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Alumni Updates

The Department of Film, Television, and Media, SAC, and Film & Video Studies Alumni, What are you up to?  

We want to hear from you!
 Please click on the Alumni Update Form and send us your news.  

Alumni Update Form

ZAINEB AL-KALBY ('15)

Zaineb is currently working at the University of Michigan as an Operations Coordinator for the Digital Studies Institute

JOSH AMIR ('10)

Joshua helped produce the Vanessa Hudgens starring Gimme Shelter (Roadside Attractions) upon moving to Los Angeles, where he now lives and works. Joshua is currently writing his next short film, which he plans to direct later this year.

HENA ASHRAF ('08)

Hena Ashraf is in her final year of her MFA program at UCLA. She recently participated in the Telluride 2019 program, which included a master class with one of her filmmaker heroes,  director Céline Sciamma and her actor Adèle Haenel (Portrait of a Lady on Fire.) Hena is currently at work on her thesis film The Return.  Her first -year film Dearborn Ash,  will screen at the Arab Film Festival in the Bay Area in October, and will also screen later this month (September 2019) at the Seattle Arab film fest. 

TARA BILIK ('03)

Tara is Vice President of Development at ANEW - a company producing English-language film adaptations based on Japanese creative IP. Before this, she was building a development slate with Producer Marianne Maddalena (SCREAM, RED EYE) and packaging A-list talent to projects like the anthology feature JERUSALEM, I LOVE YOU. She was previously the Creative Executive for Academy-Award winning Producer Graham King (THE DEPARTED, ARGO) at GK Films, and began her career working for, and learning from the legendary filmmaker Wes Craven (A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, SCREAM).

Tara has worked and traveled worldwide on productions such as THE TOURIST, THE RUM DIARY, LONDON BOULEVARD, THE HILLS HAVE EYES 2, RED EYE and EDGE OF DARKNESS, and has been involved in critically acclaimed projects such as HUGO, RANGO, THE YOUNG VICTORIA and THE TOWN. She has experience at film markets and festivals such as Cannes, Berlinale and Sundance, and has also worked as a creative consultant for a variety of film and television projects. She received her BA in Film and Video studies at The University of Michigan.

RAZZAAQ BOYKIN ('05)

Razzaaq Boykin has been living and working in the film industry for the last twelve years. Currently, he’s a directing fellow at the American Film Institute Conservatory.

Pictured, Razzaaq sits on set of a film shoot he just wrapped at AFI.

TINA BRUNN ('99)

Tina was honored to win a 2016 Michigan Emmy Award for Best Historic or Cultural Program or Special for Taking the Stage: The Historic Howell Opera House. It was produced by Tina and her husband through thier production company Wavelength Video Productions and aired on Detroit Public Television.

Watch Tina's winning video here

JILLIAN BOROWSKI ('16)

Jill has recently landed a Photographer/Editor job (including directing) with WNEM TV 5 Saginaw (a CBS affiliate that covers the Bay City area and Flint as well as Saginaw). She will begin working at WNEM on June 13, 2016. 

KAILANI BUCKNER ('14)

Kailani Buckner graduated as a SAC major (RIP SAC, Hello FTVM) in Spring 2014, and moved out to LA the following September. After successfully navigating couch surfing for two weeks, and then the joy of finding her very first LA apartment, she started working as a receptionist at a post production facility. They specialized in the sound mix for movie trailers with major studios. Knowing that she eventually wanted to end up in television production, she continued to bide her time looking for a PA gig. She started as an Office PA at "The Big Bang Theory" for the last two episodes of Season 10 and came back as an Office PA for the full Season 11. And at the beginning of Season 12, she was promoted to Line Producers' Assistant and will be with "Big Bang" until late Spring 2019, after which she'll be crossing her fingers for a spin-off :)"

MACKENZIE CENDROWSKI ('15)

Mackenzie Cendrowski graduated as a SAC major in 2015 and shortly after moved back out to LA. She worked as an Office Production Assistant on "The Big Bang Theory", before landing a job as a Stage Production Assistant on "The Great Indoors". She hopped from one multi-camera show to the next as a Stage PA until she was sponsored into the Directors Guild of America last summer as a 2nd 2nd Assistant Director on "Fuller House". Since then, she has been working as both an AD and Stage PA on various multi-camera shows including "Living Biblically," "Marlon," and "Mom."

GEOFFREY CHILES ('09) 

Geoff is currently a studio host for IMG College and freelance play-by-play broadcaster for CoachesAid.com in North Carolina. After graduating from U-M, he earned his master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from Syracuse University.

