Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Joe Dante, director began as trailer editor for Roger Corman's New World Pictures making directorial debut in 1976 with Hollywood Boulevard co-directed with Allan Arkush. Piranha marked his solo directorial debut 1977 and went on to become one of the company's biggest hits. He edited Ron Howard's directorial debut Grand Theft Auto and co-wrote the original story for Rock n Roll High School. He next directed The Howling, followed by the It’s a Good Life segment of the Twilight Zone: The Movie. Spielberg chose Joe to direct Gremlins which became a runaway hit and grossed more than $200 million worldwide. The sci-fi fantasy Explorers followed and then Innerspace staring Dennis Quaid and Martin Short. Tom Hanks starred in his next film for Imagine/Universal, The ‘Burbs , followed by Gremlins 2:The New Batch. Joe and partner Mike Finnell's company Renfield's Productions produced Matinee featuring John Goodman for Universal then came Dreamworks/Universal's Small Soldiers followed by Looney Tunes: Back in Action. Among the various episodes of the tv series Joe directed are Amazing Stories, Twilight Zone, Police Squad!, Night Visions, Picture Windows, CSI:NewYork, Hawaii 5-0, Showtime’s Masters of Horror and the network pilots for Caleb Carr's The Osiris Chronicles and NBC's Eerie, Indiana. He's won numerous awards. Recently he directed an interactive new media series, Splatter starring Corey Feldman and Tony Todd for Netflix and is producing the critically acclaimed new media series, Trailers from Hell. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Jeff Greenstein, Director.  His first job was on the HBO series Dream On, and he stayed with that show for five seasons, garnering several industry awards including a CableACE.  Then he signed on for the first year of NBC's Friends, earning two Emmy nominations, one for co-writing the show's first Thanksgiving episode. He co-created Fox's late, lamented Partners, starring Jon Cryer and Tate Donovan, which won critical plaudits After that, he joined the staff of NBC's Will & Grace early in its inaugural year.  He spent six years as a head writer and the fifth and sixth seasons as showrunner, picking up an Emmy for Best Comedy Series, six nominations, and a writing nomination (the only one in the show's history) for the one-hour flashback episode "Lows in the Mid-Eighties." After leaving Will & Grace, he joined the ABC's Desperate Housewives and remained for three seasons and was part of the team credited with the show's creative resurgence. Then, after a year spent launching NBC's acclaimed series Parenthood, he returned to Housewives as not only a writer and executive producer but also director, helming the Season 7 Halloween show and two more episodes in Season 8. More recently, Jeff directed and executive produced the 11-episode web series Husbands, co-created by Jane Espenson, which garnered a rave review in The New Yorker and was voted TVLine's Best Web Series of 2011.  He's currently developing a pilot for ABC based on the partnership of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the celebrated chefs behind City Restaurant, Ciudad and Border Grill. The show is set on Melrose Avenue in 1985, so imagine the haircuts. 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

Cassidy McMillan, PT 2  directed wrote and produced the documentary film on bullying and bullycide “Rats & Bullies”, which is currently garnering awards in the festival circuit. She holds a degree in Communications/Broadcast Journalism and has worked as an investigator for global corporate and entertainment companies where she conducted hundreds of criminal investigations, and arrested subjects for various types of crimes. When she learned of the North American precedent setting bullycide case on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” of a 14 year old girl who took her life by hanging herself with a dog’s leash due to bullying, she was compelled to tell the story in a documentary and feature film in order to prevent more teens from taking their life. Cassidy acquired the life rights to the story and set out to make the projects happen. “Rats & Bullies” was filmed in Canada; Washington D.C.; and California. The film completed post-production in 2011, and is being met with critical acclaim. Additionally, she wrote the screenplay based on the story, titled, “The Toughest Girls”, which has won industry script competitions and is being read at studios for development into a feature film. Cassidy’s acting work includes leading roles in plays, musicals, and work in Film, TV,  such as Showtime; AMC, Discovery. She has worked with directors James Cameron and Tom Shadyac. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes' Movie Beat for other great interviews, cast & crew listings, events, premieres & more at rexsikes.com

Betty Jo Tucker, editor/lead film critic for ReelTalk Movie Reviews, a website with over 3500 film reviews and more than 500 featured articles. She also writes movie commentary for the Colorado Senior Beacon and is the author of three film-related books: “Confessions of a Movie Addict,” “Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick,” and “The Reel Deal: Writing about Movies”as well as co-author of “It Had To Be Us,an award-winning romantic memoir. Her radio show, “Movie Addict Headquarters,” can be heard via the Internet on BlogTalkRadio.  All art forms converge in the movies, and that’s why I like writing and talking about them so much. Says Betty. Frankly, I've never been able to conquer my addiction to movies. Although I enjoy films mostly because of their escapist entertainment qualities, I love to be enchanted by cinematic artistry, enlightened by a great story, and inspired by memorable performances. When everything works in a film, something magical happens to me, but even if a movie falls short, I can’t wait to share my reaction with others. After retiring as a college dean, I turned my passion for the cinema into a new career. She authored “Confessions of a Movie Addict,” a bestseller this year in the Amazon Kindle store and  “Susan Sarandon: A True Maverick,” She developed an online writing course entitled "The Reel Deal: Writing about Movies" and  ??establish ReelTalk Movie Reviews, website with over 3500 movie reviews and more than 500 film-related feature articles and hosts "Movie Addict Headquarters," a featured film-related talk show on BlogTalkRadio. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Melissa Skoff (PT 2) Casting director  has well over one hundred feature film and TV credits to her name. She launched her casting career at Warner Bros. after working in production with Clint Eastwood and John Boorman, she segued into casting at the studio level.  When she left Warner Brothers to launch her own independent company, Melissa worked on an array of feature films including “The Emerald Forest,” “Soul Man,” and “Back To School” with Rodney Dangerfield and  numerous high profile TV series including “The Dukes of Hazzard,”  and “JAG”. She became the Sr. Executive in Charge of Talent for Fox Broadcasting’s “Fox Night at the Movies.” cast ing a number of successful movies for TV including the acclaimed drama, “Doing Time on Maple Drive.”  the film helped launch Jim Carrey's feature film stardom and was his first dramatic role.  She lent a helping hand in the early successes of George Clooney, Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Stiller, Robert Downey, Jr., Lauren Graham, David Spade, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Catherine Bell, and Bryan Cranston.  She continues casting independent comedic and dramatic feature films, pilots, series,  movies for television, and internet programming. In 2001 she was named “One of Television’s Top 20 Casting Directors” by Ross Reports, an industry publication. Melissa runs successful Professional Level ongoing Cold Reading Classes and does Private Coaching for Adults, Teens, and Kids in Los Angeles and  Nashville. Her passion for teaching is reflected in the attention she gives each student, and the skillful direction she offers.  Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com