Mincing Movie Magic

Matt Irwin is an award-winning Cinematographer based in Toronto and Los Angeles. Having begun his professional life at the ripe old age of 8, when he helped his father (acclaimed Cinematographer Mark Irwin) in the camera department of such movies as Dumb & Dumber and Me, Myself & Irene. Upon graduating from film school his work as a Gaffer, Camera Operator, and Director of Photography has taken Matt across North and South America.

Projects on which he has worked include The Green Room With Paul Provenza, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Arrested Development, Ghosted, The Mayor, GLOW, Ingrid Goes West, Charity Case, Loosely Exactly Nicole, House of Cards, Hot Bot, Concrete Blondes, Baskets, and The Late Late Show with James Corden. Matt has also photographed a long list of TV specials, TV movies, music videos, and documentaries, as well as commercials for clients like Mott's, Charter Cable, Zillow, Lowes, Nintendo, Olay, Disney, Instagram, HomeAdvisor, 3M, Pizza Hut, Snickers, and Goodyear.

Peggy O'Neal is a film and television voice specialist with a long list of episodes, movies, video games, and anime credits. Her voice work on over 300 episodes of network television series includes Bones, CSI Miami, Friday Night Lights, Dawson's Creek, Dark Skies, Walker Texas Ranger, Switched at Birth, In Plain Sight, Murder She Wrote, and V.I.P. Her on camera acting roles range from the TV series Superboy, Super Force, Swamp Thing, and Full House to Fortune Hunter, Second Noah and the Steven Spielberg series SeaQuest DSV. She has also performed in the films Seven Sundays, Mantinee, and Psycho IV: The Beginning, plus many TV movies and pilots.

But it is Peggy’s voicing of iconic anime and video game characters that has brought her the most acclaim. Those titles include Shinzo, Catherine: Full Body, Mind Zero, Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, Saints Row IV, Supreme Commander, Tenchi Muyô!, Lucky Star, Ghost Rider, Duel Masters, Kôkaku kidôtai: Stand Alone Complex, Wolf's Rain, Scrapped Princess, Power Rangers Wild Force, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, Seven Samurai 20XX, Enchanted Arms, Eureka Seven, Battle B-Daman, Mars Daybreak, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, Android Kikaider: The Animation, Shinzo, DinoZaurs, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Digimon: Digital Monsters, Digimon Tamers: Battle of Adventurers, Digimon Tamers: Runaway Locomon, and Digimon: The Movie.

Armed with those diverse performance experiences and an advanced certification in voice work from the prestigious Fitzmaurice Institute, Peggy teaches in the Theatre Department at Moorpark College in Southern California.

Gay Blackstone will be our guest on this week's broadcast. Gay is an American television and stage producer, director, consultant, lecturer and author. Among her many credits, she was one of the "Gold Diggers" dancers on "The Dean Martin Show." Gay was president of the Academy of Magical Arts and was named one of "2007 Hollywood's Women of Distinction" by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. She is also the international ambassador of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. Blackstone was the executive producer for the 2013 revival of the television show Masters of Illusion which is now in its 11th season. Gay was married to the master illusionist, Harry Blackstone, Jr.

This week we welcome Walter Painter, Six-time Emmy Nominee and Three-time Emmy Award winner for his work in television which includes "Musical Comedy Tonight" for PBS' Great Performances and the opening of the Disney MGM Theme Park. Painter has choreographed four Academy Award telecasts, as well as, television specials for Ann-Margaret, Lily Tomlin, Happy Birthday Hollywood, The 25th Anniversary of the Kennedy Center and three Tony Award shows to name a few.

In theatre, Painter created the musical staging for City of Angels on Broadway, including the National and London companies. He has also directed productions of Cabaret, Once Upon a Mattress, Annie Get your Gun and Applause. His theatrical choreography credits include: Camelot, Hello, Dolly!, I Do, I Do, Oliver!, and Leave It to Jane at the Goodspeed Opera house.

In addition to his theatre and television work, he has staged Las Vegas shows for Bernadette Peters, Joel Grey, Lou Rawls, Ann-Margret, Sheena Easton, Julio Iglesias, Suzanne Sommers and Andy Williams. He directed and choreographed the Las Vegas production "Bal Du Moulin Rouge" and two editions of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus.

Boris Malden is our guest this week on Mincing Movie Magic. A veteran producer and production executive with experience in every imaginable film production situation, Boris Malden has supervised the logistics, schedules, budgets, and personnel for countless feature film and television productions across the United States and Canada.

His credits include such series as HOUSE OF CARDS, THE NET, JUSTIFIED, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, SWAMP THING, SHEENA, FORTUNE HUNTER and FRANKLIN & BASH, plus many TV movies and the films FACTORY GIRL, ELVIS, A PERFECT DAY, and THIS GUN FOR HIRE. Boris also previous served as Executive Vice President of L.I.F.T. and Red Feather Productions in New Orleans.

This week, our guest will be Producer and Creative Executive Gaylyn Fraiche worked in various capacities on TV movies and series before joining Academy Award-Winning Director Curtis Hanson as his assistant on The River Wild, starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Bacon. She also participated in the early development of Hanson’s classic film L.A. Confidential before becoming Oscar-Winning Director Kathryn Bigelow’s assistant on Strange Days.

