Meet the people who help make Pinkplot Productions thrive
Roland Tec [founder, writer, director, composer]
In 1998, Roland Tec was the first artist to be represented simultaneously in both the music and the film sections of the prestigious South by Southwest festival in Texas—at one end of town he could be seen performing on stage with his opera company while down the road, screenings of his feature film, All the Rage were sold out. Such range is typical of his career, which began in both music and theatre and later expanded to include film. Prior to his move to New York in the Spring of 2000, he served as Artistic Director of one of Boston’s most daring theatre companies, New Opera Theatre Ensemble, which produced new work in such unlikely venues as the Boston Public Library, the Charles Hayden Planetarium, and the Danco Furniture Showroom and was described by The Boston Globe as “one of the major contributors to the city’s cultural landscape.” His first opera, Stained Glass, premiered at Harvard’s historic Sanders Theatre while he was still an undergraduate. As director of New Opera Theatre Ensemble, six more original works would follow.
It was after being commissioned to score Marian Chang’s short film, Secretarial Pool, that Tec became interested in making films of his own. In 1995 his short, Hooking Up, an exploration of the language of the one-night stand, toured to numerous film festivals internationally, putting Tec in touch with many of the investors who would help finance his feature film debut, an adaptation of his own play, A Better Boy.
All the Rage (Strand Releasing) which Tec wrote, directed and scored, was hailed as “one of the sharpest, sexiest and most amusing satires of gay life ever filmed” by the Los Angeles Times and toured to festivals spanning five continents before its U.S. theatrical release. It is widely considered a hallmark of Queer Cinema and continues to inspire new audiences through vigorous DVD sales.
His play, Bodily Function has won numerous awards, among them the 2000 Albee Award and 2001 O’Neill (finalist) and in a previous version titled Rapt was showcased at The Culture Project in New York City. Shortly after his move to Manhattan, Tec co-wrote (with friend John Yearley) and directed the downtown hit, Gratuitous Nudity and was awarded a residency at the Byrdcliffe Artist Colony in Woodstock, which later commissioned his short play Sniffing Out the Impostors for its centennial.
In addition to his own work, Tec has had the pleasure of directing the new plays of some of his favorite American writers, including Abe Rybeck's Dirt, Joseph Chaiken's Struck Dumb, the comedic trio Unitard, Polly Pen & Peggy Harmon's Goblin Market, and Rick Park's hilarious one-woman show, A Star is Bored, among others. He very much enjoys helping shape new work by working closely with playwrights on premiere productions.
Tec will have two films hit theatres in 2008: We Pedal Uphill which he wrote, directed & scored, and Edward Zwick's Defiance, starring Daniel Craig, for which he served as Co-Producer.
His next feature film, The Wreck Behind Us, (adapted from his play) is inspired by the true story of the 1969 automobile accident that claimed the life of Evelyn Beckett, a 39-year-old actress, wife and mother.
In addition to his film work, Tec is currently composing music for Katherine Burger’s gothic musical comedy, Legends of Batvia. He also just completed his latest full-length play, The Personal Effects of Annie Solomon, which was recently given a Memberfest reading at Ensemble Studio Theatre.
Tec is the recipient of numerous grants and commissions from such organizations as Concorde, Harvard University, the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers, and the Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation, among others. Roland is a proud member of Circle East, The Workshop at The Neighborhood Playhouse, the Society of Stage Directors & Choreographers and the Dramatists Guild. He has taught or lectured on a variety of topics at numerous colleges and universities, among them: Brandeis University, Boston University, and Harvard College.
John Tilley [Executive Producer—We Pedal Uphill]
John Tilley has over two decades of experience as an international and domestic distributor, marketer, and licensor of independent feature films and documentaries. At Ben Barenholtz' Libra Films [1975-1978], as head of United Artists Classics [1978-81], as co-founder and owner of Cinevista, Inc. [1981-1996], he has marketed, distributed and licensed the films of Pedro Almodovar, Derek Jarman, David Lynch, Ken Loach, Paul Morrissey, Jonathan Demme, Brian De Palma, and M. Night Shyamalan among many others. In 1997, John co-founded ProActive Film Marketing whose goal was to empower independent film makers. ProActive's clients included Ken Loach's Parallax Films, Film 4, the British Council and British Screen Finance. With the advent of DVD and its revitalizion of independent and specialized film on video, John helped establish new home video distribution entities at Picture This! Entertainment and later at Overseas/First Look Films. Since 2000, John has been in charge of home video distribution and marketing for Strand Releasing, certainly one of the most independent and adventurous film distributors on the current scene. At Strand, John is currently supervising the DVD release of Roland Tec's first feature film All the Rage.
