D. J. CARUSO (Director) is a partner with Eriq La Salle and Butch Robinson in Humble Journey Films, a production company with a first look feature film and television deal with Warner Bros. “The Salton Sea” will mark the first feature for the newly-formed production entity.

A graduate of Pepperdine University, Caruso began his career in the film industry as a production assistant. Before long, he directed “Cyclops, Baby,” a short film which won numerous awards at film festivals in 1996. He then served as producer and aerial director on Paramount’s “Drop Zone” starring Wesley Snipes. The director’s aerial work garnered rave reviews for its ingenuity and beauty. Following this success, Caruso went on to serve as executive producer on another feature for Paramount Pictures, “Nick of Time,” starring Johnny Depp.

In 1997, Caruso was the executive producer on the critically acclaimed HBO feature “Rebound” which was nominated for an Image Award. Later that same year, he directed four episodes of the ABC/Dreamworks television series “High Incident” for executive producer Steven Spielberg.

Caruso teamed with another Hollywood veteran when he directed Frank Darabont’s screenplay “Black Cat Run” for Edge City and HBO Enterprises. The film was HBO’s highest rated world premiere film of 1998.

TONY GAYTON (Screenwriter) is a graduate of the USC film school, where he received the Jack Nicholson Writing Scholarship. After graduating, he worked as a production assistant for John Milius. Gayton has been a professional screenwriter for over ten years, working both by himself and with his brother, Joe Gayton (Uncommon Valor, Shout).

Gayton also directed the critically acclaimed documentary “Athens Georgia: Inside/Out,” which featured the bands R.E.M. and the B-52’s as well as the eccentric folk artist, Reverend Howard Finster.

Gayton’s most recent screenplay is the upcoming “Murder by Numbers,” starring Sandra Bullock and Ben Chaplin for Castle Rock Entertainment.

FRANK DARABONT (Producer) is one of only six filmmakers with the unique distinction and honor of having his first two feature films receive nominations for the Best Picture Academy Award – 1994’s “The Shawshank Redemption” (with a total of seven nominations) and 1999’s “The Green Mile” (four nominations). Both films were for Castle Rock Entertainment.

Darabont himself collected Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay for each film (both based on works by author Stephen King) as well as nominations for both from the Director’s Guild of America. He won the Humanitas Prize, the PENWest Award, the Scriptor Award from the University of Southern California plus a Writers Guild nomination for his screenplay of “The Shawshank Redemption.” For “The Green Mile,” Darabont collected a Broadcast Film Critics prize for his screenplay adaptation as well as two People’s Choice Awards -- Best Drama and Best Picture.

Darabont was born in France in 1959, the son of Hungarian refugees who had fled Budapest during the 1956 uprising. He emigrated to the U.S. as a child and after living in several locales around the country, he settled with his family in Los Angeles immediately prior to high school. After graduating from Hollywood High, he spent his early years in the film world as a production assistant and set decorator.

He first worked as a production aide on the 1981 fright film, “Hell Night,” at which time he met another aspiring filmmaker, Chuck Russell. Together, they established themselves as screenwriters with the scripts for “A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors” and the 1988 remake of the classic 1950s horror film, “The Blob.” Darabont also shared screenplay credit on “The Fly II,” the sequel to David Cronenberg’s 1986 classic.

He also wrote seven episodes of George Lucas’ TV series, “The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles,” and two segments of HBO’s popular anthology series, “Tales from the Crypt,” earning a Writer’s Guild nomination for the episode entitled “The Ventriloquist’s Dummy.” More recently, he executive produced the HBO thriller, “Black Cat Run.”

Darabont and his production company, Darkwoods Productions, continued their affiliation with Castle Rock Entertainment with “The Majestic,” directed and produced by Frank Darabont and starring Jim Carrey. Other projects in development include adaptations of the Ray Bradbury classic, “Fahrenheit 451,” Robert McCammon’s “Mine” and Stephen King’s “The Mist.”

ERIQ La SALLE (Producer) has been nominated for three Emmy’s for his portrayal of ‘Dr. Peter Benton,’ a demanding and intense surgical resident on NBC’s hit medical drama “E.R.,” as well as a Golden Globe nomination and two NAACP Image Awards. La Salle recently directed and starred in the independent film “Crazy as Hell,” a film which he produced with D. J. Caruso, Butch Robinson and Ken Aguado.

