THE FILMMAKERS

Michelle Manning
PRODUCER

Michelle Manning has been a respected member of the motion picture industry as a studio executive, producer and director for film and television for over thirty years. As President of Production for Paramount Pictures, Ms. Manning was responsible for managing all aspects of the development and production for Paramount Pictures motion pictures division.

Michelle joined Paramount in 1991 as Senior Vice President of Production and was promoted to Executive Vice President, Production in 1993. In 1997 she became President of Production, overseeing Paramount classic films like Forest Gump (winner of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture), The Hours, (nominated for nine Academy Awards including Best Picture), Sydney Pollack’s The Firm starring Tom Cruise, The Talented Mr. Ripley, starring Matt Damon, Saving Private Ryan, starring Tom Hanks, and James Cameron’s Best Picture Winner, Titanic.

Before joining Paramount Pictures, Ms. Manning was Vice President of Production at Orion Pictures, where she served as production executive on Academy Award winning Best Pictures, The Silence of the Lambs and Dances With Wolves.

Gail Levin
PRODUCER

Gail Levin is a veteran Hollywood producer and casting director best known for her work with Oscar-winning filmmaker Cameron Crowe.   Her credits include Jerry Maguire, Lethal Weapon 2, Almost Famous, Vanilla Sky, and How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days.  She cast a young Leonardo DiCaprio to star opposite Johnny Depp in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, which earned DiCaprio his first Academy Award nomination.

Levin served as the Senior Vice President of Casting at Disney Telefilms from 1996 – 1999, and Executive Vice President of Features Casting at Paramount Pictures from 1999-2009. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Currently, Levin is casting the behind-the-scenes rock and roll comedy Roadie’s for HBO.  Written and directed by Cameron Crowe, the series is produced by JJ Abrams and his Bad Robot Productions.

Michael Steele
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER

For the past two decades, Michael Steele has been working in venture capital and equity finance at the world’s prominent financial institutions.  He is known for rebuilding equity businesses for the top investment banks in Asia as the Head of Equities & Trading for Merrill Lynch, Credit Lyonnais and Nomura International Securities in Taiwan.

In 2013, Michael left equity finance to pursue more creative projects as a private investor and venture capitalist.  His first major investment as a private investor was launching Ocean Night Entertainment (ONE), a media investment company comprised of investors and film industry experts from North American and Greater China.

Prior to equity finance, Michael was Partner at Howard Commercial, a venture capital arm of McDonald’s focused on bringing leading retail brands to Asia. Some of his clients included Starbucks, Costco and Warner Village Cinemas to name but a few. In 1997, Michael founded Enterprise Utilities, one of the first companies of its kind to provide integrated cloud based communication services to Asia’s medium sized manufacturers.

He later sold Enterprise Utilities to a venture arm of President Enterprise, Taiwan’s largest retail conglomerate. Published in various technology publications, Michael continues to advise a number of emerging startups in Greater China and the Middle East. He and his wife are active philanthropists and live in Taipei with their daughter.

Eric DelaBarre
WRITER/DIRECTOR

Eric DelaBarre is an award-winning author and filmmaker who began his career with Executive Producer Dick Wolf on NBC’s Emmy Award winning drama, Law & Order. After six seasons with Law & Order, and gaining membership to the Writer’s Guild of America, Eric left Wolf Films to become a Freelance Writer/Director. He wrote, produced and directed “Stop the Cycle,” a national, anti-smoking commercial for The American Lung Association and was nominated Best Director for the ITS Monitor Award.

Maxing out 22 credit cards, DelaBarre wrote, directed and produced the indie feature, Kate’s Addiction. Shot with a shoestring budget of $78,000, Eric was awarded “Filmmaker of the Future” at the Newport Beach International Film Festival and sold the picture to Lions Gate Films and Saban Entertainment for $490,000. The psychological thriller went on to gross more than $4.5 million in the domestic market alone.

Eric is a keynote speaker for elementary ‘Lit Jam’ festivals, past president of the Santa Monica Boys & Girls Club Council, and a best-selling ghostwriter with Random House/Harmony Books. He lives and works in Santa Monica, California with his wife, Julie (www.juliedelabarre.com) and their two children.

Greg Baldi
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY

From directing spot projects for Hyundai and Honda, to shooting action sequences on Jason Bourne, Jumanji, Quantum of Solace, both Avengers films, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, Men in Black 3, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Amazing Spiderman 2, Greg Baldi’s career is varied, reflecting a unique set of talents.

He has cemented his reputation as the best kind of weapon – one specializing in bringing heart-pounding action to life.  On the branded entertainment front, Baldi’s work on the Hot Wheels Worlds Best Driver Movie – featuring Ronnie Renner, Casey Currie, Aaron Ross, Mario Andretti, Luke Johnson, Geoff Aaron and Bryce Hudson – provided 22 minutes of action-packed fun for kids and adults of all ages. As a commercial Director/DP, Baldi was recently honored with a Gold award for Automotive Video at the Houston-Worldfest International Film Festival.  Greg lives in Temecula, California with his wife and two boys.