DANNY COHEN ('08)

For the past three years Danny has been a performer on a Harold (house improv) team at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles as well as a writer on one of the UCB Digital Teams.

Outside of the entertainment industry, he is also on the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council.

Check out a selection of Danny's work (that he writes/shoots/performs himself) on his website.

BENJAMIN DELL ('10)

Benji Dell just completed his MFA at AFI in the summer of 2015 and is now shooting short form narrative and web content

Dell was recently the cinematographer of Minhal Baig's short film entitled Hala -- the film was selcected as a Vimeo staff pick, and it premiered in Nylon magazine, claiming the title "short of the week." Hala tells the story of a Muslim-American girl who attempts to explore her sexuality and identity while growing up in a conservative, religious household.

Dell's Grill Dog recently won best short at the NOVA awards and will be featured on his website soon. 

DANIELLE DeLUCA ('14)

Danielle currently works freelance as a costume assistant and stylist in Detroit for film and commercial projects.

JULIA DIXON ('18)

Julia is currently working as a media associate for Weber Shandwick in New York, where she helps clients implement creative content strategies and solve communications challenges. She also writes for Media Genius, Weber Shandwick’s award-nominated weekly newsletter about the trends reshaping the media industry.

EVAN DOUGHERTY ('13)

Evan works at the University of Michigan College of Engineering Office of Communications and Marketing. He is a multimedia producer (videographer, photographer, writer).

Check out Evan's website here

JAMESON DUGGAN ('15)

Jameson is currently working as a video production intern at BuzzFeed Video. He started as a post production intern and then moved to the 6-month video production internship.

ZACH EVANS ('05) 

Zach Evans is a producer with over a decade of experience in film, television and new media. Currently he produces videos for Sony PlayStation, helping to create online content ranging from videogame trailers to documentary shorts about videogame development. Prior to that he produced and production managed a wide variety of branded entertainment and other marketing videos for the web, including Schick's action sports reality show "Clean Break" and series for New Balance and Accelerade. He was a producer on the comedic Shakespearean detective web series "Titus and Dronicus" which was featured on Nerdist. Zach's experience in television includes producing the travel show "Adventure Guides" on the Outdoor Channel, as well as scripted pilots with actors such as Meghan Markle, Kadeem Hardison and Richard Riehle. He was also a consulting producer on indie feature How I Got Lost starring Aaron Stanford and Rosemarie DeWitt. Zach graduated from the University of Michigan in 2003.

BRIAN FLYNN ('10)

After working on movies in Ann Arbor and Detroit for two years when Michigan had Tax Incentives, where he was lucky enough to be a part of nine films and a handful of commercials (produced by Debashis Mazumder), Brian moved to NYC with plans on continuing with film and television. Instead, Brian found and fell in love with the emerging tech start up scene. Fortunately, he managed to merge his love of film and tech: he currently works as a Digital Producer at a tech school called General Assembly, where he writes, directs, and produces educational videos about web design, data analysis, digital marketing, and UX design. Brian still works with Debashis Mazumder quite a bit. They both live in Harlem and do a lot of side projects together. Recently they created some digital assets for a bartending company, and they're both writing scripts for an upcoming web series.

BENJAMIN FOOTE ('15)

Benjamin now runs his own production company out of Ann Arbor where he does freelance videography and photography work around the greater A2 area. This year he made his VEVO debut for country music singer Justin Tranchita, worked on an upcoming documentary about U-M football legend Bob Ufer, created commercials and promotional material for persons and businesses within and outside of A2. Benjamin is currently creating a series of live music videos for NPR's Michigan Radio, among other things.

JOSH GIBERT ('15)

Josh Gibert's script, Vanilla-Chocolate, a script he wrote for SAC 310 has made it into the second round of the Austin Film Festival's script competition (2018). Gibert's script was selected from a pool of over 9,000 scripts. 

CHELSEA GOLUB ('14) 

Chelsea is now an account coordinator at Weissman/Markovitz Communications, an entertainment PR company in Los Angeles.

RAY GOLDBERG ('15)

Ray currently works as the Programming Assistant for a Chicago-based filmmaking nonprofit called Full Spectrum Features. The company is committed to increasing diversity in the media arts by producing, exhibiting, and supporting work which focuses on work made by women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community. Full Spectrum's first feature film, Signature Move begins production in August 2016.

RODDY HYDUK ('13) 

Roddy Hyduk '13 spent a year in New York City after graduation, leading production projects at NYU's Office of Interactive Media. He then partnered with Josh Buoy '13 and Chris Duncan '13 to form Snowday, a creative video studio. Currently based out of Ann Arbor, Snowday has become a creative partner for small startups and large tech companies alike, providing the strategic thinking of an agency coupled with the technical capabilities of a production company.

