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406 lines
20 KiB
406 lines
20 KiB
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PRODUCTION TEAM CREDITS
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DOUGLAS NETTER
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Executive Producer
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JOHN COPELAND
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Producer
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Babylon 5's executive producer Douglas Netter (also J. Michael
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Straczynski's partner in Babylonian Productions) and producer John
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Copeland serve as the CEO and Chairman and the Executive Vice President
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of Netter Digital Entertainment, Inc., respectively.
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Indisputably, they have become one of the most innovative and enduring
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teams in television production during the 17 years of their professional
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association.
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Together, they have pushed the edge of the envelope in terms of
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utilizing new technologies and production processes on behalf of the
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medium. Among their remarkable contributions have been...shooting an
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entire (three-year) series on film and completing it using an electronic
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post-production process ("Five Mile Creek," 1981-83 for Disney)...the
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first-ever compilation of 3-D computer-generated characters in scenes
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with live actors in a television series ("Captain Power and the Soldiers
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of the Future," 1987 for Mattel)...and the landmark use of digital
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technologies and computer management systems for a documentary ("The
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Wild West," a primetime 10-hour syndicated series, 1992 for PTEN and
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Warner Bros.).
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They were also responsible for the concept of the Virtual Studio, which
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was perfected for "Babylon 5," but conceived by them years earlier. And
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they played an instrumental role in bringing the revolutionary technique
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of producing state-of-the-art special visual effects through the use of
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low-cost computer-generated imagery (CGI) to television.
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As well, Netter is currently serving as the executive producer and
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Copeland as the supervising producer of ABC's acclaimed new children's
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science fiction series, "Hypernauts," which was created by Babylon 5's
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Emmy Award-winning special visual effects designer Ron Thornton (also an
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executive producer).
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Back in 1979, few would have predicted that the Netter-Copeland
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collaboration would last. Separated in age by almost three decades, one
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had a wealth of top-drawer industry experience while the other's career
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was just beginning. In fact, Copeland originally started out as just
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another hired hand on various Netter projects but quickly proved his
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indispensibility in getting the job done.
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Prior to founding Rattlesnake Productions (the predecessor to Netter
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Digital Entertainment, Inc.), Doug Netter had spent his life in the
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entertainment industry. His last position, before going independent,
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was as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at MGM
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Studios from 1970 to 1975, during which time he oversaw the production
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of over 75 major motion pictures and numerous television shows, and
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played an instrumental role in the construction of the MGM Grand Hotel
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in Las Vegas.
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Meanwhile, Copeland was graduating in the first class of film majors
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from Chapman College, followed by a two-year stint in London working as
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an assistant director for English producer Euan Lloyd, then a year on
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European locations with the film, "Paper Tiger."
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In 1978, they were introduced by Lloyd. During the next four years,
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they produced an award-winning Western mini-series, "The Sacketts," for
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NBC; two additional mini-series -- "Wild Times" and "Roughnecks" -- for
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Metromedia Producers Corporation; and a one-hour series pilot, "Buffalo
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Soldiers," for NBC.
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In 1981, Rattlesnake Productions became one of the first independent
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production companies affiliated with the Walt Disney Studios, resulting
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in the CBS TV movie pilot, "Louis L'Amour's The Cherokee Trail," and the
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three-year series, "Five Mile Creek," as a debut offering for The Disney
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Channel.
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Their 1987 science fiction series, "Captain Power and the Soldiers of
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the Future," for Mattel and the Landmark Entertainment Group, introduced
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them to J. Michael Stracyznksi (who served as their story editor) and
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Ron Thornton (a special effects supervisor in charge of the miniatures).
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While attempting to mount Babylon 5, they produced the 2-hour TV movie,
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"Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future: The Legend Begins," for
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international broadcast, and two highly-inventive films for Lockheed
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(profiling the superiority of the F-22 advanced tactical fighter craft).
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Certainly one of the hallmarks of the company's many successes was their
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critically-acclaimed ten-hour documentary series, "The Wild West,"
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chronicling the settlement of the American West in the 30 years after
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the Civil War. Syndicated in 1992 by Warner Bros. and the Prime Time
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Entertainment Network, "The Wild West" did for primetime television what
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"The Civil War" had done for PBS: garnering record ratings and a deluge
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of TV book covers and rave reviews. The series' pioneering use of
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digital technologies also resulted in the unprecedented simultaneous
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release of a CD-ROM, home video, book, and sound track album. It was
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also the first time that a computerized software management system had
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been designed for use in a documentary, resulting in computerized
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tracking of the series' 14,000-plus period photographs, paintings, and
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critical documents.
