| THE MANAGEMENT
TEAM
Sunrise Media Group has been fortunate to attract to its management
team a unique group of experienced business and industry
professionals, whose combined entertainment and financial
backgrounds comprises over 60 years of senior management
experience. The team has vast experience in such diverse
areas as finance, mergers and acquisitions, television
broadcasting, branded marketing and merchandising, licensing,
film distribution, production and interactive media.
Moreover, the management team's diverse mix of
global experience allows for strong artistic and analytical
analysis of ideas, as well as the development of media-focused
financing strategies.
SMG's team of professionals has a "hands
on" approach to the management of SMG projects.
We will directly select, manage and supervise all aspects
of film development and production, distribution and
new media technologies, as well as other related SMG
entertainment projects and products.
Management Biographies:
Jay
Shapiro
Jay Shapiro previously served as President &
Chief Executive Officer of Team Communications Group,
Inc. He was also a member of its Board of Directors.
An industry veteran with over two decades of experience,
Mr. Shapiro is an exemplary entertainment executive,
whose financial acumen has long been lauded among his
peers. Mr. Shapiro, who honed his skills during the
last 29 years at some of the most prominent entertainment
companies in the world, is set to expand operations
in the acquisition, production and worldwide distribution
of filmed entertainment. Mr. Shapiro, as Chairman and
Chief Executive Officer of SMG will oversee all corporate,
financial, and fiduciary activities worldwide.
In 1990, Mr. Shapiro, a licensed CPA,launched a highly
successful professional consulting corporation , Jay Shapiro CPA, specializing
in serving the entertainment industry on an international
basis, with over 1000 engagements. Significant accomplishments included expert
testimony for a major Hollywood litigation, public offerings
for NASDAQ, AMEX companies in several workout situations,
and mergers of companies with up to $500 million in
revenues.
Further accomplishments include Mr. Shapiro serving
as the Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration
for The Program Entertainment Group in Sherman Oaks,
CA. He oversaw all financial and investment activities
for this publicly held television syndication company.
Mr. Shapiro has also served as interim CEO for the Nostalgia
Channel and several other media companies.
Prior to this, Mr. Shapiro served as Senior Partner
and Director of Audit and Accounting Services for Laventhol
& Horwath in Los Angeles, California, from 1982
until 1990. There he was responsible for the management
of a $6 million worldwide audit practice, as well as
the supervision of five partners and sixty professional
staff. While at Laventhol & Horwath, Mr. Shapiro
also served as National Director of Entertainment and
Media Industry Services, and was instrumental in the
initial public offerings of such companies as Lorimar,
Qintex, Unapix, Peregrine, and Silver Screen Partners.
Mr. Shapiro has had personal film production experience
with such feature films
"Batman", "Coming to America",
"Animal House", "The Omen" and
"Lonesome Dove" among others, and television
programs, including "Dallas" and "Knots
Landing". He is an active member of the Academy
of Television Arts and Sciences. Additionally, he created
SMG Financial Services to provide management advisory services
to entertainers and athletes.
Mr. Shapiro received his B.B.A. from the University
of Wisconsin and a M.B.A. (with Distinction) in Accounting
and Finance from Arizona State University Graduate School
of Business Administration. He is a certified Public
Accountant (since 1974) and serves on the faculty of
the UCLA School of Entertainment Studies. He is also
a frequent lecturer on entertainment finance. Mr. Shapiro
has served as Chairman of both the California Society
of CPA's Entertainment & Sports Industry Committee,
and the AICPA Entertainment Accounting Standards Taskforce.
He resides in Bel-Air, California.
James Waldron
James Waldron, presently a principal in BlackComb Media
is an international sales consultant to SMG and serves
on the Board of Directors. He held the title of President,
Team Entertainment Group, reporting to Jay Shapiro,
CEO. His responsibilities included oversight of all
programming in reality series, television movies, minis
and drama series. Highlights include 30 hours of reality
programming for the Discovery Networks, such as: "Place
of Mystery"; "Weird Worlds"; "Hollywood
Confidential" and "Destination Style".
With producer Lawrence Bender, Team co-produced "Anatomy
of a Hate Crime", the movie based on the story
of Matthew Shepard that launched the "Erase the
Hate" campaign for MTV. Team partnered with producer
Larry Sanitsky on "Final Jeopardy", starring
Dana Delaney for ABC. Prior to Team Entertainment Group,
Waldron was at Creative Artists Agency in series packaging,
international programming and first run syndication.
