Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Peter Marshall Pt 15 The Director's Series - The nuts & bolts of directing film and television with Peter Marshall. Peter has had a 35-year career and has worked as a PA, dolly grip, electrician, assistant cameraman, commercial production manager, first assistant director, TV series creative consultant, television producer and director. He has worked on industrial films, documentaries; television commercials, music videos; Emmy Award nominated TV series and features. Peter has directed over 30 TV episodes and written, directed or produced over 50 hours of documentary educational programs. His works have won, or been nominated for 14 International awards. He's worked for directors such as Zack Snyder, John Woo, Ed Wick, Phillip Noyce, John Balham, Roger Adam, Anne Wheeler, Bobby Roth & Kim Manners. He has worked with actors including Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Spacey, Morgan Freeman, John Travolta, Mel Gibson, Kathy Bates, Adam Sandler and Peter O'Toole. Other credits inclurde scores of television series as 1st Ad & as a director. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes Movie Beat for other great archived interviews, cast and crew listings, events, festivals, premieres, and more at rexsikes.com

Jared Pelletier, director, (PT 2) is an internationally recognized film director from Toronto, who first gained exposure at 18 with a shortlisted film at the Festival de Cannes. He has gone on to win numerous festival awards for more than five different films. His WWII epic "In the Hearts of Men" 2011 , swept all major production awards including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Editing at the Arizona Film and Media Expo. In February of 2011 Jared made his new project public, a short that would change the possibilities of visual effects in independent films, the movie is called "Halo: Faith". With over 14,000 Facebook fans gained before a single frame of the film released, the project is regarded a massive success. A teaser trailer released in November, 2011 to mixed but mostly positive feedback from fans; Feedback from the industry, however, has been massively positive. Pelletier was given the opportunity to direct commercials for notable organizations such as FIFA, and received major feature film offers. He is currently working with writer Matthew Kingshott on an upcoming sci-fi horror film. Kingshott has most recently worked with Michael Bassett, director of the upcoming "Silent Hill 3D". Pelletier's 2011 success did not end there, as on November 25th, 2011, he released a trailer to a proof of concept "BioShock" film, based on a massively popular video game much like "Halo: Faith". The trailer gained universal acclaim, and was featured on IGN.com, Yahoo News, Joystiq, and over 20 other major news outlets in just days after release. Today, Pelletier has feature films in various stages of production, along with a major short to release in the Summer of 2012 based on Christopher Nolan's popular "Batman" series. Stay tuned to Rex Sikes' Movie Beat for other great interviews, cast & crew listings, events, premieres & more at rexsikes.com

Colin Ferguson PT3 , actor/director/producer, starred as Marshal Jack Carter in SyFy's "Eureka."  The New York Daily News raved, “Ferguson's approach is fluid and funny enough to make it all work.' Ferguson enjoyed working on the series because of the hybrid of drama mixed with quirky comedic elements. Colin's film credits include "Because I Said So", "Rowing Through," and "The Opposite of Sex" among others. He was a regular on the NBC series "Coupling" and "Then Came You." He has guest starred on  "Line of Fire", "Malcolm in the Middle", "Crossing Jordan", "Becker” and "Titus. Colin TV movie credits  "Mom at 16", "We Were the Mulvaneys", "Confessions of a Sociopathic Social Climber", "Ladies Night", "More Tales of the City", "Playing House" and "Christmas in Paradise". Colin was a producer on Eureka and has directed the "fan favorite" episodes "Your Face or Mine" and "The Story of O2". He has been tapped by SyFy to bring a more human and character- based element to their intense visual-effects style. It is the marriage of Second City's character-based approach to scene work and television's economic plot movement that defines his style and approach. “I like a story that moves. I like a story that’s driven by a situation created by the reality of it's characters.... and as for comedy I'm just contrary - I like the comedy in my drama and the drama in my comedy." 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

Curtis A. Smith, 1st AD Pt 4  landed an internship on the feature film Marriage Material, directed by Jody Poldolsky. The film starred Leslie Ann Warren, James Rebhorn, Alanna Ubach & Michael Silver. Curtis was offered a paid Set Production Assistant position on Out of Sight, directed by Stephen Soderberg, starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez & Ving Rhames. Then came Cherry, starring Shalom Harlow & Jake Webber.  In 2000, Curtis worked on Girlfight, the Sundance winner produced by Jonathan Sayles and starring Michelle Rodiguez. He went on to work on Pootie Tang directed by Louis CK and featuring Chris Rock, XX/XY which starred Mark Ruffalo and Robot Stories by award-winning director Greg Pak. The Orphan King with Chris Evans and Bill Pullman. The Tripper, which was actor David Arquette’s directing debut, which also starred Thomas Jane, Paul Ruebens and Lukas Haas. Curtis also teamed up recording artist Fred Durst for his award-winning film The Education of Charlie Banks. Philip Seymour Hoffman for his film directorial debut, Jack Goes Boating. Starring Himself. Dustin Lance Black for his directorial debut as well What’s Wrong With Virginia. Starring Jennifer Connelly and Ed Harris. 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

Casting director Melissa Skoff 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