ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

JON POLL (Director) makes his feature film debut with the edgy coming-of-age comedy CHARLIE BARTLETT, after having already established himself as one of the most sought-after editors in Hollywood. Poll honed his skill with comic timing and seamless storytelling while collaborating closely with Jay Roach on such runaway blockbuster hits as the beloved AUSTIN POWERS films and the outrageous MEET THE PARENTS/MEET THE FOCKERS series. His work as an editor on more than 20 features also includes David Zucker’s SCARY MOVIE 3, Danny DeVito’s DEATH TO SMOOCHY, Jay Roach’s sports dramedy MYSTERY, ALASKA, CABIN BOY, FOREVER YOUNG as well as serving as second editor on Peter Weir’s MASTER AND COMMANDER. Poll most recently switched gears to serve as Executive Producer of the acclaimed 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, directed by Judd Apatow and featuring the screen breakthrough of Steve Carell.

It was Jay Roach who first brought to Poll the young screenwriter Gustin Nash’s script for CHARLIE BARTLETT – and Poll knew right away that its mixture of outrageous humor and provocative themes was precisely the match he’d been looking for to make the move to directing.

Poll’s upcoming projects include directing the romantic-comedy OFF STRATEGY, which will produced by Roach.

DAVID PERMUT (Producer) David Permut is well-known for his ability to conceive and recognize original high-concept projects. His production of RICHARD PRYOR: LIVE IN CONCERT was the first theatrical live comedy-concert and is the most successful of its kind. In 1987, it was Permut’s hit comedy DRAGNET, starring Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks, which spawned the idea of remaking television classics into major motion pictures. Permut’s countless other credits include THE MARRYING MAN, written by Neil Simon ; CAPTAIN RON, starring Kurt Russell; EDDIE, starting Whoopi Goldberg; DOUBLE TAKE, starring Orlando Jones and Eddie Griffin; and DYSFUNKTIONAL FAMILY, also starring Griffin. In addition, Permut conceived the idea behind of the hit comedy spoof FARCE OF THE PENGUINS with writer and director Bob Saget. FARCE was narrated by Samuel L. Jackson and had voiceovers by some of biggest names in comedy. Other acclaimed credits from Permut include BLIND DATE, directed by Blake Edwards and starring Kim Basinger and Bruce Willis in his screen debut, and the Jon Woo blockbuster FACE/OFF, starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage.

Permut’s work also carries to the small screen, having produced a number of prestigious television programs. These include MISTRESSand TRUTH OF THE HEART for CBS, LOVE LEADS THE WAY for ABC/Disney and SOME KIND OF LOVE also for CBS.

Permut’s eclectic development slate is virtually with every major studio in Hollywood. This includes Gustin Nash’s next film, YOUTH IN REVOLT, slated to begin this summer with The Weinstein Company; WITHOUT A BADGE, a cop drama to be directed by Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY); and THE C.O., written by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Robert Schenkkan (BAND OF BROTHERS). THE C.O. is the true story of unlikely hero Desmond Doss, a WWII solider who refused to bear arms and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery by President Truman. BROTHER SAM, a biopic about controversial comedian Sam Kinison written by Academy Award-nominated writers Shari Springer-Berman and Robert Pulcini, is also being produced by Permut in association with Tom Shadyac (BRUCE ALMIGHTY) and Universal Pictures.

In addition, Permut is currently working the documentary RESPECT focused on the life of comedy legend Rodney Dangerfield. The documentary is pieced together from hundreds of hours of footage that Permut personally shot of Dangerfield over the years. The film promises an intimate, never before seen profile of the iconic comedian.

This fall, Permut’s production LOCAL COLOR, directed by George Gallo and starring Ray Liotta and Armin Muller-Stahl, will be opening in theaters.

David Permut is the president of his production company Permut Presentations, Inc. with offices in Los Angeles, CA.

BARRON KIDD (Producer) Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Kidd graduated from Kenyon College in 1990 with a B.A. He’s only had two jobs in his life: oil and gas wildcatter and movie producer. Kidd is currently working with producing partner Sid Gall and Texon Entertainment developing and financing film projects.

