Sharman Macdonald (Writer)
Scots-born Sharman Macdonald was a working actress in 1984 when she wrote her first play, "When I Was A Girl I Used to Scream and Shout." The play, which was championed by Alan Rickman and performed at the Bush Theatre and in the West End, established Macdonald's reputation and won her the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright. Macdonald gave up her acting career and went on to write "The Brave," commissioned by the Bush Theatre; "When We Were Women," first performed at the Cottesloe Theatre under the auspices of the National Theatre Studio; "All Things Nice," commissioned by the English Stage Company and directed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1991; and "Shades," staged in the West End. In 1995, two of Macdonald's plays premiered: "The Winter Guest" and "Borders of Paradise," which was nominated for the Theatre Managers Association Award.
Macdonald has written two novels, Night Night and The Beast, which was nominated for the Booker Prize. Among her screenplays are Wild Flowers, filmed by Britain's Channel Four. She also wrote the 1997 BBC radio play "Sea Urchins," which was nominated for the Sony Award.
Ken Lipper (Producer)
Ken Lipper became involved with the movie business when he wrote the novel Wall Street and worked as a technical adviser on the Oscar-winning film by Oliver Stone, starring Michael Douglas and produced by Ed Pressman. Lipper and Pressman subsequently formed a production venture, Pressman/Lipper, which in 1995 produced City Hall, starring Al Pacino and John Cusack. Lipper wrote the script and his second novel based on his experiences as Deputy to New York City Mayor Ed Koch. Lipper produced the play "The Winter Guest" in 1996 with Alan Rickman directing, which he then packaged and produced for the screen.
Lipper trained as a lawyer and spent several years as a general partner in the financial institutions Lehman Brothers and Salomon Brothers, before forming his own financial advisory company, Lipper & Company. Lipper & Company manages over $4 billion of investments for some of the wealthiest families and institutions in the world, numbering many entertainment business figures and institutions among its clients. Lipper acknowledges that his experiences with risk management, the vagaries of finance and damage limitation have served him well as a film producer.
Edward R. Pressman (Producer)
Named producer of the Eighties by American Film Magazine, Edward R. Pressman has over 40 diverse motion pictures to his credit and has received extensive recognition for his work. In 1991, he received the John Cassavetes Award from the Independent Feature Project/West for his outstanding body of work and contributions to independent filmmaking. In 1988, the New York Museum of Modern Art staged a two week retrospective of Pressman's films, making him the only living producer to be so honored. He has also received tributes from the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. In 1989, the French Cinematheque presented a retrospective of his work and awarded him the Chevalier Des Artes et Lettres medal, recognizing his contribution to cinema and his friendship with France. The National Film Theatre in London also staged a ten-day event of Pressman's films.
Pressman fostered the early careers of many of today's most established directors, including Oliver Stone (The Hand, Wall Street, Talk Radio), Terrence Malick (Badlands), Brian de Palma (Sisters and Phantom of the Paradise), and Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant and The Blackout). His productions include The Crow, Reversal of Fortune, Hoffa, Plenty, Das Boot and Conan the Barbarian. Pressman just completed James Toback's (writer of Bugsy) Two Girls & A Guy starring Robert Downey Jr., which will premiere at the Telluride Film Festival this Fall. Pressman/Lipper Productions was formed in 1995, when it produced City Hall. The company's future projects include Dog Eat Dog, from the best-selling novel by Edward Bunker and The Jack Bull, a western written by Dick Cusack.
Steve Clark-Hall (Producer)
Steve Clark-Hall most recently produced Love and Death on Long Island, starring John Hurt and Jason Priestly, directed by Richard Kwietniowski. In 1995, he produced Gillies MacKinnon's award-winning Small Faces, and Mort Ranson's Margaret's Museum starring Helena Bonham-Carter. Margaret's Museum won the Best Film Award at the San Sebastian Festival, as well as six Canadian Genie Awards. Clark-Hall's production company, Skyline, has been responsible for over 200 hours of UK Network television programming, ranging from hard news and documentaries to magazine shows and drama series. Recent TV productions include three series of "Hamish Macbeth" starring Robert Carlyle and the highly rated "99-1." Future productions include a feature film adaptation of Noel Coward's romantic comedy "Quadrile," to be directed by Sean Mathias.
Seamus McGarvey (Director of Photography)
Seamus McGarvey was a widely exhibited stills photographer who turned his talents to film in the 1980s, when he worked as a camera assistant and camera loader. In 1991, McGarvey shot and co-directed the documentary of the director Derek Jarman's Edward II. There then followed an active period where he lit many documentaries and short films. In 1994, he shot his first feature length film, Nick Ward's Look Me in the Eye. He went on to shoot Butterfly Kiss for Michael Winterbottom, which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. McGarvey's recent credits include Les Blair's Jump the Gun, Jurgen Egger's Harald and John Byrne's Slab Boys.
