producer bios/headshots

PRODUCER BIOS/HEADSHOTS
PRODUCERS
Executive Producer Ridley Scott
Executive Producer Tony Scott
Executive Producer Rola Bauer
Executive Producer David W. Zucker
Executive Producer Michael Prupas
Executive Producer Tim Halkin
Executive Producer Jonas Bauer
Executive Producer David A. Rosemont
Producer John Ryan
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RIDLEY SCOTT
Golden Globe® and multiple Oscar®nominated and Emmy Award®-winning
director/producer Ridley Scott is one of the
most influential filmmakers of his time. His
career spans from his early success in
commercial direction to the expansion of his
vision into his ground breaking early films
such as Alien (1979) and Blade Runner
(1982), and on to the critical and
commercial success of his latest projects
Gladiator (2000) and American Gangster
(2007). Mr. Scott has personally received
over 40 prestigious award nominations,
many of which he has won.
Scott was born in South Shields,
Northumberland, England. Reared in London,
Cumbria, Wales and Germany, he returned
to Northeast England to live in Stockton-onTees. He studied at the West Hartlepool College of Art where he studied graphic design
and painting. Scott also studied at the Royal Academy of Art, where his contemporaries
include David Hockney. It was there that Scott made his first short film, Boy and a
Bicycle which starred his brother Tony.
Graduating with honors, Scott was awarded a travelling scholarship to the United States
for one year. During that time, he was employed by Time Life, Inc. where he worked
with award-winning documentarians Richard Leacock and D.A. Pennebaker. Upon his
return to the U.K., he joined the BBC as a production designer and, within a year, was
promoted to their directing team.
Scott began his feature film directing career with The Duellists, which brought him the
Grand Jury Prize at the 1978 Cannes Film Festival. His second film was the breakthrough
hit Alien, which won an Academy® Award for Special Effects. This was followed by Blade
Runner, starring Harrison Ford. The film is now considered one of the landmark science
fiction films of all time.
In 1992, Scott received his first Academy® Award nomination and a BAFTA nomination
for Best Director for Thelma and Louise. The film also was nominated for Best Picture by
the Academy and BAFTA.
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In 2002, Scott was nominated for an Academy® Award for his blockbuster Black Hawk
Down which he directed and produced with Jerry Bruckheimer. The movie was praised
for its accurate depiction of the 1993 American military effort in Somalia. He previously
was nominated for an Academy® Award for directing Gladiator, which won Best Picture
at the 2000 Academy® Awards. This epic and dramatic evocation of ancient Rome
starred Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix and was nominated for twelve awards,
winning five, including Best Actor (Russell Crowe) and Best Picture. Gladiator also won
both the Golden Globe® and British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)
Awards for Best Picture and grossed over $450 million dollars worldwide. Also in 2000,
Scott directed Hannibal, based on Thomas Harris’ sequel to The Silence of the Lambs,
which starred Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore.
These films have only further solidified Scott’s position as one of the most influential and
versatile filmmakers of our time, earlier confirmed by such motion pictures as Alien,
Blade Runner and Thelma and Louise. Some of Scott’s other directorial credits include,
Legend, starring Tom Cruise, Someone to Watch Over Me, starring Tom Berenger and
Black Rain, starring Michael Douglas and Andy Garcia.
In 2003, the director re-edited his cult classic Blade Runner for DVD release. The original
release became a science fiction classic and the “youngest” film added to the National
Film Archives maintained by the U.S. Library of Congress. Scott also re-cut his classic
Alien which was released last year to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Also in 2003, Scott
was knighted by the Queen of England.
Scott has involved himself in diverse areas of the film industry. He created Scott Free
Entertainment, RSA and Black Dog Films. He is co-chairman of The Mill, one of the
largest commercial production and post production houses in London. This company
boasts involvement in the visual effects of the following films: Shakespeare in Love,
Babe: Pig in the City, Pitch Black, Cats & Dogs, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Black Hawk Down and dozens of other films. In 2001, The Mill
received an Academy® Award for their visual effects work in Scott’s Gladiator.
Over the years, Ridley Scott has directed over two thousand commercials, many of which
have won awards at the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals, as well as being honored by
the New York Art Directors’ Club. In addition to his film work, Scott remains actively
involved with RSA. With offices in London, New York, and Los Angeles, RSA represents
some of the most acclaimed directors in the advertising industry.
