By now you’ve probably heard that PETA is demanding Punxsutawney Phil, the lovable winter predicting groundhog, be replaced with an animatronic version of himself. Since the gang at SAGIndie believes it’s nearly impossible to replace a fine-tuned weather foreseer like Phil, and since February is Responsible Pet Owners month, they’ve come up with a few alternate suggestions of “pets” that might be better suited to be replaced with robots.
Darrien Michele Gipson
SAGIndie Director
An M.F.A. recipient from the Peter Stark Producer’s Program at USC, as well as a USC President Samples Fellows, a university honors program for Community Service, Darrien was formerly the Vice President of Production for DEF Pictures, where she shepherded such films as Gridlock’d and How to be a Player. Darrien began her career at SAGIndie as the Event Coordinator, where she traveled throughout the country to festivals, educating filmmakers on SAG’s low budget contracts and all ensuing budgetary and distribution concerns. She visited more than 25 states, 3 countries, and over 55 festivals to consult with independent filmmakers. Yes, she has a lot of frequent flyer miles. No, she isn’t sharing them.
As the new National Director of SAGIndie, Darrien is responsible for just about everything – global warming, demoting Pluto, lowering Cancer rates. She is also responsible for the strategic planning and oversight of SAGIndie, including administration, sponsorship negotiations, national advertising campaigns, and SAGIndie.org – the organization’s online resource for independent filmmakers. Darrien is the engine behind SAGIndie, pushing it into being the best independent filmmaking resource EVER.
Darrien thinks PETA should replace LASSIE with a robot. That way, when little Timmy falls into the river, Lassie will jump in to save him, short-circuit, and that annoying little Timmy will finally sleep with the fishes.
Eliza Hajek
SAGIndie Manager of Development and Sponsorship
Born and raised a Phoenician, Eliza spent her childhood eating cacti and shooting things. After high school, she escaped to Chicago to attend art school. While in college she maintained several internships, including the Cannes Film Festival, in addition to working on several films in all different capacities. Upon receiving her degree, she worked in advertising post production before moving to Los Angeles. Eliza also works as a music supervisor and writes for several music publications, and she is very cool and interesting. Now you know everything!
Her duties as Manager of Development and Sponsorship encompass (among other things) traveling to film festivals, speaking on panels and at seminars, and interacting with independent producers worldwide in order to get the word out about the SAG Low Budget Agreements.
Eliza thinks if Benji had been a robot, instead of a marginally intuitive real dog, maybe he could have actually gotten something impressive or worthwhile done for once.
Will Prescott
SAGIndie Information Coordinator
Will hails from Seattle, Washington where he grew up subjected to gross amounts of rain and outdoor activities. He came to Southern California to pursue lesser air quality and a career in filmmaking. Since obtaining his M.F.A. from the Conservatory of Motion Pictures at Chapman University’s Dodge College, Will has worked on many film, video and new media projects in various capacities. He most recently served as Managing Editor of the KCET produced website, Wired Science.
As the Information Coordinator, he will handle, among other things, SAGIndie web operations, marketing and PR efforts, interviews with indie filmmakers, and will travel to film festivals and other functions to help spread the word about the Screen Actors Guild Low Budget Agreements. He hopes to one day own a German Shepherd and a Pug whom he will name De Niro and Pesci, respectively.
Will thinks PETA should fight to replace the little green gecko from the Geico commercials with an anthropomorphic gecko. A talking gecko from London with superior auto insurance expertise should be thoroughly studied instead of exploited in clever marketing campaigns.
Ellen Tremiti
SAGIndie Assistant
After getting used to a plethora of road construction, shopping malls and diners, Ellen left her home state of New Jersey to pursue duel B.A. degrees in Film and Writing, Literature and Publishing at Emerson College in Boston. While in college, Ellen interned for an entertainment law firm and went on to intern for LionsGate Films in their feature development office. She also won an EVVY, basically her school’s version of a Pulitzer, for Outstanding Short Nonfiction Prose and she continues to pursue writing in its many forms on her own time.
Ellen graduated from Emerson with honors and moved to Los Angeles determined to pump her own gas and break into the entertainment biz. After mastering the dynamics of the fueling station, she landed her job as Assistant to SAGIndie National Director Darrien Gipson and the rest of the SAGIndie staff. She’s also spreading the word about SAG’s Low Budget Agreements and she couldn’t be more thrilled!
Ellen thinks Peter Rabbit should be replaced with a robot. This way, no young children will ever have to worry about Mr. McGregor baking him into a pie again.
Michael Sladek
New York Coordinator
Michael is an independent director, producer, screenwriter, and designer. He founded and currently runs Plug Ugly Films, a Brooklyn-based film, video, web and theater production company.
In addition to his position as SAGIndie’s rep in New York, he freelances as a director, producer, writer, cameraman and coordinator and has worked for Tribeca Film Festival, Clinton Global Initiative, painter Mark Kostabi, RKO Pictures, ACME Pictures, and many more. Michael was Talent Coordinator and Floor Producer at MTV News, worked as Personal Assistant to author Jamaica Kincaid and, in Los Angeles, for the entertainment ad agency Jacobs & Gerber. A professional stage and screen actor since childhood, Michael has been a member of SAG for over twelve years. A proud dropout of many mediocre colleges, he’s also a published journalist and used to manage New York punk bands before realizing that the music industry is a mess.
Michael thinks PETA should not only replace Punxsutawney Phil with a robotic version but continue on to the Capital building and replace Congress with robotic versions. Then they can just cut through the b.s. and start blowing each other up while we watch. Directed by James Cameron. In 3D. $15 a ticket. Proceeds to benefit…James Cameron.