COMPANY STAFF
EXECUTIVE
JEM
JENDER a.k.a. James O´Connor-Taylor (Founder & President) In
2006, with support from The Actors
Fund of America and Career Transition
for Dancers, Jem laid the foundation
for PureJem Pictures LLC. More
Than A Woman is Jem´s debut
as a screenwriter. Jem is also
co-author of the new musical Diva
Diaries which had sold out runs
at The Tampa Bay Performing Arts
Center, The Broward Center for
Performing Arts and the Lakeshore
Theater in Chicago. Jem has also
written another new musical Sugar
Creek which is currently in development.
Other writing credits include Total
New York, The New York Times, Wire
Magazine, Rizzoli & Chronicle books.
As a performer, Jem´s classical
ballet career started at The North
Carolina School of The Arts. Shortly
after, he received a full scholarship
with New York City Ballet´s prestigious
School of American Ballet. Jem went
on to dance with several major Ballet
companies including The Boston Ballet,
The Joffrey, Chautauqua Dance Theater
and The Universal Ballet of Korea.
This lead to a contract with The Ballet
Trockadero De Monte Carlo and a drag
ballerina was born. Famous for his
portrayal of "The Dying Swan," Jem
toured internationally with the company
for five years. During this period
he published a book in Japan with art
photographer Wouter Deruytter titled
Tu-Tu Much, a look at the art of dance
and travesty.
Jem also became a strong force in the
global fashion and nightclub industry
where he toured the world appearing
in charitable fashion events and modeling
for designers such as Armani, Donna
Karan, and Izzac Mizarahi to name a
few. As the nightclub drag diva of
New York City Jem holds the record
for the longest drag nightclub booking
ever at John Blair´s The Roxy.
Jem´s film and television highlights
include: Hitch, My Super X Girlfriend,
Little Manhattan, Miss Congeniality
2, The Summer of Sam and HBO´s
Angels in America directed by Mike
Nichols. Under the guidance of HBO´s
Sheila Nevins, Jem has starred in three
HBO documentary features: Girls, Girls,
Girls, and most recently Dragtime for
America Under Cover. Guest television
appearances include Late Night with
Conan O´Brian, The Jon Stewart
Show, Saturday Night Live, and Entertainment
Tonight.
Jem is a member of the historic Players´ Club
in New York (Helen Hayes was its first
woman member; Jem is the first more-than-a-woman
member in its history). www.jemjender.com
FRED M CARUSO (Producer) has been working professionally in the business for over 30 years,
which is remarkable since he is STILL only 26 years old. As an actor, he has worked in over 40
states in shows like Big River, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Shenandoah,
Mame, Music Man, Oliver, etc. When he was 14, he began producing theatre. At age 16, he
opened the first Equity theatre company in Hollywood, FL making him the youngest producing
artistic director in Equity’s history. After high school he moved to NYC for college. After a few
more years of performing, he realized that his true love is producing and writing.
The first show he produced in NYC was the Off-Broadway production of Bitter and Jaded at 25,
which he wrote the book, music and lyrics and starred in as well. He then went on to produce and
develop the Off-Broadway musical revue NEWSical which opened at Studio 54 and had
numerous productions and incarnations all over the country. He received 2 Drama Desk
Nominations for his work on NEWSical.
After producing several other shows, Fred decided to give movies a shot. He started as a co-
producer and AD on the feature film A
Four Letter Word, and he fell in love with film making.
Since then. he has written, produced and directed the hit movie The Big Gay
Musical (currently
available on DVD and Blu Ray) and Go Go Crazy (which is in post production). He has
produced the movie You
Can’t Have It All starring Wendie Malick (Hot in Cleveland and Just
Shoot Me) and Jon Lindstrom (As the World Turns) which will be
released in 2011. He is
finishing the screenplay for 2 other movies including the sequel The Bigger Gayer Musical. Fred
has one
undisputed talent which is hiring amazingly talented people to work with. He is blessed
and honored to have worked with and to be
working with so many brilliant people and he is
looking forward to making movie magic with them again.
HARVEY
S. TRAISON (Financial
Advisor) served LaBranche & Co
Inc. from March 2000 to June 2005
as Senior Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer. Prior to joining
LaBranche, Mr. Traison was Vice President,
Treasurer of DaimlerChrysler North
America Holding Corporation from
1984 to 1999. Mr. Traison served
three years as CFO of Paramount Group
in New York City, a German-owned,
U.S.-based commercial real estate
company, and fourteen years with
Ford Motor Company’s Financial
Services subsidiaries in the U.S.
and Europe. He is the past Chairperson
of the New York Treasurers Group,
a member of Financial Executives
International and the National Association
of Corporate Treasurers Alumni. Mr.
Traison graduated with an accounting
degree from Wayne State University
and earned a MBA degree in finance
from The University of Michigan.
