CREW:
Nate Taylor
Director
Born of a documentary filmmaker father and a modern artist mother, creativity is in Nate Taylor’s blood. He writes, directs, edits and performs improvisational video art as a club VJ. He has worked as a commercial editor for the last decade, cutting national ads for the likes of Pepsi, GE, and Verizon. Harnessing the story-telling talents he refined in post- production, Taylor directed a variety of short-form projects, ranging from music videos to spec commercials. One of his viral pieces, a mock movie trailer set in the popular World of Warcraft video game entitled “MMOvie”, was a massive online success, garnering millions of hits around the globe.
Taylor got his start working in long-form by editing on the indie feature KISSING JESSICA STEIN. Inspired by the passion of the filmmakers, he set out to make his own film, FORGETTING THE GIRL. He spent five years developing the project and raising financing, until the summer of 2008 when casting and pre-production finally began. Not two months later, the nation suffered a major economic crash, and the project ground to a halt as a majority of its financing evaporated. Undaunted, Taylor drastically reduced the budget, self-financed a portion of it, and found the remaining backing from executive producer Dennis Wallestad. Moving forward on a shoe-string budget, production resumed the following summer, and was successfully completed.
Taylor lives with his amazing wife Talya, their son Grayson, and three pets on Manhattan’s upper west side. He is currently collaborating with FORGETTING THE GIRL writer Peter Moore Smith on an animated family film about a young boy and a young bat, as well as developing a modern day supernatural fantasy about a dancer who can astrally project.
Brian Gonsar
Producer
Currently a VP, executive Producer at international advertising agency BBDO, Brian has had an expansive career producing commercials for such clients as bank of America, pepsiCo, Dominos, Jet blue, Ad Council, GE, Pfizer, and many others. branching out beyond ads, Gonsar worked with director Howard libov to produce the award winning feature film, FAVORITE SON (2009), starring Pablo Schreiber (HBO’s “The wire”, VICKI CHRISTINA BRACELONA, REASONS TO BE PRETTY) and Connor Paolo (“Gossip Girl”, WORLD TRADE CENTER), with songs by Murray attaway and Mike Mills of R.E.M.. He followed FAVORITE SON two years later with his second feature, FORGETTING THE GIRL.
Gonsar is a Summa Cum laude graduate of Fairleigh Dickinson University’s film program. Along with his extensive producing career, Gonsar has also directed several indie music videos; namely one for Brooklyn band radio Mundial (Palm Pictures) which played in 7 different countrie, and his video for the NJ band Copperpot went on to win best Music Video at the CU2 Video & Film Festival in New York City. Gonsar began his producing career at the advertising agency JWT.
Peter Moore Smith
Writer
Peter Moore Smith is the award-winning author of two novels, RAVELING (2000) and LOS ANGELES (2005), both published by Little Brown. RAVELING won best Audio book of the Year, was optioned for a three year period by Warner Brothers, and was also nominated for a prestigious Edgar award (the Oscars of the mystery genre) in the best First Novel category. both novels were published internationally, with editions appearing in the united States, throughout the united Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, and Japan. Smith has also published short fiction in a number of literary magazines and journals throughout the u.S.. One of his stories, “Oblivion, nebraska,” received a coveted pushcart prize.
In film, Smith has extensive production experience and has written and creative-directed big-budget television commercials for Cheerios, Visa, GE, and many other national clients. He is an award-winning Executive Creative Director at Satchi & Satchi, one of the world’s largest advertising agencies. His work has garnered numerous awards, including Gold Lions from Cannes. FORGETTING THE GIRL is his first screenplay.
