News About Cornellians Working in Hollywood

 

ELIZABETH ALLEN recently directed the television series “Relationship Status.”  Allen has directed episodes of the television series “Gossip Girl,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Franklin & Bash” and "Empire."

JOHN ARLOTTO is a director/editor.  His 2007 short film “Deface” won the Production Excellence Award at the 13th annual Angelus Student Film Festival.  Is Writer/director/lead editor on "Men of Gray: the Flying Squad."

JOSE ARROYO writes for the TBS talk show “Conan.”  Arroyo also wrote on “The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” and “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” where he received an Emmy Award.

KEVIN ASHWORTH is a film/TV actor.  He’s had recurring roles on “Scandal” and Marvel’s “Agent Carter” and played a judge on "For the People."

LORI BALTON is a veteran locations scout whose long list of credits include “There Will Be Blood,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” and “Saving Mr. Banks.”  Her recent films include "Downsizing," "A Wrinkle in Time," "Dumbo," “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “War for the Planet of the Apes” and "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood."  She is the first location professional to be invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

ANAT BARON is the director of the 2009 documentary “Beer Wars” which is available on Amazon Video. 

TODD BECK is founder and CEO of Beck Media, an L.A,-based PR agency specializing in entertainment and technology, with offices in New York, Atlanta, Austin and San Francisco.

ANDREA BERLOFF received a Best Original Screenplay Academy Award nomination for the 2015 film “Straight Outta Compton.”  She wrote the screenplay for “Sleepless Night” starring Jamie Foxx.  She has just completed filming "The Kitchen," with Melissa McCarthy.

JORDAN BERMAN is the Founder & CEO of Office Channel, a creative communications agency and video production studio. 

HART BOYKIN is an actor who most recently appeared on the television series “Castle.”  Boykin’s credits also include appearances on “House M.D.” and “The Young and the Restless.”

DREW BRODY produced the 2013 short film “Cash for Gold.”

JEFF BUDSBERG is an Oscar award winning visual effects artist who has worked on such films as “Cars,” “How to Train Your Dragon 2” and“The Croods 2.” 

YELENA CHAK is Vice President of drama development at CBS Entertainment.

IAN CHEN is a composer who scored the documentary "The Trail from Xinjiang," which was named the winner of Excellence in Documentary Short Filmmaking award at the 2013 Asian American International Festival.  He recently composed music for the miniseries "Green Door."

MICHAEL CHERNUCHIN is an Emmy-nominated writer/producer who has worked on such television classics as “Law & Order,” “24,” “Black Sails,” “Rogue.  and "FBI."  Recently he was the showrunner on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."

JORDAN CLARKE is a veteran actor who recently starred in the Youtube show “Venice the Series.”

BOB CLENDENIN is a veteran comedy actor who starred in the TBS series “Cougar Town.” He’s also acted in numerous other television series and films including “L.A. Confidential,” “Star Trek,” "Longmire" and "NCIS." 

ANN COULTER is an author and political commentator.  She appeared in the 2015 SyFy television movie “Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!”.

REED VAN DYK wrote and directed the 2014 short film “nasty hardcoreXXX amateur couple.”  His short film "DeKalb Elementary" was nominated for a 2018 Oscar,

CHRIS FENTON is a producer of the film comedy “Blockers," starring Leslie Mann and John Cena.  Fenton was the executive producer of the 2015 “Point Break” remake, “47 Ronin” and "Bastards."

SCOTT FERGUSON produced the HBO series “The Night Of."  Ferguson is a producer and production manager whose credits include “Brokeback Mountain,” “Only Lovers Left Alive,” “Adventureland” and "All the Way."   He was co-executive producer of  "The Looming Tower" 10-part miniseries andproducer of "Succession."

DAVID FOLKENFLIK is a reporter who appears regularly on the NPR news programs “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.”  Folkenflik was editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun. 

ALEX GARTNER is a producer of the video game adaptation “Warcraft.”   He also produced “The Bank Job,” “Indecent Proposal” and "Triple Frontier."

LEILA GERSTEIN was the Consulting Producer on "The Handmaid's Tale" and Co-Executive Producer on "Claws."  She  executive produced the CW series “Hart of Dixie.”  She was also a co-executive producer of “Gossip Girl” and wrote for “The O.C.”  She is the co-executive producer of "Looking for Alaska."

