Producer / Writer/ Director Armen Kaprelian (class of 2001)  has just completed a distribution deal with Mark Cuban’s Magnolia Pictures for North American rights to his feature film CLOSING ESCROW: A Comedy About Real Estate.

Kaprelian was inspired to make a comedy about real estate after spending 3 years producing for HGTV’s hit show House Hunters.  “House Hunters was a great experience.  It’s a great show with an unbelievable fan base….over 1 million viewers.  After 3 years, I realized that if this audience is tuning in with that regularity, there’s a good chance that they would support a comedy about the same industry,” said Kaprelian.

Closing Escrow was able to draw a terrific ensemble cast featuring Wendi Mclendon-Covey and Cedric Yarbrough of Comedy Central’s Reno 911.

“I knew we had made a funny film but this selection was pretty sweet.”  After its initial screening, word spread quickly throughout the local real estate community and the next screening played to a packed house.  All that buzz culminated in a best comedic performance award for Wendi McLendon-Covey for her portrayal of the liberal yet racist real estate agent, Hillary Macella.  Kaprelian couldn’t agree more with the award, “Wendi is such a gifted performer.  I don’t know how but she manages to be endearing even as she delivers some pretty ridiculous and racially insensitive dialogue.  We were lucky to get her.”

Shortly after the festival, Kaprelian struck a deal with Magnolia Pictures who intends to fast track Closing Escrow for a theatrical release in late August 07.  They also plan on releasing the DVD simultaneously to give moviegoers more options in how they view the film. 

Closing Escrow also marks Kaprelian’s directorial debut.

Darren Grant’s name has graced the bottom left hand corner of the openings and closings of music videos for artists such as Brian McKnight, Destiny’s Child, Aaliyah, Jermaine Dupri, Monica, Ginuwine, Kirk Franklin, Chante Moore, Deborah Cox, and many others. His “Survivor” video for Destiny’s Child won a 2001 MTV Video Music Award. Darren also directed the posthumous star-studded tribute video of “Miss You” for the late Aaliyah. Grant has been credited with re-defining the image of Brian McKnight and Deborah Cox, helping create their crossover appeal.

Darren Grant’s directing style is visually appealing and memorable. With an impressive list of over 130 music video directing credits under his belt, Grant’s transition into feature films was inevitable.

Grant was born and raised in the Seattle, Washington area. His mother was a vital part of the Seattle film scene and had written and directed several award-winning short films.

After high school he moved to San Diego for six years where he attended community college. He then migrated north, landing at California State University, Northridge where he graduated from the film production program in 1995.

His feature film debut was a triumphant one, the critically acclaimed Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which was released through Lions Gate Films on February 25, 2005. The film melds comedy, drama, and a love story into one complex narrative. This mixing of genres may, promisingly, begin a new trend in urban movie making.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman, which cost $5 million to make, opened as the number one box office draw in theaters across the country, earning over $22 million in the first weekend.

The mention of director Paul Hunter’s name has become synonymous with talking about the most identifiable visionaries in music videos today. His inventive style has arguably elevated the standard of video production. Having worked with celebrated musical artists including Jennifer Lopez, Lenny Kravitz, Christina Aguilera, Eminem, D’Angelo, Courtney Love, Marilyn Manson, Sean “Puffy” Combs, Mariah Carey, Will Smith, and Janet Jackson, Paul is among an elite group of directors who successfully segues between hip-hop and rock, fortifying a diverse client base.

After a long and extremely successful career as a commercial and music video director, Paul can now add film director to his list of accolades. Paul has made his feature length directorial debut with Bulletproof Monk for MGM, which opened April 2003. He directed alongside producers Michael Yanover, Terence Chang, and John Woo. Bulletproof Monk stars Chow Yun-Fat, Seann William Scott, and Jamie King.

Paul majored in film at Cal State Northridge where he acknowledeges the early pedagogical influence of CTVA film professor Nate Thomas. His career began by working on sets and shooting spec commercials. He continues his work in commercial directing by helming big budget product spots for major corporations, including The Gap and Coca Cola (Dasani).

Paul received overwhelming recognition for his work on the projects for Nike and Jordan. The Nike commercial went on to win an Emmy Award. His groundbreaking style of blurring the lines between the commercial and music video has generated widespread acclaim for changing the face of commercials today.

Paul directed the music video of a lifetime when he directed the comeback single You Rock My World for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. He directed the multiple award winning “Divas” video for the soundtrack to the film Moulin Rouge featuring Christina Aguilera, Pink, Mya, Missy Elliott, and Lil’ Kim, as well as Aaliyah’s video for her hit song Resolution. He directed spots for the current Holiday Gap campaign and the upcoming Dr. Pepper campaign.

