PROJECTS
Life is difficult for Ana. Desperate for resources, and struggling with nascent adulthood in machista Mexico, she...
The Slice is the story of a retired pizza maker, Don Miguel, with a spotty past. When a young street gang member runs to his restaurant for refuge during a gun battle, Don Miguel has to decide whether to unlock the door to help the youngster. The result of that decision follows the Pizzero to the tragic end.
A struggling production company hits pay dirt with their new reality tv series when the staff realizes that their office SOFA is a portal through which the dead can speak to the living.
Bodhi the gravedigger, armed only with his deep spirituality, is resolved to cross a post apocolyptic country to deliver a priceless gift to his family.
The “contained” zombie outbreak in Los Cabos has created new economic opportunities in this go to destination… Z TourZ and hunting Guide Service is just one of the new startups benefiting from this plague. Retired Mexican army specialists band together to run guided tours to see the Zombies when they are most active… after sunset. What’s the catch? Sign all pertinent release forms just in case you screw up and get bit. It’s all fun and games until your uncle Fred gets infected.
Two best friends go to war, only one returns. The survivor, saddled with a terrible secret, struggles both to protect his friend’s good name, and to keep the dark truth from the army, loved ones and his fiancé (his friend’s sister).
A young Johanna in pursuit of justice for the murder of her parents, hires two detectives to find the fleeing murderer "Little Sánchez".
A young 16 year old Magdalena decides to create a safe haven for prostitutes to help give them direction and purpose. Her vision single handedly implements a safer, better way for sex workers in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, putting her in direct conflict with the dark world of drugs, pimps, and the broker/players of traditional prostitution.
If you had 6 weeks to live, how would you spend that time? If you’ve lived 10,000 years what could you do to find that spark of living to make it worthwhile?. Old and bored, an immortal posts an internet ad offering a 100 million dollar prize to the team of “witch” hunters who can capture and or kill the monster living in his city.
Through the eye of Hurricane Odile, comes the story of 77 Oxxos destroyed by the storm and the humorous tales of the people’s experience in how they saw the storm through the eye of their local convenience store.
In his zeal to create a weight loss drug, an over zealous scientist infects himself with a virus, turning himself into a contagious cannibalistic monster with a conscience. (Psychological thriller)
Jackman is a paranoid adventure that reveals the extraordinary imagination of a young man's fear just before he opens the door to his own surprise party.
David Allan Coe is something of a deity among the Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniels and Confederate flag set. With twenty-four years served behind bars-in and out of the corrections system from the age of nine, and on death row at nineteen.
A college Professor morphs into Teddy Rosevelt after accidentally killing his daughter’s lover.
"It doesn’t hurt, anymore." Is the story about Cricket, a confused teenager, amateur scientist, budding romantic...a boy with a big problem: his mother's cancer. In his struggle to save his mother, he invents a serum that leads to his own addiction, failed romance, and ultimately having to face his mother's mortality.
How strangers learn to cope being locked in a water tight Bulkhead in a sinking ship.
J finds modern knight K for assistance in search of his stolen beloved dog.
Fight circle holds the claim to be the first feature film to be released online.
An album of songs that immerse you in tranquility and harmony.
Jackman is a paranoid adventure that reveals the extraordinary imagination of a young man's fear just before he opens the door to his own surprise party.
David Allan Coe is something of a deity among the Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniels and Confederate flag set. With twenty-four years served behind bars-in and out of the corrections system from the age of nine, and on death row at nineteen.
A college Professor morphs into Teddy Rosevelt after accidentally killing his daughter’s lover.
Through the eye of Hurricane Odile, comes the story of 77 Oxxos destroyed by the storm and the humorous tales of the people’s experience in how they saw the storm through the eye of their local convenience store.
Two best friends go to war, only one returns. The survivor, saddled with a terrible secret, struggles both to protect his friend’s good name, and to keep the dark truth from the army, loved ones and his fiancé (his friend’s sister).
If you had 6 weeks to live, how would you spend that time? If you’ve lived 10,000 years what could you do to find that spark of living to make it worthwhile?. Old and bored, an immortal posts an internet ad offering a 100 million dollar prize to the team of “witch” hunters who can capture and or kill the monster living in his city.