Ann Goulder
Casting Director
IMDB
Ann Goulder is a long-time veteran of the indie film world, casting for two award-winning and Oscar-nominated films; AMERICAN SPLEDOR (directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini) and REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (directed by Darren Aronofsky). in addition, she has cast such wide-ranging films as Director Todd Solondz’s WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE, HAPPINESS, STORYTELLING, and PALINDROMES, as well as AT SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (directed by Terry Zwigoff), THE DOOR IN THE FLOOR (directed by Tod Williams), THE LARAMIE PROJECT (directed by Moises Kaufman), THE AMERICAN ASTRONAUT (directed by Cory McAbee), THE NANNY DIARIES (directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini), and IN BLOOM (directed by Vadim Perelman).
Robert Miller
Composer
Robert Miller is a prolific composer of film, concert, and commercial music. His distinctive style has made its mark on over 1800 commercials, 25 film scores, as well as works for concert and the stage. Over the years, his talent and passion have garnered him six CLIO awards, an AICP award as well as three Emmy nominations for work he did for Coca-Cola and Mercedes. In addition the narrative film
TEETH which he scored in its entirety, won the Special Jury Award at Sundance in 2007. Robert is currently working on the new Steven Spielberg/ Dreamworks/ Discovery Channel six-part series – “Rise, The Rebuilding of Ground Zero” with director Jon Hock.
Victor C. Reyes
Producer
Victor is a New York indie producer and filmmaker. Victor studied film and philosophy at Fordham University Lincoln Center and broke into the feature film world as a production assistant for Universal Pictures, The Weinstein Company and CJ Entertainment. He has since produced and directed for NYC production companies Full Stealth Films and Therefore Productions. Victor is very proud to have been part of the FORGETTING THE GIRL project from it’s early stages and is excited to finally share this powerful film with the world. Film credits include: “Punch Me In the Face” (Winner “Outstanding Achievement in Film Making” 2011 Williamsburg International Film Festival), “A Little Ditty” (Official Selection 2012 Love Your Shorts Film Festival), “MMOvie” (viral video featured in The Washington Post), “Pacman: The Movie Trailer” (viral video featured in USA Today and NY Magazine’s Vulture), “The Multiproduct Commercial” (sketch short featured on Comedy Central Online and NY Magazine’s Vulture) and “Potions” (music video for Sydney Wayser – Whitesmith Entertainment).
Victor lives in Manhattan with his wife Allyson, their 2 cats and the entire starting line up of the 1986 Harlem Globetrotters.
CAST:
Christopher Denham
Chicago native Christopher Denham recently appeared in Ben Affleck’s award-winning feature film, ARGO, and the thriller, THE BAY directed by Barry Levinson. He starred in, SOUND OF MY VOICE, which debuted at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Other film credits include, SHUTTER ISLAND, ENTER NOWHERE, RESTIVE, DUPLICITY (alongside Julia Roberts and Clive Owen), CHARLIE WILSON’S WAR, CAMP HELL, BOTTLEWORLD, and EL CAMINO. He made his feature directorial and writing debut with HOME MOVIE, starring Adrian Pasdar. Television credits include “Rubicon”, “Law & Order”, and the movie of the week, “Two Families”.
On stage, Denham appeared on Broadway with Danny Glover in the Pulitzer Prize-winning MASTER HAROLD AND THE BOYS and in Martin McDonagh’s THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE. His Off-Broadway credits include WINTERTIME and Adam Rapp’s RED LIGHT WINTER, for which Denham won a Lucille Lortel Award. Denham wrote his first play, CAGELOVE, which played at the Rattlestick under the direction of Adam Rapp.
Lindsay Beamish
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Lindsay Beamish attended UC Santa Cruz, where she received her degree in Theater Arts. Soon after moving back to Los Angeles, she did guest starring roles on such shows as “The Pretender”, “Strong Medicine”, “The Gilmore Girls” and “CSI: Crime Scene investigation”. Lindsay started to make her mark on the indie film world when she starred in Miranda July’s short film “Nest of Tens”. She landed a number of roles in independent films, including the lead in John Cameron Mitchell’s critically acclaimed film, SHORTBUS. She also appeared in THE GREATEST, with Susan Sarandon, Pierce Brosnan, and Carey Mulligan. Lindsay took a brief hiatus to get her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Wyoming. She is now back in Los Angeles and will soon be seen starring opposite Christopher Denham in FORGETTING THE GIRL.
