We are so excited to have new and old colleagues on the set for Legacy Breed.

Jane West – Assistant Director

Jane West is assisting Bruce on directing duties for this project, but she is primarily a film and theatre actor. Based in Brooklyn and a BFA graduate from New York University, Jane has worked for HBO’s “The Deuce,” Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and The Travel Channel. Off-broadway credits include 59E59 Theaters, The Duke on 42nd Street and The Hudson Guild. She has also worked in commercials and voiceover.

Learn more about Jane at http://janewestarts.com.

Fun fact: Jane has collaborated with Bruce before – as part of the cast for Education and as a student in Bruce’s audition class at NYU.

Director of Photography – Steven Gladstone

Steven Gladstone is a New York-based filmmaker, who has worked over 20 years in the industry, as an animation/motion control cameraman, gaffer, camera assistant, D.P., and Director. He spent a year and a half videotaping Holocaust Survivors for the “Survivors of the Shoah” project, and has a Masters degree in Communication Arts.

When he isn’t working at B&H Photo, he pursues personal filmmaking projects. Learn more Steven at http://www.gladstonefilms.com.

Fun fact:  Steven was been a DP for FBC Films before – on Memorable Minorities.

Sound Director – Henry French

Henry French is a New York City-based freelance location sound mixer/audio engineer, photographer, and producer. Prior to entering the film atmosphere, French was a longtime coordinator for the royalty distribution company, SoundExchange.

Nonetheless, now, French enjoys working on all types of sets in a variety of locations: from being part of a journalist docu-series shot in Elmina, Ghana, to covering a documentary in Baltimore centered on opioid addiction, to studio focused set shots, as well as film.

French has been fortunate to experience a ton and is always looking to add to his list of accomplishments. Learn more about Henry at http://www.henrynfrench.com.

Fun fact:  This is Henry’s first project with FBC Films. We hired Henry based on a referral, sight unseen, so he met me and Bruce for the first time ever on the shoot!

Bruce is acting, as well as writing, producing and directing for Legacy Breed. Bruce was last seen in Education at 59E59, which FBC co-produced.

A native New Yorker (Chelsea to be exact), Bruce graduated from the original High School of Performing Arts and Carnegie Mellon with a BFA in Acting. As a writer, Bruce has received grants from The Jerome Foundation and The NEA, and his play, Rhythm I was Sayin’, was a  finalist for the O’Neill festival. NY writing credits include Wally and the Chosen Few produced by The Drilling Company, and Scenes From a Newark Boogie (Village Voice Choice) produced for The Ice Factory Festival at the Ohio theater. He has been a member of Primary Stages New American Writers Group, and Playwrights Horizons Writers Group.

Some favorite acting roles include: Gus Garcia on The Unusuals, Marshal Rawley on The Sopranos and the very evil Proteus on All My Children for two seasons. Bruce starred in (as well as wrote, produced, and directed) Wally and the Chosen Few, which won Best Ensemble Cast at the Downtown NY Short Film festival.

Bruce has directed films for NYU and helped to produce the award winning short, Tai Tai, which was accepted to the Cannes Film Festival. Bruce also directed FBC Films’ first project, The Battle Below, which screened at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC, the NYC Downtown Short Film Festival, and the Shockerfest Film Festival.

Sky Smith plays the bewildered brother, opposite Lilli Hokama, in our new project, Legacy Breed, shooting later this month.

Sky Smith is a trained theatre actor with a BFA from NYU

Sky Smith. Photo Credit: Deborah Lopez

Currently based in New York, Sky received his BFA from NYU through the Atlantic Theater Company. He has performed multiple times with the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, including the roles of King Ferdinand in “Love’s Labour’s Lost” and Boy Hamlet in “The Book of Will”.

Sky Smith’s TV/ Film credits include the ABC Discovers: NY Talent Showcase

The ABC Discovers: NY Talent Showcase consists of 12 actors selected by ABC Entertainment as some of the most promising fresh faces in the industry. Additional roles include leads in the short films, “Hot Girls Aren’t Funny”; “Repetition”; and “Where Did They Go”.