(NORTHRIDGE MAGAZINE, Fall 2003)
When ABC-7 Eyewitness News needed an expert to train its editors and production staff in the use of a new editing system, it called in a Cal State Northridge alumnus.

Guy Gunderson knows a thing or two about editing. He has two Emmy Awards to prove it.

A 1971 graduate of the RTVF Dept., Guy has racked up plenty of experience as a news editor for KTLA (LA-Channel 5), KCOP (LA-Channel 13), KNBC (LA-Channel 4), and KABC (LA-Channel 7).

Both of Guy's Emmy Awards were earned during his years in Channel 13's news division. The first, shared with three other editors, was for a 1996 election special called "America '96: The California Factor." It covered ballot issues that affected California that year.

Gunderson's second Emmy gave him the greatest satisfaction, not only because he was the sole editor on the project, but because of the subject matter. The five-part series entitled "In Search of a Miracle" was an emotional portrait of a woman's struggle with bone cancer.

"For three or four weeks, that was all I worked on," Gunderson said, recalling the woman's bravery as hse coped with treatments and the spread of the disease. "It was a tribute to her life."

As the daily installments progressed, he said, viewers' hopes were raised. The cancer victim's eventual death was a shock to viewers and the news crew alike.

Gunderson, a Chatsworth resident, was video producer, director and editor at CSUN's Instructional Media Center from 1981 to 1991.

(NORTHRIDGE MAGAZINE, Fall 2003)
On a spring day in 1979, Michael F. Blake was on the verge of enrolling at Cal State Northridge. Instead, he answered the phone. It was Universal Studios, offering him the job that put him on the path to an Emmy Award nearly 20 years later. "Universal," he said, became my home lot.

Part of the make-up team responsible for the ghoulish charm of television's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," Blake won his 1998 Emmy for his work on that program. The next year he was nominated again, for his "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" make-up designs.

Blake graduated from Cal State Northridge with a bachelor's degree in film criticism theory in 2001, 22 years after putting off his education. His "suicidal" schedule made earning it just a shade less difficult than earning his Emmy. At one point he was juggling studio work, a Turner Classic Movies cable documentary on actor Lon Chaney, and two demanding classes with Department of Cinema and Television Arts Chair John Schultheiss, whom Blake considers "one of the toughest and best" teachers in the business.

So why did a Cal State Northridge diploma matter at least as much to him as the Emmy? "Painting faces is awfully nice," he explained, "but when I get to the Pearly Gates and St. Peter asks me what else I've done, I don't want to have to say, "Well, painting faces is it, sir."

He made sure of that by launcing a second career as an author. His new book, "Code of Honor: The making of Three Great American Westerns--High Noon, Shane and The Searchers," for Taylor Trade Publishing, coincides with the 100th anniversary of the western as a film genre. Film critic Leonard Maltin calls it "a thorough and thoughtful document of three great American films."

Blake said westerns have been a part ohis life since his father, actor Larry J. Blake, played the saloon owner who spoke the first line in "High Noon.'

A Studio City resident, Blake also earned a master's degree in critical film studies at UCLA.

Joan Chen

Actress
Saving Face (2005)

The Last Emperor (1987)

Judge Dredd (1995)

Director
Xiu Xiu (1998)

Autumn in
New York (2000)

Born into a family of doctors. Educated in China at the Shanghai Film Academy and the Shanghai Institute of Foreign Languages. Discovered by veteran Chinese director Xie Jin while observing a filming with a school group. Her performance in Little Flower won China's Best Actress award, and resulted in the Chinese press dubbing her "The Elizabeth Taylor of China" for having achieved top stardom while still a teenager. Came to US to attend college in 1981, first at the State University of New York at New Paltz, later at California State University at Northridge. Had a succession of small parts in movies and TV, with first break coming in 1986 when, in the true tradition of Hollywood legend, Dino DiLaurentis discovered her in the Lorimar parking lot and cast her in Tai-pan. The film bombed, but led to Chen being cast as the ill-fated Empress in Bertollucci's The Last Emperor, which won critical acclaim. This, and her role as enigmatic mill owner Josie Packard in the cult TV series "Twin Peaks," are her best-known roles in the West.

Joan made her directorial debut with the acclaimed theatrical film Xiu Xiu, a film banned in its homeland of China. She went on to direct Autumn in New York starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder.

Selig was an executive producer on the remake of the science fiction thriller The Stepford Wives for Paramount Pictures and Scott Rudin Productions. Frank Oz (In & Out, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) directed the picture and Paul Rudnick’s (In & Out, Adam’s Family Values) wrote the screenplay. Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Glenn Close, and Bette Midler all starred.

