‘THE GAMBLER, THE GIRL AND THE GUNSLINGER’
PRODUCTION BIOS
IRA PINCUS (Executive Producer) – In September 2005, Ira Pincus entered into an executive producer deal with Blueprint Entertainment for series and movies, and oversees the company's slate of numerous telefilms. He executive produces the series “Til Death Do Us Part” with Blueprint for TruTV, starring John Waters. With Blueprint, he recently executive produced the following Lifetime television movies: “How I Married My High School Crush” starring Katee Sackhoff (“Battlestar Galactica”), “Absolution” starring Samantha Mathis and “The Road to Christmas” starring Jennifer Grey.
Before joining Blueprint, Pincus Films had a production deal at Von Zerneck/Sertner Films, a top supplier of long-form television, where he executive produced several films. Prior to executive producing films, Pincus focused on the business side of Hollywood while an agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA), representing the agency's top directors, actors and production companies. Prior to that, from 1991 to 1996, Pincus was a development executive at Citadel Entertainment, an HBO owned production company, where he was involved with the sales and development of more than 120 hours of programming and the production of approximately 12 films a year.
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GARY HOFFMAN (Executive Producer) – A two-time Emmy® nominee, Gary Hoffman was the executive producer of 30 made-for-TV movies, including 2003’s “National Lampoon’s Thanksgiving Family Reunion,” made for TBS and starring Bryan Cranston, and “Bastard Out of Carolina” for TNT, which is the only movie made for television ever invited to compete at Cannes Film Festival, and which also won the Television Critics Award in the Best Movie/Miniseries category. Some of his other notable productions are “Soul of the Game” for HBO, which Time magazine called one of the best movies ever made about baseball, and “Town of the 80’s” for Showtime, which Newsweek ranked among the year’s 10 best movies, including all feature films.
Some of his other titles include the six-hour miniseries “The Kennedys and the Fitzgeralds” (ABC), the four-hour miniseries “Phantom of the Opera” (NBC), “Bonnie & Clyde: The True Story,” (FBC) which he also wrote and directed, and “The Big Heist” (A&E) which he wrote. He also co-created and produced the NBC series “Man of the People,” which starred James Garner.
As an executive, Hoffman served as SVP of movies for television at Fox Broadcasting (1994- 1995), where he was responsible for eight of the 10 highest-rated and best-reviewed movies in the network’s history. He also helped found CBS cable (1980-1981) as its VP of programming and production and prior to that he was head of programming for the CBS Owned and Operated Stations. (more)
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Hoffman also has some television history to his credit: He produced, wrote and directed the first series ever produced for pay television, “Café Manhattan,” a variety show originating in New York City which debuted on the experimental CUBE service established by Warner Brothers. He also produced and directed the first network show ever to be recorded on portable video cassette format, “Gamblers: Winners and Losers,” for the ABC network, and he created and produced the first drama series ever produced in the United States for Pay Television, “New Day in Eden,” for Showtime.
Earlier in his career he produced hundreds of hours of live television for Metromedia, produced the Las Vegas network feed of “The Jerry Lewis Telethon” for five years and produced Geraldo Rivera’s “One to One Telethon” for many years.
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NOREEN HALPERN (Executive Producer) – Noreen Halpern founded Blueprint Entertainment with John Morayniss in 2002. In the past six years Blueprint has grown into a thriving independent studio involved in the development, production, financing, packaging and exploitation of dynamic and innovative programming for the worldwide marketplace.
As president of Blueprint Entertainment, Halpern oversees all aspects of the company's extensive development and production slate that encompasses a large number of half-hour, one-hour primetime and children's series, movies, and miniseries targeted at a mix of broadcast and cable/satellite networks based in the US, Canada and international marketplace. Recent productions developed and executive produced by Halpern include the dramatic series “Whistler,” currently in production on its second season, “The Best Years,” “Til Death Do Us Part,” as well as the Lifetime television movies “Be Careful What You Wish For” starring Katee Sackhoff (“Battlestar Galactica”), “Absolution” (starring Samantha Mathis) and “Chasing Freedom” (starring Juliette Lewis).