WILL GLUCK directed and produced "Peter Rabbit" and the upcoming "Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway."   He produced and directed the comedy “Easy A” and the 2014 “Annie” remake.  He also executive produced the Comedy Central animated series “Moonbeam City.”

META GOLDING is a television and film actress who recently appeared in “The Hunger Games: Mockinjay – Part 2.”  She starred in "Behind the Movement," playing Rosa Parks.  She played Teri in "Empire."

MITCHELL GOSSETT is manager at Industry Entertainment Partners.

ERIKA GREEN has been a supervising producer on the ABC series “How to Get Away with Murder.”  She was also a producer on “The Mentalist.”  She was co-executive producer of "Reverie."  She is now Consulting Producer on "New Amsterdam."

DAVID GREENBAUM is Co-President of  Production for Films and Television at Fox Searchlight.  He supervised the making of "The Shape of Water," "Battle of the Sexes," "The Aftermath," "The Favourite" and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and "Jojo Rabbit."

JOSH GREENBAUM has a new comedy coming out  next year (2021) called "Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar," with a script written by Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo.  He also wrote, directed and produced the documentary "Being Bond."  He is the creator of the 2015 Hulu documentary series “Behind the Mask.”  He also wrote and directed a 2011 short film entitled “Clinton Foundation: Celebrity Division” starring Ben Stiller and numerous other celebrities.  It played to an 18,000-person Hollywood Bowl crowd and received a standing ovation.  Additionally it has reached two million hits online and can be viewed at http://FunnyOrDie.com/m/66md.  He has directed such series as "Bless This Mess," "Single Parents" and "Fresh Off the Boat." 

BRUCE ALAN GREENE is a cinematographer based in Los Angeles but often works in Russia.  He is credited on such films as “Starship Troopers,” “Spartan,” “Nine Eleven” and "Pencil Town."

DAVID GREENMAN is an actor who has had recurring roles on the television series “General Hospital,” “Gilmore Girls” and “Bones.  He appeared in the 2014 film “About Last Night.”  His web series "Checked Out" can be seen here: http://www.dailymotion.com/CheckedOutSeries

JASON GRODE is an independent talent agent in the animation/comic book/toys space.

KOVID GUPTA is an Indian-American screenwriter who writes for the Hindi comedy sitcom "Bahu Hamari Rajni_Kant." 

DAVID HALBERSTADTER and SUSAN GRODE are partners at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, and have been recognized by the Daily Journal as outstanding intellectual property practitioners. The publication recognized lawyers whose work made the most impact on their clients, their area of law and the larger society.  Halberstadter and Groder were also named to the 2016 Southern California Super Lawyers list.

BRIAN HALLISAY is an actor who appeared in the film “American Sniper” and several television series, including “Revenge” and "NCIS."  In 2019 he worked on "9-1-1."

JOHN HEFFERNAN is a writer best known for scripting the 2006 Samuel L. Jackson film “Snakes on a Plane.”

CATHERINE HICKS is an actress best known for the TV series “7th Heaven” and the films “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and “Peggy Sue Got Married.”  She appeared in the 2016 film “The Ghost of Alice Flagg.”  She recently completed the series "Fairy Tales."

JEFF HIRSCHBERG is an Associate Professor, Director, and founder of the Television and Film Arts program at SUNY Buffalo State.  In 2015 he released his book “Reflections of the Shadow: Creating Memorable Heroes and Villains for Film and TV” which has a Foreword from Steven de Souza (“Die Hard,” “48. Hrs.”).  Hirschberg is a member of the WGA and has written for Showtime Networks, Lifetime Television, and ABC and has consulted with NBC, Warner Bros., and Viacom.

JOHN HOFFMAN produced the 2015 documentary “Racing Extinction.”  Hoffman is the recipient of three Emmy Awards. President and Founder of Better World Projects.

SETH JARET is owner of Jarrett Creative Group. He is the executive producer of the 1999 film “10 Things I Hate About You.”

MARC HENRY JOHNSON recently produced “The Deuce,” a television series starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal.  Johnson produced the documentary “Soundtrack for a Revolution,” which was short-listed in the Best Documentary category for the 2010 Academy Awards. 

ELIZABETH KARR produced the documentary “The Good Breast.” She has also appeared in the film “J. Edgar” and the TV series “The West Wing.” 