Presently, Selig is in post production on Ronnie Christensen’s Passengers, with Mandate Pictures and Sony. Passengers is a supernatural-thriller about a grief counselor who tries to help survivors from a plane crash. Rodrigo Garcia (Nine Lives, Six Feet Under) directed, and Anne Hathaway (Devil Wears Prada) and Patrick Wilson (Little Children) starred.

Another Ronnie Christensen project that Selig has in pre-production is High Stakes, a fast paced thriller set against the world of high rollers in Vegas. David Ellis (Cellular, Final Destination 2) is attached to direct, and Velvet Octopus is financing the project. Shooting is set for summer of 2007.

Selig is also producing Nice based on the novel by Jen Sacks. This is a black comedy about a girl who is too nice and must go to extreme circumstances to change her ways…even murder. Reese Witherspoon is attached to star.

Intuition Productions and Careyes Entertainment are developing Freedom at Midnight, an adaptation of the novel by renowned authors Larry Collins and Dominique La Pierre. It is the true story of a love affair among royalty, set against the independence of India in 1947. Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham, Bride & Prejudice) is attached to direct and Hugh Whitemore (My House in Umbria, The Gathering Storm) is set to write.

Another project Selig is currently producing is House Of Pain by Dan Gordon (The Hurricane, Murder in the First), an original screenplay about the life of Bela Lugosi. This film is being financed by Brightlight Pictures.

Another project Selig is developing is the feature adaptation of Robota, the graphic novel from Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game) and Oscar-winning special FX director and Academy Award winner Doug Chiang (Terminator 2, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Polar Express). Chiang is attached to make his directorial debut on Robota. Robert Kamen (The Fifth Element, Lethal Weapon 3) is attached to write. She will produce the project with Nick Wechsler (North Country, Requiem for a Dream).

In addition, Selig has various television projects in active development including, TWO HOUSES, ONE HOME, which is set up at Lifetime and Jaffe/Braunstein Productions (Elvis, 10.5). This is a modern-day look at adoption, and Rodney Vaccaro (Three to Tango). Set to shoot in Summer 2007.

Selig also has a scripted one-hour series in development at 20th Century Fox Television. HAPPY MAISEY with Richard Kletter (Odd Girl Out, She’s Too Young) attached to write. Selig will produce with Jessica Horowitz (The Road To Stardom with Missy Elliot). Another series that Selig is developing is HEIR HUNTERS, based on real-life Heir Hunters that track down the rightful owners to unclaimed fortunes currently set up with Burnim/Murray (The Real World, Road Rules).

Selig spent 1999 through 2001 as Senior Vice President of Production at Bel-Air Entertainment; the Warner Bros. based feature production and finance company. Selig shepherded many feature projects for the company, including: Diamond Dogs, an action-packed, diamond heist tale written by Jay Friedman and Michael Schiffer (Crimson Tide), and Man of the House, an action-comedy about an aging FBI agent who must transport a squad of dysfunctional cheerleaders across the state to testify before a grand jury. The film, directed by Steven Herek, starred Tommy Lee Jones and Cedric the Entertainer.

Prior to her time at Bel Air, Selig was Senior Vice President of Production at Kopelson Entertainment (Seven, The Fugitive). From January 1996 to October 1998, she served as Senior Vice President at The Cort/Madden Company (Save the Last Dance, Mr. Holland’s Opus) based at Paramount Pictures. At Cort/Madden, Selig co-executive produced In The Company Of Spies with Tom Berenger and Ron Silver and Harlan County War starring Holly Hunter.

From production company executive- to running her own management company--to producer, Tracie Graham has made her place in the motion picture industry. She was Vice President of Production at Motion Picture Corporation of America (MPCA) where she Co-Produced and line produced many films including, New Line Cinema’s box office success Dumb and Dumber starring Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels, as well as Threesome starring Lara Flynn Boyle and The War At Home starring Martin Sheen and Oscar winner Kathy Bates.

Graham has also served as a Production Executive at Chanticleer Films. During her tenure there, she produced films for the Showtime series 30-Minute Movies, many of which were nominated for Academy Awards. She also served as Producer of the motion picture Phoenix for Lakeshore Entertainment which starred Ray Liota, Anjelica Huston, Anthony LaPaglia and Brittany Murphy. Most recently Tracie produced the major motion picture, Windtalkers, a World War II drama for MGM directed by the critically acclaimed John Woo that starred Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage. 

Tracie has various projects in various stages of development including Darksiders, a franchise-type action-thriller which is set up at New Line and Bad Men aka Sanctuary, a supernatural thriller which is set up at Lionsgate.

Tracie Graham began her collegiate career here at California State University, Northridge where she majored in film production in the Department of Radio-Television-Film. Her studies were cut a little short as she made an early entrance into the entertainment industry. Most recently Tracie returned to CSUN and has just finished all requirements for her Bachelor of Arts degree in Cinema and Television Arts with a film production emphasis.

The War (1994)