Crew

Spencer Ockwell

Spencer Ockwell is a creative Earthling, who hopes to visit outer space in the near future. He has embarked on a mission to tell stories with unique characters in stylized worlds. The young adventurer studied animation, filmmaking and space travel at the California Institute of the Arts. While in school, Spencer created two short films which went on to play festivals worldwide, win awards and land distribution. He graduated from Cal Arts in 2009, then ventured into the great unknown to pursue his creative quest. Spencer signed with The Masses production company as a Director for music videos and commercials in 2010. He recently directed a music video for popular band Fitz & The Tantrums. Spencer continues to create whimsical videos, while developing ideas for features, television and new media. Spencer loves to explore the depths of his imagination, experiment with technology, and talk in silly voices. He usually refrains from speaking in the third person.

Dane Naimy

A local Angelino who grew up sneaking onto film sets, Dane quickly realized his desire to be part of the film industry. Since graduating from the film-production program at Cal State Northridge with a BA in 2009, he has been working in Los Angeles as an Assistant Editor. He has also edited a pilot, produced and edited several short films, a documentary and several trailers and promotional materials. Through his experience he has gained invaluable knowledge in pre-production and post-production workflows and post-production technologies. He is also a co-creator of a production company named Beginning Middle End Films (BME FIlms), which recently had two short films well received at the Newport Beach Film Festival. Dane strongly believes in the effectiveness of collaboration. On every project he strives to build a strong collaborative environment between himself and the director. Dane also believes that the learning never stops. In the coming years he hopes to learn more about the creative process of story telling, and is determined to apply all that he learns to future Imaginus Zoo projects and any other future projects that life has in store.

Chase Woolner

Chase Woolner was born with a sock puppet on his hand, and probably has one on his hand right now. He has been puppeteering since the age of five when he started performing with Red Moon Puppet Theater in Chicago. Soon after, Chase joined the San Francisco Bay Area Puppet Guild, becoming its youngest member. While in high school, he founded one of the nations few high school puppetry clubs, which is still going strong today with 137 alumni. Chase is a member of the Puppeteers of America, UNIMA-USA and has been a participant at several of the Eugene O’Neill National Puppetry Conferences. Chase is currently pursuing his degree in puppetry at California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts).

Leila Ghaznavi

Leila Ghaznavi is a Fringe First nominated playwright. Her work has been seen both domestically and abroad in such places as Kristiansand, Norway, Bali, Indonesia, Edinburgh, Scotland, New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles. Ms. Ghaznavi has a life long passion for story telling that has led her through many fields. She holds a B.A. in music composition from Bryn Mawr College and a Masters in Acting from CalArts. She is currently working on a commission for a feature film on the life of Cyrus the Great, creator of the first Persian empire. Ms. Ghaznavi is delighted to lend her writing talents to the Imaginus Zoo project, believing that learning through dynamic story telling is more effective than academic lecture.

Marie Ilene

Marie Ilene moved to Los Angeles in 2006 after graduating with a BFA in Cinematography from North Carolina School of the Arts - School of Filmmaking. She has shot two feature films as the Director of Photography. She has also worked in the camera department on several indie features including A Foot Fist Way and Happiness Runs as well as network television including the hit series Strong Medicine and The Biggest Loser. Recently she has been focusing on shooting music videos and short films and is excited to be returning to television. Marie became a Cinematographer because she fell in love with telling a story though images.

Kit Stolen

Kit Stolen -- Recent work includes: Design consultant & Illustrator for Catherine Hardwicke & Cindy Evans The Girl with the Red Riding Hood, Assistant Costume Design for Medea at UCLA live. Set design for John Gabriel Borkman, directed by Maureen Huskey. Platee directed by Rafael Lopez-Barrantes. In Watermelon Sugar by Laurie O’Brien. Costume Design for Peter’s Shadow directed by Christine Marie, Goodnight by Mira Kingsley, and Who Killed Whitey directed by Lars Jan. In 2007, Kit received a Telly Award for Art Direction on the animated short Once Upon a Christmas Village. Kit studied at the New Globe Theater in London under Jenny Tiramani. He received his MFA from Cal Arts in 2009, and is a native of New York.

Nikita Bleeker

E.B. Brooks

E.B. Brooks is an award winning* costume designer from Los Angeles CA. Center for New Performance; What to Wear directed by Richard Foreman at RedCat, and Brewsie and Willie directed by Travis Preston with the Poor Dog Group. Other Theaters include The Black Dahlia Theater, Celebration Theater, The Theater at Boston Court, and The Kennedy Center. Her costume for Fly Amanita directed by David Fenster has been on exhibit at the Hammer Museum and The Machine Project in Los Angeles CA. E.B. received her MFA from California Institute of The Arts and BFA from UMCP where she studied performing arts in Kyoto, Osaka, and Tyoko, Japan. She currently designs and teaches at California Institute of Technology and lectures at schools across the country.
*2010 30th annual Ticketholder Award for Best Costume Design- Blithe Spirit at A Noise Within. 2010 LA Weekly award for Best Production Design- Brewsie and Willie.