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While simultaneously producing "Babylon 5" between 1992 to the present,
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Netter and Copeland were also responsible for the television movie,
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"Siringo," a western which was syndicated by Rysher Entertainment and
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United Television in 1995 and subsequently released in the U.S. and
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internationally on home video. On November 20, 1995, Netter Digital
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Entertainment, Inc., became a publicly-held corporation with the
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successful closing of its initial public offering.
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HARLAN ELLISON
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Creative Consultant
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As J. Michael Straczynski writes in Foundation of Harlan Ellison and his
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unique role as creative consultant to Babylon 5: "Harlan's input is
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whatever Harlan chooses....Like the other masters of sf named before,
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the work of Harlan Ellison was a tremendous inspiration to me, and
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having him with me on the show is a constant compass pointing ever
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toward quality and challenging ideas." (Please see Foundation, page 13,
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which included in this packet.)
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Ellison has been called "one of the great living American short story
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writers" by The Washington Post; and the Los Angeles Times has written,
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"It's long past time for Harlan Ellison to be awarded the title: 20th
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century Lewis Carroll."
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In a career spanning four decades, Ellison has won more awards for the
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62 books he has written or edited, the more than 1700 stories, essays,
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articles and newspaper columns, the two dozen teleplays and a dozen
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motion pictures he has created, than any other living fantasist.
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Among them are 8-1/2 Hugo Awards, three Nebula Awards, two Edgar Allan
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Poe Awards from the Mystery Writers of America, two Georges Melies
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Fantasy Film Awards, and the distinquished Silver Pen Award for
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Journalism by P.E.N. (the international writers' union). He was also
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presented with the first Living Legend Award by the International Horror
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Critics at their 1995 World Horror Convention. And he is the only
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author in Hollywood ever to win the Writers' Guild of America Award for
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Most Outstanding Teleplay four times, most recently for "Paladin of the
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Lost Hour" in 1987.
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His latest books include The Essential Ellison (1987; a 35-year
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retrospective of his work), Angry Candy (1988; recipient of the 1989
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World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story Collection, and listed in the
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Encyclopedia for Americana Annual as one of the major works of American
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literature for 1988), Harlan Ellison's Watching (1988; a compilation of
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20 years of film criticism), The Harlan Ellison Hornbook (1990), Harlan
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Ellison's Movie (1990), Dreams With Sharp Teeth (1991; Book-of-the-Month
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Club), Mefisto in Onyx (1993), Mind Fields with Polish artist Jacek
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Yerka (1994), I, Robot: The Illustrated Screenplay (1994; based on Isaac
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Asimov's story-cycle), and "The City on the Edge of Forever" screenplay
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(1995).
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He also provided the voice of the insane god-computer AM on the
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recently-released, bestselling CD-Rom computer game, "I HAVE NO MOUTH,
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AND I MUST SCREAM." In January 1995, his ongoing, monthly comic book
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from Dark Horse, called Harlan Ellison's Dream Corridor, debuted.
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CHRISTOPHER FRANKE
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Music Composer and Performer
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One of the pioneers of electronic music and former member of Tangerine
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Dream, Christopher Franke not only composes the music for each episode
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of Babylon 5, but performs it in "real time" with his Berlin Symphonic
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Film Orchestra, though each is located halfway around the globe from
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each other.
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A truly innovative and prolific musical artist, Franke's recording
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efforts in just the last five years include four solo albums -- "Pacific
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Coast Highway" (1991), "The London Concert" (1992), "Klemania" (1993),
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and "Enchanting Nature" (1995) -- and four soundtrack albums --
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"Universal Soldier" (1992), "New Music for Films, Vol. 1" (1992),
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"Raven" (1994), and "Babylon 5" (1995). A second "Babylon 5" album is
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scheduled for release later this year.
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Despite the demands of producing new music for each Babylon 5 episode --
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which is highly unusual for a syndicated series -- Franke has
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simultaneously turned out his numerous albums, as well as scoring
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numerous other feature films and television shows. Among them are the
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new ABC Saturday morning children's science fiction series, "Hypernauts"
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(reuniting him with Doug Netter, John Copeland, and Ron Thornton).
