Synopsis

Cast & Crew Credits

Thomas Hildreth ---------- Eben Cole
Amy Jo Johnson ---------- Cheryl Cole
Philip Baker Hall ---------- Popper
Ron Canada ---------- T. Hardy
Larry Pine ---------- Old Man Cole
Mark Kiely ---------- Jimmy
James Parks ---------- Pokey
Judy Prescott ---------- Emily
Emma Ford ---------- Sara Cole
Zach Batchelder ---------- Wyatt

Ian McCrudden ---------- Director
Ian McCrudden & Thomas Hildreth ---------- Writers
Thomas Hildreth ---------- Producer
Forrest Murray ---------- Producer
Melissa Davis ---------- Producer
Dan Coplan ---------- Director of Photography
Marc Jozefowicz. ---------- Editor
Daniel Boxer ---------- Production Designer
Billy Mallery ---------- Music

Cast Bios

	Thomas Hildreth Eben Cole/Writer/Producer Thomas played the one of the lead roles in the stage and film versions of Ian McCrudden’s Mr. Smith Gets A Hustler starring Larry Pine in the title role. He also played principal roles in the films Pawn To A King starring Ron Canada and Here Dies Another Day starring John Randolph. He has performed extensively with both The Williamstown Theatre Festival and the Berkshire Theatre Festival working with notable actors such as Paul Giamatti and Patricia Clarkson. With WTF, Thomas appeared in the world premieres of Arthur Miller’s “American Clock” directed by Austin Pendleton, John Guare’s Moon over Miami by Nikos Psacharopoulos, Widows by Ariel Dorfman, The Devil’s Disciple starring Richard Thomas and directed by Stan Wodjewodski and played Hamlet opposite Peri Gilpin. Thomas appeared in the New York revival of Jean Paul Sartre’s The Respectful Prostitute and, as a member of the Classical Theatre Lab in Los Angeles, performed in Joan of Arc directed by Ron Maxwell, Hamlet, Othello, Measure for Measure, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Ideal Husband, Cymbeline, The Tempest and Michael Weller’s Split directed by Ron Canada, and The Iliad starring Philip Baker Hall. His television appearances include “Numbers,” “24,” “First Mondays,” “Dharma & Greg” and several daytime dramas. Click here to visit Thomas' website Back to top
	Amy Jo Johnson Cheryl (Eben’s Wife) Amy Jo Johnson is well known to television audiences for her roles as a champion jockey in ABC Family’s “Wildfire,” a rookie cop in the Lifetime drama series “The Division,” and, previously, for her role as a series regular on the hit WB show “Felicity.” Other television appearances include the Hallmark Channel movie Hard Ground, with Burt Reynolds and Bruce Dern, and guest starring roles on “Spin City,” “ER,” and the upcoming ABC series “What About Brian.” Her latest project is co-producing In Memory of my Father, a dark independent comedy starring Jeremy Sisto, Judy Greer, and Monet Mazur. Equally passionate about music as she is about film, Amy Jo recently released her first full length CD, “The Trans-American Treatment.” The CD is available on her official music website www.amyjojohnson.com . Amy Jo’s also loves to work with children. In addition to participating as a tutor for refugee kids through the International Rescue Committee’s summer program in the Bronx, she has made frequent trips to Bosnia as a volunteer with the Global Children’s Organization. Back to top
	Philip Baker Hall Popper (The Old Fisherman) Hall began his career in the theatre, appearing in many Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional productions. Since then he has worked extensively in Hollywood with some of the biggest names in the business including Ridley Scott, Michael Mann, Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. Hall received critical acclaim for his starring role in Paul Thomas Anderson's debut feature Hard Eight, culminating in a IFP Spirit Award nomination for Best Actor. He then appeared in Anderson's next two films, the Oscar nominated Boogie Nights and Magnolia. Recently, Hall co-starred in the hit comedy Bruce Almighty, with Jim Carrey, Lars von Trier's Dogville, with Nicole Kidman, the Weitz Bros’ In Good Company opposite Dennis Quaid and Topher Grace, The Matador with Pierce Brosnan and Disney’s remake of the Shaggy Dog with Tim Allen and Robert Downey, Jr. Hall currently stars in the Fox comedy “The Loop” and is also known to television audiences for recurring roles on David E. Kelley's "The Practice” and “Boston Legal”. He has guest starred on such series as "Seinfield," where he played Mr. Bookman, the library cop; "3rd Rock from the Sun," “West Wing” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” among others. He was also seen in the NBC miniseries Witness to the Mob, produced by Robert De Niro. Back to top