Filmmaker JAY ROACH (Producer) has garnered a reputation as one of Hollywood's producer/directors with a magic comedic touch, having helmed a string of very funny and successful hits. Roach made his directorial debut in 1997 with “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery,” starring Mike Myers, following that with the sequels “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” and “Austin Powers in Goldmember.” Roach also directed and produced “Meet the Parents” and the follow-up “Meet the Fockers,” starring Ben Stiller, Robert Deniro, Barbara Streisand, and Dustin Hoffman. Prior to Parents, he also directed the wry and touching “Mystery, Alaska,” starring an ensemble cast headed by Russell Crowe.

Roach most recently produced “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan,” with Sacha Baron Cohen. Prior to that he produced “The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.”

A graduate of Stanford University, Roach received his Master's degree in film production from the University of Southern California. While at USC, his short subject film Asleep at the Wheel was nominated for a student academy award.

SIDNEY KIMMEL (Producer) is chairman and CEO of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, the Los Angeles and New York-based production, finance and distribution company.

Active in the motion picture industry for more than 20 years, Kimmel is responsible for such pictures as “Blame It On Rio,” “9½ Weeks” and “The Emperor’s Club.” His passion as an independent producer eventually led to the founding of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment in October 2004. Producing up to ten features per year, the company works with esteemed filmmaking talent to create quality, commercial films.

Kimmel and Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, in association with Universal Pictures, financed Academy Award nominee Paul Greengrass’ critically acclaimed “United 93”, as well as executive producing Billy Ray’s “Breach,” starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe and Laura Linney. Universal also released Nick Cassavetes’ “Alpha Dog,” the controversial film starring Emile Hirsch, Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone and Justin Timberlake, which Kimmel produced and financed.

Kimmel is producing a diverse slate of films in addition to “Charlie Bartlett” including the upcoming “Synecdoche, New York” starring Academy-Award winning actor Phillip Seymour Hoffman directed by Academy Award winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman; the recently wrapped “Management” starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson directed by Stephen Belber; “Adventureland” directed by “Superbad” director Greg Mottola and starring Jesse Eisenberg and Kristen Stewart; the MGM release and critically acclaimed “Lars and the Real Girl” directed by Craig Gillespie starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Mortimer; the Frank Oz film “Death at a Funeral,” starring Matthew Macfadyen and Peter Dinklage released by MGM; Kasi Lemmons’ “Talk to Me,” starring Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor, released by Focus Features; Ira Sachs’ “Married Life,” starring Pierce Brosnan, Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel McAdams; “The Kite Runner” directed by Marc Forster which is being produced with DreamWorks Pictures, Participant Productions and Parkes/MacDonald Productions to be released by Paramount Vantage in December 2007.
In addition to his success in filmed entertainment, Kimmel founded Jones Apparel Group in 1975, which has since grown into a $4.5billion diversified fashion industry empire. Still active as the chairman of Jones’ board of directors, he has also established the Sidney Kimmel Foundation and its subsidiary, the Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research, which is one of the nation's largest individual donors to cancer research. Kimmel is extremely involved in philanthropic endeavors benefiting his hometown of Philadelphia as well as Jewish education and continuity. He recently oversaw the opening of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, home of the world-renowned Philadelphia Orchestra. He is also a partner in Cipriani International, the acclaimed international restaurant and catering establishment, and is a part owner of The Miami Heat.

WILLIAM HORBERG (Executive Producer), President of Production of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, comes to the post from two years heading Wonderland Films, his independent production company that had a first look deal with DreamWorks SKG. Prior to Wonderland, Horberg was partnered with Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella in their film and television production company Mirage Enterprises for eleven years. During his tenure at Mirage, he produced Mr. Minghella’s “Cold Mountain” and his earlier film “The Talented Mr. Ripley” as well as “The Quiet American,” “Heaven,” “Sliding Doors,” “Blow Dry” and “Searching For Bobby Fischer.” In television, he was Executive Producer of “Poodle Springs,” directed by Bob Rafelson for HBO, and was the creator and producer of “Fallen Angels,” an anthology series of hard-boiled crime stories for Showtime. Prior to working at Mirage, Horberg joined Paramount Pictures in 1987 as a Creative Executive and was eventually promoted to Senior Vice President of Production. During his tenure at Paramount, he oversaw the development and production of such films as "The Addams Family," "Dead Again," "Regarding Henry," "Naked Gun 2 ½," "Soapdish," "Godfather III" and "Ghost," among others.

