ADVISORS
Paul
E. Cohen
Ken Wales
Brian D. Fox
Derry Connolly, PhD
Joe Buenavista
CONSULTANTS
Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione
- Counsel
Sandra Allen - Christian
Focused Marketing & Faith Community Liaison
Timothy
Gillespie - Marketing Communications
Jeffrey Hardy - Film Industry
Consultant
Paul
E. Cohen
Paul Cohen has acquired and marketed and
distributed over 400 films, some recognized as cinematic gems and contemporary classics. These include Abel Ferrara’s
Bad Lieutenant starring Harvey Keitel, Mephisto, the 1981 Academy Award-winner for Best Foreign Language Film, and
My Brilliant Career directed by first-timer Gillian Armstrong and starring Judy Davis and Sam Neill,
The Chosen, starring Maximilian Schell, and Luchino Visconti’s
The Innocent.
As former CEO/President and co-founder of Manhattan Pictures International (MPI) in 2001, some of Paul Cohen’s notable releases include
Enigma, written by Oscar nominated Tom Stoppard and directed by Michael Apted, starring Kate Winslet and Dougray Scott, Jean-Luc Godard’s critically acclaimed
In Praise of Love (Eloge de L’Amour) and Alan Rudolph’s
The Secret Lives of Dentists, starring Campbell Scott and Hope Davis.
He was drawn to the state of Florida in the mid nineties where a sudden increase in motion picture production had just begun to take place. He was appointed by Gov. Lawton Chiles to promote independent motion picture production in the state and was instrumental in founding the first Florida Film Forum. In 1996, Mr. Cohen co-founded, and oversaw the marketing and operation of the First Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival. Additionally, Paul Cohen served as a Filmmaker in Residence at the Graduate Film Conservatory at Florida State University, and regularly lectured at the University of Miami, Dade Community College, as well as other major Florida universities.
In 1997, Paul Cohen and Carl Icahn formed Stratosphere Entertainment, a motion picture distribution and production company based in New York. As President of Stratosphere, he was responsible for the acquisition, marketing and distribution of independent motion pictures including The Thief, (1997 Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film).
A graduate of Hofstra University, Paul holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology. He has also completed postgraduate coursework at the Jungian Institute in New York and graduate work at the New School for Social Research. He is a member of the Executive Board of Directors of the Louis B. Wolfson Film & Television Archives and serves on the Academic Advisory Committee at Miami-Dade Community College.
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Ken Wales
Veteran filmmaker Ken Wales, in conjunction with
Walden Media, produced the recent film, Amazing
Grace, which has been repeatedly reviewed as
a "must see film" and was the recent
recipient of the 2007 Crystal Dove Seal for Best
Drama. He was Executive Producer of the
critically-acclaimed and award-winning CBS
Television series Christy and is also a
board member of the Dove Foundation.
He
began his drama career playing a juvenile role on a local radio show in Kokomo, Indiana. At age 14 he operated the projector at the legendary Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, where he became a serious film buff. Wales received the first Walt Disney four-year scholarship and graduated with
honors form the School of Cinema at The University of Southern California. He has acted in over 35 films and television shows.
During a fifteen year partnership with director Blake Edwards, Wales produced many memorable films. including The Tamarind Seed, starring Julie Andrews and Omar Sharif and The Wild Rovers, starring William Holden and Ryan O'Neal. He also served as associate producer on many feature films including Darling Lili, starring Julie Andrews and Rock Hudson, The Great Race with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, and The Party and Revenge of the Pink Panther, both starring Peter Sellers.
Wales co-produced the ABC 8 hour miniseries, Emmy® nominated and Golden Globe® winner John Steinbeck's East of Eden, starring Jane Seymour, and was associate producer of the first season of Cagney and Lacey.
He was Vice President of Production for Walt Disney Pictures and has served as production supervisor and consultant for many other features.
Wales received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Greenville College in Illinois and is on the faculty of his alma mater, the School of Cinema and Television at University of Southern California.
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Brian
D. Fox
http://www.bdfox.com
From a one-man advertising and graphic arts company in 1977, Brian D. Fox built - and recently sold - one of the pre-eminent entertainment advertising agencies in the industry. At B.D. Fox & Friends Advertising, Brian and staff created indelible print campaigns for several film classics including
E.T., Batman and The Matrix, as well as the international
Harry Potter campaign. The firm expanded this cachet into one of the most diversified audiovisual, print and digital technology creative services agency in the entertainment business. He led B.D. Fox & Friends, Inc. into interactive and multimedia software including the launch of Microsoft's XBOX game platform, music, consumer and packaged goods and television, where Brian was under contract to CBS for 11 yrs producing all of the networks print advertising. Other areas of expertise include DVD, cable and syndicated television.
The New York City-born Fox graduated from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 1973. After serving as a toy designer with plastic model manufacturer Revell, Inc., the budding entrepreneur set up shop in his own home: his first client would become a worldwide museum and planetarium standard - the hi-tech laser light show, Laserium. Determined to break into the movie business, Fox created a clever, controversial campaign for his new venture, which opened the doors at the major studios. B.D. Fox & Friends was born.
Today, having just sold the solely-owned B.D. Fox & Friends Advertising to senior management, Brian has launched B.D. Fox Independent, a new company focused on marketing, distribution and production for the independent film industry, globally. B. D. Fox Independent has been retained by Monumental Films, based in Moscow, to "American-ize" the motion picture marketing of the Russian-produced feature films that are being distributed by Monumental within that country.
