BRIAN SHANLEY (DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY)

High energy Director of Photography, Brian Shanley divides his time between Galway, Ireland, where he hales from, and Los Angeles. Few DPs could have managed such a tight shoot schedule with a result so visually sensitive and beautiful. Brian adds Lucky U Ranch to his long list of credits, which includes God’s Not Dead, with Kevin Sorbo, God’s Not Dead II, Chasing A Dream, with Treat Williams, Ladies Of The Horse with Florence Henderson, A Grandpa For Christmas, with Ernest Borgnine, and many others.

ADAM SYDNEY (PRODUCTION DESIGNER)

A published novelist, Adam Sydney earned a B.A. in Film/Cinema/Video Studies & Philosophy at the University of Kent at Canterbury, where he was a member of the Film making Society, as well as two Master’s degrees in Screenwriting, and has been teaching Screenwriting and Storytelling (among others) at the Art Institute of Tucson since 2007.  While Adam may not have a long history in film production or costume design, he is an authority on the 1950’s and has an impeccable eye for detail and a strong desire to put authentic work on-screen, making him the perfect candidate for the job.

MICHAELA BALL (SUPERVISING SOUND EDITOR)

After receiving a BA in The Aesthetics and Criticism of Media Arts with a Minor in Music in 2008 from the University of Arizona, Michaela works to create unique and solid sound designs for film and video.  Her work is a hybrid of sound design and location sound recording.  As a sound recordist, Michaela enjoys working against the elements, squishing into small spaces and listening to ambiences.

And like most sound designers, she also enjoys the uncontrollable smile of a director who has finally heard their desired sound design and score.  Her previous work includes the location recording of CW’s Breaking Pointe, the official Sundance selected feature Mosquita y Mari, BYU TV’s comedy show Studio C and sound design for Lucky U Ranch.

MICHELE GISSER (EDITOR)

Michele has been working on feature narrative and documentary films for the past 15 years.  Starting her career in Boston as a still photographer and editor for educational television, she moved to CA to work on narrative films and TV dramas.  She has continued her documentary work and since moving to Arizona has directed her first feature film, an Eco-Western.

GRANT JAHN (COMPOSER)

Grant is a composer and clarinetist based in Tempe, Arizona.  Playing piano since the first grade and clarinet since the fourth grade, Jahn has grown up around music his entire life and is currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music in Music Composition at Arizona State University.  Jahn has had works premiered by students at the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the Arizona Repertory Singers, and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra during the Young Composers Project in 

TREVOR RAINE (COMPOSER)

Trevor is a composer and pianist in Tucson, Arizona. Trevor’s interest in music started at an early age with piano and wind instruments. He ended his high school marching band stint as Drum Major. At the University of Arizona, Trevor was member of the Pride of Arizona’s elite Tuba Line. He has applied what he learned to music composition for video game and has been an officer of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia since its re-instatement at the university.

Steve Anderson is a Master Acting Teacher and Director.  He earned his MFA in Acting in 1991 and has performed in off-Broadway and regional theatre venues, working with the likes of Obie Award-winner Ralph Lee and Emmy Award-winning television producer Burt Rosen, with whom he co-produced, and starred in, My Poor Marat to raise funds for the Bosnian relief effort.

Steve has been training actors for 20 years.  He has been a Guest Artist at Clemson University, UW-Green Bay, among others, and is Director of Teen Street Films, where he provides advanced actor training for company members as they collaborate on original short film content.

Steve recently directed THE SECRET LIVES OF TEACHERS, currently in post-production, and is in development on his second independent feature, JACKSON & DELILAH.

