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John Cosgrove
Director
CAFFEINE is John Cosgrove's first feature film. He comes from the world of documentaries, where he made multi-award winning films about gun control, teenage pregnancy, violence in schools, PCP, and many others.
Cosgrove also directed and produced two documentaries for HBO, "Decoys" and "Five American Guns", which were forerunners for HBO's ground-breaking series American Undercover. "Five American Guns" won first place honors at the San Francisco Film Festival, Montreal Film Festival and New York Film Festival.
As director, co-creator, and executive producer (with partner Terry Meurer) of the pilot and ground-breaking series "Unsolved Mysteries," Cosgrove was a six-time Emmy nominee and helped solved over 300 cases.
Cosgrove produced the independent feature, "Relative Evil" (a.k.a. "Ball in the House") with Jennifer Tilly, David Straithairn, and Jonathan Tucker, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the Washington, D.C. Independent Film Festival.
Cosgrove began his career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Kingston, Jamaica, where he wrote and produced a twice-weekly, prime-time television series on the Jamaican Broadcasting System for the Jamaican Adult Literacy Program. He and his team were commissioned by the US Peace Corps to produce a documentary film about volunteer life in Jamaica to be used to attract new applicants. However, their depiction of life in poverty-stricken Kingston was deemed too starkly realistic for recruiting and was used, instead, for training. |
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Dean Craig
Writer
Dean spent a year as singer/songwriter in an alternative rock band, Figurehead, before deciding to pursue his passion for film. He worked as a freelance script reader and consultant for several film companies including Working Title Films, Miramax, Universal Pictures, ICM, Pathé, and BBC Films and spent a year working in development for Impact Pictures. Having read, analyzed and edited over 2000 screenplays, Dean finally decided that rather than working on other people's rubbish scripts, he might as well be writing his own rubbish scripts. In 2002, he traveled to New York to take the summer Sight & Sound filmmaking course at NYU. Dean has since written and directed three short films. CAFFEINE was Dean's first feature screenplay. His second feature, DEATH AT A FUNERAL, directed by Frank Oz, will be released in June 2007 by MGM.
In the last year, Craig has been hired to write the independent feature film DOWN AND DIRTY PICTURES, an adaptation of the acclaimed expose of the independent film industry written by Peter Biskind, as his follow up to "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls". He is also writing the script, A$$HOLE, for Paula Weinstein (Blood Diamond) and Warner Brothers, and AFFECTED PROVINCIALS COMPANION to be produced by Jonny Depp and Graham King (The Departed), and distributed by Warner Brothers. Craig is also finishing off his next original project, LOVE & MARRIAGE, which he plans to direct. |
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Jo Levi DiSante
Producer
Jo Levi DiSante began her career in New York as a casting assistant working on such films as John Sayles' PASSION FISH and Clint Eastwood's THE ROOKIE and PINK CADILLAC. She quickly realized that she wanted to see these projects past the casting phase and moved to Los Angeles where she became a reader for various production companies including Miramax, New Line, Oliver Stone's Ixtlan, and Ridley Scott's Percy Main Productions. Jo took her first executive position with Manager/Producer Phyllis Carlyle (THE ACCIDENTAL TOURIST). In 1996, Jo moved back to New York to be the creative executive for film financing venture Foundry Film Partners (CLAY PIGEONS, WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WISDOM OF CROCODILES). Returning to Los Angeles in 1999, Jo became the Director of Development for Demi Moore's Moving Pictures (AUSTIN POWERS, "If These Walls Could Talk"). In 2001, Jo joined Cosgrove/Meurer Productions ("Unsolved Mysteries") where she began a feature film division whose first production was RELATIVE EVIL (p.k.a. BALL IN THE HOUSE) starring Jonathan Tucker, David Strathairn, and Jennifer Tilly. In addition to her work in film, Jo created and produces the annual breast cancer benefit "What A Pair!" and represents the SEED Foundation's efforts to open a publicly funded inner city college prep boarding school in Southern California.
Shaun Maurer
Director of Photography
Shawn Maurer has worked on more than 10 feature films. Most recently, he was the cinematographer for three films directed by John Schultz: "The Honeymooners", starring Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps, "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town", starring Jane Krakowski and Jonathan Lipnicki and "Like Mike", starring Bow Wow.
Maurer's most recent project, "Caffeine," directed by John Cosgrove, has just commenced filming. Maurer's other films include "Boat Trip", " Bring It On", "Show and Tell", which was a Florida Film Festival winner in 1999, as well as a Blockbuster Independent Filmmaker Award winner in 2002, "The Big Empty", which was a Kodak First Look award winner, and "Bandwagon".
