Rex Sikes' Movie Beat

Jane Jenkins & Janet Hirshenson of The Casting Company have cast over 100 feature films, including the Academy Award winning "A Beautiful Mind" “Something’s Gotta Give” “The Da Vinci Code” “Angels & Demons” Oscar nominated “Frost/Nixon” "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" "Something's Gotta Give" " Airforce One" "Jurassic Park" "The American President""Apollo 13" " The Lost World" "A Few Good Men" "Backdraft" "Misery" "Ghost" "When Harry Met Sally" "Mystic Pizza" "Beetlejuice" "Stand By Me" "Home Alone" "The Outsiders" to name a few.

Jane began her career in entertainment as an actress in New York City. She entered the casting profession while working in film production. Her first project was "On The Nickel" an independent film written, produced and starring her friend Ralph Waite. She soon began working with other casting directors, including Jennifer Shull, who would later connect her with Janet Hirshenson.

Janet Hirshenson was introduced to casting while working as a temporary secretary for the casting office of Ray Stark's, Rastar Productions. It was there that Jenkins joined Janet and Jennifer.

When Shull moved to head the casting department at Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios in Hollywood, she brought both Janet and Jane with her. With the closing of Zoetrope Hollywood Jane and Janet joined forces and formed The Casting Company.

Today, they are established as two of the premier casting directors in the entertainment industry and this year are celebrating 29 years in business together.

Their book A STAR IS FOUND: Our Adventures Casting some of Hollywood’s Biggest Movies is enjoying continued success. They cast the recently released Rob Reiner film “Flipped”, and Chris Columbus’ “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightening Thief”.

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

Christopher Lockhart PT 3 is a Hollywood executive, teacher and producer. For a dozen years, Chris has worked as the Story Editor at ICM, the William Morris Agency and, currently, the newly formed WME. During his tenure, Chris worked with legendary talent agent Ed Limato (who recently passed away) helping to find film projects for actors such as Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, Steve Martin, Richard Gere, Michelle Pfeiffer, Liam Neeson, Claire Danes and many others. He has also consulted on hundreds of screenplays with studio executives, producers and writers from around the world. Chris estimates he has read over 30,000 screenplays. As a producer, Chris set up A RHINESTONE ALIBI at Paramount with Julie Richardson. He co-produced THE COLLECTOR, which was released nationwide in the summer of 2009 and is one of the producers on the sequel, which is currently in pre-production. Chris is the writer/producer of a feature length documentary called MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS, which ran in NYC and LA in the summer of 2010 as part of the prestigious DocuWeeks and will make its film festival premiere in October ’10 at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California. Chris has taught screenwriting classes at UCLA and Los Angeles Valley College and lectured at conferences throughout the country. His popular article “I Wrote a 120 Page Script but Can’t Write a Logline: The Construction of a Logline” has become the de facto reference on the subject and is used in film schools across the globe. His writing workshop “The Inside Pitch” was televised in Los Angeles and earned him an Emmy nomination. He appeared on “Fox Morning News” and has been featured in many periodicals including The Writer magazine. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 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

Colin Ferguson, actor/director/producer, stars as Federal Marshal Jack Carter in the highly acclaimed SyFy-hit dramedy "Eureka," which has been called a cross between “Northern Exposure” and "Desperate Housewives."  The show debuted as the highest rated premiere in the channel’s history.  The New York Daily News raved about his performance, “Ferguson's approach is fluid and funny enough to make it all work.

Ferguson enjoys working on the cable series because of the hybrid tone of drama mixed with quirky comedic elements.  The fourth season has premiered this July.

Colin's feature-film credits also include "Because I Said So", "Rowing Through," and "The Opposite of Sex" among others.  He was a regular on the NBC remake of the hit British comedy series "Coupling" and the sitcom "Then Came You." ?His many guest-starring roles include "Line of Fire", "Malcolm in the Middle", "Crossing Jordan", "Becker” and "Titus."?Additionally, Colin has starred in other television movies such as "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 is a producer on Eureka and has directed the "fan favorite" episodes "Your Face or Mine" and "The Story of O2". ??He has repeatedly 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