JENNIFER PERINI (Executive Producer) oversees the production and development slate for Jay Roach's Everyman Pictures. She joined Roach (director of “Austin Powers,” “Meet The Parents,” “Meet The Fockers”) and his company in July 2002 and has worked on projects such as “Borat,”“Used Guys” and “Meet The Fockers.”

Before that, Perini worked at the then DreamWorks-based ImageMovers from its inception in July 1997 as Head of Creative Affairs.The company was formed by partners Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey,.At ImageMovers, Perini was responsible for bringing and developing most of the company’s slate of projects, including “Monster House” and “Beowulf,” and wasresponsible for securing writers to adapt many of Zemeckis’ film ideas.

Before that, she had been Vice President of Theatrical Production at Warner Bros. where she was involved in the production of “Tin Cup,” “Disclosure” and “Something To Talk About, “and oversaw the development of many high priority projects including “U.S. Marshals,” “Sphere” and “A Perfect Murder.”

Perini earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, and then produced pieces for NBC Sports during the 1988 Olympic Games in South Korea, for which she won a Sports Emmy Award. After then working at cable channel CNBC from 1989-90 as a talk show producer, she received her Master of Fine Arts degree at UCLA Graduate Film School’s Producers Program. She joined Warner Bros. in 1993 upon graduation.

TRISH HOFMANN (Executive Producer) has brought her filmmaking expertise to productions all over the world. As executive producer on Terrence Malick’s epic “The New World” starring Colin Farell, she filmed in the North America and the U.K., and as producer of Tony Bui’s critically acclaimed “Three Seasons”, she took the first U.S. production to film in Vietnam since the end of the war.

Previously, Hofmann served as line producer of the hit independent films “The Grey Zone” shot in Bulgaria, and “Igby Goes Down”; and as co-producer of “Down To You,” “Brown Sugar” and “Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights,” shot in Puerto Rico.

GUSTIN NASH (Writer/Co-Producer) grew up in Massachusetts and moved to Los Angeles to attend the USC School of Cinema-Television. After graduating, he took a job selling cameras in the Burbank Mall where he decided he would write ten scripts before trying to sell anything. The tenth script was CHARLIE BARTLETT.
He now also has “Youth In Revolt” at Dimension, “Tommysaurus Rex” at Universal, “Missed Connections” also at Universal, a remake of “Three O’clock High” at Focus, as well as two projects written with his brother, Jesse Cale; “Interstellar Pig” at Paramount and “The Art Of Fighting” at Dreamworks with Rob Cohen directing.

STEVE LONGI (Co-Producer), Permut Presentations VP of Production, oversees a busy production and development slate and co-produces all of Permut Presentations’ films.

Early next year he will co-produce World War II drama “Doss” for Walden Media and “Youth In Revolt,” for the Weinstein Company. “Doss”, written by Pulitzer Prize winning writer Robert Schenkkan, tells the true story of the only conscientious objector to receive the distinguished Medal of Honor for bravery. “Youth in Revolt” is based on the acclaimed novel by C.D. Payne andwrittenby Gustin Nash.

Longi is also working on a documentary about Rodney Dangerfield, a portion of which was filmed by Longi, as well as a biopic of controversial comedian Sam Kinison. Produced in association with Shady Acres Entertainment and Universal Pictures “Brother Sam” was written by Academy Award nominated writers Shari Springer-Berman and Robert Pulcini and stars Tony-winning actor Dan Fogler.

Longi also manages animator Sam Chen, an artist who works primarily in the CGI format. Chen’s highly acclaimed short film “Eternal Gaze” was short listed for an Academy Award nomination.