In addition to acting, La Salle is very active in developing film projects and in gaining experience on the other side of the camera. He has written, directed and produced several short films, two of which have won awards on the film festival circuit including The Worldfest Houston Film Competition and The USA Film Festival.

In November of 1996, La Salle directed and appeared in “Rebound” for HBO Pictures, the true story of Earl Manigault, a legendary Harlem athlete whose basketball career was destroyed through drug addiction.

In December 1997, Humble Journey Films was formed. The first project made under the Humble Journey banner was “Mind Prey” for ABC-TV in which La Salle starred and served as a producer.

Among the actor’s feature film credits are Gramercy Pictures’ “D.R.O.P. Squad,” directed by David Johnson and executive produced by Spike Lee, “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Coming To America” and “Five Corners.” La Salle has guest-starred on several television series including “L.A. Law,” “Quantum Leap,” “A Different World” as well as HBO’s “Vietnam War Stories.”

La Salle studied for two years at The Juilliard School, before going on to receive a BFA degree in Theatre Arts at New York University.

KEN AGUADO (Producer) has also produced “Ticker” starring Tom Sizemore and Steven Seagal for Artisan Entertainment.

Aguado was CEO of Kings Road Entertainment until he sold the company in 1998. He first joined the production entity as a reader in 1982, and was promoted to vice president after Kings Road went public in 1985. During this time, Aguado was involved in the development and production of numerous feature films including “All Of Me” starring Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin, “The Big Easy,” starring Dennis Quaid and “Enemy Mine” which also starred Dennis Quaid.

Taking leave from Kings Road Entertainment from 1992-94, Aguado was president of Miller/Boyett Productions, a production company based at Warner Bros. Aguado also served as senior vice-president of the Badham/Cohen Group at Universal Pictures from 1990-92 where he was involved in the development and production of the company’s slate of films, as well as the supervision of the creative staff. During his tenure, the company produced “Bird On A Wire” starring Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn; “The Hard Way” starring Michael J. Fox and James Woods and “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story” starring Jason Scott Lee.

Aguado was born and raised in Westchester County in New York. He attended Tulane University in New Orleans graduating with a degree in Psychology and Film Theory.

BUTCH ROBINSON (Producer) is a partner in Humble Journey Films with D. J. Caruso and Eriq La Salle. His collaboration with Caruso and La Salle began on HBO’s “Rebound: The Legend of Ear Manigault” on which he served as production supervisor. Through Humble Journey, Robinson produced “Mind Prey,” a television movie for ABC, directed by Caruso. Robinson and La Salle have also written three screenplays together, which are in development at the company.

Concurrently, Robinson continues to head DROP Squad Pictures, a production company that he formed in 1988. Based in New York, the company has produced features, short films, documentaries, music videos and commercials.

In 1994 Robinson co-wrote and produced a feature titled “The Drop Squad” on which Spike Lee served as executive producer. Based on a short film Robinson co-wrote and on which he also served as director of photography, the feature film was released through Gramercy Pictures.

Robinson reteamed with Spike Lee as co-producer on “The Original Kings of Comedy,” a documentary film about a hit comedy tour, directed by Lee. The film was released by Paramount Pictures in association with MTV Films.

JIM BEHNKE (Executive Producer), an industry veteran who has worked in a variety of capacities during his two decades in the business.
Behnke began his career as an assistant director in both motion picture and television productions. Some of his credits include Rob Reiner’s acclaimed drama, “Stand by Me,” as well as “Alien Nation,” “Weekend at Bernie’s,” “Wes Craven’s New Nightmare,” “The Gumshoe Kid,” “Moving Violations” and “Let’s Get Harry.”

Behnke was a production manager on Clint Eastwood’s “The Bridges of Madison County,” George Cosmatos’ “The Shadow Conspiracy,” TV’s “The Pretender” and Jake Kasdan’s film “Zero Effect.” On the latter two projects, Behnke also served as an executive producer. More recently Behnke served as the executive producer on “The Majestic,” directed and produced by Frank Darabont.
His television projects also include “JAG” and “The Midnight Caller.”