Peter Marshall The Director's Series PT 5 - We continue tip[s for being a better director & the nuts & bolts of directing film and television with Peter Marshall. Peter has had a 35-year career & has worked as a PA, dolly grip, electrician, assistant cameraman, commercial production manager, first assistant director, TV series creative consultant, television producer & director. He has worked on industrial films, documentaries; television commercials, music videos; Emmy Award nominated TV series & features. Peter has directed over 30 TV episodes& 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. He was 1st Assistant Director on Steven J. Cannel's “Stingray” in 1986 after having been the 1st AD on a Canadian TV series called “Hamilton’s Quest”. Thereafter” he worked on several more TV series with Cannell and became 1st AD’s on “Wiseguy.” which he worked for two years. He got his directing break on this series & directed a couple of episodes. “The Fly 2.” was his move into feature films as a 1st AD. Other credits include “Happy Gilmore”, "Dawn of the Dead", "The Butterfly effect", "Lizzie McGuire Movie", "Legends of the Fall" "Look Who's Talking Now", "Bird on a Wire", 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 http://www.rexsikes.com

John Gaspard PT 2 has directed and/or produced six low-budget features, including the digital feature, Grown Men, which premiered at the Ashland International Film Festival and won the “Best of Fest/Best Screenplay” award at the Black Point Film Festival. He directed and co-wrote the award-winning feature film, Beyond Bob, and directed the science-fiction comedy feature film, Resident Alien. He has directed features on 16mm, digital video, analog video, and produced and directed the first feature film in Super 8mm single-system sound.His blog, “Fast, Cheap Movie Thoughts,” (http://fastcheapmoviethoughts.blogspot.com/) has been named "One of the 50 Best Blogs for Moviemakers" by Moviemaker Magazine and "One of The 100 Best Blogs For Film and Theater Students" by BestUniversity.com. John's books include Fast, Cheap and Under Control: Lessons Learned from the Greatest Low-Budget Movies of All Time, and Fast, Cheap and Written That Way: Top Screenwriters on Writing For Low-Budget Movies. He also co-authored, with Dale Newton, the books Digital Filmmaking 101: An Essential Guide to Producing Low-Budget Movies (first and second editions) and Persistence of Vision: An Impractical Guide to Producing A Feature Film For Under $30,000. He was also a writer and story editor for the international television comedy/western series, Lucky Luke, starring Terence Hill. "We never put out an actual textbook for the Corman School of Filmmaking, but if we did, it would be Fast, Cheap, and Under Control." Roger Corman "An entertaining and very informative read. It's just the ticket for beginning filmmakers, demonstrating how cleverness can count more than money in filmmaking." John Badham (Director, Saturday Night Fever, Wargames,) "I wish I'd read this book before I made Re-Animator." Stuart Gordon 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

Christopher Lockhart PT 2 is a Hollywood executive, teacher and producer. For a dozen years, Chris has worked as the Story Editor at ICM, the William Morris Agency and, currently, the newly formed WME. During his tenure, Chris worked with legendary talent agent Ed Limato (who recently passed away) helping to find film projects for actors such as Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, Steve Martin, Richard Gere, Michelle Pfeiffer, Liam Neeson, Claire Danes and many others. He has also consulted on hundreds of screenplays with studio executives, producers and writers from around the world. Chris estimates he has read over 30,000 screenplays. As a producer, Chris set up A RHINESTONE ALIBI at Paramount with Julie Richardson. He co-produced THE COLLECTOR, which was released nationwide in the summer of 2009 and is one of the producers on the sequel, which is currently in pre-production. Chris is the writer/producer of a feature length documentary called MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS, which ran in NYC and LA in the summer of 2010 as part of the prestigious DocuWeeks and will make its film festival premiere in October ’10 at the Mill Valley Film Festival in California. Chris has taught screenwriting classes at UCLA and Los Angeles Valley College and lectured at conferences throughout the country. His popular article “I Wrote a 120 Page Script but Can’t Write a Logline: The Construction of a Logline” has become the de facto reference on the subject and is used in film schools across the globe. His writing workshop “The Inside Pitch” was televised in Los Angeles and earned him an Emmy nomination. He appeared on “Fox Morning News” and has been featured in many periodicals including The Writer magazine. He is a member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 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

Straw Weisman is a motion picture production, post production, marketing, distribution, and creative filmmaking veteran with over thirty years of hands-on experience.

