Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Amy Jo Berman has been a powerful influence and tastemaker in the entertainment industry for 18 years.  During her time as Vice President of Casting at HBO for 14+ years, Amy has overseen the casting for well over 150 films, mini-series and series, and her casts have won countless Emmy and Golden Globe awards.  In addition to her eye for talent, taste and finesse in business, Amy has a unique gift for working with actors and extracting performances of which even they didn't know they were capable.  Using her 18+ years of audition experience in the casting room, as well as her intuitive skills in picking up on exactly what blocks each individual actor from their own success, Amy has helped thousands of actors with her webinars, private coaching, workshops and online seminars.  She is the founder of the Unstoppable Actor program.  Actors who want to create an unstoppable career in Hollywood have flocked to her flagship class:  Be An Audition Rockstar.  In addition to Unstoppable Actor, Amy has created many unique programs to help actors.  Audition Polish, a membership-based audition coaching program, actors around the globe have learned to nail their auditions on the first take in these unique 20 minute sessions using Amy’s proven techniques.    Amy loves, loves, loves staying in touch with actors on social media.  Watch her video acting tips on YouTube join her Tips On Acting community on Facebook and get on her VIP e-mailing list by opting in on her Amy Jo Berman Casting website!Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Pen Densham, PT 3, Producer, Writer, Author, Director, Founder, co-chairman of Trilogy Entertainment Group  new movie is PHANTOM starring Ed Harris, David Duchovny, WIlliiam Fitchner.  Pen and John Watson,  founded Trilogy Entertainment Group and worked as creative consultants on films ROCKY II, and FOOTLOOSE.  In 1988 Pen directed Trilogy's first major studio feature, THE KISS, for Tri-Star.  In 1990, Densham and Watson wrote and produced ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES for Morgan Creek and Warner Brothers. The film became one of Warners’ largest grossing movies ever. They produced BACKDRAFT directed by Ron Howard. Pen wrote and directed  MOLL FLANDERS for MGM and Spelling Entertainment, starring Morgan Freeman & Robin Wright-Penn. Pen wrote and directed HOUDINI, for TV, which starred Johnathon Schaech, Mark Ruffalo and Emile Hirsch. Pen has been active as a Producer on every feature film that Trilogy produced, including:  BLOWN AWAY, TANK GIRL, LARGER THAN LIFE, THE DANGEROUS LIVES OF ALTAR BOYS. JUST BURIED starring Rose Byrne and Jay Baruchel. For TV, he wrote and supervised the re-franchising of the OUTER LIMITS science fiction anthology series, which he Exec produced with his partners for its award winning, seven year run on American Television. In 2003 he re-introduced THE TWILIGHT ZONE on UPN. He wrote the book RIDING THE ALLIGATOR on screenplay writing and strategies for a career in Hollywood, published by Michael Wiese Productions in January 2011. Written with the goal of supporting emerging creative people to find their own voice and path through the industry, the book includes essays by A-List screenwriters, and has been garnering many positive reviews including from Academy Award-winning writers, directors, producers and actors. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Todd Robinson, PT 3, director/producer is an Academy Award finalist, Emmy-winning, Independent Spirit Award-nominated filmmaker whose new movie Phantom stars Ed Harris and David Duchovny. His next feature is The Last Full Measure, with Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Robert Duvall, Andy Garcia, Laurence Fishburne and others. John Watson, Pen Densham and Trilogy Entertainment will produce. He wrote and directed Lonely Hearts, starring John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto and Laura Dern. He wrote and produced White Squall starring Jeff Bridges directed by Ridley Scott, The Four Diamonds, directed by Peter Werner, and Mermaid, helmed by Peter Masterson. Todd scripted That Others May Live for Wolfgang Peterson and was a contributing writer on Bad Boys II, directed by Michael Bay. He worked on Lewis and Clark, that will be Pietro Scalia’s directing debut and is attached to direct Bloody Jack from the novel of the same name, starring Anna Sophia Robb. Other projects are Quest for Scion, for Paramount and Skydance Productions, and Blood Money for RCR Media. Todd wrote and directed Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick, a feature documentary about legendary studio director William A. Wellman, and the feature documentary Amargosa.  He got an Emmy for writing and directing The Legend of Billy the Kid for Disney. He created and executive produced Astronauts for ABC, adapted the Nicholas Sparks  The Rescue for CBS and wrote and executive produced The Third House, for Sydney Pollack. Other TV credits include Night and Day, The Young Riders, Life Goes On, Man of a Thousand Faces, The Outsiders, The Wings of Denali, Law & Order: SVU and Stand and Be Counted. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes' Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at http://www.rexsikes.com

Edmond G. Coisson (director)  is founder of the Naperville Independent Film Festival (NIFF). NIFF is now qualifying to be one of the 64 festivals recognized by the Academy Awards.  After stepping away from directing for the past several years to create NIFF, he is excited to get back into the directing chair and create a thrilling movie ride that keeps you guessing.  Edmond’s production company, Our Path Productions, was created in 1994 to develop a series of character driven films. Precious Mettle is the first of these  and is a story about second chances and the personal journey we must all walk in life. Edmond was born in Torre Pellice, Italy, and became fascinated by a TV drama at the age of 7. He went to the only theater in town, every Sunday after noon. Sometimes, watching the same film for weeks. As a teen, he had a few parts in local theater, where he was involved in summer plays. He wrote his first screenplay at age 17. He traveled all over Europe, working as a waiter, welder, carpenter, plasterer, and factory worker. Studied drafting and worked for Fiat; got a barbers license, and also did some bartending. He moved to Los Angeles, CA., in 1981. His passion for film, acting and writing never went away. After moving to Illinois in 1983, he became more active in films, but his heart was still in writing. He attended the Screenwriters Group of Chicago, and he and his wife, Glessna, went to the Screen Writers Awards in L.A. each year. After starting Our Path Productions they began making short stories, documentaries, and feature films. While entering a film festival on the internet, the comment was made that they should have their own film festival. A year later, that dream came true. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Jim McKairnes, producer, is a 23-year veteran of the television industry, 15 at CBS. He is a producer and television consultant, an adjunct college-instructor/guest-lecturer and author. His work as an entertainment-magazine editor and freelance writer out of college took him to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue a dream of working in the TV-executive ranks as a network programmer. He met producer Norman Lear soon after his arrival which led to McKairnes being hired at CBS Studio by then-CBS-President Jeff Sagansky. At CBS, McKairnes divided his responsibilities between the Current Programming and Scheduling departments. He became fulltime in Scheduling and was part of the team that took the network from worst in the 1990s to first in the 2000s under the leadership of CBS President Leslie Moonves. He contributed to and involved himself in all areas of CBS: He created and produced the on-air prime-time series called “CBS Moments,” he was instrumental in the development of several made-for-TV movies and network specials; and he contributed to various promotional campaigns each season of his tenure. After 13 years and as a Senior Vice-President at CBS, McKairnes was recruited by Discovery Communications in 2006 to head up that Maryland-based company’s 11 networks as its Executive Vice-President of Scheduling, where he was introduced to and then immersed himself in the world of cable TV. Eventually he returned in Los Angeles, where he was invited by Moonves to return to CBS, as well, for a role on the company’s studio side, serving as Senior Vice President in charge of developing new comedies for its cable division from 2008 to 2010. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com