GINIA DESMOND (EXECUTIVE PRODUCER)

Although Ginia Desmond has been writing screenplays for many years, the role of  producer was never on her radar until Lucky U Ranch presented the opportunity.  Knowing little about what’s involved, besides making sure checks don’t bounce, she surrounded herself with a great team of professionals. During her decade of optioning scripts, meeting filmmakers, working with other screenwriters and producers, she discovered she knew a lot of the right people, who in turn knew others willing to come on board.  “ Growing Pains,” the screenplay Lucky U Ranch is based on, won a Silver at the Page International Screenplay Awards.  Producing a second feature is yet to be determined, but Ginia will never stop writing.  She holds a MFA in Studio Art from the University of Arizona, and founded an import company she ran for 25 years. Read About My Story

DOUGLAS RAINE (PRODUCER)

Doug is a 30 year veteran of the film industry.  As member of the Directors Guild of America for 25 years, he has performed the duties of Director, Assistant Director, Writer, 2nd Unit Director, and Producer. Credits range from large-budget Studio Productions to low-budget Independents and include over 30 Feature films such as; Starman, The Program, The Ghost and the Darkness, and Reign of Fire. Doug directed, wrote and produced numerous award-winning shorts, an award-winning feature and satirical commercials for Saturday Night Live.

My dad was Gene Autry’s biz partner, Vice President of Golden West Music Publishing Co., and a successful song writer (Here Comes Santa Claus+).  In 1946 or so he was awarded Western Song Writer of the Year with 200+ songs (music and lyrics ). But in 1952 a heart attack brought him down and he retired at age 43.  His doctor said, “Go to work and die, or go fishing and live.”  My dad went fishing.  We could live off his royalties.

My parents sold our house w/ the pool, bought a used 25 foot Alma trailer, and hooked it up to our late model Caddy. The first place we stopped for the night was 25 miles from Azusa, CA, where we bought the trailer.  Dad was still getting the hang of it.  I’m not sure where we spent that first night, but in those days, unless you’re in Palm Springs or Florida, the trailer courts were blue-collar.  I remember peeking out the blinds that first morning to see how the other half live…old trailers (even then they looked old), old cars, junk. It felt hopeless. This was not the Southern California I knew.

From there, on to Palm Springs where I began the first of 19 school changes for the next 2 years, sometimes attending only 3 or 4 days, while my parents went fishing.  And drinking…both professional alcoholics.  Dad was arrested several times for drunk and disorderly. I was great at baseball AND jacks, a golf ball was my secret weapon, not those crappy rubber balls you get with the jacks. I had a baseball bat I loved that I got for my 9th birthday.  I left it by accident in a trailer court in Alabama or Arkansas…one of those southern states.  We were 40 miles away when I realized what I’d done.

Because we spent so much time in a car, I’d sometimes write down the license plate numbers if I imagined something suspicious taking place.  Maybe I had a secret desire to be rescued while I thought about rescuing others.  (No, I was never a drama queen.) Decades ago, in a short story class, the image of that first morning popped into my head.  I hadn’t thought of it for eons.   I used Junior as the POV character, the protagonist… pure fiction, and wrote a story about a bullied boy in a crummy trailer court.  Initially it was set in Fresno, CA, but I moved the screenplay to the desert.

This story was also personal to our director, Steve Anderson.  Possibly more personal for him then for me…it still makes him tear up.  After he read the script he wrote that he couldn’t stop thinking about it, and if I ever had it produced, he’d love to direct it. Because of his sincerity, and knowing his talent, I wrote right back to say I’ll produce it.  (Talk about a learning experience!)

It was a short script, but a good friend here, Victoria Lucas,  said I needed to double the length.  She’s been in development her entire career…in fact she’s ‘old Hollywood’, her grandfather directed Casablanca, for one, and her grandmother wrote scripts, was nominated for Oscars, and worked with all the Hollywood giants. Expanding the story is when Melissa became a ballet dancer.  As I wrote it, I wondered if my granddaughter in Denver, a ballet dancer, with the right look, would consider auditioning. Lucky me!

Wrapping this up, I’ll end by saying my we finally settled in Scottsdale when I was 12 and bought a trailer park that looked ranch like…each space had a shake roof ramada. We called it Lucky U Ranch after my uncle’s TV and Radio show in L.A. featuring the Sons of the Pioneers, the singing group where Roy Rogers got his start. My daughter in Denver reminded me that the actual name of our trailer park was perfect:  Lucky U Ranch — no one is lucky and it’s no ranch.