KERN KONWISER is a writer/director/producer.  His most recent work includes a 2014 documentary entitled “World of Warcraft: Looking for Group” and the 2015 documentary television series “The Fighting Season” and the 2016 film “A Change of Heart.”  He has directed several "Make It Work" documentaries.

JUSTIN LERNER is a director whose film “Girlfriend” won the 2011 Gotham Independent Film Audience Award.  His 2016 film “The Automatic Hate” featured Cornell alumnus Ricky Jay. 

ELLEN KOTHEIMER plays drums for Whole Lotta Rosies, an all-female AC/DC tribute band based here in LA. They’ve won the Rock City News Award for "Most Outstanding Tribute Band" three years running and have toured nationally and internationally, including shows for troops abroad. If you are in need of a wild night out, check out www.wholelottarosies.com for dates in town.

EMILE LEVISETTI directed an episode of the SyFy series “Hunters.”  The show’s 13-episode first season premiered in 2016.  He has also directed several recent episodes of "Suits."  Recentlyhe directedan episode of "FBI."

PATTY LIN is a veteran writer/producer who wrote and produced episodes of the television series “Freaks and Geeks” and “Breaking Bad.”  She also served as an executive story editor on “Friends.”

JANE LYNCH is a comedy actress who appeared in the hit films “Best in Show” and “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.” She is probably best known for her Emmy Award winning role Sue Sylvester on the Fox television series “Glee.”  She currently hosts the NBC game show “Hollywood Game Night” and appeared on the series “Dropping the Soap,” "Criminal Minds" and "The Good Fight."  She voices Calhoun in "Ralph Breaks the Internet."   

BILL MAHER hosts “Real Time with Bill Maher” on HBO. 

JENNIFER MAISEL is a playwright.  Her TV movie "Tempting Fate" ran on Lifetime in 2019.  Her other TV movies include "To Have and to Hold," "Tempting Fate" and Christmas Joy."

ROB MARCIANO is a journalist and meteorologist who currently is the weather anchor for ABC’s “Good Morning America.” 

STEVE McPHERSON was a former head of ABC.  He now focuses on his Napa Valley winery.

RAFAEL MARMOR is a producer who has worked on such documentaries as "Ask Dr. Ruth" and "The Short Game."

CAROL MENDELSOHN is a veteran television writer/executive producer.  She is best known for being the writer/executive producer of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (along with Cornell alumnus Naren Shankar) and its several spinoffs including “CSI: Miami, “CSI: NY,” and “CSI: Cyber.” 

MICHAEL MILLER has been involved with editing more than 50 films, including “Raising Arizona,” “Miller’s Crossing” “Ghost World” and “Abundant Acreage Available.”

MONA MILLER won the award for "Most Ambitious Script" at the Action on Film Festival for her script, "Escape from Sumatra," about a group of young people of different racial backgrounds, who have lost their parents, joining together to fight the Japanese invasion of Sumatra in World War II. 

BRAD MINNICH was the visual effects editor for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.”  Minnich also worked on the films “Captain America: The Winter Solider” and “The Cabin in the Woods.”  His recent work includes "Justice League" and "Aquaman."

ANDREW MITTMAN oversees feature film development at Whalerock Industries.  He co-executive produced the TNT series,  "Civil," in conjunction with MGM TV.  He is currently executive producer on "The Addams Family."

RONALD D. MOORE is Executive Producer of the STARZ television series “Outlander.”   For Amazon he produced "Philip K. Dick's "Electric Dreams," which he also co-wrote.   Apple has given Moore a straight-to-series order for a space drama.  Created and written by Moore, along with "Fargo"co-executive producers Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, the untitled series  explores what would have happened if the global space race had never ended. 

BILL NYE “THE SCIENCE GUY” appeared in the 2017 documentary “The Bill Nye Film.”  He has recently appeared on the series “Inside Amy Schumer” and “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.” 

ADEPERO ODUYE is an actress who appeared in the 2015 film “The Big Short.”  She also acted in “12 Years a Slave” and “Half Nelson.”   Her recent films include "The Dinner" and "Geostorm."  Upcoming are "Galveston," "Viper Club" and the "Central Park Five" miniseries.

HEATHER OLANDER is Vice President of Series Development at MTV.

KEITH OLBERMANN is a former ESPN anchor and television pundit on MSNBC.  He voices a character on the Netflix series “BoJack Horseman.”  