On the non-commercial front, Hyduk is continuing to explore the blurry line between documentary and narrative filmmaking by shooting and directing as much as possible. He recently received attention for a film he shot in 2015, "Stations", which opened up the Rooftop Film Festival NYC, the Lower East Side Film Festival NYC, and received online features from Vimeo, Fast Company, The Atlantic, and more. His next project will be an ongoing series of films navigating the different qualities of being human.

KATIE HACALA ('14)

Katie has been working at Showtime Networks Inc. since June 2013 when she started as an intern. Three months later, she was hired full time as the Coordinator in the Department of Content Acquisition and has been a Supervisor since 2016. Her job is to screen and review independent films, documentaries, comedy shows, and specials and recommend which ones to buy for the network. She's based in Los Angeles.

CONNIE HUANG ('11)

Connie Huang ('11) is currently working as a New York-based camera assistant and aspiring cinematographer. She has worked in the camera department on a number of feature films, including Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies and The Post; Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, the Vinyl pilot, and Silence; Darren Aronofsky’s Noah; Denzel Washington’s Fences; and Hugh Jackman’s musical The Greatest Showman. In fall of 2017, she completed a Woody Allen feature A Rainy Day in New York. 

Connie's short documentary Ài Bàba (Love Dad) will be screening at both the Nashville Film Festival and the New Orleans Film Festival in October of 2019. 

“All the films I’ve worked on have been the best film school I could have ever asked for. There are just some things you can’t learn at film school, like carrying 16 coffees down a busy NYC street -- plus you're getting paid to learn!” 

photo courtesy of Connie Huang (pictured at left, front), from BRIDGE OF SPIES

CHRISTOPHER HUTH ('06)

Editor Christopher Huth, who recently cut projects for Walmart (via Dept W, Lloyd Lee Choi, director), Indeed (in-house, directors Rayka Zehtabchi and Sadé Clacken Joseph), and Citi (Publicis NY, Cole Webley, director) - is working as Editor/Partner at bicoastal Union Editorial. 

Read more here

Photo credit, SHOTS News

MATTHEW KANE ('12)

Matthew Kane is currently an Executive Assistant on Stitchers. This year (2017), ​he ​wrote an episode​, ​which was directed by veteran John Badham​. ​Currently, ​his episode is slated to air on Monday, July 24, 2017 @ 9PM (ET) on Freeform.

NINA KIM ('19)

FTVM alum ('19) Nina Kim is currently the Writers’ Production Assistant on Sunshine Scouts, a Shondaland comedy for Netflix. Previously, she was the Writers’ Production Assistant on The CW’s Nancy Drew

SOPHIA KRUZ ('11)

As the University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women 2015-2016 Visiting Social Activist, Kruz directed an independent documentary on the role of art in creating positive global change for women and girls called CREATING4CHANGE

Her documentary work has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, Michigan Council for Arts & Cultural Affairs, Marian Chace Foundation, International Expressive Arts Therapy Association, Arts Alliance, and the Womanity Foundation. Formerly a producer in Detroit Public TV's National Documentary Unit, Kruz produced RIDE THE TIGER (2016), an upcoming documentary on neuroscience and bipolar disorder and BEYOND THE LIGHT SWITCH, Hour 3 (2015), for national PBS broadcast.

Kruz is also the co-founder of this women's documentary film non-profit: www.driftseed.org Most recently, she has directed the film, Little Stones, a documentary that weaves together the personal narratives of four women around the world who are using art to create positive change in their communities. From a graffiti artist speaking out against domestic violence in the favelas of Brazil to a dancer rehabilitating sex-trafficking survivors in India, each of these women is contributing a stone to the mosaic of the women’s movement through their art.

Read more about Little Stones and watch the official trailer here

Driftseed is always looking for new intern talent in Ann Arbor, LA and Washington DC!

ELIZABETH LABODA-LYMAN  ('14)

Elizabeth (Lizzy) Laboda-Lyman, FTVM class of 2014​, ​remains happily employed as Post Production Coordinator (promoted from Post Production Assistant) on Queen Sugar at OWN in Los Angeles. ​Elizabeth has had wonderful experiences, such as the opportunity to attend its Premier and meet Ava DuVernay, and be a seat filler at the Emmy Awards. The LA Michigan contingent is vast​; she networks with most of her fellow alums.