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Born in Berlin, Franke studied classical music and composition at the
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Berlin Conservatory. At the same time, he was actively involved in rock
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and jazz music with the group Agitation Free. He cites as early
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influences the composers John Cage and Karl-Heinz Stockhausen and the
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painters Dali, Miro and Kandinsky.
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Franke set up a sound studio in a music school with his teacher, the
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Swiss avant-garde musician and composer, Thomas Kessler -- which became
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a residence for young musicians and groups dedicated to experimental
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music. The improvisation courses they conducted and the introduction
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they provided to new instruments and techniques resulted in a
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highly-regarded project called The Berlin School of Electronic Music.
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It was there that Franke met Edgar Froese and brought Peter Baumann
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(today the head of the record company, Private Music, USA) into the
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group, thus founding Tangerine Dream.
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Franke was the first musician in Tangerine Dream to make use of the
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synthesizer for developing a new direction in experimental music. He
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also incorporated the sequencer as an entension of traditional
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percussion instruments, which became a ground breaker in live concerts.
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With Tangerine Dream, Franke released 36 studio, live, and soundtrack
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albums between 1970 and 1988 -- of which seven of the studio albums
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became gold records. The group also toured all over the world.
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In 1988, Franke left Tangerine Dream to concentrate on his personal life
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and the development of new musical ideas. In 1990, he moved to Los
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Angeles. In 1991, he founded the Berlin Symphonic Film Orchestra and
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recorded his first solo album, "Pacific Coast Highway." Within the next
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twelve months, he had composed the music for the feature films, "Eye of
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the Storm" (starring Dennis Hopper) and "McBain" (starring Christopher
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Walken), and the television movie, "She Woke Up" (with Lindsay Wagner).
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And in 1992, he wrote the music for the worldwide blockbuster,
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"Universal Soldier," starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, as well as the
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CBS-TV series, "Raven," followed by numerous other film and TV projects.
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RON THORNTON
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Visual Effects Designer
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Emmy Award-winning special effects artist Ron Thornton is President and
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Co-Founder of Foundation Imaging, a leading computer animation/special
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effects company based in Valencia, California. He has, for the past
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seventeen years, created numerous trend-setting visual effects for the
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entertainment industry.
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A native of London, England, Thornton began his entertainment career
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working for BBC Television, where he created props and miniatures for
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shows such as the highly popular "Dr. Who," "Blakes 7" and "Tripods."
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In 1984, Thornton emigrated to the United States, and began working for
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David Stipes Productions. It was under the tutelage of Stipes (now the
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Special Effects Supervisor for Paramount Television's "Star Trek
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Voyager") that Thornton gained valuable experience as an effects
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cameraman on Martha Coolidge's comedy feature film, "Real Genius."
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Thornton went on to create miniatures for several additional movies,
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including "Commando" with Arnold Schwarzenegger; the Mel Brooks' comedy,
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"Space Balls"; "Critters" with Billy Zane and Dee Wallace Stone; and
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"Robot Jox." Thornton also provided miniatures and did camera work on
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"Amazon Women on the Moon" and "Night of the Creeps."
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In 1987, Thornton was introduced to the Amiga Computer while supervising
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miniatures in Canada for the syndicated children's television program,
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"Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future." While working on
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"Captain Power," he began to experiment with ground-breaking 3-D
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computer graphics which would pre-visualize FX shots.
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In 1990, Thornton and Foundation Imaging's Director of Operations and
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Co-Founder, Paul Beigle-Bryant, began discussing the possibility of
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creating a digital effects facility utilizing the latest advances in
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desk-top computer technologies. The men were friends who had originally
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met in England in 1983, and had worked on several projects together.
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The duo began hatching plans to create and entire special effects
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business.
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Thornton sold all of his camera equipment and motion control systems to
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invest in the computer systems which would be needed for such an
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undertaking. It was mid-1991 when Thornton was approached by the
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producers of "Captain Power" to bid on miniatures for a sci-fi project
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they were developing, Babylon 5. At that time, Thornton had been
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working with innovative rock music and multimedia artist Todd Rundgren
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on a short computer-animated film. The work with Rundgren led Thornton
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to suggest using computers for the effects on Babylon 5.