DAN OLIVERIO is an actor who appeared on the Hulu series “Old Dogs & New Tricks.”

BRAXTON POPE is a feature film and television producer.  He produced the 2016 film “The Trust” starring Nicholas Cage, Elijah Wood, and Jerry Lewis.  He is also one of the producers of the well-received 2016 documentary “City of Gold.”

RICHARD PRICE is the writer for the award-winning television series “The Night Of” (produced by Cornell alumnus Scott Ferguson).  Price wrote for the HBO series “The Wire” and scripted “The Color of Money.”  He currently writes for HBO's "The Deuce."

ROBERT PROFUSEK  and RYAN SILBERT co-produced the 2010 film “Holy Rollers,” starring Jesse Eisenberg.  Profusek is producing the upcoming documentary “Yayoi Kusama: A Life in Polka Dots” and Silbert produced the 2015 film “The Girl is in Trouble.”

MICKEY RAPKIN wrote the book "Pitch Perfect" was based on.  He consulted on all three "Pitch Perfect" movies.

KEITH RAYWOOD is a production designer for “Saturday Night Live” where he’s worked since 1988.  Raywood was also the production designer for “30 Rock.”

JASON REICH is a comedy writer for the series “Bordertown” and “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee.” He also wrote for the “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.”

STEVE REICH is a composer whose worked appeared in “The Hunger Games” and “The Kings of Summer.”

CRAIG REID is a martial arts expert and fight choreographer.  His book, “The Ultimate Guide to the Martial Arts of Movies of the 1970s,” is available through Amazon.com.

KEVIN REILLY is president of TBS and TNT and chief creative officer for Turner Entertainment.

CHRISTOPHER RICH is a television/film actor who appeared on the series “Melissa & Joey.”  He appeared in the 2016 film “Cassidy Way.” 

SALLY ROBINSON is a writer/producer whose project is a television series entitled “The Castle.”  Robinson’s writing credits include the 2012 remake of “Steel Magnolias” and “Medicine Man.”  

LEE ROSENTHAL is President of Physical Production at Paramount and also oversees animation production.

ANDREW RUF is President of Feature Film Finance at Paradigm Talent Agency.

WILLIAM SADLER is a veteran film/TV actor currently appearing in the series "Power."  He appeared in Marvel’s “Agents of SHIELD,” "The Blacklist" and "Berlin Station."  His films include “The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile,” and “Die Hard 2,” among others.

ELENA SANCHEZ is a stunt double and actor. Her recent credits include “Fantastic Four” and “The Walking Dead.” 

ANDREA SAVAGE is a comedy actress who appears on the Showtime series “Episodes,” the “Hotwives” series on Hulu., HBO's "Veep"and "I'm Sorry."

ROBERT SCHENKKAN is a Pulitzer Prize/Tony Award winning playwright and film/TV actor/writer/producer.  Schenkkan adapted his Tony Award winning play “All the Way” about President Lyndon B. Johnson into an HBO film with Bryan Cranston reprising his Tony Award winning role as the 36th President. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the 2002 film “The Quiet American” and wrote several episodes of the HBO World War II mini-series “The Pacific.”   

THELMA SCHOONMAKER received a career achievement honor at the 2017 ACE EDDIE AWARDS, presented by American Cinema Editors (ACE) at the 67th Annual ACE Eddie Awards in 2017.  She continues her legendary editor/director collaboration with Martin Scorsese for “Silence” and  the upcoming “The Irishman.” She has received three Best Film Editing Oscars ("Raging Bull," "The Aviator," "The Departed"). 

KATHRYN SCHUBERT is a film editor whose credits include “Life During Wartime,” “Only Lovers Left Alive,” God’s Pocket,” “Green Room,” and director Todd Solonz's   “Weiner-Dog” and "The Wall."  

PHIL SCHWARTZ is a cinematographer whose credits include “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “The Net.”

DAVID SEIDLER is the Oscar winning screenwriter for 2010’s “The King’s Speech.”  

NAREN SHANKAR, a veteran television writer/producer, is currently executive producer of the SyFy series “The Expanse.” Shankar got his start writing for “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and later became the executive producer for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” (along with Cornell alumnus Carol Mendelsohn).

ROBERT SMIGEL is a comedy writer and performer most famous for his character “Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.” His TV movie “Triumph’s Election Special 2016” is available on Hulu.  