Prior to Blueprint, Halpern was senior vice president for television at Alliance Atlantis, overseeing the development and production of television movies and miniseries for many U.S. networks. She also produced two film franchises, one for CBS, the other for Showtime based on the popular Harlequin novels, shot on location in South Africa, Europe and Canada.
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JOHN MORAYNISS (Executive Producer) – John Morayniss founded Blueprint Entertainment with Noreen Halpern in 2002. As chairman and CEO, Morayniss oversees the strategic growth of the company as well as the international production, development, licensing and distribution operations. In addition, Morayniss serves as executive producer on all Blueprint productions. Prior to launching Blueprint, Morayniss was head of television for all of Alliance
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Atlantis' development and production activities, overseeing all primetime programming including movies and mini-series, series, entertainment reality programming, all children's and family programming under the AAC Kids banner, and all comedy programming through the Alliance Atlantis production subsidiary, Salter Street Films.
Morayniss oversaw and/or executive produced an impressive slate of projects, including award winning movies and miniseries such as “Me and My Shadows: The Judy Garland Story,” “When Billie Beat Bobby” and “Haven,” as well television series such as ratings blockbuster “CSI,” the two-hour backdoor pilot “Invincible,”, which he executive produced with Mel Gibson and Jet Li, and most recently, the two-hour pilot “Riverworld” for Sci-Fi Channel. As head of AAC Kids, Morayniss oversaw the live action series “The Famous Jett Jackson” (Disney Channel) and “Sixth Grade Alien” (Fox Family Channel). As executive producer, he helped to ignite the half- hour comedy series “Kenny vs Spenny” for Comedy Central in the U.S. and on Showcase in Canada. In addition, he spearheaded all of Alliance Atlantis international co-production initiatives including the movie “No Night is Too Long” (BBC - UK, Showcase Network - Canada) and the AAC Kids/BBC co-production arrangement.
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ANNE WHEELER (Director) – Born and raised on the prairies, Anne Wheeler grew up entertaining with her mother, a dynamite stride piano player, and exploring the open country north of Edmonton on her Appaloosa pony. She graduated with a science degree in mathematics, but picked up enough credits in music to allow her to become a high school music teacher. She soon left this career to travel around the world, spending two years on the road, exploring Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
Upon her return she joined Filmwest, dedicated to making indigenous films that addressed universal issues. Driven by their sense of purpose and place, the group of nine was prolific, turning out dozens of films about the environment, native rights, women's rights, western politics and people's history. Within a year they were winning recognition at major festivals. After leaving the collective, Wheeler worked primarily for the National Film Board of Canada.
Wheeler has numerous credits as a writer, producer and director on both documentary and drama projects. Her place as one of Canada’s foremost filmmakers was established with three award winning features – the documentary “A War Story,” relating her father’s time in a POW camp during World War II; “Loyalties,” a dramatic feature examining issues of sexual abuse and racism; and “Bye Bye Blues,” a musical drama inspired by her mother’s experience as a musician in a small dance band during WWII.
Since then, Wheeler has gone on to work in Canadian television and film, including “The Sleep Room,” for which she won a Gemini for Best Direction in a Mini-Series; “The War Between Us,” “Da Vinci’s Inquest” and “This is Wonderland.” Recently, she has directed the South African-
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filmed “Jozi-H,” along with the TV movies “Christmas on Chestnut Street,” “Me, Mom, Dad…. And Her” and “Living Out Loud.”
Now living in White Rock, just south of Vancouver, B.C., she loves to pass on her enthusiasm to young and old alike. Her films have touched the hearts of her audience, earning her six Honorary Doctorates and The Order of Canada.
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LARRY COHEN (Writer) – In the half-century Larry Cohen has been involved in Hollywood, he has certainly made a name for himself. As a director, writer, creator and producer, Cohen has been involved in a myriad of projects and has been recognized with several awards, including two wins at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival in 1975 and 1977 and a nomination for an Edgar Allen Poe Award in 1988.