Mr. Traison is a trustee of the American
Friends of the Berlin Staatsoper,
the Marlboro Music School and Festival
and the Great River Arts Institute,
and a Lifetime member of the Glyndebourne
Opera Association.
PureJem
Pictures is under the guidance of Financial
Advisor Harvey Traison while PJP is
currently conducting an executive search
for CFO.
ETC.
ARNOLD
J. CIVINS (Certified
Public Accountant)
Citrin Cooperman & Company,
LLP
529 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10017
BEN
FELDMAN, Esq. (Attorney
for PureJem Pictures LLC) is
affiliated with Beigelman,
Feldman & Associates, P.C.
and focuses his practice in
matters concerning theatre
and independent film. Adept
at negotiating and structuring
a variety of agreements, Mr.
Feldman also provides counsel
in the areas of art, book publishing,
music, sports and television.
His varied clientele consists
of film and theater producers,
cable television show hosts,
actors, publicists, distributors,
Obie Award-winning theater
directors and Tony and Emmy
Award winning writers and composers.
He has artfully secured the
film rights for stories appearing
in publications ranging from
The New York Times to Vanity
Fair and the live musical stage
rights to numerous novels and
popular films. In his film
practice, he represented more
documentaries at the 2004 Sundance
Film Festival than any other
attorney, and as a producer
rep he sold one , in an unprecedented
deal, to a national broadcast
network for prime time exhibition
(he subsequently sold two additional
films at the Tribeca Festival
later that same year, in the
Spring of '04). Mr. Feldman's
work as a theatrical attorney
was acknowledged on the Tony
Awards program (2002), making
him one of only a handful of
attorneys who have received
such an honor. His clients
have also been recognized at
the Tony's, having been nominated
in such categories as best
Play Revival (producer) and
Best Actress in a Play, both
in 2004.
In addition to his legal practice,
Mr. Feldman also serves as Chairman
of the Board of Trustees of the
Naked Angles Theater Company, and
is a member of the Board of Directors
of the Hourglass Group and of the
New Festival Inc., sponsor of the
New York Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
As a producer himself, Mr. Feldman
has presented The Cutting Room,
a short film featuring Kate Hudson,
and the commercial run of The Stand
In, a play developed by Naked Angels
and later optioned by Miramax.
Formerly, Mr. Feldman was affiliated
with Epstein, Levinsohn, Bodine,
Hurwitz & Weinstein, LLP from
2002 to 2007. Before that, he was
affiliated with the law firms of
Parker, Chapin, Flattau & Klimpl,
LLP, and Kaufmann, Feiner, Yamin,
Gildin & Robbins, LLP. Mr.
Feldman was admitted to the New
York Bar in 1999. He received his
J.D. from New York University School
of Law, where he won the ASCAP
Copyright Law Prize and the school's
Moot Court Oral Argument Competition.
He is a Summa Cum Laude graduate
of Yale College. CONTACT: Beigelman,
Feldman & Associates, P.C.,
100 Wall Street, 23rd Floor (@
Water Street), New York, NY 10005
| (212) 230-1300 | E: bfeldman@bfalaw.com |
FAX: (212) 230-1090 | www.bfalaw.com.
JOHN HAGER (Director
of Photography) was
born on May Day 1975 in Charleston,
S.C. and moved to New York
in 1999. He studied film production
in Charleston and cinematography
at Watkins College of Art and
Design in Nashville. In 2002
he worked with Entertainment
Struggle Magazine as a photographer
and photo editor. He has been
a director of photography for
independent films, documentaries
and promotional programs in
New York and Los Angeles. Credits
include Flesh For
the Beast (16mm
Feature, Director: Terry West,
Fever Dreams Productions) which
was awarded "Best Cinematography" at
NYC Horror Film Festival; Long
Island Love Story (16mm
Musical, Director: Peter Phok,
Basement Productions); The
Last Witch (16mm Feature,
Director: John Dolan, Dolan
Films); Cocaine Cowboys (16mm
short, Director: John & Paul
Buckholts, Our Thing Productons);
and Blood Bath (16mm-DV
Feature, Director: Zac Adams,
Bloody Films).
ERIN
LEVY (Web
Developer/Designer and WebMaster) Erin graduated from Ithaca College in 2004 with a BS in Cinema and Photography with a concentration in Still Photography. She then went on to receive her MS in Information Technology / Web Design from Marlboro College Graduate Center in 2006. She has worked as web developer and designer in NYC for the last 5 years. Currently she is the Senior Benefits Web Developer at NYU Langone Medical Center. Her expertise fall under User Experience, Design and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). erinelevy@gmail.com
DJ PHILIP KOHL (Music Consultant & Event DJ) Veteran DJ Philip Kohl has been spinning from the tender age of 15 in such clubs as Fantasia, Galaxy 21, The Loft, Ice Palace 57, on Fire Island, in New Orleans, Las Vegas, Dallas and Austin. He is currently an Ipod stylist. Philip has an extensive collection of rare music from the 60s through today which includes illusive remixes, rare DJ sets and mashups. Pkohlnyc1@aol.com.
