records and television led to movies, and in 1950 MGM signed Monica to an exclusive multimedia contract giving her roles in THE STRIP with Mickey Rooney, INSIDE STRAIGHT with Barry Sullivan and EXCUSE MY DUST with Red Skelton. She also co-starred in the Marge and Gower Champion musical EVERYTHING I HAVE IS YOURS, in which she sang the title song and became the only woman other than Marge to ever dance on screen with Gower. AFFAIR

Matthew Barry, is an actor, producer, and casting director. Best known for starring in Bernardo Bertolucci’s film “La Luna”. After going into casting Matthew has since spent 14 years directing actors as a casting director, working with directors Tim Burton on “Ed Wood and “Mars Attacks” Brett Ratner on “Rush Hour 1 and 2” and “Family Man”, Nick Cassavetes on “Unhook the Stars”, “She’s So Lovely”, “John Q” “The Notebook”, “Alpha Dog” and most recently “My Sisters Keeper”, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer on “Crimson Tide” (Tony Scott) and “Con Air” (Simon West).  Matthew’s ability to spot and work with talent has allowed him to discover or advance the careers of James Gandolfini and Philip Seymour Hoffman (“Money For Nothing”), Ryan Phillipe, Steve Zahn, Danny Nucci and James LeSure (“Crimson Tide”), Don Cheadle (“Devil in a Blue Dress”), Dave Chappelle and Monica Potter (“Con Air”), Lucy Liu (“Shanghai Noon”), Dakota Fanning (“Tomcats”), Roselyn Sanchez (“Rush Hour 2”) Rachel McAdams (“The Notebook”), and Katt

Dan Davies, actor, writer, producer. Dan and Steve Russell, produced Ed Gein, The Musical a critically acclaimed film covered by nearly 1000 newspapers, magazines, websites and featured on national TV and radio. Dan has over 15 years in the film/television business. He hosted and co-produced over 80 episodes of TV seen throughout the Midwest including a cooking show called,"Sports' Cooking co-hosted by Sara White and the late NFL great Reggie White. In 2005, Dan and Ron Bullock of Video Trend Associates won the Platinum Remi at the 38th Annual Houston International Film Festival (aka WorldFest). Past winners at WorldFest have included Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, George Lucas, Ang Lee, the Coen Brothers, Robert Rodriguez, Ridley Scott, Spike Lee, etc. WorldFest is the largest and arguably the most prestigious in independent film. In 2006, he and Ron, won a Silver Remi at WorldFest. They also won Best Comedy at the 20th Annual Videomaker Magazine Video Contest and in November of 06, Dan was featured on the

Dan Davies, actor, writer, producer. THIS Interview had tech difficulties so it is only about 25 minutes long. It is good so I left it and we did another one - with the word FULL  in the title. Listen to both!!! Dan has over 15 years in the film/television business. He hosted and co-produced over 80 episodes of TV seen throughout the Midwest including a cooking show called,"Sports' Cooking co-hosted by Sara White and the late NFL great Reggie White. In 2005, Dan and Ron Bullock of Video Trend Associates won the Platinum Remi at the 38th Annual Houston International Film Festival (aka WorldFest). Past winners at WorldFest have included Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, George Lucas, Ang Lee, the Coen Brothers, Robert Rodriguez, Ridley Scott, Spike Lee, etc. WorldFest is the largest and arguably the most prestigious in independent film. In 2006, he and Ron, won a Silver Remi at WorldFest. They also won Best Comedy at the 20th Annual Videomaker Magazine Video Contest and in November of 06, Dan was featured on the

Rex Piano, director, graduated NYU School of the Arts in 1981. At school he worked on several films and commercials,  “Ms. 45” for director Abel Ferrara, “Mother’s Day”, “When Nature Calls” for director Charles Kaufman. Upon graduating, he worked as a 1st A.D. on dozens of commercials and films until he took a full time position at a NY Commercial Production Company. In 1985 Rex as Head of Production for O’Quinn Productions. he produced numerous videos for Fangoria Magazine. In 1987 Rex became Head of Production for Associated Television International.  Rex wrote, produced and/or directed several TV specials and numerous travel videos. Rex also co-wrote and line produced the feature film “Chill Factor,” starring Paul Williams, Patrick Macnee and Andrew Prine. Rex line produced “Severed Ties” in 1991 for Fangoria Films. In 1995 he produced the syndicated TV show “High Tide,” starring Rick Springfield. Rex became one of the series’ rotating directors. Some of the episodic shows Rex has directed  “Mike Hammer, P

Dr. Barry Sandrew founded Legend3D, Inc., and is an internationally recognized visual effects pioneer and digital imaging expert with more than 14 VFX patents and 23 years of feature film and TV experience. In 2001, he developed the Company’s technology for the original patented digital systems and processes for colorization which he then later utilized as the platform from which he created Legend3D’s proprietary 3D conversion software.  He was previously the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of American Film Technologies (AFT), a pioneer colorization company and utilizing his patented technology, AFT colorized more than 200 motion pictures, 170 television programs and 90 animated cartoons under his management, accounting for over 80% of colorized product worldwide. After leaving AFT, Sandrew was a founder of Lightspan, Inc. in 1993, one of the largest educational software companies in the U.S.  From 1978 to 1986, Sandrew was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School where he established three laborator