Cohen attended City College of New York at New York University, where he majored in film. His first project was writing an episode for “Kraft Television Theatre” in 1958. From there, he wrote individual episodes for shows like “Way Out,” and Emmy® Award contenders “The United States Steel Hour,” “Checkmate” and “Arrest and Trial.”
The first show Cohen created was NBC’s Western series “Branded,” which ran for 48 episodes. He proceeded to create shows like CBS’s “Coronet Blue” and ABC’s sci-fi program “The Invaders,” which ran for two seasons.
Cohen continued his work writing and developing for television, expanding his work to also include made-for-TV movies. Cohen wrote the stories for several episodes of “Columbo,” which starred legendary, five-time Emmy® winner Peter Falk. His other television credits include “As Good as Dead,” the adaptations of “Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct: Ice” and “Heatwave” and “The Defenders: Choice of Evils,” starring Beau Bridges.
In 1974, Cohen wrote and directed “It’s Alive,” about a monster baby who kills people when frightened. “It’s Alive” won Cohen a Special Jury Award at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival, and by 1987, he had written and directed two sequels, “It Lives Again” and “It’s Alive III: Land of the Alive.” Cohen’s work as writer and director for “God Told Me To” was recognized with a Special Jury Award in 1977 and a nomination that same year by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films for Best Science Fiction Film. Cohen’s film credits also include “The American Success Company,” starring Jeff Bridges, “Full Moon High” with Ed McMahon, “Q,” starring Emmy® winner Michael Moriarty and David Carradine, “The Stuff” with Michael Moriarty and Paul Sorvino and “A Return to Salem’s Lot,” which he worked on with Stephen King.
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Among his other film credits are “Special Effects,” “Perfect Strangers,” “Best Seller,” “Deadly Illusion,” the 1988 cult classic “Maniac Cop” and its sequels “Maniac Cop 2” and “Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence,” and “The Ambulance,” starring Eric Roberts and James Earl Jones. Cohen’s most current work includes such movies as “Phone Booth” with Colin Farrell and “Cellular.”
Cohen currently lives in Hollywood.
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BOB BARBASH (Writer) – Born in 1919, Bob Barbash started his Hollywood career as a writer for television in the 1950’s. His first work included individual episodes for shows such as Golden Globe Award winner and Emmy® winner “Matinee Theatre” and the multiple Emmy® and Golden Globe-winning series “Playhouse 90.” From there, Barbash proceeded to write for shows including the Primetime Emmy®-winning series “Alcoa Theatre,” “Maverick” and “Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse,” starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Barbash’s other television credits include episodes of “Zane Grey Theater,” “The Dick Powell Show,” “The Wild Wild West” and the Emmy®-winning series “Gunsmoke.” He also wrote several made-for-TV movies, the first being the Golden Globe nominated “The Plunderers.” Barbash also wrote “Tarzan and the Great River” (1967) and “Target: Harry,” directed by the award-winning Roger Corman.
He ended his career with the 1979 Academy Award winner “The Black Hole.” Barbash died in December 1995 at the age of 76.
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NEAL AND TIPPI DOBROFSKY (Writers) – Neal and Tippi Dobrofsky are a husband and wife writing team, whose most recent feature was “Five Dollars A Day”, directed by Nigel Cole, and starring Christopher Walken, Sharon Stone, Alessandro Nivola and Amanda Peet. They have written movies for Warner Brothers, MGM, CBS, Sony, Lifetime and USA Network, among others.
Before becoming a writer, Neal produced “Bronco Billy” with Clint Eastwood. Tippi graduated UCLA Law School and practiced for 9 weeks before being fired, which may be the shortest legal career on record. They fell in love at first sight in a frozen yogurt line.
The Dobrofskys live in Southern California with their two sons, 16 and 11, with whom they founded www.car-parazzi.com, a website for car lovers around the world. The Car-parazzi has appeared on Jay Leno, MTV, and the BBC, and made international headlines by capturing footage of two stolen exotic cars worth $2 million.
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