	Ron Canada T. Hardy (Eben’s Defense Attorney) Ron’s numerous film credits include the box office smash Wedding Crashers and the critically acclaimed Cinderella Man. He recently appeared in the films National Treasure, The Human Stain, The United States of Leland, and The Hunted. Canada received the Dallas Film Critics Award and significant national attention for his performance as Otis Payne in director John Sayles' acclaimed feature film Lone Star. Other memorable films include The American President, Man of the House, Home Alone 2, Honey I Blew Up the Kids, Adventures in Babysitting, and Last of the Finest. On television, Ron has guest starred on more than 50 programs. He currently recurs on four series: Boston Legal, The West Wing, The Shield and One on One. Ron began his professional acting career at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage after achieving acclaim and an Emmy Award in the broadcast news world. On stage, Ron starred as Iago opposite Patrick Stewart's Othello in an acclaimed production of the play at the National Shakespeare Theater of Washington, DC. Ron won a Dramalogue Award for Outstanding Performance for his work in The Boys Next Door. He has starred in the Los Angeles productions of Macbeth, Miss Julie and Romulus Linney's Love Suicide at the Schofield Barracks. Other favorite roles include the title role in Sizwe Banze is Dead (San Jose Repertory), I’m Not Rappaport (Cincinnati Playhouse) and every Shakespearean role he has ever performed. Back to top
	Larry Pine Old Man Cole (Eben’s Father) Larry is an accomplished film, television and theater actor. He appeared in the Woody Allen films Melinda and Melinda, Celebrity and Small Time Crooks, Tim Robbins’s Dead Man Walking and Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums. Other recent credits include Empire Falls, Door in the Floor, Particles of Truth, Maid in Manhattan, A Foreign Affair, and The Shipping News. On Broadway, Larry starred as Roy Cohn inTony Kushner’s Angels in America as well as appeared in The Seagull, End of the World, and Bus Stop. He starred in the Off-Broadway productions of Saved or Destroyed, Uncle Vanya, The Disputation, Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Mandrake, Alice in Wonderland, and Talk Radio. Larry’s Los Angeles theater credits include Enemy of the People, Wrong Mountain, Light Up The Sky, Heartbreak House, The Taming of the Shrew, Night of the Iguana, A Life in the Theatre, Joe Egg, Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing. Larry’s has appeared in recurring roles on the television series “Gilmore Girls,” and “Oz,” and guest starred on “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Webster Report,“ The Street”, the movie of the week “A Will of Their Own”, “New York Undercover,” “Prince Street,” “Feds”, “All My Children”, “One Life to Live” and much, much more. Back to top
	Mark Kiely Jimmy (Eben’s Adversary) Mark has appeared in such notable films as Bruce Almighty with Jim Carrey, Gods & Monsters with Brendan Frazier and Ian McKellen, The Edge with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. Mark has appeared in numerous television series and movie of the weeks but is probably best known for is role as Gil Myers on the hit show “Beverly Hills 90210.” He continued to work with all the major networks and many of the leading producers, writers and directors, in television for more than a decade. Mark’s next projects include the title role in Johnny Virus, a film written and directed by W.W. Vought, American Black Beauty and Xenophobia. Currently Mark is a bi-coastal actor living with his loving wife Ellen and their three boys on the east coast. Back to top
	Judy Prescott Emily (The Doctor) Judy’s television credits include guest starring roles on such series as “Cold Case,” “Six Feet Under,” “King of Queens,” “The Bernie Mac Show,” “Judging Amy,” “Chicago Hope,” “Roseanne,” “Murphy Brown” and “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” She was a series regular the television adaptation of “Working Girl,” and appeared in the movie of the week films The Case of the Hillside Stranglers and Murder 101. Judy Prescott also starred in Hit and Runaway which took the best screenplay prize at the 1999 Los Angeles Film Festival. Other feature film work includes Say Anything, Ladies Room L.A., Dragonfly, Bug, and the upcoming HBO comedy My Buddy Bill. Back to top
	James Parks Pokey (Eben’s sternman) James has been a working actor for eighteen years. Quentin Tarantino is a fan of James’s work, casting him in alongside his real-life father actor Michael Parks as Earl and Edgar McGraw Kill Bill, Volume I, with plans to reprise the roles in a production this summer. He also appeared in The Listening, Daltry Calhoun, and House of the Dead 2. His recent television credits include numerous guest starring roles on hit shows such as Fox’s “Bones,” CBS’s “CSI” and “Numbers,” and HBO’s “Deadwood.” James worked regularly in theater, previously appearing with Thomas Hildreth in the Classical Theater Lab’s production of The Tempest in Los Angeles. Back to top