Chris Arruda [Producer—We Pedal Uphill, Bodily Function, The Wreck Behind Us]
Chris has been a producer for the past 18 years. Much of his experience has been in the advertising world as a producer of broadcast commercials. He has won several awards for his work in this field including two Gold Clios, Addys, and most recently a Gold Effie Award. His client list includes such companies as McDonalds, Procter & Gamble, Pfizer, and Sony. For the past 5 years, Chris has worked at the worldwide headquarters of Saatchi and Saatchi Advertising, where he produces spots for some of their most important clients. His involvement with Pinkplot Productions started as an actor and he has performed in several of Pinkplot's latest theatrical ventures including Bodily Function and The Wreck Behind Us, both of which he also produced.
Brad Carpenter [Producer—We Pedal Uphill, Bodily Function, The Wreck Behind Us]
After completing a five-year run with HBO’s cultural phenomenon Sex And The City as Associate Producer, Brad served as Associate Producer in charge of Post Production for the Bravo hit series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,through its final season. Currently, he is Associate Producer in charge of Post Production for the NBC hit series, 30 Rock.
Darren Chilton [Producer—We Pedal Uphill, The Wreck Behind Us]
Darren Chilton began his theatrical career in 1999 with the Austrian opera company Pons Artis helping to stage the New York debut of their opera Pierrot Lunaire. Darren has also worked with Russian multi-media artist group artek media, Chris Ajemian (The Curtain of Light), David Gordon (Private Lives of Dancers), Ain Gordon (93 Acres of Barley/Art, Life, and Show-Biz), John Kelly (The Paradise Project), and Mabou Mines (Carla Lucia).
Jeanine Cowen [Composer, Music Producer—We Pedal Uphill, Bodily Function]
Jeanine Cowen, was trained in classical percussion at Northwestern University and graduated magna cum laude from Berklee College of Music with a dual degree in Film-Scoring and Music Production & Engineering. She has worked since 1983 as a composer, music producer, orchestrator and conductor, making notable contributions to award-winning documentaries, feature films and numerous PBS and Discovery and Learning Channel programs, including Maureen Foley's Home Before Dark, Alice Bouvrie's Iditarod: A Far Distant Place, and Karin Muller's Hitchhiking Vietnam. Ms. Cowen also serves as Music Director for the Boston dance group BalletRox and their annual production of the critically acclaimed Urban Nutcracker. Numerous examples of Jeanine's music (including her original score for Tec's Bodily Function) can be sampled at her website: jmcmusicinc.com.
David Heath [Producer—We Pedal Uphill]
We Pedal Uphill is David's first project as a film producer. His eclectic professional background lies primarily in the legal and financial arenas. As a paralegal, he has specialized in the areas of mortgaged-backed securities and employment law for large corporate law firms in New York, Oregon, California and Connecticut. While starting his legal career on the west coast, he also acted professionally in several stage productions. He is now settled into his role as Paralegal Specialist with the United States Attorney's Office in New Haven, Connecticut, where his focus is anti-terrorism. Having just completed a masters' degree in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) at Southern Connecticut State University, he hopes to soon add teaching to his list of vocations.
Kelly Lawman [Producer—We Pedal Uphill, All the Rage]
Kelly is a producer at WGBH, Boston‚s public television affiliate. She has a versatile background in film, television and theatre production with a range of credits including feature films, documentaries, shorts, children's programs, and music videos for PBS, CBS, Showtime, BBC, the Democratic National Convention, independent release and others. Kelly was associate producer and first assistant director for Roland's first feature film, All The Rage.
David Licata [2nd unit Cinematography -- We Pedal Uphill]
David Licata is a writer and filmmaker. His last film, Tango Octogenario, screened at New Directors/New Films (presented by MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center), the Tribeca Film Festival, and more than 25 other festivals from Mumbai, India to Anchorage, Alaska with stops in between. David has worked in a variety of media: his film 8 ½ x 11, which features Grey’s Anatomy’s Ellen Pompeo, was released on DVD by IFILM, accompanying the feature film Temporary Girl; his scripts for the television show SportsFigures were broadcast on ESPN; his movie reviews and essays on genre films have been published in Seen That, Now What? (Fireside); and various odds and ends have appeared on the Internet. David has been awarded grants from the New York State Council on the Arts and Dance Films Associations and was an artist-in-residence at Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain) and Centrum Arts and Creative Education (WA). You can find out more about David's endeavors by visiting bloodorangefilms.com.
Haydeé Sabogal [Producer—We Pedal Uphill]
Haydeé Sabogal is a journalist and producer with experience in print, internet and television. She has worked as researcher and associate producer for documentaries and TV magazines for PBS, NBC, FOX and the BBC. Her work includes PBS’ human rights series Rights and Wrongs and Michael Moore’s Emmy Award winning TV Nation.