A young 16 year old Magdalena decides to create a safe haven for prostitutes to help give them direction and purpose. Her vision single handedly implements a safer, better way for sex workers in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, putting her in direct conflict with the dark world of drugs, pimps, and the broker/players of traditional prostitution.
In his zeal to create a weight loss drug, an over zealous scientist infects himself with a virus, turning himself into a contagious cannibalistic monster with a conscience. (Psychological thriller)
A struggling production company hits pay dirt with their new reality tv series when the staff realizes that their office SOFA is a portal through which the dead can speak to the living.
"It doesn’t hurt, anymore." Is the story about Cricket, a confused teenager, amateur scientist, budding romantic...a boy with a big problem: his mother's cancer. In his struggle to save his mother, he invents a serum that leads to his own addiction, failed romance, and ultimately having to face his mother's mortality.
HEAD CHEF, FINANCING, DIRECTOR, WRITER AND PRODUCER
Donald’s approach to filmmaking is first to know the story and work through the many elements of a story this happens in different ways for him: eg, it can be through traditional industry standard of formal script break wn, to just having the story outlined and defining the story and scenes with the creative team as the projects move forward. He builds a team who can bring the story to fruition within the resources that are available to turn his vision into a feature film. Though Donald envisions each of his projects and the energy of each potential film, his filmmaking is NOT auteur in nature. He believes in an intensely creative and collaborative process—allowing and wanting input from all people involved. He works with smaller crews by nature of this process and budget, so as not to be hindered by “asking permission” vs asking for forgiveness after the fact or spending time looking for the resources to tell the story. He is also deeply committed to making the process enjoyable and to feel that all involved, regardless of the end result, feel that being part of his projects has enhanced their lives. In his younger years he was a world-class Tae Kwon Do fighter; the methodical and at times painful preparation building up to “leaving it all on the mat” approach, regardless of the outcome, continues to define his daily routine, so nicely put in the title of one his favorite movies “You Can’t take it with you!”. He is happiest running at a frenetic pace and he believes that storms of activity are the mother of creative and unexpected solutions and that the greatest indignity to the human spirit is boredom. His films and pilots have screened in multiple film festivals over the years and earned him a handful of awards.
Producer, Writer, Director (with * executive producer credit creator).
2001 Dog Nights
2002 Fight Circle
2002 Bulk Head
2002 Teddy
2006 Spunky Z
2008 Field of Stone*
2009 Jackman
2021 No Hay Barrio para las Mujeres - Multiple Festival Awards
2021 Sofa (series) Multiple festival awards
2022 Z Tours (series)*
2022 La Tajada (Hugo Stiglitz)
PRODUCER AND COACH
ANDREA MIA graduated from Columbia University with a degree in Philosophy before moving to Osaka to work in Mombusho's JET Program. Inspired by her work with Japanese students, where she helped them make films to practice their English, she decided to pursue her life-long passion for cinema and attend USC's Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program, where she produced several award-winning movies, including SETTING BOUNDARIES (Student Emmy Award Winner, 1994). After graduating, she was the Director of Development at Chestnut Hill Productions and worked as the Production Associate on FOXFIRE (Angelina Jolie) and LANI LOA (Angus McFadden), amongst others. She was the VP of Development and Production at Newmark Films, where she produced SHADOW HOURS (Peter Weller, Balthazar Getty) which Premiered in the Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2000 (Released Theatrically by Fireworks/Blockbuster). As the Head of Sales, Marketing, and Development for Visionbox Media Group, she sold ILLUSION (Kirk Douglas), TEDDY BEARS' PICNIC (Harry Shearer), and CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES (Eugenia Yuan), amongst many others. She has found domestic and international distribution deals for all films she has taken on. She has personally shepherded films at Sundance, AFM, the Hamptons, and other world-class festivals and Markets. She produced a groundbreaking feature film, MAN OF THE YEAR (John Ritter), a documentary for the EPA on Urban Beautification, an Internationally based documentary for Microsoft on Imagine Cup, and a Tribute documentary on Tom Hayden for Liberty Hill Foundation. She is producing BRIDE OF THE DEAD, to be shot in Los Angeles in October 2022, and HEART SUNG, to be shot in Mexico in November 2022. Andrea is also an ICF-certified coach known for her empathy and business acumen. The hallmark of Andrea’s work is helping business leaders and creative people make high-impact, sustainable behavioral changes and enjoy the process of doing so. Strategy is co-developed with clients to create roadmaps to tangible points of success. Areas of focus most often are productivity, communication skills, leadership, and storytelling. She has successfully coached people from over 85 countries across various industries and cultural backgrounds. Companies whose employees she has coached from IC to Senior Management: Twitter, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Splunk, Ripple, Intel, Lattice, Emburse, Minute Media, Procore, Coinbase, Disney, Marvel, Udemy, Universal Music Group, Dropbox, Gusto, Glassdoor, Ancestry.com, Atlassian, GoFundMe, Cedar, Figma, Zendesk, Nextdoor, Lyft, Uber, Hubspot, Rivian, SVB, Braze, Epic Games, Cooley, Loan Depot, Everfi, Volkswagen, BMW, Aurora, Roku, Universal Music Group, Guild Education, Loan Depot, EverFi, Atlassian, Zoox and more.