Scott is also Co-Chairman of Pinewood Shepperton in London, one of the largest studio
facilities in Europe with forty-two stages, back lots and locations as well as award
winning post-production and full production support services. He and his brother were
part of a consortium that purchased Shepperton Studios in 1995 which merged with
Pinewood Studios in 2001.
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Scott is currently in production on Nottingham, a role-reversal of the classic Robin Hood
starring Russell Crowe.
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TONY SCOTT
Born in Stockton-on-Tees in North East
England, Tony Scott’s first foray into
filmmaking was not from behind the camera,
but rather in front of it. At the age of sixteen,
Scott appeared in Boy and Bicycle, a short film
marking the directorial debut of his then
twenty-three-year-old brother, Ridley. He
followed in his older brother’s footsteps,
studying at Grangefield School, West Hartlepool
College of Art and Sunderland Art School, the
latter for a fine arts degree. He subsequently
graduated from the Royal College of Art, fully
intending to become a painter. It was only the
success of his older brother’s fledging television
commercial production outfit, Ridley Scott
Associates (RSA), that turned his attentions
towards film.
In the course of the next two decades, Tony
Scott directed literally thousands of television
commercials for RSA, a company he co-founded with his brother in 1968, while also
overseeing the company’s operation during periods in which his brother was developing
his feature film career. Tony also took time out in 1975 to direct an adaptation of the
Henry James story The Author of Beltraffio for French television, a project he landed by
virtue of winning a coin-flip against his brother. After the considerable feature film
successes of fellow British commercial directors Hugh Hudson, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne
and his elder brother in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Scott was beginning to receive
overtures from Hollywood himself.
In 1982, Scott began production on The Hunger, starring David Bowie and Catherine
Deneuve as chic Manhattan socialite vampires. Willem Dafoe was introduced on film via
a small, walk-on part in the movie. The Hunger had elaborate photography and
sumptuous production design, unlike many pictures at the time of its release in 1983
and ultimately became a cult favorite.
In 1985, producers Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer signed Tony Scott to direct Top
Gun. Both of them were among the admirers of The Hunger. Top Gun became one of the
highest-grossing films of 1986, taking in more than US$176 million at the box office, and
making a star of its young lead, Tom Cruise.
Following Top Gun’s success, Scott found himself on Hollywood’s A list of action
directors. Reteaming with Simpson and Bruckheimer in 1987, Scott directed Eddie
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Murphy in the highly anticipated sequel Beverly Hills Cop II, which became one of the
year’s highest grossing films.
Scott’s next film brought him back into the Simpson-Bruckheimer fold for a big-budget,
box office-hit thriller, Crimson Tide, starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington.
From there, Tony Scott went on to direct the popular thriller, Enemy of the State,
starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman and the critically acclaimed, Spy Game with
Robert Redford and Brad Pitt.
More recently Scott reteamed with Denzel Washington for the futuristic action movie
Deja Vu. Its performance was spectacular both at the box office and with critics. Tony’s
newest feature film The Taking of Pelham 123, is in theatres now, starring Denzel
Washington and John Travolta
Tony, along with brother Ridley Scott, are co-producers of the TV series Numb3rs, and
have teamed up for the miniseries remake of The Andromeda Strain for A&E, which was
the 2nd highest rated show in the network’s history in May 2008.
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ROLA BAUER
Partner / Managing Director
Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominated
producer, Rola Bauer, began her career in the
entertainment industry working on film sets as
an assistant director of feature films and
television productions. Bauer now owns and
runs, together with her three partners, TANDEM
Communications, a vertically-integrated,
television production and worldwide distribution
company, based in Munich, Germany.
Bauer has accrued over 25 years of experience
in the fields of production, sales, and marketing.
Prior to founding TANDEM in 1999, Bauer was
hired in 1996 by ProSieben, one of Germany’s
first-tier broadcasters, to become Executive Vice
President of International Fiction. At ProSieben
she was responsible for setting up a new
division in international theatrical and television co-productions, as well as running the
departments of international series, animation and documentary. Collectively these
areas comprised approximately two thirds of the network's slots.
