Press Kit

Press Kit / EPK
Grinder
“GRINDER” starring Brandon Ruckdashel, Jon Fleming, Sarah Lazar, Jose Ramos, Jay Reum
and introducing Tyler Austin a Brandon Ruckdashel film
with cinematography by Derek Means original music by Chris Winham
produced by Barney Oldfield executive producers Wes Cole & Gregg Colbert
in Association with Ruckus Film Works
RUCKUS
FILM WORKS
Short Synopsis
Luke (Tyler Austin), an innocent teenager, in search of his sexual identity, leaves his abusive home in
the suburbs for the promise of a modeling job in New York City. There he meets Rich (Jon Fleming),
an unscrupulous model agent and is dragged into the dark world of New York nightlife. Tim (Brandon
Ruckdashel), a photographer who leads a double life in spite of being engaged to a young woman
(Sarah Lazar), becomes obsessed with Luke, and tries to save him from his fate.
Long Synopsis
Luke (Tyler Austin), an innocent teenager. in search of his sexual identity, leaves his abusive home
in New Jersey after a violent argument with his father (Jose Ramos) for the promise of a modeling
job in New York. He arrives at Port Authority and meets with Rich (Jon Fleming) , an unscrupulous
model agent who he had met online. The agent grooms him for his skin magazine ROCK HARD and
passes him off to his investor (Jordan Joseph) for escort work. Having witnessed the degradation of
Michael (Jay Reum), another model, at the hands of Rich, he resists Rich’s advances. Tim (Brandon
Ruckdashel), a former male escort who now works as a photographer and leads a double life in spite
of being engaged to a young woman (Sarah Lazar), becomes obsessed with Luke. Tim has hidden
his past as well as his current anonymous hookups from his future wife. When Rich sexually assaults
Luke in the climactic scene, Tim must decide whether to keep his double life secrete or save Luke
from Rich.
Production: April 2015
TRT ~ 86 minutes / Color
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35
Sound: Dolby 5.1
Formats Available: Bluray, DVD,
DCP
Locations: Manhattan, Brooklyn
Tyler Austin - LUKE
Tyler Austin was born and raised on Long Island, NY and studied theatre and film production at the
University at Buffalo. Although his training included being behind camera (focused mostly on cinematography and editing), his passion for being on stage and in front of the camera kept him from staying
behind the scenes for too long. This is his first professional feature film, previously working at local theaters in and around Buffalo,
NY. His previous roles include Richard (The Lover), Antonio (The Tempest), and Sir Thomas Grey
(Henry V).
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Jon Fleming - RICH
Jon Fleming is best known for his roles in comedies and horror features as well as the lead in numerous TV series and guest star on many more. He is lead in the upcoming feature Grinder.
Jon was born and raised in Wisconsin and spent his time playing sports before he got into acting. He
would use his background in sports in numerous roles. On CSI: New York he played a pro baseball
player who got kicked out of the league for cocaine use. In Will And Grace he played the recurring
part of Russell over its five year run as well as a guest star as Diego, a trainer, on another James Burrows show Gary Unmarried.
Jon got his start in daytime t.v. He played the role of Clem in Passions and the Mystery Man in Days
Of Our Lives. He was Speedo Guy on MADtv, the jogger on Desperate Housewives, and more recently various characters in Deadly Sins / Deadly Affairs.
Jon made the move to feature films with horror films including Camp Slaughter, Frat House Massacre,
and Violence Of The Mind. In Grinder he plays Rich, a manipulative model agent.
In addition to film Jon develop a large fan base for his work on television. In the popular Dante’s
Cove series he played the lead role of Adam a drug addicted trust fund party boy. He also did numerous guest star roles in series that include Castle and Medium
Jon studied acting in New York and Los Angeles and resides on both coasts. When not acting he enjoys poetry, music, and hiking.
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Brandon Ruckdashel - TIM
Brandon Ruckdashel is an actor most known for playing Zach on the hit HBO/Cinemax tv series
Co-Ed Confidential. He is currently shooting Grinder, a thriller set to shoot in New York in April of
2015. In Grinder, Brandon plays a photographer who tries to save a young runaway from the clutches
of a ruthless pimp. His past films include Changing the Game (Lionsgate) and Torino Film Festival
stand out Boy in a Bathtub.
Brandon has appeared as a guest star on The Lair (HereTV!), Life on Top (HBO/Cinemax), and
Deadly Sins (DiscoveryID). He also starred in the Jerry Zucker pilot National Debt (TBS).