Fun facts about Sky Smith

Sky studied improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade. He speaks Chinese and French. He plays alto and soprano sax and is a beat boxer. He also is a PADI-certified scuba diver.

Learn more about Sky on his website: esakiskysmith.com

Bruce and I are beyond ecstatic that Filipina actress, Ivory Aquino, is confirmed to play a leading role in our new project, Legacy Breed, shooting later this month.

Ivory Aquino: TV and Film

Ivory Aquino at NY Fashion Week. Photo Credit: @MsIvoryAquino

Ivory was part of the main cast of the Dustin Lance Black ABC miniseries “When We Rise,” winner of the 2018 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Limited Series. Her portrayal of Cecilia Chung earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the 2017 POZ Awards (POZ spotlights the best representation of HIV/AIDS in media and culture). She was last seen on HBO’s “High Maintenance” and the feature film The Fever and the Fret.

Upcoming projects include Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us” and the revival of Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City,” both on Netflix, as well as the upcoming feature film, “Lingua Franca”.

Ivory Aquino: Theatre

Ivory has portrayed a number of Shakespeare roles. She played Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and Isabella in Measure for Measure with The Drilling Company for Bryant Park Shakespeare. Other Drilling Company credits include: Othello (Desdemona), Julius Caesar (Marc Antony), Henry V (Katherine), Over the Line (Amanda) and Faith: On the Possibilities of Endings (Edna). With Leviathan Lab’s Shakespeare Quartet Project, she played Rosalind in As You Like It and as a company member of The Bats at The Flea Theater, she appeared in Offending the Audience and Waiter, Waiter.

Ivory’s off-Broadway credits include: Ma-Yi Theatre Company’s 365 Days/365 Plays at The Public Theater, and developmental readings of Ms. Oriental at Lincoln Center and The Butterfly Club at Playwrights Horizons and for the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Ivory is a member of The Actors Center.

Ivory Aquino: Personal

As a first-generation immigrant, Ivory dedicates her work to those who follow their dreams wherever it takes them…and “to anyone who feels different and out-of-place, but is truly special and one-of-a-kind.”

Follow Ivory on Twitter / Facebook / Instagram: MsIvoryAquino

Casting for our new project, Legacy Breed, shooting in April has been set. I’ll be sharing the details over the next few posts.

First up, Lilli Hokama, who plays the protagonist — a college student with a deadly family secret she can no longer avoid.

Lilli Hokama is an experienced stage actress

Lilli Hokama. Photo Credit: Deborah Lopez

Lilli recently worked with Baltimore Center Stage’s Mobile Unit for their production of “Antigone”. Her other theatre credits include: Understudy for “The Wolves” at Lincoln Center Theatre; “Matt and Ben” (Ben Affleck) at Kitchen Theatre Company; “I and You” (Caroline) with Chester Theatre in Massachusetts; and “Greenland” (Jasmine) at Dixon Place in New York.

Before moving to New York she toured to California with the new musical, “I Am Alive”. Credits from her hometown in Colorado include,  “Troilus and Cressida” (Aeneas) with the Colorado Shakespeare Festival,  “The Arabian Nights” (Scheherazade) and “She Kills Monsters” (Agnes) with the Aurora Fox.

Lilli has been a part of numerous new works, including “The Wave That Set the Fire” and “Companions LLC”, as well as the first reading of “The Rape of the Sabine Women” by Grace B. Matthias. She performed a one woman show, “Foundations”, which was presented as a part of Theater Esprit Asia’s production, “Coming To America”.

Is it writer’s block if I should be working on the screenplay revisions for the April 27 shoot, but I’m blogging instead? It also might be another form of resistance that I’ll christen “partner’s block” for purposes of this post😊 I have my first draft, and I have input from Bruce, and now I have to meld two very different voices together.

I have co-authored books before, but my writing experience on this project has given me a new window on partnering. My last partner effort was nonfiction, and a text book at that, so it was pretty straightforward in terms of the tone and the structure. My text book writing partner and I just divvied up the chapters based on our preferences and expertise, and it was smooth sailing after that.