Before joining ProSieben, Bauer was the Paris-based President of Alliance International
Television. In this position she was responsible for international co-productions, sales
and marketing worldwide of Alliance's growing slate of television productions. In her
previous position as Vice President of Television Sales for Alliance International, she
played a key role in the launching and building of this subsidiary.
Bauer holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours degree in film and television from York
University Toronto, Canada.
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DAVID W. ZUCKER
David W. Zucker is President of Television
for Scott Free, and Executive Producer of the
forthcoming CBS drama, The Good Wife,
starring Julianna Margulies, as well as the
long-running CBS hit series, Numb3rs, set to
enter its sixth season. During his tenure,
Scott Free has also produced a steady
stream of event long form programs
including HBO's Into The West, sequel to the
Emmy-winning telefilm The Gathering
Storm, A&E's Emmy-nominated mini-series,
The Andromeda Strain, adapted from
Michael Crichton's landmark novel, and
TNT's epic six-hour spy thriller, The
Company, nominated for a Golden Globe®
and Broadcast Film Critics Award as Best
Television Film.
Currently in production, in addition to The
Good Wife and Numb3rs, is the 8-hour
limited series adaptation of Ken Follett's international best-seller, The Pillars of the Earth,
now filming in Hungary and Austria with Ian McShane, Rufus Sewell, Donald Sutherland,
Hayley Atwell, Eddie Redmayne and Sarah Parish.
New development include an adaptation of Philip K. Dick's classic novel, The Man In The
High Castle for the BBC, an international money-laundering thriller for HBO, a medieval
western at FBC, a domestic spy drama for FX and an independent film about the
Gorbachev-Reagan summit at Reykjavik.
Prior to joining Scott Free, Zucker worked as Story Editor on the popular CBS series,
Judging Amy, and wrote pilot scripts for CBS, ABC, and various stage plays. Zucker also
served as Vice President of Drama Series for CBS, and Vice President of Drama Series
and Current Programs at Warner Bros. Television, overseeing such shows as E.R. and
Murphy Brown.
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MICHAEL PRUPAS
President and CEO of Muse Entertainment
Enterprises, Michael Prupas is a 30-year
veteran of the Canadian and international
film and television industries. He
practiced entertainment law for 20 years,
including 15 years as a senior partner at
the law firm Heenan Blaikie. Prupas was
the head of the firm’s entertainment law
practice, which is the largest in Canada.
As a lawyer, he was involved in the initial
public offerings (IPO’s) of several
Canadian entertainment companies.
With his extensive experience in
international production financing as well
as legal and business affairs, Prupas
launched Muse Entertainment Enterprises
in June 1998, which has quickly become
one of the major independent production
companies in the country known for its
high-quality, award-winning products. Many of Muse’s projects are international coproductions. In 2000, he set up Muse Distribution International, which represents Muse
Entertainment and other independent Canadian producers at major markets and brings
Canadian programs to audiences worldwide.
Most recently, Mr. Prupas executive produced the mini-series The Phantom (Sci-Fi/Movie
Central) starring Ryan Carnes, Sandrine Holt and Isabella Rossellini and the television
movie Unstable (Lifetime) starring Shiri Appleby, David Alpay and Kathy Baker. He is
executive producer of the mini-series Ben Hur, filming from May to June 2009 in
Morocco; and the eight-hour limited series The Pillars of the Earth, shooting June to
November 2009 in Austria and Hungary.
In 2008, Prupas executive produced the mini-series The Last Templar (NBC/Global)
starring Mira Sorvino and Victor Garber as well as five sci-fi films for the Sci Fi Channel
and Super Channel (Rise of the Gargoyle, Hellhounds, Sand Serpents, Carny and Alien
Western). He also served as executive producer on the second season of the critically
acclaimed and five Gemini Award-winning series Durham County as well as three movies
for the Hallmark Channel (An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, Accidental Friendship and A
Christmas Choir). He was the executive producer of the series Crusoe for NBC and Citytv
and of the miniseries Impact for ABC.
In 2007, Prupas produced the feature film The Deal starring William H. Macy and Meg
Ryan, which premiered at the Sundance Festival. He also executive produced the TV
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movies Too Young to Marry starring Nina Dobrev and Polly Walker, I Me Wed starring
Erica Durance, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde starring Dougray Scott and Tom Skerritt, Girl’s Best
Friend starring Janeane Garofalo, Black Swarm starring Robert Englund, Swamp Devil
starring Bruce Dern, The Watch starring Clea DuVall and Infected starring Gil Bellows,
Judd Nelson and Isabella Rossellini.