Bill Smitrovich, actor, stars as Vice President Raymond Jarvis, in NBC’s new high-octane thriller “The Event.” He began his professional acting career with Arthur Miller in the world premiere of Miller's “The American Clock” at the Spoleto Festival. Stage parts followed; then TY and movies. Smitrovich gained recognition for his portrayal of Drew Thacher, a family man and father of a Down syndrome son in the critically acclaimed and award-winning dramatic series “Life Goes On.” Smitrovich was also a proud member of the all-star cast of the live television version of George Clooney's production of “Fail Safe.” He has appeared in over 30 films, including, “Independence Day,” “Ghosts of Mississippi,” “Iron Man” “Nick of Time” (with Johnny Depp), “Air Force One,” “Thirteen Days,” “Seven Pounds”—and most recently his second film with Johnny Depp, an homage to Hunter S. Thompson's novel, “The Rum Diary,” due for a October 28th 2011 release. He's had many supporting & starring television roles include cigar- chom

Jared Anthony Pelletier, director, grew up in Aurora, Ontario, Canada. Interested in film from age of 6 he has shot numerous shorts with friends & family seeing international success in winning festival awards. In September 2010 he shot his first major production, a WW2 short entitled 'In the Hearts of Men'. The film was released at the AZFAME Film Fest in March 2011, winning awards in Editing, Cinematography (Erik Tallek), Best Film, and Best Director. The film has gained a large following on Facebook Halo The Movie FB Page. Pelletier lists James Cameron, The Coen Brothers, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, and Christopher Nolan as some of his favorite filmmakers. They were able to find a number of WWII re-enactor's in their  surrounding area, who donated their costumes, props, and time and saved them thousands of dollars. They were able to get their post production services at essentially no cost due to the great dedication and efforts of Keith LaPlume, Sebastian Petterzon (Visual Effects), Giancarlo Feltr

David Baker & Oklahoma Ward filmmakers collaborate to make "Hardcore Indie" a 90 minute doc about the making of two hardcore, gritty horror movies in Tulsa, OK. "Screen" & "Crawl" are two original horror/thriller movies from two visionary filmmakers. One from Scotland, one from Tulsa OK. David & Oklahoma are pooling their talent, drive & resources - their ultimate goal is to use these movies to kickstart an independent film studio in the US. David has two features films to his credit. "Pasty Faces. & "MISSION X  which was shot over a year on a budget of $5000. Oklahoma has The Isolation of Subject #136, The Battle of Tinker, Hot Mess, The Documentary The Making of a Horror Film Day: 000. Oklahoma built a self financed, independent, ultra-low budget film studio by hand. Two days after the building was completed - HARDCORE INDIE Studios was born.    Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great interviews, cast & crew listings, events, premieres & more at rexsikes.com

Deborah Patz has been a filmmaker on award-winning productions since the mid-80s, primarily as a production manager and coordinator, and then as production executive. Based on her production experiences, she has written two internationally successful books: "Film Production Management 101" and "Surviving Production." Ms. Patz has worked with Lucasfilm, IMAX, MCA/Universal, BBC, CBC, Alliance/Atlantis, Nelvana and the Disney Channel. Her diverse production experience spans science fiction extravaganzas to low budget features and including both family and children's programming. Having worked on numerous international coproductions and shot in several countries around the world, Ms. Patz has even sent a camera into space. Most recently, she has thoroughly updated and expanded her book "Film Production Management 101: Management & Coordination in a Digital Age" to address the realities of today's industry. Known as the "Swiss Army Knife" of production management, the book is still an entertaining and hugely

Ted Hope PT 2 is recognized, by The Hollywood Reporter and other publications, as one of the most influential and powerful people in Independent Film. Hope is currently in pre-production on SUPER, written and to be directed by James Gunn, and starring Rainn Wilson, Ellen Page and Liv Tyler. He recently completed Greg Mottola’s ADVENTURELAND -r eleased on April 3, 2009. Hope’s 2007 production of Oscar-winner Alan Ball’s feature film directorial debut, TOWELHEAD, marked his 18th production of a first time feature film director. In addition to Ball, Hope has brought to the screen the first features of Todd Field, Michel Gondry, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Moises Kaufman, and Bob Pulcini & Shari Berman, among others. Along with his Good Machine partner James Schamus, Hope produced Ang Lee's early films including RIDE WITH THE DEVIL (1999), THE ICE STORM (1997), EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN (1994), the Academy Award nominated THE WEDDING BANQUET (1993), and PUSHING HANDS (1992). Hope has received numerous awards an