Appearing on the stages of New York and Los Angeles his performance as Lorenzo in Ascension
(Lion Theater) garnered him praise from New York Times critic Anita Gates.
“...But the entrance of Lorenzo (Brandon Ruckdashel) changes everything.
The 23-year-old Mr. Ruckdashel is making his Off Broadway debut and it is a stunning one.
This is partly because he has the intense blond good looks of a young Brad Pitt with a soupçon
of James Dean.
But Mr. Ruckdashel’s performance is also noteworthy because his Lorenzo vibrates with the
smug and nonchalant power of youth. Father Calvin, it appears, is determined to resist him
physically, but the odds aren’t good. It’s not clear who could resist when Lorenzo whispers:
‘God’s not here now. It’s just you and me.’”
Brandon is a Minnesota native and also lived in Utah and Virginia while he was growing up. He attended East Carolina University and holds a BFA in Theatre Arts. When not acting, Brandon volunteers as the program director for NewFilmmakers New York, a weekly film series which screens nearly a thousand films a year, and serves as a juror for the Asian American International Film Festival.
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Jose Ramos (Dwayne) & Tyler Austin (Luke)
Julian Gavilanes - Austin
Seattle, Washington native, Julian Gavilanes studied at The New York Conservatory for Dramatic
Arts. Notable credits include Matthew Lillard’s Fat Kid Rules the World (SXSW Audience Award) and
21 and Over (Relativity Media). Most recently he was seen in Z Nation (SyFy) and Star Leaf.
Sarah Lazar - Sarah
Sarah Lazar, originally from Rochester NY, attended college in Buffalo where she graduated with a
BFA in musical theatre. Various theatrical credits include roles in Hedda Gabler, Spring Awakening,
RENT, The Rocky Horror Show and Les Miserables, She has also worked with RWS & Associates as
an entertainer for various projects over the last two years. Grinder marks her film debut.
Jose Ramos - Dwayne
Jose Ramos is a New York City based actor and career firefighter. He studied at at The Atlantic Theater Company and was most recently seen on stage in a production of Fish Eyes and one act play
Addiction at the Northport One-Act Play Festival. Films he has worked on include What It Was and
Grinder. On television he has been seen on One Life To Live and All My Children as well as other
various independent films, commercials and stage productions.
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Jose Ramos (Dwayne) & Tyler Austin (Luke)
Joshua Dye - Christian
Born and raised in upstate New York, Josh was recruited to play college football at a private university
and studied acting at The William Esper studio. On television he has been seen in the pilot of Boardwalk Empire (HBO), MOMsters (DiscoveryID) and a national commercial for Playboy fragrance. On
the New York stage he has been seen in the off Broadway drama Confessions of Poverty (NYC
Fringe Festival) and is a cast member of the interactive theater company LiveInTheater (Drama Desk
Nomination). Josh has worked on films The Goddess, Waves Full of Bliss, and upcoming Grinder.
He is currently filming The Dirty Thirty.
Jay Reum - Michael
Hailing from Seattle, Washington, Jay worked with various youth theatres and currently trains at the
UCB Theater. On the New York stage he has been seen off-broadway in Quit the Road Jack (TheatreLab), Eclipsed! (Braodway Comedy Club), and The Lower Depths (The Producers Club). Television credits include Monsters Inside Me (Animal Planet) and I’d Kill for You (DiscoveryID).
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Joshua Dye (Christian) & Brandon Ruckdashel (Tim)
Derek Means - Cinematographer
Derek’s love for stories started when his father dropped off a dusty box of crumbling sci fi novels in
his room when he was 8, and matured as he devoured literature and film through high school and
college. He didn’t pick up a camera until he had completed a B.S. in Computer Science and a B.A. in
Justice; worked for the US Secret Service; helped to develop software to teach ESL students english
through a web-based phonetic speech recognition system; spent time as a professional sailor in the
Baltic, Atlantic, and Mediterranean; sweated on an asphalt road construction crew in the Colorado
Rockies; instructed Muay Thai; and completed over 300 skydiving jumps. It was while hitchhiking and
walking 14,0000 miles from Munich to Cape Town that he became fascinated with the camera as an
expressive device. Visual media became a way of reflecting on unconsciously held perspectives and
assumptions as his travels took him further from the known.
Derek returned to NYC in 2010 and since then has dedicated himself to learning the filmmaking skills
necessary to visually explore the slippery nature of experience and perspective and how this impacts
human communication. To this end, he has worked on film sets as craft services, production assistant, camera assistant, grip, camera operator, cinematographer, and director on a diverse assortment
of projects. He currently works as a freelance Director of Photography in the NYC indie film scene. On
the side, he works with Nikki Holck and Gina Schiappacasse exploring the ways in which physicality
is its own form of communication.