Maurer realized his filmmaking aspirations after enrolling in a film class at his local community college. He immediately recognized that he belonged behind a camera. Maurer enrolled in Loyola Marymount University's film program, focusing on cinematography, while earning his degree in general film production. It was there that he made the contacts that proved invaluable during school and after. After graduating, he began working with ZM Productions. While working at ZM Productions he met a handful of directors, including Peyton Reed, Jack Perez and John Schultz, which jump-started his career and landed him where he is today.
Suzanne Hines
Editor
Suzanne Hines has edited more than fifteen feature films. Currently, Hines is editing "Caffeine", directed by John Cosgrove. Most recently, she has edited three films starring Ice Cube: Friday After Next, All About The Benjamins and The Players Club. Ms. Hines has edited several festival films including Psycho Beach Party and Freeway II: Confessions of a Trick Baby, both of which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, as well as Trick Baby, and Without Air , both of which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Her other features include Breaking Up with Russell Crowe and Salma Hayek, Mission to Moscow: Police Academy VII, and Dreaming of Julia, starring Harvey Keitel. Ms. Hines also has a documentary background having cut such full-length documentaries as "Hard Knock Life" and "Soldier Child."
David Kitay
Composer
David Kitay grew up surrounded by music. The son of a professional opera singer, David was encouraged to study music, and by age seven had selected guitar as his favorite instrument. By age nineteen, David was a respected session guitarist, recording with bands Darwin (Polygram) and Lott (Casablanca). Soon David caught the eye of Motown records and songwriter/producer Barry Mann. he was playing on records for Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, James Ingram, and The Pointer Sisters. By age 26, David recorded and arranged with such artists as Bonnie Raitt, James Ingram, Linda Ronstadt, and Ricky Lee Jones.
David's entree into film scoring began at age 27 with Look Who's Talking, the first of what would become many successful collaborations with director Amy Heckerling. While David's subsequent credits, Clueless, Scary Movie, and the now infamous Dude, Where Is My Car? firmly established him in the teen genre, David had other plans for his future, scoring both Ghostworld and Bad Santa for director Terry Zwigoff, as well as a slew of other independent films for other innovative directors. He is also working on his own concert music to be performed in 2005.
Among other honors, David has received four prestigious BMI awards, several for his scores for the hit TV series Mad About You. In addition to scoring, David has recently produced records for such artists as The Boxing Ghandis, Sussanah Hoffs (The Bangles) and David Baerwald. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters.
Edward L. Rubin
Production Designer
Edward L. Rubin has lived in Paris, New York, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Santa Barbara, but right now he lives in a house in Los Angeles about a milefrom where his grandparents built a home in 1934, so he is living proof that what goesaround, comes around. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and he studied painting and drawing at the Academie dePort Royal in France. He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Set And Costume design for Theatre from Carnegie-Mellon University.
As an Art Director, Edward has worked on just about everything except the News andReality Shows, perhaps due to his belief that the real world, as we know it, is grossly overrated anyway. His many credits include the films "The Fantasticks," "Golden Gate," and"The Sunchaser," and the televison series "Martial Law," "Kate Brasher," "The BurningZone," and "L.A. Firefighters." He has won an Emmy Award in Art Direction for "Cinderella," starring Brandy and Whitney Houston for The Wonderful World of Disney, and he hasreceived Emmy nominations for Disney's "Annie," starring Kathy Bates, and the TurnerNetwork Civil War mini-series "Andersonville," directed by John Frankenheimer. Edward received the Excellence in Production Design Award from the Art Director's Guild as ArtDirector of "Cinderella," and he was also nominated for this award for "Annie." He won a Cable Ace Award for Art Direction for "Andersonville."
In addition to "Caffeine," Edward has Production Designed the feature film "MudSeason," the pilot for the Aaron Spelling series "Summerland," the movie of the week"Jane Doe: The Wrong Face" and the second season of the Fox series "Oliver Beene." Charity work includes student projects and short films, especially the one he co-wrote called"Fault." Edward's commercial work for "Rooms To Go" won the 2004 Telly Award. And he really did Art Direct the World Tour of Siegfried and Roy in Tokyo.
Edward's original pastel paintings have been shown in galleries in Los Angeles, SanFrancisco, Napa Valley and Santa Fe. He loves to swim.
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