In 2006, Mr. Prupas produced or executive produced a number of television projects
including the lavish, live-action adaptation of Kenneth Grahame’s children’s classic The
Wind in the Willows starring Bob Hoskins and Matt Lucas; (…)
the special-effects disaster miniseries Flood, starring Robert Carlyle, Jessalyn Gilsig and
Tom Courtenay; the miniseries Killer Wave, starring Angus MacFadyen, Karine Vanasse
and Tom Skerritt; the TV series Durham County, starring Hugh Dillon and Justin Louis;
the TV movies The Party Never Stops, starring Sarah Paxton and Chelsea Hobbs; House
Next Door, starring Lara Flynn Boyle and Cohn Ferguson; Tipping Point, starring
Katheryn Winnick and Nicolas Wright; House Sitter, starring Tori Spelling and Dean
McDermott; and Proof of Lies, starring Amanda Detmer and Jonathan Scarfe.
In 2005, he executive produced two award-winning television mini-series: Human
Trafficking, about the global reach of sex slavery directed by Christian Duguay and
starring Donald Sutherland, Mira Sorvino, Robert Carlyle and Rémy Girard as well as
Answered by Fire, about the violent creation of East Timor, starring David Wenham and
Isabelle Blais. Prupas also executive produced three seasons worth of episodes of the
award-winning dramatic series This is Wonderland, a series that has been sold for
broadcast in over 100 territories. He also executive produced the television movie
Murder in the Hamptons starring Poppy Montgomery and David Sutcliff as well as two
murder mystery TV movies, Mind over Murder, starring Tori Spelling, and Black Widower,
starring Kelly McGillis.
In 2004, he produced the feature film Niagara Motel starring Craig Ferguson, Anna Friel
and Kevin Pollak which was in official competition of the Shanghai International Film
Festival in June 2005. He executive produced the TV film Plain Truth, starring Mariska
Hargitay and Alison Pill.
His many other credits include the TV film Ice Bound, starring Susan Sarandon, The
Clinic, starring Mike Farrell, the television series Twice in a Lifetime, Largo Winch, Doc
(Season 1) and Tales from the Neverending Story that won two Awards of Excellence in
2003. He also executive produced a collection of Sherlock Holmes TV movies including
The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of Four, The Royal Scandal and The Case of the
Whitechapel Vampire, starring Matt Frewer and Kenneth Welsh.
His other credits as executive producer include the television movies The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow, The Stork Derby, The Investigation, The Many Trials of One Jane Doe
(winner of 4 Gemini Awards), and Chasing Cain II: Face and Silent Night, starring Linda
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Hamilton. The feature films he executive produced are The Guilty, starring Bill Pullman
and Joanne Whalley, Tracker, starring Casper Van Dien and Russell Wong and Savage
Messiah (winner of 3 Genie Awards), starring Polly Walker, Luc Picard and Isabelle Blais.
Mr. Prupas established the first entertainment law course at McGill University, which he
taught from 1997-2002. He coached a minor league baseball team for five years, served
on the Board of Trustees of the Banff Television Festival and sits on the Board of
Advisors of the Just for Laughs comedy festival and on the finance committee of the
Association des producteurs de film et de télévision du Québec.
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TIM HALKIN
Partner / Managing Director
PARTNER / MANAGING DIRECTOR
Bringing years of marketing, business affairs and
development experience with him, Emmy® and
Golden Globe® nominated producer, Tim Halkin,
joined Rola Bauer as a Partner in TANDEM
COMMUNICATIONS in November 1999.
Prior to TANDEM, Halkin worked for the German
television network, ProSieben. First hired as
Managing Director for their video arm, he was
promoted to Senior Vice President of the
International Fiction division in January 1998. In
this position, he played a key role in setting up
businesses in international theatrical coproductions, ran the Animation Department and
was Deputy for the entire division.
Prior to his work in television, Halkin headed up
marketing for Buena Vista Home Entertainment Germany - a company he helped set up.
During his 7-year tenure at Buena Vista, he set up operations in both Switzerland and
Austria.