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Chris Claypool - Sound
Chris Claypool 35 year old Audio Engineer who spent 8 years working in Hollywood’s Sunset Sound
and Sunset Sound Factory, as well as many other private studios in the Los Angeles area. Chris was
invited on set in LA to shadow an A list mixer on an insecticide commercial, and fell in love with the
craft of location sound. Already looking for a change, he decided to pick up his bags and headed off
to NY. With a few conversations with other location sound people local to NYC, he found himself busy
and moving fast. NYC is the place to be! Searching for gigs on Craigslist, he got into contact with
Brandon Ruckdashel and jumped on board for the GRINDER location sound position. The rest is history.
Chris Winham - Composer
Chris Winham is a musician that wears several musical hats. With a formal musical education of
composition and improvisation at New York’s Bard College, Chris went on to perform as a pianist/
keyboard player with a number of Jazz, Rock and Pop artists and groups around the world.
In 1993 Chris opened his own ‘Project North’ recording studio in Rhinebeck, NY. There he would not
only produce and engineer for a litany of respected artists but would also compose and record his
own music for various visual media. Chris’ music can be heard in hundreds of documentaries, TV
Shows and advertisements.
In 2007 Chris was a founding member of Fliktrax LLC (www.Fliktrax.com), a Music Library/Production
company that continues to thrive to this day. Chris is Fliktrax’s head composer and handles almost
all the commissioned custom music work that the company accepts. Due to the varied client base of
Fliktrax, both Chris’ vast library music and custom scores can be heard in a myriad of reality shows,
commercials, trade show presentations and feature films.
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Krystal Michel - Special Makeup Effects Artist
Art has always been a way of life for Krystal Michel. Born and raised in NY, Krystal found her desire
and inspiration for art since childhood. Her career began when she became a licensed esthetician
and a micropigmenation specialist. The art of tattooing makeup became a thrill for her as she permantely left her marks on thousands of woman’s eyebrows, eyes and lips. Krystal spent some time
in Singapore studying eyebrow and eyelah services which heightened her skill level as a technician.
Shortly after that she made her way to Hollywood, CA to attend Joe Blasco Makeup Training Center
to train as a professional special effects makeup artist.
She specializes in all aspects of makeup including body painting, airbrushing, special effects and the
making of prosthetics for film, television, print, and theatre. She is a natural born educator and also
freelances throughout NYC as an instructor in many schools. Krystal has aligned herself creativity with some of the most talented people from around the world, working for established production
companies and photographers. Recently she has started working for Lexicon Inc providing special
effects makeup for military combat training throughout the states.
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Gregg Colbert - Executive Producer
Birthplace: Shreveport, La, and moved to Atlanta Ga in 1996. Studied Cosmetology at a Guys
Shreveport Academy of Cosmetology. Studied with Vidal Sassoon from 1997-2000. Employeed with
Van Michael Salon in Atlanta Ga. Since 2000 where he has been acting New Talents Director since
2006. Having always been an avid lover of film and stage, Gregg produced his first film “Playing Warhol” which was directed by Wes Cole.
Wes Cole - Executive Producer
Originally from Birmingham, Alabama Wes is a lifelong creative rebel and former party boy. After serving in the 82nd Airborne and spending a number of years in sales Wes became a filmmaker. His first
film “Playing Warhol” was an Official Selection of NewFilmmakers New York. He counts Andy Warhol
and Rob Zombie as his creative inspirations.
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Barney Oldfield - Producer
Barney grew up in New York City in a family long associated with the film business, his grandfather
the founder of an early Hollywood studio and his uncle a partner at another.
Barney started as a booking agent at a small music agency. He soon became Director of Club Booking at Music Productions, a major New England agency, and Talent Coordinator for its On Stage television series. While still a teenager, he became a General Partner and Director of College Booking at
Sundance Music, where he developed major concert packages and worked with record companies to
introduce new artists to college markets.
Barney then attended Harvard College but managed to keep up his ties with the entertainment business as the New England columnist for the alternative Houston Southern Voice newspaper. In his
senior year he and his roommate began Musician’s Magazine in their dorm room. After graduation
they worked full time on their magazine, which quickly grew into a successful and profitable national
publication.