JENNIFER LARSON ('14)

Jenny is currently working as a Video Production Specialist at GP Sandy (a branch of GP Strategies) in Troy, MI. Her most recent film experiences include Destined (Confluential Films, Dir., Qasim Basir) for which she worked as a Set Production Asst. and a Producer's Asst. and Liberty's Secret (E Pluribus Productions, LLC, Dir., Andy Kirshner) for which she worked as an Art Department P.A. Jenny has recently re-connected with her former FTVM instructor Sultan Sharrief and accepted a fellowship to work with him at Moviement in Detroit. Jenny also works as a freelance photographer and videographer: take a look at her work from The Larson Lens here

DEBASHIS MAZUMDER ('07)

http://www.royalty.media

Debashis Mazumder is a digital content producer, advertiser, and serial entrepreneur. He graduated from Film ​& Video Studies at University of Michigan in 2007 and attained an MBA from Wayne State University in 2012. After undergrad, Debashis worked at various talent agencies, such as Innovative Artists and United Talent Agency, learning the ins and outs of talent management. Always maintaining his creative side he left the world of talent management to go back to production as a producer/director creating music videos for the likes of Big Sean, and award winning commercial campaigns for Mountain Dew. Seeing the industry shift from traditional funding and distribution methods in favor of digital platforms, Debashis shifted focus into digital content production, which in turn landed him a role as the Head of Product, Video Content and Publishing at Inc 500 digital ad firm, Playwire Media. There he managed multi-platform campaigns for top-tier music, film and video game companies, and grew the content divisions for multiple publishing websites. He currently is the Founder and CEO of Royalty Media, working with entertainment brands and publishers to produce branded content and expand their reach across digital ​ ​publishers.

LAUREN MEGAN McCARTHY (FTVM '15)

Lauren Megan McCarthy is currently in Atlanta, continuing her acting career. She recently wrapped her first feature film, Bricked, which focuses on mental health, bipolar disorder, and the stigma surrounding it.

NOAH NISHITE ('07)

Noah is currently a freelance camera operator and primarily works for the ESPN and FOX family of networks. He covers every type of collegiate sport and has been to the NCAA football championship, the NBA playoffs, Formula 1 and MotoGP races, and the X Games. While his main focus is sports, Noah is also lucky enough to shoot live music during SXSW and has been a longtime crew member of the ACL music festival. He has worked on many productions that include Lady Gaga, Jay-Z and the Flaming Lips.

KELLYN PARKER ('09)

Kellyn Parker is Vice President, Original Programming and Development, West Coast. Parker develops and oversee production on west coast-based Comedy Central original series. Parker worked at Funny Or Die for over five years and served as Vice President of Partner Content. He managed their award-winning Partner Content Department and executive produced over 150 branded entertainment campaigns with notable brands such as FIAT, Universal Pictures, Adidas, Microsoft, Pepsi, Sony Electronics, among others. He also led the creative development and production for Funny Or Die D.C. including the Everybody Votes! project executive produced by Judd Apatow and the Jokes for Votes comedy tour headlined by Sarah Silverman. Several of Parker’s projects were recognized by the industry with nominations and awards including: a 2015 Webby Nomination for Branded Entertainment Short Form for Universal’s Ride Along; a 2014 Webby Honoree for Branded Entertainment Long Form for Paramount’s Anchorman 2; a 2014 Streamy Award Nomination for a FIAT Branded Campaign; as well as a 2013 Key Art Award Finalist for Microsoft’s Gears of War, among many others. Parker began his career at United Talent Agency in the Agent Trainee program which earned him a position in the Digital Media Department. He’s a graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in Film and Video Studies.

PHIL RANTA ('05)

Phil Ranta is the Chief Operating Officer of Studio71, US, a media company built with digital talent. S71's influencer network receives over 5 billion monthly views across over 1,000 channels. Key talent includes Lilly Singh, Rhett & Link, Roman Atwood, Guava Juice, and Boyce Avenue. Studio71 is also a leading producer of premium content including Natural Born Pranksters starring Roman Atwood, Be Somebody starring Matt Espinosa, Video Game High School by Freddie Wong, and RUSH on Verizon's go90, to name a few. Studio71 (previously Collective Digital Studios) was acquired by ProSiebenSat.1 in 2016.

Previously, Phil was one of the earliest executives at Fullscreen, where he built the largest multi-channel network on YouTube until the company sold to Otter Media, a joint venture between AT&T and Chernin Entertainment. He was also the Executive Producer at Viva! Vision, one of the earliest mobile video start ups that powered channels for Verizon's V-Cast and, in a different life, worked as a comedian aboard Norweigan Cruise Liens with the improv comedy troupe The Second City. He is a proud University of Michigan grad, LS&A Film & Video studies class of 2005.

