STAGE 15 PRODUCTIONS

(Left to Right)
Karen Romero, Gary Morse, Brandon Hogan,
Christopher Owens, Ran Barker, Bob Bajorek
and Tom Whelan.




STAGE 15 PRODUCTIONS was founded in 1997 by 7 people, 6 were Warner Bros. employees. They derived their name from the famous Warner Bros. stage in which CASABLANCA was filmed and the place where STAGE 15 held most of their production meetings after a 12 day or work at Warner Bros.

Winning BEST FILM in Las Vegas

 

(Left to Right)
Christopher Owens, Justin Gorence (Actor), Ran Barker,
Mark Pifer (Screenplay writer), Brandon Hogan, Bob Bajorek, Tom Whelan, Colette O'Connell (Actress) and Corey Miller (Writer)



BOB BAJOREK
Owner/Co-Executive Producer
worked in television production in the late 70's and early 80's after leaving his native Ohio. In 1982, he moved onto post-production and later co-founded VDI MEDIA, a Los Angeles based television post production and duplication facility (now traded on NASDAQ as VDIM). Some of VDI's Clients include Warner Bros., Universal, Disney, Fox, Turner, and Sony as well as nearly 2000 other clients. VDI performs digital film mastering, conversions, closed captioning, digital duplication, and dubbing. Prior to VDI, beginning in 1981, he was Vice President of AME, a Burbank based post production facility. In April 1987, AME went public, Mr Bajorek served on the Board of Directors until September 1989, when the company was purchased and taken private. He left in 1990.
Currently, Bob founded and is president of a new production company, Blue Marlin Productions, an independent film and television production company.   Blue Marlin's current project are "SEA DEVILS", an action-comedy feature, "THE FLAG", a TNT original, "GOODY GEAR, a half hour comedy pilot beginning in the fall and "TEST PILOT" a documentary for the Discovery Channel .


RAN BARKER
Owner/Producer/UPM/2nd AD
grew up on his families Ranch in West Texas. He graduated from Tarleton State University/Texas A&M and moved to Los Angeles in 1989 to pursue an acting career and studying film at UCLA and AFI. Appearing in over 100 national commercials, feature films and TV series before joining Warner Bros. in 1989, he became head of Corporate Services for 6 years before becoming Administrator of TV in 1994, working with ER, FRIENDS, LIVING SINGLE, SUDDENLY SUSAN, & 30 other shows.   In 1997, he went to work with JOHN WELLS PRODUCTIONS and worked with productions, ER, TRINITY, WEST WING, ADVERSARIES  &  THIRD WATCH.   Recently finishing the features "GAME DAY", "FUGLY" and "I'M THE ONE THAT I WANT".  He is currently working on the features "PUZZLED", shot in Venice,  "APPLE JACK" shot in the LA desert, a second Margaret Cho movie, titled "Notorious Cho" set in Seattle and "SEA DEVILS" scheduled to shoot in Spring 2002.  For More information go to Ran101.com

BRANDON K. HOGAN
Owner/Executive Producer
is a graduate of Film Studies at Montana State University. He was mentored into the Studio realm by Mel Gibson and began working at Warner Bros. in 1996 in the Corporate Feature Department as a post production executive for over 40 films. Prior to Warner Bros., Mr. Hogan was under contract with Big Sky Video Productions as producer of numerous projects direct to video.  In 1992, Mr. Hogan won an emmy for his creative participation in the ABC mini-series "SON OF THE MORNING STAR".
Mr. Hogan is Chief Operating Officer and producer for Blue Marlin Productions. He is currently working on his next feature film "SEA DEVILS" scheduled to begin shooting in the Winter of 2001 as well as 4 other films and TV projects currently in development.


GARY MORSE
Owner/Co-Producer
was born and raised in Southern California and has worked for 23 years in the engineering side of teleproduction community. As Director of Engineering for Warner Bros. Video Operations, he is responsible for the developmental implementation of new technology for feature film mastering
.

