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Crew Members

About the Creative Team

Erik Cieslewicz (Director)

Official Site, imdb

Erik attended the University of Wisconsin: Oshkosh where he studied in their Radio/Television/Film program. During his time in local televsion, Erik was the winner of an Edward R. Murrow Award, five Associated Press Awards, and has been nominated for an Emmy Award. For his work on Hard to Be Me he was awarded a Best Direction award from The Indie Fest. He also directed two festival-screened shorts Holy Chip! and Microcosm and wrote two feature length screenplays for Blue Claw Entertainment that went on to pitch sessions with Happy Madison, Morgan Creek, and Mayhem Studios. He recently directed two short documentaries.

Edward Robert Bach (Creator / Executive Producer / Head Writer)

Official Site, imdb

An award winning actor and artist. He's starred in several films and has written, choreographed, directed, and written music for numerous children's theatre productions in New York. The spark for this show began when he saw the last major TV show with a functioning family leave the airwaves.

Virginia Ryker (Executive Producer / Legal)

Virginia began in filmwork over a decade ago while living in Norway. Since that time she has served in many capacities on and off sets: starting as a simple Production Assistant and working her way up to Prodcution Manager and Producer. She has written and produced several short films, including the award-winning Apnea: Without Breath; and is a key Producer on Hard to Be Me. She is also a licensed attorney and has earned a Masters of Management degree.

Aditi V. Desai (Producer)

A graduate student at American University getting an MFA in ‘Film and Electronic Media Production.” She has produced many short form projects from music video to 16mm short films, this will be her first venture into the world of television pilots.

Lauren Gildner (Producer)

Lauren has her M.A., Political Management and has also been educated through The Travel Channel Academy. Lauren was the Assistant Producer at a major political media firm where she supervised the production of television and radio advertisements. For this production, Lauren's main focus is in the areas of wardrob and make-up.

Paul Oehlers (Original Music)

Official Site, imdb

Paul is most recognized for his "extraordinarily evocative" film scores (Variety). Films incorporating his music have screened at the Berlin International Film Festival and the Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema, to name a few. Most High, a film Paul scored, screened at at the Hamptons International Film Festival where it captured the Golden Starfish, the largest independent film award in the United States. The film has gone on to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Atlanta International Film Festival and the Prism Award for Outstanding DVD of the Year.

His compositions have been performed in the United States and abroad including performances at the Society for Electro-acoustic Music in the United States, the International Computer Music Conferences, the Institut für Neue Musik und Musikerziehung in Darmstadt, Germany, and others. In 1987 a command performance of Paul's music was performed for former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Paul is currently Assistant Professor and director of the Audio Technology program at American University.

Gene Ertel (Principal Director of Photography)

imdb, YouTube Site

Gene's previous credits include the the Feature films Song of the Dead and Academy of Doom both of which have been distributed this year by Monogram releasing. His most recent feature Happy Anniversary is in post production. Besides feature work Gene has worked in TV Spot advertising, Documentaries, and Experimental film. His work has been screened at the South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival, the Chicago Underground Film Festival, the Cine Fantastico Y De Terror in Estepona Spain, the Rojo Sangre in Buenos Aires, The Manhattan Film Society, the Big Art Space in New York City and other festivals and media events around the world.

Will Fortune (Sound Designer/Editor, ADR Recording Engineer)

Will's other soundtracks have been featured in documentaries screened at film festivals, including the Coney Island Film Festival. Will graduated magna cum laude from American University where he studied Audio Technology and earned certification as a Digidesign Pro Tools Operator. He developed his ear and techniques working in post-production houses in both DC and Hollywood. Currently, Will is the Assistant Studio Manager for the recording studios at American University"

Allen Korslund (Editor)

Allen recently won the 2010 "Best Editing" Los Angeles Movie Award for his work on the TV Pilot, Hard to Be Me. Allen is an Encoding Technician with The Discovery Channel. He currently specializes in Video-on-Demand (VOD). He was previously part of the Quality Control/Technical Evaluation division, and has worked with Discovery for a total of 5 years.

Joe Tyler (Director of Photography)

Official Site

An experienced professional DP, he has worked in a wide variety of conditions including international/domestic travel, memorable locations include Japan, orea, Azerbaijan, Jamaica, Ukraine, Budapest, Germany. His credit list is extensive and includes: Deceiving Innocence: The Real Roger Coleman (A&E), Rescue: Katrina (Animal Planet ), BET J (BET), Physics of Baseball (Discovery), Smithsonian Spotlight (Showtime), Debate (USA TODAY/ HD NET), and the Clinton and Bush (43) White house tapings (White House Office of Communication).

Special Thanks

Debbie Larsson & family
Zü Coffee
Drew Struzan
American University
Doug M. Henderson
Loiter Apparel & Accessories
St. Anne's School of Annapolis
The Melsom Family
Washington Humane Society Shelter
John Douglass
Leena Jayaswal
Brian Dragonuk
Brigid Maher
Geoffrey Turner
Lonnie Coy
Amy Hendrick
Laura Murray
Matthew Boerum
Erin Phillips
Ishu Krishna
DC Camera
Dawn Campbell
John Sjoblom