Who's Who
Director
Actress SUE ANN Pien is best known for her lead role as Violet in Amazon Prime’s original series, As We See It. The role garnered her two awards nominations, including a Gotham Award nom for Best Performer, and a nomination for Best Lead Performance in a New Scripted Series at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
Through her journey of understanding what it means to be on the autism spectrum, Sue Ann has welcomed a greater acceptance of what makes her unique, and the freedom to express that.
Sue Ann began acting as a child; she supposes it was an outlet for her family to try to overcome the challenges of having a neurodiverse child. She learned how to cover for her “peculiarities” and quirks by spending hours in acting classes and in front of the mirror, honing her mannerisms and expressions.
Sue Ann followed her myriad dreams through Hollywood and beyond, having worked with Academy and Emmy award winners, presented for a Nobel Laureate and U.S. Secretary of State on climate change solutions, and even gained global attention as a Mars One candidate. She is currently flexing her creative muscles as a director and producer.
An avid traveler, Sue Ann has touched down on every continent except Antarctica, and has rock climbed around the globe. She’s fluent in Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish, and married her sweetheart, singer-songwriter Cynthia Catania in Bali.
Sue Ann can be found playing the bass, riding a moped or singing karaoke when she is not actively engaged in saving Earth through space colonization pursuits.
Writer/Actress
BELLA Zoe Martinez is an actress known for Glory & Injustice, The Vanished (2020) and The Infiltrators (2019). Glory racked up 19 wins on the festival circuit including a Breakthrough Performance Award from the Downtown Film Festival – Los Angeles, for Bella. She began acting as therapy to recover from severe bullying in middle school for her autism.
Recently, Bella was inspired to start writing when she noticed how characters with autism were being portrayed in film and television. “All autistic characters were the same stereotype with no real depth to them as a person. There was never an understanding of how we think or see the world, or went beneath the surface in a character sense.”
Bella has expanded in her artistic ability as a singer recording an original song for a pilot due out in late 2023, and as an artist producing a line of merch with her brother and sister under their Artsy Toon Co. banner.
Producer
Producers
Producer
SUZANN Ellis is President of Beacon Pictures and Television. Ellis was promoted from EVP film production in 2008.
As head of Beacon Pictures, Ellis shepherds the company’s extensive lineup of projects that includes REPAIRMAN JACK, with Chris Morgan (FAST AND FURIOUS), based on a series of supernatural novels by F. Paul Wilson; UNCON
SUZANN Ellis is President of Beacon Pictures and Television. Ellis was promoted from EVP film production in 2008.
As head of Beacon Pictures, Ellis shepherds the company’s extensive lineup of projects that includes REPAIRMAN JACK, with Chris Morgan (FAST AND FURIOUS), based on a series of supernatural novels by F. Paul Wilson; UNCONQUERABLE, based on the life of the great explorer of Mt. Everest, Edmund Hillary; CHILDHOOD’S END, based on the iconic book by Arthur C. Clarke, with Denzel Washington; THE GIRLS WEEKEND, written by Emer Gillespie (SALT 2); ELIZABETH AND HAZEL, with Mila Kunis (LUCKIEST GIRL ALIVE) producing and starring; and the sequel to box office hit AIR FORCE ONE. Ellis’s other film credits include: THE HURRICANE, which starred Golden Globe-winner Denzel Washington, directed by Norman Jewison; THIRTEEN DAYS, starring Kevin Costner and directed by Roger Donaldson; and A LOT LIKE LOVE, starring Ashton Kutcher and Amanda Peet.
In 2015, Ellis was named President of Film and Television. She oversees Beacon’s slate of television projects, including FAMILY (WO)MAN, based on the Nick Cage film, written by Abby Kohn (THE VOW) with Jessica Capshaw (TELL NO LIES) starring; THE ROAD TO WELLVILLE, with Village Roadshow; THE FLORIDA SHUFFLE, written by Marek Polgar and Martyn Pedler; WHAT KIND OF GIRL, a novel written by acclaimed author Alyssa Sheinmel; and JUSTICE GIRL, with Academy Award-nominated writer Jose Rivera. Ellis was an Executive Producer, overseeing the company’s series AGENT X, which starred Sharon Stone, Jeff Hephner, Gerald McRaney, Mike Colter and James Earl Jones, for TNT. Independently from Beacon, Ellis developed and co-produced the Dreamworks box office hit GALAXY QUEST, starring Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell and Sigourney Weaver. Ellis is a graduate of UCLA, with a degree in Theatre.
Producer
Producers
Producer
DARREN Dean is an American producer, writer and director. A four time Independent Spirit Award nominee, Dean is responsible for producing the award-winning features Prince of Broadway (which he co-wrote with his long-time collaborator, director Sean Baker), Kinyarwanda; tangerine; and The Florida Project.
He also produced the Clio A
DARREN Dean is an American producer, writer and director. A four time Independent Spirit Award nominee, Dean is responsible for producing the award-winning features Prince of Broadway (which he co-wrote with his long-time collaborator, director Sean Baker), Kinyarwanda; tangerine; and The Florida Project.
He also produced the Clio Award-Winning short Snowbird, as well as Pioneer High. He has been nominated for an NAACP Image Award (Kinyarwanda) and has won the 2016 GLAAD MediaAward for Outstanding Feature (tangerine).
Most recently, he produced the Sundance favorites The Infiltrators
(Sundance Audience Award: NEXT) and Premature (Independent Spirit Award nomination). His new award-winning LGBTQ+ wrestling documentary, Out in the Ring, is currently on the festival circuit. In 2016, his body of work was recognized with a nomination for the Independent Spirit Piaget Producers Award.
In addition to having several television series in the works, he is producing the soon-to-beannounced Victor (dir Chris Brown); Jack Be Nimble (dir Alex Thompson); Yellow Girl and Me (dir Isabella Issa); End Stage of Stars (dir Rachel Mason) and Barracudas at the Table (dir Erin Elders). Dean is also directing his first features in 2023 and 2024, No Sugar Tonight and Truth. Lies. Within.
Producers
Producers
Producers
As Location Managers, MELISSA Martinez Areffi and ANDREW Areffi have racked up credits on some of the most impressive projects in modern Hollywood, including: Emmy and Golden Globe winning series American Horror Story – Roanoke (2016), HBO’s critically acclaimed sports drama Ballers, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Twin Peaks (2017),
As Location Managers, MELISSA Martinez Areffi and ANDREW Areffi have racked up credits on some of the most impressive projects in modern Hollywood, including: Emmy and Golden Globe winning series American Horror Story – Roanoke (2016), HBO’s critically acclaimed sports drama Ballers, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated Twin Peaks (2017), and Marvel’s: Agents of Shield and Agent Carter.
In between those massive shows, they still found time to give back helping to move cause related and independent projects forward, such as Tangerine (2015), The Infiltrators (2019), and Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2022). The duo also found time to write and produce the award winning short, Glory & Injustice (2022) which has 19 wins and 7 nominations so far.
In early 2000, Andy and Melissa developed an animated show for Stan Lee and his groundbreaking internet company Stan Lee Media, who had the bizarre idea that streaming original content on the internet would be the next big thing.
In 2012, they decided that they needed to share their experiences and techniques they had learned the hard way with others who faced the same challenges and released a book, Navigating Autism: The Essential How-To by Parents for Parents, where they provide parents with the vocabulary and necessary steps to actually secure the services their child needs to succeed.
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