CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS
DANA RICHIE
Backlot’s founder and CEO
Your Story. Our Priority.
FRANCESCO LUCARELLI
Francesco Lucarelli is the founder of Boundless Films which is exclusively partnering with Backlot Productions. His impressive 25-year tenure in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries is defined by his commitment to embracing challenges and driving innovation. He has a proven track record in managing all facets of strategic and creative work production, from intricate product launches to developing results-driven strategies. His leadership extends beyond internal team management to fostering strong relationships with clients, ensuring their satisfaction and engagement. Francesco's approach is deeply rooted in storytelling, particularly through video, where he excels in conveying compelling stories and perspectives. His unique ability to intertwine strategic insight with creative expression makes him an invaluable leader, capable of steering projects to success and leaving a lasting impact.
RYAN THIEL
He brings 15 years experience developing amazing promotional content. Like all true samurai, he keeps his work clean, crisp and precise. He prides himself on entertaining the consumer while informing them about products.
BRENDAN CALDER
is an independent filmmaker from Monterey, California and currently resides in Los Angeles where most of his work is based out of. Brendan shot Smartwater’s series for Backlot ‘Be A Badass’ and has worked for countless brands like Reebok, Converse and Verizon, and ad agencies, including 72andSunny.
IMAN HOBBS
Iman Hobbs Browne is a former Emmy Award-winning Journalist and lifelong storyteller who remains connected with people through the stories they share. Iman spent over a decade at ABC Network News in New York. While there, she worked on stories ranging from expectant mothers who lost their husbands in the World Trade Center attacks, to following a family who evacuated New Orleans after the levees broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. In recent years, her work has shifted to research and advocacy in the hemp and cannabis space, with a focus on the various medicinal uses of the plant and its properties for chronic pain, disease and mental illnesses. Iman is a native Los Angeleno and the proud Mom of a very active eight year old son.
ASHLEY SPRINGER
Marketing Specialist, and Production Coordinator. She is currently a contract employee for Backlot Productions, working closely with Dana Richie to grow her business. She primarily helps update current campaigns and manages her website along with many other platforms.
SCOTT VELASQUEZ
Scott is the founder of Los Angeles based music supervision company, Frisson Sync. With over 10 years of music industry experience, Frisson specializes in Music Supervision, Licensing and custom song creation for Podcasts, as well as: TV, Film, and new media projects. He has worked on 300+ podcast episodes, films, and tv shows including #1 hits like The Shrink Next Door, Blood Ties, WeCrashed, Bunga Bunga, Do No Harm and many more. Scott has the gift of Chromesthesia, meaning he see’s color with sound, which has always been big driver in music selection and direction during the creative process.
PHILIP ROSENBAUM
Phil Rosenbaum is a New York-based TV news producer who loves matching the spoken word with images that tell great stories. Over the years, Phil has produced shows for several networks, including CNN and HLN. He also teaches journalism as an adjunct professor. And during the pandemic, Phil hosts a ''talk show'' he created exclusively for residents of his apartment building, on Zoom, of course.
NICK MAULDIN
is a filmmaker living in New York City. Nick edits for Backlot, including its marketing reels, and helps maintain the portfolio and video library. Nick’s the founder of Dog Biscuit Productions where he honed his skills in post-production editing for narrative films, actor and director reels, and voiceover work. Nick graduated from East 15 Acting School in London and earned a technical degree audio production from the Recording Connection. As an actor, Nick has appeared in "FBI: Most Wanted," "The Foods That Built America," has multiple appearances on Off West End and Off-Broadway stages, and has multiple films showing at various festivals all over the world. www.nickmauldin.com
ANDREW ZENN
is a Los Angeles based director, editor, and producer with a focus in comedy and branded entertainment. Andrew’s projects have amassed millions of views online and he has a growing reputation for imagining and creating intuitive and sharable video content. Andrew’s projects are regularly featured on Time, The Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and College Humor.
SEAN LEVIASHVILI
is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles. Most recently he wrote, co-directed, produced and starred in his hyperbolically autobiographical short film, "LIMP", which focuses on dating with a disability in New York City's gay community. Sean has a mild case of cerebral palsy and walks with a limp. Since submitting his film, it has screened in 10 festivals nationwide, and won awards of recognition in two festivals for bringing light to disability issues. Sean consults for comedians and helps them build out and improve their acts, spanning from 10 to 30 minutes.