New York born, Halkin came to Germany in 1983 and studied at the Ludwig-Maximillians
University in Munich prior to taking over all marketing activities for Walt Disney at one of
their licensees, EuroVideo.
In America, he studied at Fordham University in New York and worked in the area of
theatre stage and production management for renowned theatre institutions such as
Ellen Stuart's La Mama and the Chelsea Theatre Center prior to working in marketing for
the Metropolitan Opera, where he set up and run a direct marketing department.
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JONAS BAUER
Partner
Golden Globe® nominated producer Jonas Bauer
joined forces with Tandem Communications in
August 2004 as an affiliated producer and sales
agent, and was named partner in October 2007.
Bauer played a key role in securing the
international rights for Ridley Scott's miniseries
The Company, as well as the miniseries The Hades
Factor based on Robert Ludlum's best-selling
novel. Since then, he has been overseeing several
development projects, as well as acquiring
international rights. Jonas Bauer is also
responsible for TANDEM's sales in Italy and Spain.
Prior to TANDEM, Bauer was Head of International
Production at the DeAngelis Group in Rome,
responsible for international financing, production and distribution. In this capacity, he
put together financing for over a dozen projects and produced, amongst others, the
miniseries Julius Caesar for TNT and ARD.
Before entering the television industry, Jonas Bauer was a management consultant for
several years at Bossard Consultants in Munich. In 1995 he started working for
ProSieben in advertising sales and subsequently joined the Kirch Group as assistant to
Jan Mojto, with a focus on English-language co-productions.
Bauer holds an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau and a Bachelor of Arts with a major in
history and literature from Princeton University. Jonas Bauer speaks four languages
fluently.
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DAVID A. ROSEMONT
Emmy® Award winning producer, David A.
Rosemont has earned the unique distinction over
his television career of associating with some of
the biggest international talents in the film
industry including Steven Spielberg, Ridley
Scott, Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris, Shirley
Maclaine, Quincy Jones, Magic Johnson, Sam
Shepard, Liza Minnelli, Tom Skerrit, Kathy
Bates, William H. Macy, Helen Mirren, Lauren
Bacall, Kristin Scott Thomas, Kristen Davis,
Matthew Modine and many more. He has
produced some of the most prestigious films for
television and has been nominated for three
Emmy Awards and three Golden Globes.
Rosemont has won the Peabody award, two
Critics Choice Awards, The Media Access Award,
The Celebration of Diversity Award, The AFI
Award of Excellence, the Christopher Award, and
the Emmy Award for Best Picture for the
critically acclaimed Door To Door.
Rosemont has produced films for almost every major television studio including ABC,
NBC, CBS, Showtime, The Hallmark Hall of Fame, Dreamworks, Scott Free and Turner
Network Television where he produced the epic twelve hour mini series, Into The West
executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Into The West was seen by a record 81 million
people during the course of its six week run on TNT and was nominated for 16 Emmys
including Best Miniseries. Rosemont also produced the international six hour miniseries
The Company for Sony, TNT and Ridley Scott, starring Michael Keaton, Chris O’Donnell
and Alfred Molina.
Some of Rosemont’s forty films include Graham Greene’s The Tenth Man, The West Side
Waltz, Purgatory, Riders of the Purple Sage, The Long Road Home, Henry James’ Turn of
the Screw, Robin Cooks Harmful Intent, What Love Sees, The Mixed Up Files of Mrs.
Basil E. Frankweiler, The Wool Cap, The Seventh Stream, and a remake of High Noon...
Rosemont recently produced the critically acclaimed film, Gifted Hands starring
CubaGooding Jr, and America starring Rosie O’Donnell. He is currently in production on
an 8 hour international miniseries called The Pillars of the Earth based on the bestselling
novel by Ken Follett.
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JOHN RYAN
Multi award-nominated John Ryan is a veteran
producer with 30 years experience producing a
wide range of film and television projects.
Ryan’s credits include Saving Grace, Beautiful
People, John Woo’s Blackjack, Lonesome Dove
(series), Salem Witch Trials, the Emmy®
nominated miniseries Judy Garland: Me and My
Shadows and the Emmy® nominated Hitler: The
Rise of Evil. Ryan’s current project is the eight
hour limited series The Pillars of the Earth, an
adaptation of the bestselling novel written by Ken
Follett.
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