EDITOR, PRODUCER AND RENTALS
Born in a small town in Baja California Sur (Guerrero Negro), I discovered cinema in a video store, renting VHS whenever I had the opportunity. With this awakened passion for cinema, I decided to move to Guadalajara to go to film school. Though I love documentaries, and all aspects of production I quickly learned my best professional skills are in the editing suite. I now have over 8 years, working for different important brands from feature films, short films, music videos, and commercials. I am currently training in scuba diving to expand my above water skills to the world of underwater filmmaking. Telling stories in my work brings me great joy—it allows me to take small ideas that exist in our heads to create new huge worlds that previously did not exist.
PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR
Juan is a passionate filmmaker, each step in the making of a movie excites and gives him a fresh perspective to excel and find new solutions. A producer and up and comer director, Juan embraces new creative challenges to better himself and his storytelling.
CINEMATOGRAPHER
I enjoy my work because my creativity flows to the maximum when producing content for the delight of others.
PRODUCTION AND SOUND
I am 24 years old, mayor in psychology, filmmaker from heart. I believe every film is an opportunity to share with others a part of who you are and how you see the world. I’m excited to be able to live all the emotions that the world of cinema can share and bring to life every idea that its inside our heads.
PRODUCTION AND MAKE UP
Rossy first joined the Banzai team as the make up artist for "No Hay Barrio". As you can see from the photo, her skill set in visual FX is unique, she has played an important roll on set in every production since. Rossy has grown into a team player/producer who helps to manage various departments in pre production to on set during production. As often happens for limited budget productions, people must wear multiple hats to help solve the myriad of problems that arise and she has worn many of them, helping our success over the past years.
PRODUCER, SALES, BUYER REP
Leroy joined Banzai over 20 years ago, participating as a PA on set, and being an extra when needed. Over the years his presence and responsibility has grown to helping manage productions as a 2nd Ad, and head of Art department and in the most recent years support in research in acquisitions and sales at film markets and film festivals.
We are cinematic story tellers. We brainstorm, edit, scream, pull our hair out, and create what we hope will be engaging movies/series and documentaries in a variety of genres. We are only limited by Juan’s exploding head when it gets too active from the heat of his cellular high bandwidth thinking.
We have mid to high end video audio equipment for in-house productions. At times the staff will be glad to take a day or two to assist misc productions from short films, to industrials, to weddings to make in a little extra income. All equipment rental comes with one or two people for support and will require an equipment deposit for possible damage. We are a BlackMagic production house with multiple camera options, along with an editing suite utilizing Davinci Resolve Studio.
As stated. We are here to produce, create, direct, finish projects that came from our tiny little brains here in the office. We are open to increasing the production team (right now we are specifically looking for an experienced editor/story teller/writer to expand our knowledge base). We also encourage people to join us in the adventure, to learn along the way while becoming part of a production team. PAs (production assistants) are a part of moving up the ladder and we are open to anyone who has time and creative energy to come volunteer to learn how to be a filmmaker.