EVY BJORN
Evy Bjorn began her career as a producer working in documentary and doc follow television; working internationally for DR2 in Denmark and National Geographic in Italy and the US; also creating branded content for Falling Whistles, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising, Buzzfeed Pictures, respectively. In the past few years, Evy moved into development, working for TruTV, and then as a development executive in the non-scripted division for Televisa International, based in Madrid, Spain. There she oversaw and developed shows in various territories including Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Vietnam, the UK and Italy. Upon returning to Los Angeles, Evy turned her focus to production, as a creative producer on several projects for HBOMax, The History Channel, CNBC, Discovery +, Peacock, Paramount TV and Netflix. As well as, freelance producing with notable projects including Jennifer Lopez - “El Anillo”, Dua Lipa - “Lost in Your Light” music videos and advertising campaigns for Casio, Coffee Mate and Honda.
JONNY FORMAN
has spent over 20 years developing, launching and managing Direct-to-Consumer brands in the US and overseas. Highly versatile and multi-disciplined, Jonny is known for bringing complex products and services to market via online and offline channels, optimizing conversion and building out lifetime value.
KRIS JENKINS
is an award-winning editor who started out her career in the lucrative field of high school reunion videos. Sensing her future just may be elsewhere, she quickly moved into commercials and signed up with Cosmo Street in Santa Monica to edit national campaigns for clients including Panasonic, Jaguar and Budweiser. After several years as a staff editor, she decided to check out the life of a freelancer. She has been working on projects as a freelance editor since early 2014.
ALEXANDRA TOULCH
Alexandra Toulch is the Canadian liaison for Backlot Productions. This Montreal-born social media journalist has a well rounded background with extensive knowledge in video production, on-air broadcasting/hosting and social media management. Her digital and interpersonal skills combined with her social media / marketing knowledge make her an important asset to this company. Most recently, Alexandra started a boutique video agency called City Regal (www.city-regal.com) specializing in event coverage and corporate videos.
JORDAN HART
Jordan has been working as an Art Director in advertising for over 15 years. He's created campaigns in a variety of industries including healthcare, agriculture, tourism, power tools, and motorsports. An art school graduate with a degree in communication design, he also regularly designs projects for web, TV, and print.
SUSAN GOULD
Susan is our dogged, determined footage hunter who leaves no stone unturned in her quest to find the perfect visual materials. Susan has worked on a wide range of productions, ranging from feature length documentaries, biographies, reality series, true crime docuseries, and sports docuseries.
Our Wonderful Interns
MEREDITH McCABE
Meredith is a recent graduate of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism with a passion for audio and video production and storytelling. She is currently the marketing producer for the hit legal and political podcast Talking Feds hosted by former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman and will soon be joining podcast network Wondery as an associate producer in the topicals department.
During her time at Annenberg, she was the executive producer for Annenberg Radio News, had multiple audio and text pieces published to Annenberg Media, and had her reporting featured in the Dallas Morning News. In 2023, she interned at TMZ where she published stories about Taylor Swift, Coachella, former President Donald Trump, and more. In exercising her passion for the legal field, Meredith interned at the country's largest public defender's office in 2022 where she focused on law enforcement accountability. She is passionate about bringing mental health to the forefront of conversations in media and policy and brought this passion to her work on Unlocked.
USC
JEAN ZAMORA
Jean Zamora is a documentary filmmaker, photographer and journalist whose work has been featured on KQED and KALW, as well as in The Katonah Museum of Art, Microscope Gallery, The School of Visual Arts, and NYU Tisch.
As a freshman in high school, Jean won the New York Times student editorial competition, which inspired her to study Journalism and Photography at New York University. After graduating, she decided to continue to blend her skill sets by going to UC Berkeley’s graduate school of Journalism for her Masters in Journalism, with a concentration in Documentary Filmmaking. Her work primarily focuses on highlighting marginalized communities and experiences.
Jean’s favorite part of interning with Backlot this summer has been getting familiar with the sizzle making process, and seeing the ins and outs of finding and pulling archival!
NYU
SIENNA ESTRADA
Writer and journalist.
Sienna attended the University of Southern California, where she received her Bachelors in Creative Writing. During that time, she became interested in journalism when she worked as a contributing music writer at Earmilk and the film feature writer for A Hot Set. After graduating from USC, she is now a graduate student at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute, specializing in Cultural Reporting & Criticism. She enjoys writing about the arts and culture along with writing personal essays, poems, and short stories.
As an intern with Backlot, Sienna enjoyed collaborating and communicating with her colleagues, filtering through archives and oral histories, and using her storytelling abilities everyday.
NYU