PRODUCTION BIOS MARTHA WILLIAMSON (Executive
‘SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED’ 1010 “A Hope and A Future”
PRODUCTION BIOS
MARTHA WILLIAMSON (Executive Producer and Creator) - Martha Williamson made television history when her CBS series, "Touched By An Angel" set a new standard for an inspirational family drama when it grew to a weekly audience of 25 million viewers and exploded into more than a billion dollar franchise during its initial 9-year run. As Executive Producer and Head Writer of the ground-breaking series, Williamson was the visionary who guided the show into previously uncharted territory with her unique brand of inspirational story telling that produced more than strong ratings; it changed lives. Correspondence from viewers reveals its continued impact as the series plays in syndication and DVD's worldwide. Williamson then sealed her place in history when she went on to become the first woman to solely executive-produce two one-hour dramas simultaneously, after creating and executive- producing “Promised Land,” which aired for three years on CBS.
As the go-to creative executive for inspirational family entertainment, Williamson is consulting with companies that are expanding their brands into the growing genre of faith and family programming. Under her MoonWater Productions banner, she is developing a number of television pilots. Her “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” comic drama is scheduled to air on Hallmark Channel in October 2013. She has also returned to script doctoring and is serving as a Screenwriter and Executive Producer for the remake of Disney's classic family film “Thomasina.”
She began her career in comedy, working with the producing teams for Carol Burnett and Joan Rivers and went on to write for and produce situation comedies such as "The Facts of Life," "Family Man," "Jack's Place" and "Living Dolls" for all the networks. She became known as a "script doctor" who was brought in to fix shows that weren't working, as was the case with the abandoned pilot that later became "Touched By An Angel.”
Williamson made an unusual transition when she stepped in front of the camera to host of “A Touch of Encouragement,” a video web series, which quickly became the #1 inspirational video site on Beliefnet. She also successfully launched a musical one-woman show “Martha At Risk” which she performed and developed with Tony award-winning composer Larry Grossman. A popular author and speaker, Williamson's “Inviting God to Your Wedding,” a must-have book for brides, was recently released in its 10th anniversary edition by Random House. She continues to be a sought-after speaker for colleges, universities and organizations. Past speeches have included keynotes for The United States Senate Retreat, The National Speakers Association Convention, The National Executive Women’s Association and the World Association for Children and Parents.
Williamson's work has been inducted into the Television & Radio Hall of Fame and honored with numerous awards including the Freedom Works Award from the United States Congress, the Anti-Defamation League's Deborah Award, the Edward R. Murrow Responsibility in Television
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Award, the Producer's Guild Nova Award, the Templeton Prize Epiphany Award, achievement awards from the NAACP and nine Emmy nominations.
She has been featured on talk shows such as “Oprah,” “60 Minutes” and "Larry King Live" as well as in numerous magazine articles.
She serves on the Board of Trustees for Williams College and The Pasadena Playhouse, where she established the Carrie Hamilton Theatre together with Carol Burnett. In 2003, she was appointed by the President to the White House Council for Service and Civic Participation and served on its Board for two years.
Martha is a graduate of Williams College. She founded the Williams Arts and Entertainment Fellowship there, which provides internships and support for students and graduates interested in a career in the arts. She is a frequent guest lecturer and has been involved as a director and playwriting advisor to the Williams Summer Theatre Lab since its inception. She received the Williams Bicentennial Medal in 2003.
Martha is a native of Denver, Colorado and lives in Southern California with her husband and their two daughters. ###
JOEL S. RICE (Executive Producer) - Muse U.S.A. President and Executive Producer Joel S. Rice is responsible for developing projects with American television and cable networks in the areas of TV series, mini-series, TV movies and family programming.
After a career in social work, Rice moved into television production where he has worked for 20 years developing and producing programming for numerous networks. Rice has executive produced over 50 television movies.
Rice’s executive producer credits include “Cyberbully” (ABC Family), “Reviving Ophelia” (Lifetime), “Secrets of The Mountain” (NBC), “Notes from the Heart Healer” (Hallmark Channel), “One Kill” (Showtime), “About Sarah” (CBS/P&G), “Shredderman Rules” (Nickelodeon) and “Searching for David's Heart” (Disney Channel).
Rice’s most recent projects include the CMT animated series “Bounty Hunters,” the ABC Family TV movie “Holidaze” as well as the Hallmark Channel Original Movies “Christmas with Tucker” and “Banner 4th of July.”
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MICHAEL PRUPAS (Executive Producer) – Emmy Award-nominated Michael Prupas is a 33- year veteran of the Canadian and international film and television industries. A former entertainment attorney and senior partner at the law firm Heenan Blaikie, Prupas launched Muse Entertainment Enterprises in June 1998 and Muse Distribution International in 2000.
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Muse Entertainment has become a major international production company, known around the world for its high-quality, award-winning television programs.
An expert in international co-productions, Prupas most recently executive produced “The Kennedys,” as well as “The Pillars of the Earth,” both 8-episode event television series. He also executive produced “Ben Hur” and “The Phantom,” both event miniseries as well as the television movie “Cyberbully” and the TV series “Being Human” (Seasons I, II, III, IIII) and “Bomb Girls” (Seasons I, II).
He executive produced the crime series “Durham County” (Seasons I, II, III), the television movies “Wild Girl,” “Unstable” and “The Night Before the Night Before Christmas,” as well as the documentary feature film “Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae” and Muse Entertainment’s first animated series for children, “The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog.”