JIMMY SMITS is a veteran television/film actor who has starred in the television series “L.A. Law,” “NYPD Blue,” and “The West Wing.”  He has signed on to "The Get Down,” a musical series from Baz Luhrmann and Shawn Ryan for Netflix.  He also appeared in “24: Legacy.”  He is currently appearing in "How to Get Away with Murder."

SARAH SPAIN is a sports reporter and writer who appears on ESPN. 

TIM SQUYRES is a two-time Oscar nominated film editor (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Life of Pi”).  He recently edited the 2014 film “Unbroken” and is currently working on the Ang Lee film “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.”

CHRISTINA STEINBERG is a producer of live action and animated films.  Her credits include “National Treasure,” “Bee Movie” and “Rise of the Guardians.”  She’s producing an animated feature titled “Larrikins” which is slated for a 2018 release.  

TOM SWARTWOUT is an editor on the upcoming film “Modern Primitives.”  Swartwout edited the Sidney Lumet films “Find Me Guilty” and “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead.”

DARA TAYLOR is a composer with recent credits including “Galavant,” “Agent Carter,” and the upcoming Melissa McCarthy comedy “The Boss.”  She was nominated for a 2015 Hollywood Music in Media Award for her original score for the short film “Undetectable.” http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/hollywood-music-media-awards-sam-833164.

JENNIFER TIPTON is an award-winning theatre and dance lighting designer whose work appears on “The Metropolitan Opera HD Live.”  Tipton also received the MacArthur Fellowship (“Genius Grant”) in 2008.   

MING TSAI voiced the character Ming in the 2016 animated feature “Kung Fu Panda 3.”  Tsai is a celebrity chef who has appeared on such shows as “Top Chef” and “Rachael Ray.” 

SHELDON TURNER is a writer/producer best known for scripting the 2009 film “Up in the Air” for which he received a Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination.  Turner is a credited screenwriter for “X-Men: First Class” and he’s producing an upcoming superhero film titled “Freakshow.”

PHILLIP VAN is a writer/director who scripted the 2013 short film “Deja View” and the 2010 series “Bright Falls.” 

PAULA VOGEL is a playwright who won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for “How I Learned to Drive.”  Vogel’s newest play “Indecent” is a finalist for the 2016 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama.

ALYSSA VRADENBURG is an Executive at Untitled Entertainment. 

ANDREW WEINBERG is a comedy writer who won an Emmy for “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.”  He is a writer/producer for the television series “Great Minds with Dan Harmon” and writer for Netflix’s “Master of None.”

LAURA WEINSTOCK is a lawyer and owner of the website www.weinstockscripts.com. The title of her blog is: “The Doctor is in: Notes From a Script Doctor” at: http://weinstockscripts.blogspot.com/.

LAUREN WEISBERGER is the author of the hit novel “The Devil Wear Prada” which was adapted into a successful 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway.  As of March 2016, the film is scheduled for a Chinese-language remake set in Shanghai. 

TREVOR WHITE is a producer on the presidential biopic “LBJ” starring Woody Harrelson. "The Post" starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks and "Wind River."  He directed the 2014 film “Jamesy Boy.” 

JESSE WIGUTOW is scripting the upcoming “The Crow” remake and a “Tron: Legacy” sequel.  

DAVID WILD is a Rolling Stone music writer/critic who regularly writes for the Grammy Awards and other television specials.       

ALLEN STRICKLAND WILLIAMS is a stand-up comediam who recently appeared on "Conan."  He was one of Cornell in Hollywood's first interns.

SERI WILNER is an award winning veteran playwright whose 2014 play “Kindom City” was produced at the La Jolla Playhouse.

MARY WORONOV is an actress who will appear in the 2016 film “Citizens.”

ALEX ZAHN is V.P. for Acquisitions at SONY Pictures.

ANDY ZAX is a music historian and is an independent music producer, specializing in historic box sets.  He produced a Woodstock 40th anniversary box set for which he received a Grammy nomination.  Zax will appear in the 2016 documentary “Judee Sill: How to Give My Heart Away.”

MICHAL ZEBEDE co-wrotethe pilot for the new "Party of Five."  She also the screenplay for the 2014 Al Pacino film “The Humbling.”  She was a writer on the ABC television series “Castle.”

ED ZUCKERMAN is an Emmy award winning producer for the television series “Law & Order.”  He’s currently a writer/producer for the series “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”