‘A NOVEL ROMANCE’
PRODUCTION BIOS
HOWARD BRAUNSTEIN (Executive Producer) – Howard Braunstein, a two-time Emmy® nominee, was born in 1961 and raised in Los Angeles. He received his bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies at UCLA and his Master’s Degree from the USC Annenberg School for Communication. He started his career at the FOX Network in 1986, when the network was launched. After working at Fox for five years in the research, scheduling and current programming departments, he departed in 1991 to pursue his lifelong career goal of becoming a producer. He met long-time producer Michael Jaffe and they formed their own production company, Jaffe/Braunstein Films, Ltd. Together, they have produced more than 70 television films and six mini-series for the broadcast networks and cable buyers. 2009’s “The Informant” was Braunstein’s first feature film credit.
Recent long-form projects that Braunstein and Jaffe have produced include “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter,” a 2008 telefilm for Lifetime Television and an Emmy nominee for outstanding movie-for-television, the multiple Emmy-nominated “Elvis,” a CBS Television mini- series event starring Golden Globe winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the title role, “The Engagement Ring,” starring Patricia Heaton for TNT, an earthquake disaster mini-series for NBC Universal Television titled “10.5 Apocalypse” -- sequel to the original ratings juggernaut -- featuring Kim Delaney and Frank Langella, “Faith of My Fathers,” based on Senator John McCain’s best-selling book, “Touch the Top of the World,” based on the true story of Erik Weihenmayer -- blind since childhood -- who eventually summits Mt. Everest and “The Brooke Ellison Story,” directed by the late Christopher Reeve, all for the A&E Television Network. Braunstein also executive produced the Hallmark Channel Original Movie’s “Growing the Big One,” starring Shannen Doherty, “Lucky in Love” starring Jessica Szohr and Deidre Hall, “Midnight Masquerade,” and “My Boyfriends’ Dog.”
Additional projects include the three-hour television musical event “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s South Pacific,” starring Glenn Close and Harry Connick Jr., “First Do No Harm,” starring Meryl Streep, “Gilda Radner: It’s Always Something,” a remake of the family classic “Sounder,” for ABC’s “The Wonderful World of Disney” franchise, “Deliberate Intent,” starring Timothy Hutton, the first original film for FX Cable Network, “The Rosa Parks Story,” a winner of the NAACP Image Award for outstanding television movie or dramatic special, featuring Angela Bassett in the title role, who earned both an Emmy nomination and an NAACP Image Award for best actress and “Ice Bound,” starring Susan Sarandon, both for CBS.
Braunstein and Jaffe were also producers and financiers of “The Nero Wolfe Mysteries,” a series for the A&E Television Network, also starring Timothy Hutton. They also financed a second series for A&E titled Sidney Lumet’s “100 Centre Street.”
Braunstein has been married since 1992 to the former Beth Alexander and they have three beautiful children: a son Alex and twin daughters, Emma and Lily.
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HALLMARK CHANNEL/ ‘A NOVEL ROMANCE’ – Production Bios – Page 2
MICHAEL R. GOLDSTEIN AND MICHAEL G. LARKIN (Executive Producers) – Michael R. Goldstein and Michael G. Larkin are independent television and film producers with over 100 hours of scripted and non-scripted programming to their credit which includes; “Red Water” for TBS, “44 Minutes” for FX, “Behind The Camera: The Story of Charlie’s Angels” for NBC, and the Emmy® nominated “Four Minutes” for ESPN and the docu-series, “Caesars 24/7” for A&E Television.
In 2006 they formed Larkin-Goldstein Productions (LGP). Currently they have more than a dozen projects in development including “The Pawn,” a one-hour drama based on the bestselling novels by Steven James. Written by Charles Murray, “The Pawn” is in development with ABC Studios. LGP is also developing “The Panic Years,” and “Awful First Dates,” both half- hour comedies for ABC. Additionally, LGP is working with Sony International on the dramatic series Paradise written by Robert Port. LGP have also recently acquired the format rights to the popular Canadian comedy series, “Hatching, Matching & Dispatching.”
LGP continues to maintain a strong presence in television mini-series and movies with projects including “Little Pink House,” the extraordinary true story of one woman’s crusade to save her neighborhood. The project, based on the book by Jeff Benedict, is in development for Lifetime Television. They have also recently completed the Hallmark Channel Film, “It’s Christmas, Carol!” starring Carrie Fisher, Carson Kressley and Emmanuelle Vaugier.
LGP is currently developing the non-fiction docu-series, “Fashion Forward” for The Style Network and “24/7 Los Angeles” for TNT following the lives of Los Angeles Sheriff’s department.
On the feature side, LGP is remaking the cult-horror classic, “Motel Hell” for MGM, and developing the Christmas comedy, “Rein-Men.”
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MARK GRIFFITHS (Director) – Mark Griffiths wrote and directed the feature films “Running Hot,” “Hardbodies” and “Hardbodies 2” and has directed both television and feature films. As a director, his feature film credits include “Heroes Stand Alone,” “A Cry in the Wild,” “Tactical Assault” and “Behind Enemy Lines.”
Griffiths has directed numerous made for television movies, including Hallmark Channel Original Movies “Love’s Unending Legacy,” “Safe Harbor,” “Our House,” “McBride: Requiem,” “What I Did for Love,” “Jane Doe: The Wrong Face,” “Mystery Woman: Mystery Weekend,” “Growing the Big One,” “Nearlyweds,” “How to Fall In Love,” and “June In January.” Additional TV movies include “Going the Distance,” “The Miracle of the Cards,” “Au Pair (I and II)” and “The Cowboy and the Movie Star.”
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HALLMARK CHANNEL/ ‘A NOVEL ROMANCE’ – Production Bios – Page 3
HANZ WASSERBURGER (Writer) – Since graduating from the University of Wisconsin and Ohio State University College of Law, Wasserburger has written several scripts--both features and TV movies--and has had a number of them produced, including the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “A Novel Romance.” He also recently served as a writer/producer on the independent feature film, “Second Impression,” which is slated for a 2015 release. Wasserburger lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, Nina and two sons, Wesley (12) and Mason (8).
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