Prupas’ other television series credits include “Family Biz,” “Crusoe,” “This is Wonderland” (Seasons I, II, III), “Twice in a Lifetime” (Seasons I, II), “Largo Winch,” “Doc” (Season 1) and “Tales from the Neverending Story.”
His miniseries credits include “Impact,” “The Last Templar,” “The Flood,” “Killer Wave,” “Answered by Fire” and “Human Trafficking.”
He also executive produced a number of family movies including “The Wind in the Willows,” “An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving,” “Accidental Friendship,” “A Christmas Choir,” “Girl’s Best Friend,” “Too Young to Marry” and “I Me Wed,” as well as several sci-fi movies including “Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde,” “Carny,” “Rise of the Gargoyle,” “Hellhounds,” “Sand Serpents,” “Alien Western,” “Swamp Devil,” “Infected,” “The Watch” and “Black Swarm.”
In 2007, Prupas produced the feature film “The Deal” starring William H. Macy and Meg Ryan, which premiered at the Sundance Festival. He produced “Niagara Motel” starring Craig Ferguson and Anna Friel, “The Guilty,” starring Bill Pullman and Joanne Whalley, “Tracker,” starring Casper Van Dien and “Savage Messiah” (winner of 3 Genie Awards), starring Polly Walker, Luc Picard and Isabelle Blais.
His numerous other TV movie credits include “Reviving Ophelia,” “The Party Never Stops,” “House Next Door,” “Tipping Point,” “House Sitter,” “Proof of Lies,” “Murder in the Hamptons,” “Mind over Murder,” “Black Widower,” “Plain Truth,” “Ice Bound,” “The Clinic,” “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” “The Sign of Four,” “The Royal Scandal,” “The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire,” “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” “The Stork Derby,” “The Investigation,” “The Many Trials of One Jane Doe,” “Chasing Cain II: Face and Silent Night.”
Prupas established the first entertainment law course at McGill University, which he taught from 1997-2002. He coached a minor league baseball team, served on the Board of Trustees of the Banff Television Festival and sits on the finance committee of the Association des producteurs de film et de télévision du Québec. ### (more) HALLMARK CHANNEL/ ‘SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED’ – Production Bios – Page 4
SCOTT SMITH (Executive Producer) – Filmmaker Scott Smith lives in Vancouver B.C., and is the director of two acclaimed dramatic feature films, “rollercoaster” (2000) and “Falling Angels” (2004), starring Miranda Richardson and adapted from the novel by
Barbara Gowdy. He has been nominated for both Genie and Gemini Awards for his work in film and television, as well as a Director's Guild nomination for Best Director - Feature Film for “Falling Angels.” His first feature length documentary, “As Slow As Possible,” was nominated for the Don Haig Award in 2008.
In 2010, as one of Canada’s top filmmakers, Smith was invited to participate in the omnibus “National Parks Project,” and in collaboration with musicians Sarah Harmer, Bry Webb and Jim Guthrie made the film “Looking Around Without Blinking,” about Gwaii Haanas National Park in Haida Gwaii.
Smith’s recent television work includes directing the pilot for MTV’s American remake of British teen hit “Skins,” the pilot and 13 episodes of hit HBO Canada comedy “Call Me Fitz,” starring Jason Priestley (for which he won the Gemini Award for Best Direction in a Comedy Series in 2011) and the Original Movie Backdoor Pilot for Hallmark Channel called Signed Sealed Delivered, created by Martha Williamson.
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MICHAEL ROHL (Director) – Michael Rohl is a Canadian TV director with over 25 years of experience in the industry. He has directed numerous successful TV episodes of hit series, as well as TV movies, miniseries and feature films, working with entertainment’s top talent.
Rohl’s long list of credits includes multiple episodes of The CW series “Smallville,” “Supernatural,” “Reaper,” “Beauty & The Beast” and, most recently, “Reign.” He has also directed episodes of Showtime’s “Poltergeist,” “The Chris Isaak Show” and “The Outer Limits,” for which he won a Leo Award in 2001 for Best Director of a Dramatic Series. Rohl has worked frequently with the Syfy channel, directing episodes of hit series “Eureka,” “Haven,” “Continuum” and “Helix.” In 2005, Rohl directed multiple episodes of Lifetime’s “1-800- Missing,” starring Vivica A. Fox and Mark Consuelos, and followed that up in 2006 by directing two episodes of Lifetime’s “Angela’s Eyes” starring Abigail Spencer.
In addition, Rohl directed “Kyle XY” for ABC Family, “Stephen King’s The Dead Zone” for USA Network, for which he received a Directors Guild of Canada award nomination, as well as the season finale episode of “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles” and several episodes of the Canadian drama series “Arctic Air,” among many more.
Rohl’s longer-form projects have included “Impact,” a four-hour miniseries for ABC, the Lifetime TV movie “The Eleventh Victim,” and the feature films “Zacharia Farted” and “Hell Mountain.”
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BRANDI HARKONEN (Writer) – Brandi Harkonen attended the University of Minnesota Duluth for her undergraduate studies and later completed her education at Creighton University graduating with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy. After discovering her passion for storytelling, she moved from her home state of Minnesota to Southern California where she worked on various productions before landing with MoonWater Productions where she currently serves as Vice President of Development. Brandi is thrilled to be a part of the writing team for Signed, Sealed, Delivered.
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