Elizabeth Rice
At the tender age of eight, Elizabeth Rice appeared in her first play, and was hooked on acting ever since. She continued to perform avidly, until at age fifteen she moved to Los Angeles, and her professional acting career took off. Since then, Rice has appeared in a variety of episodics, including “CSI”, “Without A Trace”, “Boston Public”, and “ER”. She also landing a recurring role on AMC’s hit show “Mad Men”. In film, she was drawn to the creativity and artistry of independent productions, starring in FROM WITHIN with Thomas Dekker, and playing the romantic interest in FORGETTING THE GIRL. Most recently, she wrapped the lead in SAMARITAN produced by Dan Dubiecki (JUNO).
Anna Camp
Southern beauty Anna Camp just wrapped production on the musical comedy PITCH PERFECT with Anna Kendrick. She also recently appeared in a supporting role in THE HELP, Tate Taylor’s award- winning adaptation of the civil rights tale. In television, Camp has entertained with her recurring roles on “The Good wife”, AMC’s “Mad Men”, and HBO’s “True Blood”. She has made appearances in a variety of other episodics including “Glee”, “The Office”, and “Numb3rs”. Not confined to the screen, Camp has also graced the stages of broadway, recently starring in Zach Braff’s ALL NEW PEOPLE and in EQUUS, where she appeared completely nude next to HARRY POTTER’s Daniel Radcliff.
Paul Sparks
Oklahoma-born Paul Sparks is an award-winning veteran of American theatre dubbed “mesmerizing” by the New York Times. In 2004, he worked with playwright Adam Rapp to originate the role of Baylis in the London production of BLACKBIRD, a role he repeated in New York earning him a Drama Desk nomination. The play was then adapted into a film, and Sparks reprised the role a third and final time. In 2009 he appeared on Broadway opposite Mary Louise Parker in HEDDA GABLER.
In film, Sparks most recently completed work on the film MUD, Jeff Nichols’s follow-up to the award-winning TAKE SHELTER. Other upcoming film appearances include RETURN with Michael Shannon, and SPARROW’S DANCE with Marin Ireland.
On television, Sparks stars as Mickey Doyle in HBO’s award-winning series “Boardwalk Empire”. He has also made appearances on the HBO miniseries “Mildred Pierce”, and all three NY versions of “Law & Order”, “Brotherhood”, and “Trinity.”
Phyllis Somerville
Phyllis Somerville, daughter of a minister and a librarian, was born in Iowa City, Iowa. The acting dream came early when she sang songs and recited pieces at Holiday pageants and covered dish dinners. This dream was expanded at age four by a trip to New York City where she remembered Yankee Stadium, the subway, and Radio City Music Hall. She decided then and there, that she wanted to be a Yankee, a New Yorker, and a Rockette.
Somerville’s most treasured roles include; Wilma in OVER HERE (Schubert), Hannah in THE SPITFIRE GRILL (Playwrights Horizons), Helen in HAPPINESS (Lincoln Center), Jesse in NIGHT MOTHER (National Tour), Andromache and Athena in THE GREEKS (Hartford Stage), Dorothy Russell in “NYPD Blue”, May McGorvey in LITTLE CHILDREN, Grandma Fuller in THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON, Ruby in FORGETTING THE GIRL, Marlene in “The Big C”, and Mrs. McGarrick in STOKER with Nicole Kidman. Phyllis is a member of the Labyrinth and loves doing kids’ plays at the 52nd Street Project (where she once got to play a New York Yankee).
So she’s has been a Yankee and she’s been a New Yorker 40 years, but Ms. Somerville has not been a Rockette… yet.