Before joining CAA, Waldron was with Pearson Television
North America as Executive Vice President of Programming and spent five years at Viacom Productions,
working his way up to Vice President, Creative Affairs.
Waldron received his education at the University of
Georgia, graduating with a degree in Radio-TV-Film and
a minor in Speech and Drama.
Michael R. Gursey
Michael Gursey, a consultant to and member of the
Board of Directors of SMG, has over 32 years experience
in all facets of show business as an agent, network
executive and personal manager.
Mr. Gursey served as Vice President - Variety Programming
at CBS Television and Senior Vice
President of the Music Division of ICM.
During a sixteen-year period, Mr. Gursey managed many
major artists, including Olivia Newton-John, The Carpenters,
Tom Jones, Jayne Seymour, Morgan Fairchild, Steve Garvey,
Peter Marshall, Shannon Doherty, William
Shatner and Donna Mills.
Mr. Gursey received a Bachelor of Arts degree from
the University of California at Los Angeles.
F. Daniel Somrack
As Vice President of Development for ION Pictures,
Mr. Somrack was involved in the acquisition and development
of Stephen King's original screenplay "Sleepwalkers".
The Columbia Pictures release opened at number-one in
the U.S. box-office. Mr. Somrack was the Associate Producer
on the satirical horror film "Slaughterhouse Rock" which
won the Silver Scroll Award.
A boxing historian and member of the International
Documentary Association, Mr. Somrack produced two documentaries
on the fight game. "Latin Legends", shot on location
throughout Central America, was a tribute to the great
Latin boxers Roberto Duran, Alexis Arguello, Kid Gavilan
and Julio Cesar Chavez. Mr. Somrack also served as the
Story Consultant/Supervising Producer on the highly
acclaimed "Champions Forever". "Champions"
starred Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Ken
Norton and Larry Holmes. Billboard Magazine listed "Champions
Forever" as the highest-selling original sports video
of all time. Mr. Somrack is currently writing and developing
several of SMG's upcoming projects focusing on the lives
and careers of the greatest boxing champions around
the world.
As a freelance writer, Mr. Somrack recently completed
a three-year assignment in Cuba. His profile stories
about Cuba's well-known athletes, artists and literary
figures have been published in magazines throughout
the world.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Mr. Somrack graduated
from Lakeland College with a degree in Psychology. He
attended The Cleveland Institute of Music and The Fairmont
School of the Performing Arts where he studied drama,
music theory and piano improvisation.
Rebecca Ferratti
Rebecca Ferratti has20 years of hands-on experience
in front of and behind the camera. As a writer, producer,
editing supervisor, casting coordinator, location scout,
set dresser, makeup & wardrobe person, craft services
coordinator and more, her experiences cover all aspects
of production. As a Field Producer, she co-produced
commercial print projects, being responsible for print
lighting, print photography, print advertisement and
production shoots both domestically and internationally.
Ms. Ferratti additionally served as a Field Producer/Talent
Coordinator and talent for TV specials on VH-1, MTV
and other cable networks during sweeps week. Since 1995
she has been creatively developing, with options, compelling
projects based on true life and action entertainment
projects for TV.
As a Senior Consulting Partner at SMG, her responsibilities
include organizing and producing synopsis, character
breakdowns, treatments, props, costumes, film editing
and overall supervision of the production process. In
addition she supports the company's sales efforts and
related promotional campaigns.
In addition to her duties at SMG, she is currently
the creative developer/writer for Ferratti & Associates,
and has several projects registered with the WGA. Ms.
Ferratti is also an accomplished actress and model.
Dennis Pope
Dennis Pope has over 40 years of extensive experience
in virtually all aspects of the entertainment industry.
Mr. Pope is presently the Chief Executive Officer of
ClayBrooke Partners LLC ("CBP"), an American-based
transaction entity which specializes in media-based businesses in the
entertainment, communications, leisure, sports and interactive
segments of the global media industries. Mr. Pope, through
CBP, is a strategic business advisor to SMG.
Previously, Mr. Pope was President, Chief Executive
Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Showscan
Entertainment Inc.
In January of 1993, Mr. Pope, as its Managing Partner,
established Entertainment Business Group, a business
unit of Kenneth Leventhal & Company, providing the
full spectrum of business and financial advisory services.
From October 1986 to October 1989, Mr. Pope was Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Weintraub
Entertainment Group.
Prior to WEG, Mr. Pope served as the Partner-in-Charge of Arthur Andersen's worldwide
entertainment industry practice.
Mr. Pope was graduate of California Polytechnic University
and was honored as the College of Business Outstanding
Alumnus in 1983.
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