REBEKKA RESQUEIRA ('12)

Rebekka Resqueira is currently one of 6 writers for a UCB (Upright Citizens Brigade) Maude team called Gorgeous that does monthly sketch shows every second Wednesday of the month at UCB Sunset in LA. 

BRENDT RIOUX ('09)

Brendt Rioux lives in Los Angeles, where he works in digital video distribution and hosts Lost & Found Film Club, a monthly 16mm film screening series at The Cinefamily. He also makes animation at home. The stop-motion collage short TVPSA was selected for the 54th annual Ann Arbor Film Festival's 2016 animated shorts in competition program.  It is available to view online here. When in Ann Arbor, Brendt enjoys visiting his former places of employment, The Michigan Theater and WCBN-FM.

Twitter: @brendtrioux
Blog: www.brendtrioux.com
Lost & Found Film Club on Facebook
Lost & Found Film Club on Instagram
Upcoming shows in LA

SHRIHARI SATHE ('05)

Shrihari Sathe is an independent producer and director. Sathe's feature directorial debut– Ek Hazarachi Note (1000 Rupee Note) won the Special Jury Award (Best Director) and Centenary Award for Best Film at the 2014 International Film Festival of India and has received over 30 awards including several Best Director and Best Film.

Sathe is a 2013 Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellow and has received fellowships from the HFPA, PGA, IFP, Film Independent, and the Sundance Institute to name a few. Sathe produced Jaron Henrie-McCrea's Pervertigo (Warsaw/Mumbai FF), Eliza Hittman's It Felt Like Love (Sundance FF / IFF Rotterdam), Elisabeth Subrin’s A Woman, A Part (IFF Rotterdam/ BAMCinemaFest). He co-produced Partho Sen-gupta's Sunrise (Busan IFF/Tribeca FF), Afia Nathaniel’s Dukhtar (Toronto IFF/Busan IFF), Anthony Onah’s Dara Ju (SXSW), Eliza Hittman’s Beach Rats (SundanceFF - ND/NF) among others.

He is currently in production on Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam's The Sweet Requiem. Sathe is the recipient of the 2016 Cinereach Producer Award. He is a Trans Atlantic Partners fellow (2013) and Cannes Producer's Network fellow (2014 - 2017). Sathe is a member of the Producers Guild of America, Indian Motion Picture Producers Association and Film Writers Association (India).

Sathe stops in to visit FTVM's Mary Lou Chlipala (left) and Terri Sarris (middle) in May of 2017.

PAUL SUTHERLAND ('08) 

Paul graduated from the Department of Film, Television, and Media program in 2008, and committed to staying in Michigan after graduation, transitioned into freelance production and has been a video production staff member with several government facilities over the years.  While working for Livonia Television, Paul's most recent position, he enjoyed a 2015 Michigan Emmy nomination for 'Fire & Clay', a biography about ceramics artist Barb Gibson, as well as great success with a library summer reading promotion he produced/directed that received popular attention around the world and was featured on CBS's Late Late Show with James Corden.

Paul's passion for the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor communities is reflected not only in his return to the Department of Film, Television, and Media program, where he now works as a New Media Technician in the studios, but also in his continued volunteer production work with local organizations such as the Ann Arbor Film Festival and Entre-SLAM, an entrepreneur storytelling organization.  He is also currently a cinematographer on the crew of a documentary about legendary University of Michigan Football broadcaster Bob Ufer expected to release in the fall of 2017.

BRIAN VANTIMMERMAN ('13)

Brian is currently working as the Marketing and Sales Manager at a Christian camp and training center called Grace Adventures. He is in charge of all outgoing communication pieces and strategies as well as working with groups who want to use our campus for retreats and events.

He also oversees a summer photography and videography team that captures media and creates various video and photo projects.

MATTHEW WARD ('14)

Matthew works at CAA. The Death Star itself. He started in the mailroom and is now a floater. Soon....soon

ANDY WINDAK ('08)

Andy Windak is the creative force behind the food of The Coconut Club, an L.A. based underground supper club.  Having previously worked in the animation industry on show’s such as Cartoon Network’s Robot Chicken, Andy brings a whimsical aesthetic to his culinary creations. The Club was recently featured on Bravo's Going Off the Menu. In February of 2019, Andy is skyping into Rob Hess' (former FTVM staff and current owner of Go! Ice Cream) Learn and Churn Class: Tropical Flavor Edition. as a special guest.


FTVM's New Media Alumni Panel 

February 3, 2017

(pictured from left to right)

Phil Ranta ('05), Zach Evans ('05), Debashis Mazumder ('07), and Kellyn Parker ('09)