Brian Fox serves on the Board of Directors Emeritus of the Hollywood Reporter's Key Art Awards, the Board of Trustees of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of So. California and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). He is an accomplished musician, photographer and artist who has produced a series of photo-illustrative lithographs currently represented by the Agora Gallery, Soho, New York City.
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Derry Connolly, PhD
www.jpcatholic.com
At its core, the mission of John Paul the Great Catholic
University is to form minds to shape the rapidly
evolving and highly culture-impacting field of
New Media, and to influence the global secular
culture for Christ. Students there must learn to
imagine, create, and produce the very best of
content.
Since 2003 Derry Connolly has been the president of
JP Catholic, a visionary teaching institution focused on and dedicated to molding students into future innovators and creators, leaders and entrepreneurs. At John Paul the Great students have the opportunity to acquire a deep and personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. Catholic ethical, moral, and social values provide a lifelong guiding compass.
In addition to his role as President at JP Catholic, Derry continues to work part-time at University of California, San Diego where he represents UCSD on the Executive Board of CCAT – the Center for the Commercialization of Advanced Technology, and heads up CCAT mentoring services.
Prior to co-founding JP Catholic, Derry worked full-time as the Associate Dean of Continuing Education at UCSD Extension, leading a program with 40,000 part-time adult students, 125+ full time staff (academic and administrative), 1500+ part-time Instructors. Derry spent 15 years working in industrial Research and Development with IBM and Kodak. He holds 8 US patents and has numerous technical publications.
Derry was the director of the Science, Engineering, and Environmental Studies at UCSD, where he oversaw the creation and delivery of cutting edge technology curriculum for graduate professionals working in the burgeoning Telecommunications and Biotechnology industry sectors in the San Diego region.
Derry is widely published in trade and academic journals, with articles on the science and
technology of print, film and data storage.
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Joe
Buenavista
Joe Buenavista is a Vice President - Financial Advisor, in the Global Wealth Management Group at Merrill Lynch, one of the world's leading wealth management, capital markets and advisory companies, with offices in 37 countries and territories. Client assets total approximately $1.8 trillion which includes some of the nation's most prominent families and individuals.
Joe has a rich professional background which includes various finance, sales, marketing, and management positions in the finance industry, high-tech industry, consumer packaged-goods industry, and the U. S. Military Service. His past professional experience includes well known company names including Alliance Bernstein, Cisco Systems, and The Gillette Company. Joe also has small business and entrepreneurial experience as the former Vice President of Sales for a start-up company and as an independent business
owner.
While in the Navy and for a period of time after his service, Joe pursued personal interests in writing and acting. He explored acting at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego and attended many improvisation workshops to expand his creative interests. This led to success acting in: industrial film work, movies, television, and theater. Also during this same period he developed an independent sports memorabilia business and completed several public relations-driven consulting projects, which included the creation and execution of the visual aesthetics portion of the 1992 All-Star Game in San Diego.
He earned his Masters of Business Administration from St. Mary’s Graduate Business School in 2004, graduating with honors. He earned his
undergraduate degree from the United States Naval Academy and served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U. S. Navy for five years after
graduating in 1987.
He is active in professional, academic, and community organizations. These include
roles as past board president and current board member of the St. Mary’s Graduate Business Board, board member of the Danville YMCA, committee chairman at the Danville Chamber of Commerce, committee member of the
Oakland Rotary Club, member of the California CPA Association, member of the Diablo Valley Estate Planning Council, member of the San Ramon Valley
Exchange Club, member of St. Isadore’s Fathers of Ministry, and 2007 graduate of the San Ramon Valley Leadership Program.
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Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione
www.ghplaw.com
Gipson, Hoffman & Pancione represents a broad range of clients including corporations listed on the New York Stock Exchange, U.S. and foreign companies, start-ups, partnerships, trusts and individuals here and abroad with substantial business interests.
They are known for their streamlined, integrated approach to corporate, securities, real estate, tax, business, banking, media, intellectual property and litigation matters.
Sandy
Allen
Sandy
works in media and communications and advises
Paths Apart president Karen Aasand in
identifying the current issues of interest and
importance to members of many of the larger
churches in the
U.S.
She lives in
Tallahassee
and has published regarding current trends in
megachurches in the
U.S.
Timothy
Gillespie
Timothy
Gillespie is a 30-year veteran in the
advertising and public relations arena, with
experience in real estate, hospitality,
entertainment and other fields. He provides
hands-on and advisory services to Paths Apart,
including publicity,
graphic design, public relations, promotion and web design.
He
lives and works in Nova Scotia, Canada, where he
has served as the inaugural chair of the Arts
& Culture Partnership Council and Shelburne
County Arts Council and was a founding board
member of the Osprey Arts Centre and Historic
Shelburne Tall Ships Society.
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Jeffrey
Hardy
www.filmprofit.com
One of the foremost film industry analysts and business planners in the
country. FilmProfit, LLC clients stretch from New York to Los Angeles to Asia, Russia and London, and cover many of the key filmmaking arenas in
between. Mr. Hardy, president of FilmProfit, LLC is the co-author of FilmProfit
Software and author of FilmProfit Guide to Film Distribution Deals, and has lectured extensively before industry groups, including the California Film Commission.
His financial models, marketing studies, empirical data, reports and other services have been utilized by a broad range of independent producers,
entertainment lawyers, industry executives and motion picture funds, including producers and executives at high profile companies such as Lucasfilm, Ltd., Jim Henson Productions, the BBC and ICM.
He has acted as an expert witness for companies such as Walt Disney Co. and 20th Century Fox, among others, and provided expert knowledge for Fortune Magazine, The Philadelphia Inquirer and others.
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