Through his own company, Marquee Productions, Straw has supervised post production and/or associate produced or produced over 75 films, including “Shine On”, starring Jenna Dewan, “Order of Redemption” with Busta Rhymes, Armand Assante and Tom Berrenger, the multi-festival award winning biopix “Crazy” featuring “Heroes” Ali Larder, “Magic”, a family film starring Christopher Lloyd as a talking dog, Richard Gere’s “The Flock”, “Sex and Breakfast”, starring Macaulay Culkin, “Say It In Russian”, featuring Faye Dunaway, the spiritually based sleeper hit “What The Bleep Do We Know!?”, Tobe Hooper’s “The Toolbox Murders”, and the horror feature “Hatchet”.

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

Roberta Marie Munroe PT 2 is an award-winning filmmaker, writer, entrepreneur, international short film festival programmer, consultant and now published author. Her book *How Not To Make A Short Film: Secrets From A Sundance Programmer *(Hyperion Books, January 2009) is a provocative and practical insider's guide to making a great short film described as the “bible” for short filmmakers. Roberta packed this “bible” with insider tips gleaned from 5 years programming short films at Sundance, interviewing successful short filmmakers worldwide and sharing the horrors and the brilliance of her own award winning short filmmaking career. From 2001-2006 Roberta Munroe programmed short films at The Sundance FilmFestival. During her tenure at Sundance, The Sundance Online Film Festival (2003-2006) was acknowledged with several highly acclaimed Webby Awards. After five very successful years at Sundance, Roberta served as their founding Artistic Director launching The Blackhouse Foundation, a live venue at Sundance, that supported African American filmmakers. For the last four years, Roberta has guided short form filmmakers, from script to screen to distribution, at her Los Angeles based independent filmmaker company, Roberta Munroe Film Consulting Los Angeles With over fifteen years experience of experience at international film festivals and after viewing over 15,000 short films during her career, Ms. Munroe is considered the go-to expert in the world of short form filmmaking. She is a sought after speaker and educator. Roberta's directorial debut Dani and Alice (a Fox Searchlight Directors Lab project) has played at over 120 festivals globally and was the recipient of the PlanetOut Best Drama Award 2006. 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

Michael Pare, actor, first appeared in a commercial for Pierre Cardin at 22. A little over a year later, super agent Joyce Selznick & her partner Jan McCormick came across Michael's photo, & decided to screen test him for a role in the ABC series THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO. Michael was off to L.A. several weeks later & landed a regular role in the series which led to a leading role with Ray Liotta & David Caruso in an ABC television movie CRAZY TIMES. Then came EDDIE AND THE CRUISERS, & Michael Paré became a cult superstar.

Michael has made major theatrical motion pictures such as THE PHILADELPHIA EXPERIMENT, STREETS OF FIRE, BAD MOON, and INTO THE SUN, & films made for TV & video like SUNSET HEAT, WARRIORS, BLINK OF AN EYE, THE COLONY & THE CLOSER.

In 1998, appeared in HOPE FLOATS with Sandra Bullock, Gena Rowlands, Kathy Najimy, Harry Connick, Jr., and Rossanna Arquette. 1998, ended in a high point, when Michael starred in the off-Broadway play, THE BLACK MARBLE SHOE SHINE STAND.

His latest project still in pre-production, "Job", is scheduled for theatrical release in the U.S., in January, 2011.

In 1999, Michael took a cameo role in the film, VIRGIN SUICIDES, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and directed by Sofia Coppola.

Pare has appeared in Uwe Boll's BLOODRAYNE 1 & 2, FAR CRY, POSTAL & SEEDS.

Like other American performers (such as Mel Gibson and Arnold Schwarzenneger) Michael has appeared in Japanese commercials and print advertising. Michael continues to make several films each year. To date, Michael has made over 70 movies and starred or co-starred in several television series. 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

Christopher Lockhart is a Hollywood executive, teacher and producer. For a dozen years, Chris has worked as the Story Editor at ICM, the William Morris Agency and, currently, the newly formed WME. During his tenure, Chris worked with legendary talent agent Ed Limato (who recently passed away) helping to find film projects for actors such as Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, Steve Martin, Richard Gere, Michelle Pfeiffer, Liam Neeson, Claire Danes and many others. He has also consulted on hundreds of screenplays with studio executives, producers and writers from around the world. Chris estimates he has read over 30,000 screenplays.