Robin Cameron Don (Production Designer)
Robin Cameron Don designed the original stage set for the Almeida Theatre's production of "The Winter Guest," for which he received the 1996 Theatre Managers and the Martini Awards for Best Designer. That same year, the Critics Circle also named him Designer of the Year. In 1992, he was the winner of the Golden Troika Award at the Prague Quadrienalle for his work on "Eugene Onegin." Don designed the stage set for Sharman Macdonald's first play "When I Was A Girl I Used to Scream and Shout."
In addition to his many credits on the English stage, Don has designed for opera and ballet, working at the Royal Opera House in London, the Welsh National Opera, the Sydney Opera House, the New York City Opera and the San Francisco Opera. His next project is the staging of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet" for the Royal Ballet in Antwerp.
Scott Thomas (Editor)
Scott Thomas has worked professionally as a film editor since 1983. He edited both Small Faces and Trojan Eddie for director Gillies MacKinnon. Thomas' other film credits include David Evans' Feverpitch, Peter Kosminsky's The Dying of the Light, Andrew Grieve's Moving Story, Giancarlo Gemin's Smokescreen, Michael Whyte's The Man Who Cried, Nick Wright's No Head for Heights, and Stephen Bayly's Coming Up Roses. Thomas also edited the documentary The Dream Factory, and was assistant editor on the comedy A Private Function.
Thomas is a graduate of the National Film and Televison School in Beaconsfield, where he directed three short films including Brainstorms, which won first place at the 1982 National Student Film Festival in London. Thomas also has a degree in architecture from Rice University in Houston, Texas. There, he wrote and directed Architecture of the Petroleum Age which won first place at the 1975 Motion Picture Academy Student Film Festival in Hollywood.
Michael Kamen (Composer)
One of the busiest composers in music, Michael Kamen has scored such feature films as 101 Dalmations, Mr. Holland's Opus, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the Lethal Weapon series, Die Hard I and II, Mona Lisa and The Krays. Kamen is the recipient of the BAFTA and Ivor Novello Awards for his score for the television series "Edge of Darkness," in collaboration with Eric Clapton. He has also scored ballets for Milan's La Scala and New York's Joffrey Ballet. Kamen has collaborated with such contemporary musicians as David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Sting, Kate Bush, Eurythmics and Luciano Pavarotti. Kamen composed the music for the stage production of "The Winter Guest."
Joan Bergin (Costume Designer)
Joan Bergin has been a costume designer for films for twelve years. Among her credits are The Devil's Own, Some Mother's Son, Frankie Starlight, In the Name of the Father, The Field, and My Left Foot. With a background in architecture and design, Bergin pays particular attention to color, perspective, and the overall nature of a character, including make-up and hair. Her designs for the theater have brought her two Harvey Theatre Awards (the Irish equivalent of the Tony Award): in 1981 for costumes for "Bugsy Malone," and in 1983 for costumes and sets for "He Who Gets Slapped." Bergin was also nominated three times for the Irish Heritage Award sponsored by The British Architectural Review. Her work will next be seen in Dancing at Lughnasa, The Boxer and Sweeney Todd.
Joyce Nettles (Casting Director)
Joyce Nettles has cast numerous stage, film and television productions. Among her film credits are Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves, Trevor Nunn's Lady Jane, Franco Zeffirelli's Hamlet, Hanif Kureishi's London Kills Me and Roger Spottiswoode's Mesmer. Nettles was nominated for an Emmy Award for her work on the HBO television film "Citizen X;" her extensive television resume includes the HBO films "Stalin" and "Rasputin," as well as "Hedda Gabler," "Genghis Cohen," "Inspector Morse," and "She's Been Away." Nettles was head of casting for the Royal Shakespeare Company for ten years, and she also cast "The Mahabharata" and "The Cherry Orchard," for director Peter Brook. Among her other theatrical credits are Karel Reisz's production of "A Doll's House," "Hamlet" and "Ivanov" (both starring Ralph Fiennes), "Anything Goes" and "Cyrano de Bergerac."
About Fine Line Features
A wholly owned division of New Line Cinema, Fine Line Features is best known for releasing the Academy Award-winning Shine, the acclaimed documentary Hoop Dreams, and Robert Altman's The Player. Upcoming Fine Line releases include Harmony Korine's directorial debut, Gummo; Woody Allen's Deconstructing Harry, starring Woody Allen, Kirstie Alley, Richard Benjamin, Billy Crystal, Judy Davis, Mariel Hemingway, Amy Irving, Julie Kavner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Demi Moore, Elisabeth Shue, Stanley Tucci and Robin Williams; and Atom Egoyan's The Sweet Hereafter, starring Ian Holm.