Kim Ngo

Dave Martin

Visual artist, filmmaker, and educator, Dave Martin grew up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His earliest aesthetic influences came from comic books and anime, and he has always had a passion for drawing and design. He graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking as a Cinematographer in 2006 and made his way to Los Angeles where he found time to develop his fine art practice between freelance gigs. He met up with the Aeverything team in 2008 and has been collaborating with them ever since. He is currently pursuing a MFA from Art Center College Design and teaching at the Art Institute of California - Hollywood in addition to pursuing freelance work and personal projects.

Martin Gimenez

E. M. Gimenez is a Los Angeles sound and video artist who has been lucky enough to work with Maureen Huskey, J.R. Smith, Laurie Carlos, Marsian DeLillis, Lily Whitsitt, Virginia Greis, and Zoe Moore, amongst others as a sound engineer, video installation artist, as well as a idea power house. He is a co-founder of the site specific performance art collective Opera Del Espacio. When he is not making art, he can often be found riding roller coasters.

Steven Klems

Steven Klems is a professional post-production sound artist and content designer. He works with film, animation and video art, as well as producing music and sound installations. His recent films include festival favorites such as "Stories From A Perch" (winner - best animated short - Hollywood Film Festival) and "Over the River and Through the Higher Dimensions" (winner - best animated short - Arizona Film Festival). He lives in LA with his two ferocious kittens.

Gaby Alter

Gaby Alter is a songwriter and composer based in Brooklyn. He is a Jonathan Larson grant recipient, and winner of awards from the San Francisco Theater Critics' Circle and the New York Fringe Festival. His credits include songs for PBS Kids Television (“Music Time With Mr. Steve”), music for MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, and the theme to the National Public Radio show Backstory. His show Band Geeks! was produced in 2010 at Goodspeed Musicals, home to the original productions of Annie and Man of La Mancha. Other musicals include Nobody Loves You with playwright Itamar Moses (currently a staff writer for HBO’s Boardwalk Empire), which appeared at the 2011 Goodspeed Festival of New Works, and Young Zombies in Love (2004 NYC Fringe Festival), which was recently optioned for film. He also co-writes music with nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot which has appeared in video games, on G4 television, and in a documentary about their first national tour, Nerdcore Rising, which premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival and is now available on Netflix Instant Watch and Hulu.com.

Brian Stearns

Brian Ray Stearns is a Composer, Performer, Guitarist, and Singer. Born in Bakersfield, California, he is currently an educator in early childhood musical development.
Brian attended California Institute of the Arts, and in 2006 graduated with a degree in the Musical Arts Program (MAP), a multi-focus program with emphasis on composition, music-tech, and world music.
As a member of the Autumns, Brian has worked with producers such as Simon Raymonde of the Cocteau Twins, Andy Metcalfe of the Soft Boys, and Jamie Seyberth.
Working in partnership with A-Everything Productions, Brian has written music for author Ray Bradbury, an for up-and-coming filmmaker Anthony Leonardi.
Brian is currently in the studio working on his self-produced debut triple album – Darkstar Supernova, due out independently in 2012.

Ke Jiang

Ke Jiang joined ThatGameCompany in 2009 as Animator and Modeller on “Journey.” Ke realizedhe wanted to work in gaming during his undergraduate years at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He was in pursuit of a degree in animation when Half-Life 2 was released. Itsbrilliance and artistry awoke in his subdued heart a passionate desire to work in the video gameindustry. After acquiring his BFA at MCAD, Ke continued to pursue his interest in animation andgaming at the California Institute of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts degree inExperimental Animation. He is currently working at Disney Animation as a Modeller. Ke believes strongly in video games as a distinct art form with the capacity to engage its audience like no other.

Jessie Benecio Jr

Jessie Benicio jr. Is the embodiment of the diverse artistic energies of Los Angeles. His experiences and explorations include both Fine art and urban contemporary mediums. His skills in bronze casting and mold making has led to projects with top caliber clients such as Nancy Ruben and Herb Alpert to name a few. His work abroad has included showings in S. Korea, Germany and Armenia. He has also done extensive study and research in the world of Japanese fine art doll making serving as a design Consultant for doll artist Toko Ogura. Currently he is designing a new line of high-end custom headphones.

Wayne Repich

Wayne Repich is an expert on overall business, marketing and branding campaigns for media properties, and provides consulting services for the media, film and entertainment industry. His roles are many -- sometimes a consultant, counselor, advisor, coach, ally, mentor, team manager, catalyst, and even pseudo-therapist -- and encompass many facets of his clients' activities, yet his goal is largely singular – help the right-brain crowd connect with the left-brain crowd, and let them create wonder! A Summer-Camp Director at heart -- which he still aspires to return to one day -- ending each night with a camper’s rendition of The Rainbow Connection.

Wayne is a sought-after speaker, the author of many articles in trade publications, and has been interviewed and featured locally and nationally in a variety of media (newspapers, publication, and radio). His expertise in marketing, finance and equity structures has him consulting on media, film and entertainment projects throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is sought by web 2.0 companies, media companies, investors, film funds, attorneys, and entertainment-related businesses seeking his expertise in the areas of finance, investor relations, branding, forward-planning, and deal structuring. Wayne is on the Advisory Board for the New Media Film Festival (Los Angeles), and a judge for the AWS Screenplay Contest.