My only other partner effort was contributing to an anthology, which is really not partnering, except with the editor. I do work with editors on some of my other writing, but that type of collaboration is its own beast, and every writer does that. Not every writer chooses to write fiction with a partner, as Bruce and I are doing for the April 27 shoot.

Aneesh Chaganty. Photo Credit: David Ko

But screenplay collaborations are not rare. In my Forbes interview with Aneesh Chaganty, writer/ director of Searching, he credits collaboration, not only with his writing partner, but with the various technical experts involved in filmmaking, as critical to his growth as a director:

…when I asked Chaganty what he has learned from his creative journey to feature film director, he mentioned the value of not doing everything yourself. In the beginning, he assumed he had to learn and do everything firsthand. Over time, he realized that it’s better to know how to communicate about everything and work with others on it, while you focus on just one thing.

Cecilia Mejia. Photo Credit: Aviva R. Pusey

Producer Cecilia Mejia is another interview I recently did in Forbes, which underscores the benefit of collaboration. Mejia is not a writer, but takes a lead creative role in her projects. Her upcoming feature film, Yellow Rose, began as Diane Paragas’ project. Mejia joined as the first collaborator several years into the idea, and the partnership has culminated in a film that opens the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival in May:

Seven years ago, [Mejia] was working for the Filipino American Legal Defense and Education Fund, when Diane Paragas, the Filipina director of “Yellow Rose”, contacted Mejia for information on social impact issues. They hit it off and created a documentary together, which became proof of concept for what is now, “Yellow Rose.” Mejia has raised over $500,000 for the project over the last seven years.

Clearly, partnerships work, and I just need to buckle down and work out those revisions!

We are casting for the new horror short FBC Films has picked as its next project. Filming starts in April. While we were hoping to bring on some of our cast from The Battle Below, there was only one character who matched one of the actors from that earlier project, and that actor is now out of NYC (still in the arts thankfully, but a different city). This means we are full speed ahead with our casting, with just a few weeks before we start filming.

Shooting will be done on a SAG, low-budget contract. Filming will be one day, Saturday, April 27, in Manhattan. If you fit the specs, or if you know someone who fits, we’d like to hear from you.

Please email a link to your website, IMDB page, or a resume and headshot to caroline@fbcfilms.com.

Cast list:

Kate – Asian female, 18-21

Nicholas – Asian male, early 20’s. Kate’s older brother

Mom – Asian female, mid/ late 30’s. Mother to Nicholas and Kate

Joe – multiracial, Black/Asian, late 40’s/ 50’s

Young Kate – Asian female, tween/ early teens. This role is cast, though we will look at submissions for alternates

This project is a horror series in development, so we are not releasing a lot of story information. However, previous projects by FBC Films have been screened at festivals and off-Broadway. We’d love to have a strong cast for this next project!

FBC Films has picked its next project, a horror series, and filming starts in April. The goal for the first shoot is to pull together a sizzle reel representing a few minutes of the arc of the series that we can then use to raise funding.

Based on an idea I pitched and Bruce agreed to on one of our many Sunday breakfasts at IHOP, we will co-write and co-produce, and Bruce will direct.

We’re hush hush on the idea until we get through the funding stage, but we’re staying true to our focus on science fiction/ horror and diverse casting.

We’re hoping to bring on some of our cast and crew from The Battle Below. Updates coming soon!

FBC Films is thrilled to be off-Broadway as co-producer of this world premiere! Theater provocateur Brian Dykstra returns to 59E59 with an explosive new play about free speech, the dangers of polarization, and using art as a means for change. See the play March 9-April 8 and join the conversation by following #ArtIsActivism on social media.

A high school senior is suspended when he tries to burn an American flag for a school art fair project. Undeterred, he conspires with his classmate, a slam poet in trouble for an expletive-laden poem, to enter a controversial new piece, setting off a free speech firestorm in a small Ohio town. Education is a provocative new play about two young people who fight for their right to express themselves in a society hostile to and fearful of change.

Get tickets here