CHRISTOPHER DANE OWENS
Owner/Producer/Line Producer
As a movie producer, Chris Dane Owens' debut film "Border to Border" (distributed by Independent Artists) has won many recent awards, including "Best Picture" at the Las Vegas International Film Festival. It was also awarded "Best Comedy" and "Best Actress" (Colette O'Connell) at the New York International Film Festival. The film stars O'Connell ("13 Days," with Kevin Costner) and features Jonathan Silverman ("Weekend at Bernie's"), Rue McClanahan ("The Golden Girls"), Abe Benrubi ("ER," "Twister"), Curtis Armstrong ("Risky Business," "Revenge of the Nerds") and Chris Owens' father, Gary Owens ("Laugh-In," "The Gong Show", "European Vacation"). The movie, which was shot in over 140 locations in two countries, is described by "Entertainment Tonight" film reviewer Leonard Maltin as "No small accomplishment! A solid script ... very well directed. A very likeable movie."

In October, 2000 Owens sold his co-authored script "Gabriel's Gift" to producer/director Robert Marcarelli ("The Omega Code," starring Casper Van Dien and Michael York). The screenplay, best described as a "romantic comedy with spirit," is scheduled to shoot in October, 2001. The project will be co-produced by Owens and Marcarelli.

Owens and creative partner Jerry Biederman are developing numerous Reality TV series. At present, their company (Biederman/Owens Entertainment) has seven series in development with Lions Gate, Cosgrove/Meurer, lmno Productions, and King World.

Owens was also a co-producer on the highly successful home video "Sing Like the Stars" (distributed by Parade and Blockbuster Video). The project was nominated for "Best Instructional Video" at the A.V.A. Awards (sponsored by Billboard magazine). The program features many star appearances, including Bobby Brown, Chicago, Wilson Phillips, John Stamos, Nelson and Def Leopard.

While studying cinema at both UCLA and AFI extension, Owens produced his first short film, titled "Rapscallion." This sci-fi action/comedy co-starred Jonathan Winters as a "psychic visionary from another dimension."

Owens was a contributing author on the books Earth Angels (Broadway Books, a division of Random House) and 101 Ways to See the Light (St. Martin's Press). Both books were co-authored by best-selling author Jerry Biederman.

Owens projects have been featured on "Entertainment Tonight," The E! Channel, KTLA's "Morning Show," and written about in the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Daily News, Beverly Hills 213 magazine, Daily Variety, Hollywood Reporter and Billboard magazine.

Owens lives in Woodland Hills, California and spends time each year in New York and London


KAREN ROMERO
Owner/Producer/1st AD
grew up in Sacramento, CA. Before embarking on her entertainment career, Karen played professional soccer in Japan for two years. She moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and worked at both Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox on such shows as "LOIS AND CLARK: THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN", 413 HOPE STREET & VENGEANCE UNLIMITED. She is currently working on the hit show "MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE
"

TOM WHELAN
Owner/Producer/Director

Armed with an 8mm camera by age 8, Thomas Whelan began his career in film in Sacramento, California. After graduating from Vancouver Film School in 1993, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue the virtues of the Independent Film circuit. Surviving the grueling 18 to 24 hour work days required by the Independent filmmaking process, he eventually started working for Warner Brothers Television on the hit show, "Lois and Clark." Whelan quickly realized the vast differences of the processes of the Studio verses low budget filmmaking, and dually became convinced that cohesion of these two styles would have a mutual benefit, dubbing it "Gonzo filmmaking."

While working for Warner Brothers, Whelan and five friends pulled their resources together to shoot an independent film entitled, "Border To Border." This film was shot in five states, two countries, one hundred forty-four locations, with a crew of twenty-four people, from

Seattle, Washington to Mexico without ever obtaining film permits.

Whelan wrote, produced, and directed "Border To Border" which went on to win best picture at the New York Independent Film Festival, the Las Vegas Film Festival, and the Napa Valley Film Festival. "Border" later went on to get distribution from Independent Artists in Los Angeles. Whelan’s current feature film, "Sea Devils" is scheduled to start shooting in March of 2002, and is a narrative surrounding Italian Frogmen during World War II. Locations for this film are slated to shoot in Italy, Malta, and Australia; www.filmforce.ign.com currently displays behind-the–scenes footage in "the making" of this film.

At present, Whelan is in his third season with the Fox’s hit television show, "Malcolm in the Middle" which has been nominated for eight Emmys, including Best Comedy Series.

.
"BORDER TO BORDER" marks his directorial debut

 

 

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