• Biography

    A native New Yorker, Ellen Gerstein’s path to Hollywood’s entertainment industry took a number of detours. She spent six years as a social worker in Manhattan and later earned her graduate degree on psychology from the Antioch University. It was this background that eventually drew her into writing Waiting for Ronald as a celebration of independence for the developmentally disabled.

    Although her first career in psychology and social work was rewarding, Ellen had more to give to the creative world. She studied acting with the renowned Lee Strasberg and script analysis with Stella Adler. A successful 20-year acting career followed, with roles ranging from “Aunt Lisa” on NBC’s hit Friends to “Jane Deacy,” James Dean’s agent in the TNT movie, James Dean.

    She played Cuba Gooding’s landlord in the film Murder of Crows, as well as “Sofie,” the homeless women in Annie, the MOW with Kathy Bates. Ellen has also originated many stage roles, including “Virginia” in the original play, Angel Share with Paula Prentiss, as well as “Moira”, a Theater in Los Angeles. As a stand-up comedian in venues on both coasts, Ellen routinely brought down the house.

    Acting and coaching still wasn’t enough for Ellen. She added writing and producing to her credits, Ellen wrote, produced and starred in a 30-minute film for the Women’s Directing Workshop at AFI entitled Silent Laughter. She wrote and performed a one-women show, My Psychotherapy Comeback Tour about homeless therapist maker her comeback.

    This amazing show was a semi-finalist in the Samuel French Off Broadway Short Play Festival and ran to rave reviews in both Los Angeles and New York. Ellen also co-wrote, co-produced and appeared in Club Disco, an interactive play which had an extended 8-month run in Los Angeles.

    Aside from traveling to famous film festivals, Ellen has been assembling a workbook and DVD for Waiting for Ronald. She is also working on a feature film version of Waiting for Ronald, entitle Custody of Connie. Ellen is currently starring in the lead role of the Steven Berkoff world premiere play Sit and Shiver.

    With Waiting for Ronald, Ellen has added yet another talent to her ever-growing list. This Extraordinary labor of love marks Ellen’s debut as a film director.


  • Biography

    Waiting for Ronald marks Dot Jones debut as an Associate Producer.
    As an actress, Dot has had reoccurring roles on Married With Children and the Disney Channel’s Lizzie McGuire as “Couch Kelly.” Dot recently completed work on National Lampoon’s The Trouble with Frank (directed by Arthur Hiller) In the leading role, Dot plays Wendy Delvecchio – a professional women’s hockey player. Alongside Dot, Jon BonJovi is cast in the role of the team owner. Dot Jones is also 15-time World and 6-time National arm wrestling champion.


  • Biography

    Jay Holben has been a full-time director of photography for five years. Previous to that his work as a chief lighting technician included feature films such as Free Enterprise and music video fro artists such as Brandy, Monster Magnet and Ice Cube. As a cinematographer, his work encompasses micro and low-budget feature films, commercials, music videos and bevy of short feature projects. Some of his digital work has included extensive Multicam DV conceptual tests for Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report and digital effects element photography for this years DreamWorks, SKG holiday release, Surviving Christmas.
    Additionally, Holben is a frequent contributing writer for American Cinematography magazine. He has authorized nearly 100 articles on cinematographer and the technology of the art.


  • Biography

    Bernard Gribble has been editing for many years, working on such different types of films as Top Secret!, Death Wish, The Haunting of Sarah Hardy, Kidnapped, Won Ton Ton, The Dog Who Saved Hollywood, and Take Me Home, The John Denver Story. He was nominated for an American Cinema Editors “Eddie” award for his work on Ellis Island and also nominated for a Television Academy “Emmy” award for his work on The Winds of War.

  • Biography

    Film and game composer Penka Kouneva enjoys a reputation across Hollywood as a mega-talent and as a one-of-a-kind artist. Working alongside Steve Jablonsky she composed the score for PRINCE OF PERSIA: FORGOTTEN SANDS and TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN games. Penka has scored 12 independent features, 4 television films and episodic TV shows. Beyond her drive and persistence, Penka has an extraordinary musical voice. It is an original blending of her Eastern-European heritage, non-Western traditions, minimalism, electronica, Medieval chant, rock and Hollywood scoring. Penka also enjoys orchestrating on films and games: TRANSFORMERS 1, 2, 3, PIRATES 3, Tim Burton’s ’9′, SHERLOCK HOLMES, ANGELS AND DEMONS, GEARS OF WAR 2, 3, STARCRAFT II, DIABLO III, WORLD OF WARCRAFT, the hit TV shows TRUE BLOOD (HBO), REVENGE (ABC). She recently became the first woman since Shirley Walker to work as a Lead Orchestrator on a $100M studio feature, ‘Elysium’ starring Matt Damon. In 2012, Penka released her first album of modern orchestral music, ‘A Warrior’s Odyssey.’ The album features 18 tracks recorded with live orchestra, choir and string quartet. AWARDS: SUNDANCE Composer Fellowship, Aaron Copland Award, two Ovation Awards, Grand Prix at the Tokyo Young Composers Competition, HMMA, SEMO and Independent Music Awards.

  • Biography

    Victoria Rose Sampson is a writer/director and film and sound editor. She has been a renowned Feature Film Editor since 1973. With over 166 titles of sound work, some of her credits include Sex and the City I and II (feature film), The Fighter, Scream 4, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Old Dogs, Wild Hogs, Hot Tub Time Machine, as well as Donnie Darko.sampson is a graduate of the AFI’s acclaimed Directing Workshop for Women and is a member of the Alliance of Women Directors where she serves on its Board of Directors.