About The Filmmakers



Director/producer Gary Winick received a Master of Fine Arts degree from both the University of Texas at Austin and the American Film Institute (AFI). He previously directed two films for the home-video market, "Out of the Rain" and "Curfew." "Sweet Nothing" marks Winick's feature-film directorial debut.

Winick also directed theater at The Juilliard School and Naked Angels in New York City. At the AFI, he earned the Remy Martin Award for his producing and editing work on "Punk," directed by Carl Franklin.

Producer Rick Bowman previously co-produced the concert film "For Those About to Rock -- Monsters In Moscow," which chronicled performances by bands such as AC/DC and Metallica at the first-ever festival-style concert in Russia, attended by more than 500,000 people following the fall of Communism. He was also co-producer of Winick's prior film, "Out of the Rain."

Executive producer Mark Ross was coordinating producer of "A Call to Reunion," the Inaugural Concert for President Clinton. He also produced the 1991 Freedom Concert, presented to the youth of Russia for standing down the Communists during the attempted coup that year. The event was documented in the concert film "For Those About to Rock -- Monsters in Moscow," which Ross executive produced.

Co-producer RICHIE VETTER has had a diverse career as a musician, songwriter, producer, writer and director. After years as a studio musician, Vetter co-founded Blank Tapes Recording Studios in New York City, where artists such as Madonna, Talking Heads and the B-52s recorded breakthrough tracks. Vetter produced more than 150 music videos for top recording artists, including LL Cool J's landmark clip, "Mama Said Knock You Out."

More recently, Vetter produced the cable special "Harry Connick Jr. -- Live at the Paramount"; the concert/documentary film "Stolen Moments," featuring leading hip-hop and rap artists and benefiting the AIDS-awareness Red Hot Organization; and the concert film "Red Hot + Country." Vetter is currently producing the concert/documentary film "Memphis," chronicling that city's rich musical heritage and contemporary scene, and the independent film "Sam," which marks his feature-film directorial debut.

London-based writer Lee Drysdale has had three of his screenplays produced. The first was "Body Contact," a controversial musical-comedy commissioned by the BBC and directed by Bernard Rose. After moving to the U.S., Drysdale wrote and directed "Leather Jackets," starring Bridget Fonda, Cassian Elwes and D.B. Sweeney, before writing "Sweet Nothing." Drysdale presently resides and works in London's West End.

Director of photography MAKOTO WATANABE worked with director Winick at the American Film Institute while both were students there. Watanabe photgraphed Winick's previous films, "Curfew" and "Out of the Rain." Watanabe and Winick both worked on Carl Franklin's short film, "Punk," while at the AFI. Since graduating from the esteemed institute, Watanabe has been busy in the U.S. and Japan, shooting commercials, short films and features. His film credits include "Emergency Call," "Broken Heart," "Natural Woman," "Little Noises," "The Enchantment," "Assassin" and "The Lawless Land." His short film credits include "American Wilderness." His commercial work has included ads for high-profile clients such as Toyo Tire, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Canon.

Editor NIELS MUELLER is a graduate of Tufts University in Boston and of the graduate film program at the University of Califonia Los Angeles. He has worked professionally as a director, writer and editor. He has directed television for Castle Rock Entertainment and the Fox network, music videos for MTV and numerous television commercials. Mueller is also a produced writer, a specialty he utilizes in his approach to editing, which he considers the last crucial step in the storytelling process of a film.

Composer STEVEN M. STERN received his degree in film music composition from the esteemed Berklee College of Music in Boston. Moving to Los Angeles after graduation, Stern's early credits include scoring Amnesty International spots and composing the source music for the television movie "Between Love and Hate." While an engineer at Media Ventures, he worked with composer Hans Zimmer on such films as "I'll Do Anything," "Renaissance Man" and "The Lion King" and with Marc Mancina on "Speed."

Stern's composing work for trailers includes "The Color of Night," "Just Cause," "The Client" and "Congo." He has composed the scores for the Showtime original series "The Outer Limits" and "Poltergeist: The Legacy" and recently completed a package of music for the new MSNBC 24-hour news channel. Stern also scored the suspense thriller "The Beneficiary" and composed additional music for the summer blockbuster "The Rock."

Production designer AMY TAPPER began her career as an editor at Metropolitan Home magazine after graduating from Brown University.

Tapper currently works as a production designer/art director in film, advertising, music video and editorial. Her film credits include "The Wedding Banquet," "Amateur," "Search and Destroy" and "Flirt." She resides in Manhattan.

Costume designer FRANNE LEE has won Emmy, Tony and Obie Awards for her work. She gained widespread industry notice as the Emmy-winning costume designer for the first five seasons of "Saturday Night Live." She is currently working on the Showtime cable soap-opera parody "Sherman Oaks," having other television credits that include "The Radio City Christmas Special," "The Woodstock Special," "Cartoons Lost and Found," "The Comedy Zone" and "The Stephanie Miller Show."

Lee's additional film credits include "Local Stigmatic," "Baby It's You," "One Trick Pony" and Gilda Radner's one-woman performance film, "Gilda Live." Her extensive theater experience includes award-winning designs for Harold Prince's stagings of "Sweeney Todd" and "Candide" in addition to the national tour of "Camelot" and performances of "The Skin of Our Teeth," "Rock ‘n' Roll the First 5000 Years," "Him," "Falsettoland," "The Winter's Tale," "Blood Wedding," "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," "Eating Raoul," David Lynch's "Industrial Symphony #1," "Alice in Wonderland," "Ashamadi," "The Girl of the Golden West" and "Funky Crazy Boogaloo Boy."


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