Empowered Films is an independent motion picture and television production company organized by a production and distribution team with successful track records in both studio and independent film and television production. The Company is one of a small number of independent film production companies that focus their production and distribution strategy around the need for media and entertainment companies in the digital age to create content that can be made available on multiple platforms, as the majority of projected worldwide industry growth is predicted to be driven by digital products and services.
The Company combines that strategy with the independent production and distribution of commercially-viable, but lower budget feature films, which will increase the financial feasibility and probability of success of any project. It expects to achieve its goals due to its management and production team’s network of contacts and relationships at the highest level of the motion picture industry, which should increase its ability to attract bankable stars and directors, and in turn increase its ability to enter into profitable agreements with distribution partners.
The Production Team
ARTHUR BERGEL is a producer and director of several broadcast television series as well as independent films. Television series under his direction have won three national Emmy Awards, and his films have exhibited at Cannes, AFM, Toronto, Wales, and Berlin. From 2003-2010 Art directed ten seasons of national broadcast programming for 20th Television. He directed the pilot and first five seasons of daytime favorite Judge Alex which premiered in syndication in September, 2005. He began his long association with 20th Television as director of season three and four of the daytime hit, Texas Justice. He directed all episodes of the three-time Emmy Award winning Cristina’s Court – the first show to win the Emmy for Outstanding Courtroom or Legal Program in 2008, which won the Emmy in the same category in 2009 and 2010. He served as Co-Executive Producer and Director of Donald Trump’s United States Poker Championships. In September, 2009, he served as Director and Co-Executive Producer for 13 episodes of In the Bunkhouse for the RFD Network, produced in association with USFR Media in Houston.
In January, 2009, he served as Executive Producer on the comedy Feature Film titled 3 Days Blind, which won Best Picture at the Toronto World of Comedy Film Festival, earned the Board of Directors Choice Award at the Eugene International Film Festival, was an Official Selection at the Breckenridge Festival of Film, and the Swansea Bay Film Festival in Wales. Art also directed the feature length motion picture, The Marianao Kid which exhibited at the Cannes Film Festival, winning Best Picture honors at the Gulf Coast Film Festival in 2001.
Art produced and directed The Four Tops 40th Anniversary Television Special: Live from the MGM Grand Hotel for Compass Entertainment, and produced and directed the nationally syndicated television show Downey: with Morton Downey, Jr., and served as Supervising Producer at Universal Studios on the sitcom Love Thy Neighbor. Art directed a three-part series on spirituality featuring Deepak Chopra, entitled A Celebration of Spirit, and also served as producer for Paramount Television’s American Bounty Hunter. He produced and directed Free Kick Master in 2008, for Fox Sports International, a one-hour special broadcast in over thirty countries in seven languages.
He has directed and produced in all television and film formats, including IMAX. His credits include the production and direction of international independent feature films and documentaries, nationally syndicated television shows, network and independently syndicated television pilots and series. He has series directing credits on over four-thousand hours of live and live-to-tape broadcast television shows, network specials and over 200 professional and NCAA college sporting events for FOX, CBS, NBC and ESPN. He also served as a producer and director at OralRobertsMinistries from 1984-1990, and founded the television ministry at Fellowship of the Woodlands under Pastor Kerry Shook, serving from 2001-2004.
He is an Eagle Scout, and a Magna cum Laude graduate of The University of Houston with a degree in Radio, Television and Film. Seasonal affiliations include the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences – (NATAS), and the National Association of Television Production Executives (NATPE).
ANDREW MEARS has extensive experience in film and video production, initially working for a Houston production company starting in the late 1980s. In the early 1990s, he founded Corporate Films, Inc., where he scripted, shot, edited, produced or directed programs for corporations such as Arco Chemical, Goodyear, Crown Central Petroleum, Baker Hughes and Exxon Mobil. In addition to corporate communications, he also developed and produced 41 episodes of a cable television home show, and a television program entitled Texas on Air. In 1996, he developed, sold, produced and served as the Executive Producer of a one hour reality based television special called American Bounty Hunter, which was represented by the Creative Artist Agency and broadcast nationally on the United Paramount Network. While producing the show, he was introduced to studios such as MGM, Universal, Disney, Warner Bros., and others. American Bounty Hunter is now being represented and distributed by Zia Films of Hollywood in both domestic and foreign markets. In 1998, he began working at Bill Young Productions, developing new business in corporate communications for companies such as Xerox, T-Mobile, Waste Management, and BP, as well as producing corporate, broadcast programming and broadcast advertising. In 2005, he wrote and produced a full length feature film called Alamo Gold which is currently being distributed by R Squared Films. He has extensive experience writing and producing for all media, including TV, radio, print, the Internet, and feature films. Through his involvement as part of the management team of Empowered Films, his continued focus will be to successfully develop, produce and market high quality feature films.
ROBERT SANDMAN has extensive experience over the past 30 years in investment banking, financial consulting, business planning, marketing, start-up business and project development, business and project financing, and film, video and television project packaging, development, financing, production, distribution and licensing. He has been retained for strategic business, financial and marketing planning, consulting and management, and business and project analysis and feasibility, development and implementation of business and marketing plans, business and project origination, packaging and financing, development and management in a variety of industries including entertainment, interactive multi-media, advertising, real estate, and film, video and television production and distribution, and Internet marketing. Clients include international multi-industry companies such as Tenneco, Conoco, and Imperial Sugar, as well as financial institutions and film and television production companies. He has extensive experience in the creation, development, packaging, financing, production, marketing, distribution and licensing of rights of film and video projects as a result of involvement in a variety of projects ranging from major multi-film packages to independent film productions, and as a result, understands the deal points, negotiation, and documentation involved in the various phases of film production: acquisition, development, packaging, financing, production, distribution and licensing, as well as the complexities involved in film distribution and exhibition. This experience also established key contacts in the film industry that includes producers, distributors, film studios, and funding sources. Prior experience includes institutional investment banking experience with major national securities firms. He has held or holds licenses in real estate, securities, insurance, and as a Certified Financial Planner, and Registered Investment Advisor. He graduated from the United StatesMilitaryAcademy at West Point.
ELLEN PITTLEMAN is aveteran studio executive, entertainment strategist, and founder and CEO of Hybrid Entertainment, an entertainment consulting firm focusing on worldwide theatrical, television, and home entertainment production and distribution. Hybrid also develops its own slate of original films from Australia, Brazil, China, and the United States. Prior to forming Hybrid, she was Senior Vice President of International Co-Productions and Worldwide Acquisitions for Paramount Pictures. In that position, she designed and managed the local production and worldwide acquisition initiative where she executed and supervised strategic alliances with leading international talent on behalf of the studio. Along with acquiring for both U.S. and international territories, she created the International Co-Production business for the studio which was responsible for local language production. Some of the original language productions she participated in include Philipe Muyl’s Magique (France), Raul Seixas (Brazil) and Bruno Barreto’s Last Stop 174 (Brazil). Prior to her international theatrical brief, Pittleman launched the DVD Premiere Production and Worldwide Acquisition division for Paramount Home Entertainment, where she built and managed an annual business exceeding $200 million. Films including Jonathan Demme’s Neil Young: Heart of Gold and the sequel to the $100MM+ Save the Last Dance. She consults with Empowered Films on strategic planning, deal negotiation, acquisitions, film library valuation and feature development, as well as being a member of their production team on individual films.