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Jerry
is presently involved as producer / director of the dramatic thriller
Shelter Me,
in development as a feature film. His most recently completed projects
include the comedy spoof The Blair
Witch Rejects, which he directed, and the documentary A
Refugee and Me, co-produced with director Kevin Leadingham.
The Blair Witch Rejects
is a screwball comedy satirizing the recent barrage of independent filmmakers
attempting to ride the coat-tails of the original indy hit The
Blair Witch Project. A
Refugee and Me documents the life of Burmese refugee Twai Thongdee
and his quest to obtain an illegal Thai identification card which will
allow him to get well paying job in Thailand in order to aid his refugee
family living along the border.
Prior to
his move from Chicago and founding of his production office in Los Angeles,
Jerry wrote, produced and directed the independent holiday drama Solstice
which was broadcast nationally as Lifetime Television's Original World
Premiere Movie during Christmas of 1994. Solstice
was awarded the Silver Award by the Charleston International Film Festival,
the Bronze Award by the Houston International Film Festival, and was
broadcast again by Lifetime Television on Christmas Eve of 1995. It
was released on home video in October of 1997 by Monument
Entertainment.
Jerry's
theatrical directing credits include The
Great Houdini, written by Stacy Tanner, and Witnesses,
an action adventure co-written with Victor H. Schiller. The
Great Houdini premiered at the prestigious Stella
Adler Theater in Hollywood during the spring of 1999, and Witnesses
was selected by the Chicago Screenwriters Network for their Winter/Spring
'96 Staged Screenplay Reading Series. It was performed under Jerry's
direction to a full house (130 capacity) at the American Blues Theater
in Chicago on March 24th, 1996. Jerry's writing credits include Solstice,
Palace Treasure,
The Seahawks,
and Butcher's Dozen,
a crime thriller co-written with Sara
Coover Caldwell. He is a graduate of Columbia
College in Chicago, where he earned his Bachelor's Degree in film
and also serves as the current President of their West Coast Alumni
Chapter. He is member of the First Stage Directing Workshop in Hollywood
and has also studied under the tutelage of acclaimed acting & directing
coach Judith Weston.
Jerry can
be reached at (323) 468-8089 or via e-mail at jvasilatos@nitestar.com.
Personal
Statement
Film-making is an amazing thing. You can teach people, move them, and
inspire them. You can make them laugh or make them cry. You can make
them grab the arm of the person next to them in suspense as they watch
the onscreen exploits of your characters, or reflect on what they've
viewed hours after they've seen your film. To me, the best films have
a heart, and they draw you into wanting to join the characters while
learning something important, or being inspired; while laughing or crying,
or grabbing that person's arm next to you in suspense. Directing gives
you the tools to do all of that. There's something very rewarding and
satisfying about the process, and I believe it has a lot to do with
the excitement that comes with knowing you are creating something that
will be shared by audiences and that will hopefully be taken with them
long after they've finished watching your film.
I hope you enjoy visiting my website and please drop me an e-mail if
you'd like to chat!
Sincerely,
Jerry
A. Vasilatos
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