Robert Rugan, Director:

Mr. Rugan is the creative director of the internationally recognized brand-driven design and live action production company Superfad. His numerous narrative films have garnered him a reputation of visual effects mastery combined with a knack for gripping storytelling. His first indie feature Alice’s Misadventures in Wonderland won the Grand Jury Award for Best Feature Film at the Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival and received a 4 and a half star review from FilmThreat, which commented, “This film could have been a disaster in the hands of another, but director Robert Rugan and crew keep this one crackling with bizarre ideas, a great sense of humor and awesome performances.” Gill Holland, the producer of the indie hit film “Hurricane Streets,” called it a “creative tour de force, featuring inventive filmmaking.”

Beginning his career as an award-winning editor, Rugan quickly moved into the position of an inferno (flame) artist where he excelled at compositing and visual effects. His post-production experience allowed a transition into directing where he now carries a vast array of experience to his skill in the art of the narrative.

Rugan’s many film accomplishments include the multiple award-winning short films “Abracadabra,” “The Peanut Business,” and crowd favorite “Slipped.” Commercially, he has worked with such clients as Budweiser, Diet Pepsi, Philips, Verizon Wireless, MTV, IFC, and HBO to name just a few. Most recently, Rugan’s "GO HUMANS" pitch won the international Visa campaign for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In his director’s statement about Alive and Well, he notes that the film “is a story that breaks down the walls of convention encompassing humor, a wild imagination and the heartfelt message that we, as human beings, are connected by fate, but that we motivate our own destiny and that life is always worth living.”

Molly Mayeux, Producer:

Ms. Mayeux, whose career spans more than 16 years, understands all facets of the movie business and has been associated with a number of leading filmmakers from Steven Spielberg to the Farrelly brothers. She possesses the technical expertise, the understanding of finances and production, and the “get-it-done” spirit to create an extraordinary product.

The producer of numerous motion pictures, from Tyler Perry’s Diary of a Mad Black Woman to HBO’s Dancing in September and Savior, starring Dennis Quaid, Ms. Mayeux has built a record of quality. In 1998, Ms. Mayeux produced The Hi Line, starring Rachael Leigh Cook, which premiered at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival and is shown on Showtime. The following year she produced Dandelion starring Taryn Manning, which premiered at Sundance in 2003 and received a theatrical and international release.

Ms. Mayeux is involved in all sides of the business through her company, Dahlia Street Films, including development, production, marketing, and distribution. Dahlia Street Films is currently in the development of “Alive and Well,” as well as
The House of the Rising Sun a crime drama scheduled to be shot in New Orleans early next year.

She recently completed The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond based on a Tennessee Williams story and starring Ann Margret and Ellen Burstyn. Other recent films include Rain a film from the Bahamas, starring Nicki Micheaux (“Lincoln Heights”), CCH Pounder (“The Shield,” “Baghdad Café”), and Irma P. Hall, winner of the 2006 Cannes Special Jury Award for the Coen Brothers’ Lady Killers which starred Tom Hanks. Rain was recently accepted into the prestigious Toronto Film Festival where it will make its world premiere.

Michael Hennessy, Producer:

Hennessy brings extensive
experience in branded entertainment to the production team of Alive and Well. A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Mr Hennessy began his career in the motion picture business as an Associate Producer on the film The Retrievers, an Animal Planet original movie. Its release in 2001 garnered the network its highest grossing film to date. In 2002, Mr Hennessy became an Associate Producer on the classical Brother’s Grimm fairly tale motion picture Hansel and Gretel. On that film, he created a joint marketing relationship with Nestle USA by infusing their product into the classic tale. In 2007, Mr Hennessy partnered with Bogner Entertainment, a company that specializes in producing independent high concept quality films, television, and broadband content by utilizing a solid multi-branding concept. With BEI, Mr Hennessy produced Trailer Park of Terror in 2007, a horror film based on the popular comic book. The film was a crowd favorite at its world premiere at the 2008 Slamdance Film Festival and was picked up by Summit Entertainment. Mr Hennessy recently produced Soccer Mom, a family comedy presented in association with Ladies’ Home Journal. The film is being distributed by Starz Entertainment and Anchor Bay and was released September 2008.

Brian A. Bullock, Executive Producer:

Upon graduation from the Film/Video school at the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (Cal-Arts), Mr. Bullock was immediately hired by renowned animation studio Hanna-Barbera to develop original content. Over the years, Bullock has become a successful “serial entrepreneur,” founding several companies in fields as diverse as software development, web design, diabetes education, GPS asset location, and real estate investment. Mr. Bullock’s companies have been service providers for such corporations as Dick Clark Productions, Cartoon Network, FedEx, Toshiba, Citibank, Hyundai, Epson, Kaiser Permanente, AstraZeneca, Novo Nordisk, Busch Gardens and Sony Entertainment.

Mr. Bullock currently sits on the Board of Directors for several corporations including Modern Millionaire LLC, Fortress Financial Inc, Synergy Software LLC, and Healing Our Village Inc. Bullock is the co-owner, co-founder and managing partner of Burbank based, Caspian Pictures LLC, a development and production house focused on creating socially conscious entertainment. Bullock has numerous projects in development and four films in pre-production, including Shrinking Charlotte, staring Brittany Murphy (8 Mile, Just Married, Sin City), We are Champions starring Forest Whitaker, and Girl Soldier starring Uma Thurman.

Bradley Denton, Novelist:

Mr. Denton’s “Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede,” first published in hardcover by William Morrow and Company in 1991, received the 1992 John W. Campbell Memorial Award for Best Science Fiction Novel of the Year. Since then, “Buddy Holly is Alive and Well on Ganymede” has been reprinted in various U.S.
and European editions, with a new U.S. edition coming out this year.

Born in Wichita, Kansas, in 1958, Denton has lived with his wife, Barbara, in Austin, Texas, since 1988. His other novels include “Wrack & Roll,” “Blackburn,” “Lunatics,” and “Laughin’ Boy.” He’s also a prolific short-story writer, and his two-volume collection “A Conflagration Artist” and “The Calvin Coolidge Home for Dead Comedians” won the World Fantasy Award in 1995. More recently, in 2005, his novella “Sergeant Chip” won the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award.

Brad and Barb Denton are also the proud human family of two large Rhodesian Ridgeback-mix siblings named Linus and Lucy and of a mop-sized terrier-mix named Tillie. Their previous beloved dog, a Labrador-mix served as the character model for “Ringo,” the cyborg Doberman in “Alive and Well.

Pam Dixon, Casting Director:

Ms Dixon, with 18 years of experience, has cast over 70 feature films, including City Slickers, Goldeneye, Prefontaine and The Mask of Zorro. Her recent work includes A Prairie Home Companion with the late director Robert Altman and Georgia Rule, which starred Jane Fonda, Lindsay Lohan, and Felicity Huffman. In addition to casting Alive and Well, Dixon is presently casting the hugely anticipated tent-pole comic book adaptation Green Lantern for Warner Bros studios.