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Thornton and Beigle-Bryant created a one minute video of proposed visual
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effects for Babylon 5, which would become instrumental in selling the
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show to Warner Bros. television in July 1992. Upon pick-up of the new
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series, Thornton and Beigle-Bryant formed Foundation Imaging to continue
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creating the visuals for Babylon 5. Since that time, Thornton has served
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as Special Effects Designer on Babylon 5, Paramount's "Viper" and CBS'
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"Skeleton Warriors."
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In 1993, Thornton and Beigle-Bryant won an Emmy Award for "Outstanding
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Achievement in Special Visual Effects" for their work on the pilot of
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Babylon 5. A year later, they won an "International Monitor" Award for
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their pilot episode of the CBS series, "Viper." Two very extraordinary
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accomplishments for a visual effects company using desk-top computers.
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In 1994, Thornton created the new ABC Saturday morning children's
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series, "Hypernauts," for which he is serving as executive producer with
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Doug Netter. John Copeland is the supervising producer. The innovative
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futuristic story, which debuted in primetime on March 2, 1996, before
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beginning its regular Saturday morning run on March 2, also features
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Thornton's Emmy Award-winning CGI special visual effects.
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JOHN VULICH, OPTIC NERVE STUDIOS
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Special Make-up Effects
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The recipient of a 1993 Emmy Award for "Outstanding Individual
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Achievement in Make-Up for a Series" (for the episode, "Parliament of
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Dreams"), John Vulich's Optic Nerve Studios has emerged as one of the
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up-and-coming effects houses in the film and television industry.
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Based in Los Angeles, Optic Nerve houses all the necessary machinery
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required to mill, lathe, weld, mold, and vacu-form all the elements
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needed to create a wide variety of special effects. As one of the first
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effects companies to utilize New Tek's Video Toaster in the design
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process, it is also capable of altering the image of a performer in a
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variety of ways, creating realistic color printouts, which better help
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to illustrate proposed designs.
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Just since 1990, the studio has 17 feature films, including "Batman
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Returns" and "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers." Besides Babylon 5, Optic
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Nerve is presently working on "Hypernauts" (created by Ron Thornton, who
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also serves as the executive producer with Douglas Netter. John
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Copeland is the supervising producer.) And they contributed to the TV
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shows, "MADONNA: Bedtime Stories" and "MICHAEL JACKSON: Scream," among
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others.
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ANN BRUICE ALING
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Costume Designer
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The recipient of two Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards (in 1991
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for "You Can't Take It With You" and in 1992 for "Philadelphia Story"),
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Ann Bruice Aling holds a MFA in costume design from the California
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Institute of the Arts and a MA in theatre from the University of
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California, Santa Barbara.
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Beginning her career in regional theatre, on numerous productions for
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South Coast Repertory, she has since designed for the Mark Taper Forum
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and the Los Angeles Theatre Center, as well as the Pasadena Playhouse,
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New Mexico Repertory, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Caesar's Tahoe,
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Grove Shakespeare Festival, and PCPA Theatrefest.
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She also served as the assistant designer on the hit motion picture,
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"Honey, I Shrunk the Kids," and has worked such other television
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projects as the telefilm, "Siringo" (for Doug Netter and John Copeland),
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and the ABC Afterschool Special, "Perfect Date."
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JOHN IAVOVELLI
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Production Designer
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As well as Babylon 5, John Iavovelli has served as the production
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designer on on the primetime documentary series, "The Wild West," and
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the TV movie, "Siringo," for producers Doug Netter and John Copeland, as
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well as the PBS series, "Future Quest" (starring Jeff Goldblum), and the
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motion picture, "Ruby in Paradise."
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As an art director, he has worked on such productions as the motion
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picture, "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!," and the TV series, "The Cosby
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Show" and "A Different World."
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Iacovelli also continues to serve as the Head of Design at the
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University of California - Riverside and to work in theater. His
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extensive stage credits include "Twilight of the Golds" on Broadway and
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for The Kennedy Center and The Pasadena Playhouse, as well as over a
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hundred productions for such leading regional companies as The South
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Coast Repertory, The Mark Taper Forum, The Berkshire Theatre Festival,
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The Philadelphia Theatre Company, The Dallas Theater Center, San Diego's
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Old Globe, and The Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Iacovelli has an MFA
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degree in Design and Art Direction from NYU.
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* * *
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