Since then, she has held Executive and Producing positions at Castle Rock Pictures, Martin Chase Productions, MarVista Entertainment, and Reese Witherspoon’s company, Hello Sunshine. Gaylyn’s credits include such movies as The Green Mile, Best in Show, Miss Congeniality, Proof of Life, Sparkle, Just Wright, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, two American Girl movies, Lovestruck the Musical, Lemonade Mouth, two installments of The Cheetah Girls,The Swap, Pants on Fire, Tiny Christmas, The Truth About Christmas, and a number of movies for Hallmark. She recently announced the launch of her own production banner, She’s Fraiche Productions.

Emmy Nominated Producer-Director Chuck Bowman has been responsible for a long list of entertainment projects during his Hollywood career. In addition to two theatrical horror films, The Tooth Fairy and Dead Above Ground, his credits include 20 television movies and such television series as Castle, Profiler, The Pretender. Touched By An Angel, Murder She Wrote, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, Tremors, Jake And The Fatman, Sheena, TJ Ho**er, MacGyver, Walker Texas Ranger, The Incredible Hulk, Black Sheep Squadron, Alien Nation, Greatest American Hero, Swamp Thing, She Spies, VIP, Riptide, The A-Team, and In The Heat of The Night.

Doug Smart: Just as Assistant Directors are responsible for the logistical needs of movie sets, Associate Directors on sitcoms, variety specials, and award shows concentrate their efforts on the often-complex coordination of multiple cameras and the staging of actors. Emmy-winning Directors Guild of America member Doug Smart has not only served as the Associate Director for a long list of TV shows, but he has also directed and written some of them.

Doug's credits include EMPTY NEST, GOLDEN GIRLS, NEWHART, MR. SUNSHINE, BENSON, IT'S A LIVING, SHE'S THE SHERIFF, and THE LAWRENCE WELK SHOW, as well as ACADEMY AWARDS, AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS, and MUSIC FOR UNICEF telecasts.

Having the right music is essential for a movie or television program to work, which makes the composer one of the most important members of the creative team. Award-winning Ron Ramin is one of the best in the business. Emmy nominated and the recipient of a Cable Ace Award and TV/Film honors from both BMI and ASCAP,

Ron has scored 30 television movies in the United States and Canada, and 20 popular TV series covering many genres: including Fantasy Island, Hart To Hart, Fall Guy, Cagney & Lacy, Sledge Hammer, Catherine Marshall's Christy, Paper Dolls, 2nd Noah, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, Walker Texas Ranger, and both the Mike Hammer series and TV movie specials.

At the center of every film and production operation is the Assistant Director, who is responsible for scheduling the logistical demands of filming and running the set in an efficient manner.

Tyler Stratton has been an Assistant Director on over 18 features films (including FORD VS FERRARI), a music video with Celine Dion, and such television series as HOUSE, HOMICIDE HUNTERS, WESTWORLD, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, BARRY, THIS IS US, DIRTY JOHN, THE AGENTS OF SHIELD, HACIENDA HEIGHTS, and MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000.

Early in his career he served as Production Assistant on the series JUSTIFIED and Editor of the documentary SIMPLE WISHES, narrated by LeVar Burton.

Have you ever wondered how the casts of your favorite movies and TV series were assembled? Join us Wednesday, April 14 for an intimate behind-the-scenes conversation with renowned Hollywood casting director Victoria Burrows. Her 30-year career in film and television has included iconic film titles like Lord of the Rings, Castaway, Flight, The Lovely Bones, Polar Express, King Kong, Contact, and such popular television series as Tales From The Crypt, Diagnosis Murder, MacGyver, Walker Texas Ranger, Wiseguy, The A-Team, Riptide, and 21 Jump Street, just to name a few!

Mike Leary, a 46 year veteran of the Mad Men world of advertising from the production side of the business, will talk about his work with J.Walter Thompson, then Foote, Cone and Belding, both large Chicago ad agencies. At FCB Mike served as head of production for a few years before becoming a freelancer as a producer of television commercials. This is a fascinating side of broadcasting and...think of it, miniature films. Please join us for an interesting conversation about behind the scenes of product commercial shoots.

Join us on Wednesday March 31st when our guest will be Kevin O'Brien. Kevin has directed the Film/Video program at El Camino College in Los Angeles for over twenty years and also teaches production and media studies courses at his alma mater California State University Long Beach. Kevin also holds an MFA degree in production and screenwriting from the famed University of Southern California film school. When time allows, he serves as cinematographer, producer, or story consultant for colleagues' movie projects.

This week Tom Blomquist and Scott Wells welcome actor, director and producer, Mark Gantt to Mincing Movie Magic. Mark Gantt is best known for his role as Neal Bannen in the Streamy Award-winning web series, The Bannen Way. This will prove to be an enlightening conversation about actors and working with actors. Please share this link with your friends who enjoy talking about film then join us this Wednesday night.

From Xena, Warrior Princess, Swamp Thing, Freddy Kruger and vampires to historical dramas, family series and detective shows, this week we will have a discussion of how writers approach different genres with two producers who have navigated them all: Tom Blomquist and Steven L. Sears hosted by Scott Wells.