Mary Lou Belli – Director
Mary Lou Belli I is 2-time Emmy Award-winning director, writer, and producer. Among her directorial credits are NCIS: New Orleans, Pitch, Famous in Love, The Quad, American Woman and multiple episodes of Hart of Dixie, on the CW, Second Generation Wayans, Reed Between the Lines, and The Game for BET. She has also directed seven consecutive seasons of Girlfriends on the CW. A groundbreaking web series director, Mary Lou did the pilots and multiple episodes of 3Way, winner of two Logo awards and The AfterEllen.com 2008 Best Web Series award, Jenifer Lewis and Shangela, one of IndieGogo’s top 10 web series of 2012, and Work in Progress official selection to the HollyWeb and Academy Web Television fests and The Drunk Lonely Wives Book Club now doing the fest circuit.
Her short film Straight Eye for the Gay Guy won Best Mini-short at the California Indie Film Fest. It also played at Cannes, Woods Hole, Ojai Film Fest, and Cinema Diverse: The Palm Springs LGBTQ Film Festival. Her other mini short I Heard Something was an official selection at The Sapporo International Short Film Fest as well as the California Indie Film Fest and the Northeast Film Festival Horror Fest.
Mary Lou has directed an additional 150+ television episodes including Monk, Wizards of Waverly Place, Sister, Sister, Living with Fran,” starring Fran Drescher, and Eve, starring hip-hop artist Eve, as well as The Hughleys, Major Dad, and Charles in Charge. Episodes she directed of The Game, Girlfriends, and One on One have all been nominated or won multiple Prism Awards.
She has co-authored three books: “The NEW Sitcom Career Book,” now in its second edition, “Acting for Young Actors,” and “Directors Tell the Story” recently published in Japanese and Chinese. Mary Lou teaches directing at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts.
Jana Sue Memel – Writer
Jana Sue Memel is an Academy Award-winning producer and writer who in the course of her 30-year career, has produced over 25 feature length motion pictures for both television and theatrical exhibition. In addition, she has produced over 65 half-hour live action shorts that have played as television series in more than 30 countries. Currently, she serves as Executive Director Motion Pictures & Television Academy of Art University along with pursuing her filmmaking endeavors.
Short films she has produced have won 3 Academy Awards and have been nominated for an additional 8 Oscars in the Live Action Shorts category. Other films Memel has produced have also been nominated and won Writer and Director Guild Awards, Humanitas Prizes, Cable Aces and Emmy’s.
Films she has produced have launched the directing careers of Danny Glover, Margaret Cho, Jessie Nelson, Laura Dern, Griffin Dunne, Rob Lowe, and Helen Mirren along with over 60 other directors. These films have starred the likes of Brad Pitt, Tobey Maguire, LL Cool J, Robert Downey Junior, Kiefer Sutherland, Bill Macy and Shia LaBeouf.
As a writer, Memel has adapted FAULTLINE for ABC FAMILY based on the YA novel and RUBY FRUIT JUNGLE for PRN Productions. She has done extensive rewrites on LIFE AND DEATH AT 17 for Hoggswood and is writing IN THE MIDDLE for director Chris Moore and Alona for producer Craig Franklin. She also has worked as an additional writer on a pilot for Fox and features at New Line, Warners, Disney, Universal, and Revolution Studios. In 2016 she co-wrote, co-directed, and produced Wild Seeds, a spec pilot. She also wrote, directed and produced, Purposeful Parenting a series of live action short films.
Charles Dougherty – Director of Photography
Charles Dougherty has been a working actor for over 30 years. He appeared with Minnie Driver in the film BEAUTIFUL, directed by Sally Field. He appeared with Martin Landau in the film AN EXISTENTIAL AFFAIR. He had a starring role in the Roger Corman film, WELCOME TO OBLIVION. Mr. Dougherty has guest starred on numerous television shows from HAPPY DAYS to MONK. His recent television appearances include UNDERCOVERS, THE MIDDLE, DOLLHOUSE, and BONES as well as in “The Late Night Wars” on THE JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW. He has appeared in over 300 television commercials, many of them memorable classics. Trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and the Drama Studio, London, Mr. Dougherty’s theatre work includes THE FREEDOM OF THE CITY, directed by Fionnula Flanagan at Theatre West in Los Angeles as well as the Off-Broadway production of KID CHAMPION written and directed by the late Thomas Babe. Mr. Dougherty has taught long form Improvisational Theatre for US Performing Arts as well as Acting For The Camera at Pepperdine University, University of California Berkley, Stanford University, Florida State University, University of Kentucky, Georgetown, and Amherst. He created promotional videos as well as shot, directed, and edited short films with teen workshop participants. He also serves as the Director of Strategic Development for the same organization.
