PHOTO OP:  crew

DIRECTOR / COWRITER: Shawn Nacol

Raised by a pack of wild lawyers, Shawn has been writing and directing theatre for most of his life, won some awards thereby and been published in “Best of…” anthologies. Plays include: Rough Sketch, psychoPharm and Trophy Wife. These projects and others led to work with Tribeca, BlueSky/Fox Animated, iDeal, and the Sci-Fi Channel. His screenplay Nether Regions has just been adapted as a comic book series by Ape Entertainment. Meantime, Shawn is in preproduction for Taste Buds, a feature-length culinary comedy. Photo Op is his first film.

Cowriter: Emily Stone

Emily spent two years writing and starring in two daily gossip shows: The Daily Blabber for NBC’s iVillage and Celebrity Buzz for Lifetime Broadband. Emily earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College, mentored by Peter Carey and Colum McCann. Residencies include: Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation. Currently finishing her third novel, Swallow Whole, Emily is producing a rom-com feature for 2010.

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Chris Bierlein

In the 1980s, Chris Bierlein’s roots in music and still photography led to a job assisting fashion photographer/director Arthur Elgort on documentaries about Illinois Jacquet and Dexter Gordon, as well as commercial/fashion shoots around the world before he returned to the US to concentrate on shooting film. As a Director of Photography, his work includes commercials, music videos, shorts, documentaries, and new media. Clients include Tiffany & Co, Coach Leather, L’Oreal, Maybelline, Bausch & Lomb, Anne Klein and many more.  Documentary subjects include Dave Brubeck, George Wein, Tony Bennett, Jaco Pastorius and glass artist William Morris.

Editor: Vince Filippone

A graduate of the School of Cinema-Television at USC, Vince Filippone has been working in postproduction since 1995. He recently was Additional Editor on Dreamworks / Paramount’s Eagle Eye, Destination Films’ The Take and Associate Editor on Dreamworks/Paramount’s Disturbia.  Vince also has worked on the editing teams of Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, The Uninvited, Friends with Money, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, The Salton Sea and American Beauty .

COMPOSER: Nancy Hess

Nancy Hess is the New York City half of the bicoastal scoring team LIFT music.  She has composed music for National Geographic, HBO films, Sesame Street, and numerous commercials (Target, Jeep, Nike, Kodak). Currently she is working on a new record with her band Stereovision.  (www.liftnyc.com & www.stereovisionnyc.com)

Producer: Kenji Edmonds

Kenji is a 32 year old native of Brooklyn, NY and has been working in the film and video production industry since 1990. His independent film work has been honored at film festivals around the world and his documentary work can be seen on PBS and other cable television outlets. He has been a judge for the Cine Awards for the past 5 years and a jury chair for various other film and video festivals.

DIANE: Tina Benko

Ms. Benko has appeared in many New York productions On and Off-Broadway - most recently as Helen of Troy in Age of Iron for Classic Stage Company, as well as Irena's Vow, Top Girls, Post-Mortem, Dark Yellow, Wintertime, and Disconnect. Films include The Hungry Ghosts written and directed by Michael Imperioli, Lucky Days, Puccini for Beginners, Company K, and A Perfect You. Ms. Benko played Kath Perry for three seasons on Showtime's Brotherhood. Other television includes Ugly Betty, The Beautiful Life, New Amsterdam, Chappelle's Show, and all 3 Law and Order series. This winter she starred in the world premiere of Shawn Nacol's play Rough Sketch.

ZIG: Cheyenne Jackson

Cheyenne Jackson is currently appearing on NBC's 30 Rock. Other film and television credits include: the Academy Award nominated United 93, Curiosity, Hysteria, Family Practice, Life on Mars, Ugly Betty, and Law & Order.  On and Off Broadway, Cheyenne has starred in Finian's Rainbow, Damn Yankees, Xanadu (Drama League & Drama Desk nominations) The Agony & the Agony, All Shook Up (Theater World Award, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle nomination), the premiere cast of Altar Boyz, Aida, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Cartells, On the 20th Century, and The 24 Hour Plays. In 2009, Cheyenne teamed up with Michael Feinstein to create The Power of Two, a nightclub act hailed as "passionate" and "groundbreaking" by the New York Times and available now on Amazon and iTunes. Cheyenne is an international ambassador for amfAR and the national ambassador and spokesperson for the Hetrick-Martin Institute.

TAYLOR: Molly Ward

Recent work: American Repertory Theater’s Seagull, Romeo and Juliet, and Three Sisters (Elliot Norton Nomination, role of Masha; Edinburgh International Festival Tour); World Premiere of Theresa Rebeck's Our House at the Denver Center; Kate Whoriskey’s Camille at Bard Summerscape; Karin Coonrod’s Othello at Hartford Stage.  In New York, Origin Theater’s productions of Abbie Spallen’s Shaving the Pickle and Brian Murray’s The Shape of Metal.  M.F.A., Harvard/Moscow Art Theater School.

DECLAN: Chris Kipiniak

Chris Kipiniak is a New York based actor and writer who has performed on Broadway, off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally.  Film:The Poker Club, Three Flat, and The Secret. TV: Law & Order, Law & Order: SVU, The Black Donnellys, and Guiding Light.  His plays include Save The World, Iiiinsaaaaaaaane!, and Stalled.  He is also a published travel journalist and writes for Marvel Comics.