JOHN MERCURIO (Composer) wrote
the score and co-wrote the
book to Diva Diaries which
ran for three months at the
Lakeshore Theatre in Chicago.
Before that, it played to packed
houses at the Tampa Bay Performing
Arts Center and set box office
records at the Broward Center
for the Performing Arts in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
He wrote the music for A Time
to Be Born, based on the novel
by Dawn Powell, which scored a
big success last summer at the
Lucille Lortel theatre as part
of the New York Fringe Festival.
Before that, it was chosen to be
part of the National Opera and
Musical Theatre Initiative in Boston.
This January, his new musical The
Riverhaven Book Club, about
an unlikely group of country folk
who start a book club to try and
improve themselves, had a workshop
production at the Lyric Theatre
in Florida.
He is the recipient of an award
from the Jonathan Larson Performing
Arts Foundation and a Commendation
Award from the Gilman & Gonzalez-Falla
Musical Theater Foundation for
his work in musical theatre.
John wrote the score for 1001
Nights, the story of a group
of abolitionists posing as a traveling
theatre company to help a runaway
slave along the Underground Railroad.
It was developed at a workshop
at the George Street Theatre and
produced at the Lyric Theatre in
Florida. His original show A
Tailor's Tale was chosen to
be developed at the Eugene O'Neill
National Music Theatre Conference
in 1999.
John is currently developing a
musical entitled Myth,
a contemporary variation of three
Greek myths in present-day New
York City. He is also writing songs
for an original play with music, Arturo's
Window, (www.arturoswindow.com),
which tells the fascinating true
story of John Jerome. This spring
it had its sold-out premier as
part of the York Theatre Developmental
Reading Series.
John has composed the incidental
music to plays and the scores to
three ballets including one on
which he collaborated with former
New York City Ballet dancer Miriam
Mahdaviani. He has also written
and illustrated three children¢s
books. He has received degrees
from the Eastman School of Music
and NYU and was a member of the
BMI Advanced Musical Theatre Writing
Workshop. www.johnmercurio.com
PETER
PHOK (Producer & Line
Producer) Born in
New York City and raised in
the suburbs of Long Island,
Peter grew up loving movies
and developed a passion to
make them. This desire took
him to the School of Visual
Arts where he wrote, produced,
shot, edited, and directed
many short films including
his senior year thesis, a dramatic
musical tragedy about an outsider's
journey into Long Island's
posh house party scene, titled Long
Island Love Story.
The film earned much notoriety
after its acceptance by IFP's
Buzz Cuts and the New York
International Independent Film & Video
Festival where it was acquired
by RCN's IT-TV television program Shoot
It which highlights
student films of extraordinary
vision. Upon graduation with
a Bachelors of Fine Arts in
Film, Peter went to work with
Ti West, fellow SVA graduate
and collaborator, on The
Roost as a production
manager and associate producer.
This low budget indie horror
feature written and directed
by Ti West and produced by
Susan Leber with executive
producer Larry Fessenden, premiered
at the 2005 South by Southwest
film festival with much success
and received both theatrical
release and DVD distribution.
Peter continued to demonstrate
his professional abilities
as he went on to production
manage another film with accomplished
producer Susan Leber. Bittersweet
Place, directed
by Alexandra Brodsky and starring
Seymour Cassell, received honorable
mention at the 2005 Tribeca
Film Festival. Peter then went
on to assistant direct Bristol
Boys, an indie
film produced and directed
by Brandon David, starring
Tom Guiry which released on
DVD in the spring of 2007.
Peter's personality, organization,
managerial skill and desire
to make movies have taken him
to produce Ti West's second
feature with executive producer
Larry Fessenden, Trigger
Man, world premiering
at the 2007 SXSW film festival.
Peter continues to produce
feature films for Larry's production
company Glass Eye Pix
under the Scareflix banner,
which includes the directorial
debuts of Graham Reznick's I
Can See You and
Glenn McQuaid's I
Sell The Dead.
Peter resides in the New York
area working on projects that
draws his attention and interests
as he prepares to produce his
own feature film project.
STEPHEN
WAGNER (Production
Assistant) Stephen
Wagner attended Ithaca College
in Ithaca, NY where he majored
in theatre. He has stage managed
many productions at Kitchen Theatre
Company working with award-winning
actors, playwrights and directors.
He has worked on many national
tours (CATS, RENT, THOROUGHLY MODERN
MILLIE, OKLAHOMA). Stephen currently
lives in Ithaca and is a freelance
stage manager.
Copyright
2007 PureJem Pictures, LLC | Contact
the WebMaster: erinelevy@gmail.com