After selling Musician’s to a media company, Barney moved to New York City where he worked for
Forbes Magazine and attended New York University’s Graduate School of Film, Video & Broadcasting. Barney became a Board Member and later Chairman of Anthology Film Archive, New York’s Center for Experimental and Independent Film. There he was instrumental in bringing the Havana Film
Festival to New York and became a member of its Festival Board.
After graduation in 1996, he drew on his booking agency experience and started Barney Oldfield
Management. The company managed then, as it does today, only a small number of clients. In addition to traditional talent management functions, he worked closely with directors and producers to
develop and to finance independent and studio projects featuring his clients. The company opened
offices in New York and in Los Angeles.
In 1997 Barney also became General Manager of Angelika Entertainment Corporation and was responsible for its restructuring and daily operations as well as for the use of the well-known Angelika
trademark. As a resource for the filmmaking community he began NewFilmmakers, which weekly
screens new independent films in New York and in Los Angeles, and the Harvard Film Group, which
has over 1000 alumni members nationally.
At Angelika Barney produced the popular Too Much Sleep feature, nominated for the Independent
Spirit Award, and the controversial Zero Day feature, winner of Best Feature and Best Actor Awards
at the recent Slamdunk Film Festival. In addition to successful film projects Barney developed and
produced the MetroAngelika series and popular television & Internet programming for Cablevision
and other clients.
In 2009 Barney executive produced two Internet branded series. Easy To Assemble with Ileana Douglas and Jeff Goldblum was sponsored by IKEA and CTRL on NBC with Tony Hale and Steve Steve
Howey by Nestea. He returned to film with three features in production.
Barney lives in Los Angeles and New York. He is member of the Harvard Clubs in Boston, New York,
and Los Angeles. He is also a member of the Union League Club in New York, the California Pioneers
in San Francisco, and the Friars Club in Beverly Hills.
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Brandon Ruckdashel - Director
This is Brandon’s directorial debut and his second feature behind the camera working in production.
He came to directing through the non tradional route of industry experience and necessity. At 16 he
started out doing post production sound design and after moving to New York was advised to start
working as a fashion photographer by one of his mentors. These side gigs eventually began merging
together after the advent of digital cinema.
In addition to acting over the last ten years Brandon has worked with his producing partner, Barney
Oldfield, as the marketing director for New York based film series NewFilmmakers and became the
program director three years ago. He is responsible for programming over 55 film programs a year
and overseeing the screening of nearly 1,000 films anually.
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Production Notes
Grinder is a story that is very close to my heart. Each year young men come to New York chasing after their dreams of becoming actors and models. These aspiring artists meet with various characters
over the early parts of their career and it was my hope to breathe life into a few of these people.
The seed for Grinder was planted when my long time business partner, Barney Oldfield, and I decided to make an LGBT film in December of 2013. In a typical Arkoff style approach we shot a prototype
poster and came up with a title. A major influence on our selection of title was the famous cover of a
woman going through a meat grinder illustrated by William Nirenberg for Hustler magazine. A Grinder
seemed to be the perfect representation of what New York does to young talent in their first few years
in town.
After several rounds of auditioning we had a cast which we were quite happy with, matching both the
aesthetic that we were going for and the talent to pull it off. The independent market for LGBT films
is saturated with campy comedies and we decided to do something which has rarely been accomplished. I wanted to make a thriller which took the focus off of the more caricatured gay community
and placed an almost uncomfortable lens on the seedier aspects.
I was unhappy with the typical formula of one man, one queen, one lesbian, and a fly. It felt overdone
and if we were going to make an impact in the post ”Looking” (HBO) environment we needed to focus
on characters who came off as more genuine real world people.
The script itself went through numerous rounds of rewrites and I think my good friend Brandon Maxwell deserves a huge credit in tearing me apart on that first script. He saw something greater within
what I was doing and stretched me even further than I thought I was capable of as a writer.
Wes Cole and Gregg Colbert came into the picture in September of 2014. Barney and I were running
our weekly screening series and we had Wes’s film “Playing Warhol” in the program for the night. He
and I spoke and after convincing him horror films were a bad idea he asked what we were up to. The
rest is history.
The true credit for completing this film goes to our crew though. Without Derek Means, Alexa Wolf,
and Ryan Schwerzler we would have no picture to speak of. They carried lights up two floor walk ups
and created a cinematic vision of what had been germinating in my brain. Chris Claypool, who is perhaps the best sound recordist I have ever worked with. In a twelve day shoot I only remember hearing
“BOOM!” once and that is a true accomplishment for his first feature film.
I think everyone involved really has a movie they can be proud of!
Brandon Ruckdashel
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Press Clippings
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©11/03/15
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