Kathleen Cooke
Vice President/Partner Cooke Pictures, Actress
A commercial actress as well as a businesswoman, Kathleen Cooke is a founding partner and Casting Director at Cooke Pictures, based in Santa Monica, California. As an actress, she has won "Critic's Pick" awards from Backstage West Magazine for her performances in the Los Angeles theater scene, and was the featured actress in a national commercial campaign to raise awareness about Lupus, as well as advertising for Home Depot, Mitsubishi, "On Air" with Ryan Seacrest, and more. Kathleen supervises casting on all dramatic and commercial projects produced by Cooke Pictures, and is a key member on the creative team. 

Phil Cooke
CEO and Creative Director - Cooke Pictures
Founding Partner - TWC Films, Santa Monica

Phil is a founding partner in TWC Films - a successful television commercial company that produced two spots for Super Bowl 2008 and another during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics.  He also produced "The Better Hour," a documentary feature on William Wilberforce broadcast nationwide on PBS in March.  From a spiritual perspective, many of the largest and most effective faith-based organizations in the world ask for his advice, and his books have changed the way people of faith use media to communicate with the culture.  Christianity Today magazine called him a "media guru" and you've seen him on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and numerous national magazines.  His blog at philcooke.com is a highly respected resource on media, faith, and culture and Phil's most recent book is called "Branding Faith:  Why Some Churches and Non-Profits Impact Culture and Others Don't." 

Brandon Lippard
Cinematographer
Bio coming soon...

Moderator:  Shun Lee Fong
Shun Lee is an actor, writer, the CEO and creative principal of Genuine Productions, LLC, and the Creative Director of The Greenhouse, a nonprofit organization for artists in the arts & entertainment industry. He graduated summa cum laude from Creighton University with a Bachelor's degree in journalism & mass communications. After obtaining his Juris Doctorate at the University of Iowa, he practiced law for five years at the firm of Lamson, Dugan & Murray, LLP, in Omaha, Nebraska, focusing on civil litigation, corporate transactions, intellectual property, and entertainment & media law. He also taught Mass Media Law for three years at Creighton University. In 2003, he left his law practice and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, writing, and other creative opportunities full-time. He has been an actor in a number of film, stage, commercial, and print productions, and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has spent a significant amount of time on stage and in the recording studio as a songwriter and musician, playing several instruments, and is an often-requested speaker. He has written a number of screenplays, articles, essays, and other works. He also consults and strategizes with various groups involved in the entertainment industry to help them maximize their impact. 

Janet Scott Batchler
Janet Scott Batchler is the writer (with her partner Lee Batchler) of SMOKE AND MIRRORS, BATMAN FOREVER, and MY NAME IS MODESTY, among many other projects. She is also a writing professor at the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, and a director.

Currently, the Batchlers are writing ALPHA for DreamWorks, a fast-paced adventure about a team of military working dogs and their trainers, scheduled to go before cameras in 2009.

In addition, the Batchlers have just delivered to Davis Entertainment at Fox their most recent script, POMPEII, an epic drama telling the famous story of the volcanic destruction of the city.

Recently, the Batchlers have written SHAKESPEARE'S CURSE, an adventure movie tracing a secret buried with William Shakespeare. The Batchlers have also recently finished LOVE'S LABOURS WON, a romantic comedy set in Cambridge, England for Four Boys Films, set to star Patricia Heaton (Everybody Loves Raymond); HELL OR HIGH WATER, the highadventure almost-true recounting of how Stanley found Livingstone; and GALVESTON, a Romeo-and-Juliet romance set against the harrowing true story of the Galveston hurricane of 1900 -- the biggest disaster of any kind ever to strike the United States.

The Batchlers are also well-known for SMOKE AND MIRRORS, the biggest spec script sale of its year, based on the true-life exploits of famed magician Robert-Houdin in North Africa. After falling out of pre-production twice, SMOKE AND MIRRORS continues to land on multiple lists of the "best unproduced scripts ever."

The Batchlers wrote BATMAN FOREVER for Warner Brothers, the third installment in the hit series about the Dark Knight of Gotham City. Directed by Joel Schumacher, BATMAN FOREVER stars Val Kilmer as Batman, Jim Carrey as The Riddler, Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Two-Face, Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian, and Chris O'Donnell as Robin. BATMAN FOREVER became the number one box office feature for 1995, with a domestic gross of $184 million and a worldwide gross of over $700 million.