Crew Bios

Ian McCrudden, Writer/Director
Ian got his start at Stanford University, where he received the Golden Medal for writing and directing. His production of "Night Baseball" won the National College Theater Festival, and Stanford University Press published his thesis on Samuel Beckett. Ian has directed several films including most recently: Indestructible: The Life and Times of Anita O’Day; Trespassers, a surf-horror film; The Big Day starring Julianna Margulies, Ivan Sergei, and Dixie Carter; Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler (which he first developed as a play at the New York Performance Works), and Trailer – The Movie. He has directed numerous original plays in the US and abroad and is the author the screenplay Cowboys and Indians, and the play Man of the House.

Forrest Murray, Producer
Forrest has been making movies for forty years, the last twenty as a producer. He produced the award winning indie films Five Corners, Bob Roberts, Dead Man Out (HBO), Denis Leary’s No Cure for Cancer (Showtime) and The Spitfire Grill.
Forrest has produced five primetime specials for BNC and written, directed and produced two election spots for MoveOn.gorg. Forrest has been a career long supporter and Mentor in the world of independent filmmaking. He has been a longtime faculty member at the American Film Institute and at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Melissa Davis, Producer
Melissa Davis is the founder of élan entertainment, an independent production company. She is developing future projects with Ian McCrudden and is currently producing Indestructible: The Life and Times of Anita O’Day. She also co-produced the surf-horror film Trespassers which was released in 2006 by Image Entertainment.

Melissa received an MFA in Motion Picture and Television Producing from the University of Southern California's Peter Stark Producing Program and received her Batchelor's degree from the University of Michigan.

Dan Coplan, Director of Photography
Dan Coplan is a Los Angeles based director of photography, Steadicam operator, and digital imaging technician. He started his career in entertainment with visual effects and editing, spending a brief period with George Lucas’s company Industrial Lights & Magic. However, the lack of sun and human interaction motivated him to seek a different creative field. On a whim, Dan bought a miniDV camera and started shooting projects for free to gain experience and material for his reel.

One small break led to another as Dan moved from volunteer work to earning a living. Seeking a wider variety of productions with larger budgets, Dan begrudgingly left his great friends and apartment (with parking!) in San Francisco, packed his bags, and moved to LA to make the most of his career. Since then, Dan has worked on numerous projects for a wide variety of clients and is a member of several associations including the International Cinematographers Guild, Society of Camera Operators, Steadicam Operators Association, and Digital Cinema Society.

Billy Mallery, Composer
Billy Mallery started his career as a composer in New York, where he landed his first commercial score for Gallo Wine, performed by a 60 piece orchestra. He has since composed original scores for such accounts as Levis, Nike, Got Milk?, BMW, Sony and Pepsi, for which he received a CLIO Award for original music. Many years of scoring commercials has led him to work with such directors as David Fincher, Michael Bay, Mark Pellington, Joe Pytka and Zack Snyder. Billy has also composed numerous corporate logo scores including XBOX Sports (XSN), ROGUE Pictures (a division of FOCUS Features) and most recently, the new LIONSGATE logo released in front of the film See No Evil. His first dramatic film project was Crossing Over, written and directed by Wayne Kramer (The Cooler, Running Scared), followed by Dos Corazones, directed by the renowned acting coach Larry Moss. One of Billy's unique qualities as a composer is that he is also passionate about sound design, and frequently merges music with sound within his scores. Last year he was invited to speak at UCLA's Extension Program focusing on music and sound design for television and film.