Longi began his film career at the age of 10 with the Super 8 camera, a gift from his parents. His backyard in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. proved the perfect location for his first film “The Flood”, an homage to the great Irwin Allen disaster movies of the time. Longi flooded a miniature model of a village with hundreds of gallons of water before setting it on fire. Longi received his first subscription to Daily Variety at the age of 11. “I had no idea what the paper meant, but everyone in Hollywood read it, so I had to get it,” says Longi.

While interning at New Line Cinema as a student of the University of California, Los Angeles, Longi met David Permut who had a first look deal at the studio. He worked as Permut’s assistant on the basketball comedy “Eddie” and the blockbuster hit “Face/Off” before going on to run Permut’s company.

“Farce of The Penguins” is the fourth film he has produced in addition to the hit comedy “Double Take” for Disney, “DysFunktional Family” for Miramax, and “Local Color” which was an official entry in the 2006 Tribeca Film festival and stars Armin Muehler-Stahl and RayLiotta.

TAMARA DEVERELL’s (Production Designer) previous feature film credits are “Firehouse Dog,” “Blizzard,” “Bollywood/Hollywood” and “Masala.” Her credits for television include the movies “Suburban Madness,” “Coast To Coast,” “Eloise at Christmastime,” “Eloise at the Plaza,” “Sounder,” “Dead Aviators,” “Caracara,” “Mind Games”, “Shadow Zone: My Teacher Ate My Homework,” “Lulu,” “Eclipse,” “The Burning Season” and the mini-series “Feast of all Saints.” Her series work includes “Wonderfalls,” “Kevin Hill” and “Degrassi: The Next Generation.” Deverell was Art director on the feature films “Death to Smoochy,” “X-Men,” “eXistenZ,” “54”, “Mimic,” “Crash,” “Canadian Bacon” and the television series "Liberty Street.”

Canadian born PAUL SAROSSY (Director of Photography) has worked as a cinematographer on over thirty features. His recent feature credits include “One Way,” “The Wickerman,” “The Secret,” “Ripley Under Ground,” “Black Widow,” “The River King,” “Where the Truth Lies,” “Head in the Clouds” and “The Snow Walker.” His other credits range from underground punk favorite “Terminal City Ricochet” to Paul Schrader’s Oscar®-winning “Affliction,” as well as Denys Arcand’s “Love and Human Remains,” Joe Mantegna’s directorial debut “Lakeboat” and the Hollywood productions “Picture Perfect” and “Duets.” He may be best known, however, for his collaborations with Atom Egoyan – he has been Egoyan’s DP on “Speaking Parts,” “The Adjuster,” “Exotica,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Felicia’s Journey” and “Ararat.” Sarossy is the recipient of four Genie Awards (Canadian Oscars) - for his work on “Exotica,” “The Sweet Hereafter,” “Felicia's Journey” and “Perfect Pie.” In September 2001 his directorial debut “Mr In-Between” premiered at the Toronto Film Festival.

ALAN BAUMGARTEN A.C.E.’s (Editor) film credits include the upcoming “Mr. Woodcock” with Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon, as well as “Meet the Fockers,” “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story,” two films for the Farrelly brothers “Fever Pitch” and their upcoming as yet untitled Ben Stiller project, “The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland,” “Losing Chase,” “Lord of Illusions” and “The Lawnmower Man.”

His television credits include episodes of “The Job,” “Malcom in the Middle” and most recently the pilot episode of Todd Holland’s acclaimed “Wonderfalls.” He edited the television movies “Papa’s Angels” and “Monte Walsh” as well as several music videos and documentary films.

LUIS SEQUEIRA (Costume Designer) is responsible for the costume designs for the recent release “Breach” starring Ryan Phillipe and Chris Cooper, as well as the features “Highwaymen” and “Breaking Point.” His television credits include the costumes for “F/X: The Series” and “Thomas & the Magic Railroad” series as well as the TV movies “Moonshine Highway,” “Treacherous Beauties,” “Buried Secrets” and “Derby.”

As assistant designer, Sequeira worked on the major feature films “Hollywoodland,” “Cinderella Man,” “Mean Girls,” “Bulletproof Monk,” “The Tuxedo” and “K-19: The Widowmaker.”