MY NAME IS MODESTY (Miramax, 2004) recounts the backstory of the intriguing character Modesty Blaise. Often thought of as a "female James Bond," MODESTY BLAISE has a 40 year history as a comic strip (still a hit internationally), and as a series of books, both by Peter O'Donnell. Lee and Janet have also updated MODESTY BLAISE for Miramax as a major action franchise for Miramax, to which MY NAME IS MODESTY(which is presented by Quentin Tarantino) serves as a prequel.

Janet and Lee completed a rewrite on the supernatural thriller THIS PRESENT DARKNESS for Fox 2000, with Chuck Russell attached as director. The Batchlers have also written CAPTAIN NEMO, a high adventure prequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for DreamWorks; THE CARDINAL OF THE KREMLIN for Paramount Pictures, based on the best-selling novel by Tom Clancy; and SHORES OF TRIPOLI, a major war epic about the Tripolitan War, in which the U.S. battled the Barbary pirates of Tripoli, for Gale Anne Hurd and Disney.

Janet moved into the world of directing with her award-winning short THE SPITTIN' IMAGE, based on the short story by Walt Wangerin. THE SPITTIN' IMAGE tells the story of a boy learning about himself through his relationship with his cemetery caretaker grandfather. A graduate of the prestigious Directing Workshop for Women at the American Film Institute, Janet currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance of Women Directors.

Janet is in high demand as a guest speaker and teacher. She is on the Faculty of the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts, where she teaches screenwriting to graduate and undergrad students. She has taught seminars on writing and on the industry in general for Act One, UCLA, The Damah Film Festival, UC San Diego, Women in Film, the Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, Biola University, and others.

Janet lives in Bel Air with her husband Lee, their son Corin, and their daughter Sabrina. She can be contacted via Jon Brown of Ensemble Entertainment.

Shun Lee Fong
Shun Lee is an actor, writer, the CEO and creative principal of Genuine Productions, LLC, and the Creative Director of The Greenhouse, a nonprofit organization for artists in the arts & entertainment industry. He graduated summa cum laude from Creighton University with a Bachelor's degree in journalism & mass communications. After obtaining his Juris Doctorate at the University of Iowa, he practiced law for five years at the firm of Lamson, Dugan & Murray, LLP, in Omaha, Nebraska, focusing on civil litigation, corporate transactions, intellectual property, and entertainment & media law. He also taught Mass Media Law for three years at Creighton University. In 2003, he left his law practice and moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting, writing, and other creative opportunities full-time. He has been an actor in a number of film, stage, commercial, and print productions, and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild. He has spent a significant amount of time on stage and in the recording studio as a songwriter and musician, playing several instruments, and is an often-requested speaker. He has written a number of screenplays, articles, essays, and other works. He also consults and strategizes with various groups involved in the entertainment industry to help them maximize their impact.

John David Ware
John David Ware is the Founder and President of the 168 Film Project, which has birthed over 300 short films in six years. "168" has helped propel the lives and careers of hundreds of media professionals all over the world by teaching them to focus on God's Word.

John's writing credits include MISSION FIELD, based on a true story of a missionary in Cameroon, and UNCLE FRANK a comedic fantasy about a boy and his uncle's dog. John has written and directed a comedic spoof of Hollywood stereotypes entitled "The Chronicles of Hernia: the Lion, the Ditch and the Studio," due on DVD and online in 2008 (chroniclesofhernia.com).

Originally from Columbus Ohio, John went to film school at Miami University and graduated with honors. In 1998, he co-founded SLATE Entertainment Fellowship at Bel Air Presbyterian Church, which he led for 5 years.

John is a conference speaker and consultant for the Production and Post-Production industries in Los Angeles, where he lives with his co-star, Franklin B. Dog.

Contact:
John David Ware
145 S Glenoaks Blvd. #159
Burbank, CA 91502
818-557-8507
www.168project.com
john@168project.com

Moderator - Matt Chapman
Matt Chapman is a Producer, Script Consultant, and former Director of Development for Chesler/Perlmutter Productions, where he developed or oversaw eight Television movies from 2006 - 2008. He has also previously served as Hollywood Connect's Program Coordinator. He's currently running his own Web 2.0 Technology company, while independently developing film & television projects and regularly pitching material to various television networks and production companies at several major studios.