AMIR MOKRI (Director of Photography) was born in Iran and attended Emerson College in Boston. Upon graduation, Mokri became a cinematography fellow at the American Film Institute. He collaborated with director Wayne Wang on several films including “The Joy Luck Club,” “Life is Cheap...But Toilet Paper is Expensive,” “Eat a Bowl of Tea” and “Slamdance.”

His other credits include “An Eye for an Eye,” “Coyote Ugly,” “Freejack,” “Pacific Heights,” “Whore,” “Blue Steel,” “Queens Logic” and “House of the Rising Sun.”

Mokri’s work on commercials and music videos is extensive.

TOM SOUTHWELL (Production Designer) reteams with D. J. Caruso having served as production designer on the director’s HBO film “Black Cat Run” and as storyboard artist on “Nick of Time” and “Drop Zone.”

In addition to designing, Southwell works in many different capacities in the art departments of feature films - art director, conceptual artist, illustrator and graphic designer. As an art director, he worked on “Mighty Joe Young” and was the visual effects art director on “Executive Decision.”
Among those credits as conceptual artist, Southwell’s credits include “X-Men,” “Pluto Nash,” “Man on the Moon,” “Dr. Dolittle,” “U.S. Marshals,” “Twilight,” “Devil’s Advocate,” “Nick of Time,” “Mission Impossible,” “The Sandlot,” “Demolition Man,” “Heart & Souls,” “Under Siege,” “Flatliners,” “Gremlins 2” and “Major League.”

As illustrator and/or graphic designer, Southwell recently contributed to the features “Lucky Numbers” and “The Minority Report” for Dreamworks. His long list of credits in these roles include “Eraser,” “Basic Instinct,” “City Slickers,” “Arachnophobia,” “Lethal Weapon 2,” “The Color Purple,” “Romancing the Stone” and “Blade Runner.”

Southwell received a Bachelor of fine arts degree in communication design from Pratt Institute in New York and studied at the New Rochelle Academy in New York State.

JIM PAGE (Editor), a University of California, San Diego graduate, Page first met D. J. Caruso when he served as editor on the ABC series “High Incident.” Since then, they have collaborated on the Frank Darabont-scripted HBO movie “Black Cat Run” and a movie-of-the-week for ABC titled “Mind Prey.” Most recently, Page served as the editor for “The Majestic,” directed and produced by Frank Darabont.

Page edited the ABC series “Once & Again.” Among his other credits include serving as associate editor on the television series “My So Called Life” and the pilot for the HBO critically acclaimed series “Sopranos.”

KARYN WAGNER (Costume Designer) is a third-generation industry veteran. Wagner’s grandfather, George Barnes, won an Oscar for his black-and-white cinematography on Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca.” Her grandmother was part of Erich Von Stroheim’s stock company and her father worked as a motion picture sound mixer.

The Hollywood native had no plans to enter the industry when she enrolled in the University of California-Davis to study art history. Before long, she won a production coordinator job on a feature, then focused her career as a camera technician before becoming a costumer.

This film marks Wagner’s 4th collaboration with Darabont having designed the wardrobe for “The Majestic,” “The Green Mile” and “Black Cat Run” and her 2nd collaboration with D. J. Caruso for “Black Cat Run.” Other feature credits include Steven Soderbergh’s “The Underneath,” Robert Kurtzman’s “Wishmaster” and John Woo’s “Hard Target.” On that film, she worked with actress Kasi Lemmons, who chose Wagner to create the period wardrobe for her acclaimed 1997 directorial debut, “Eve’s Bayou.” Wagner recently designed “Cora Unashamed” for ALT Films Masterpiece Theater (American Literature on television).

Wagner also designed costumes for the TV pilots “Bump in the Night” and “Beastmaster III.” She served as a wardrobe supervisor on such projects as “The Rapture,” “Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story” and Sam Raimi’s “Army of Darkness.”

THOMAS NEWMAN (Composer) moves effortlessly from drama (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile,” “The Horse Whisperer,” “Erin Brockovich”) to sharp satire (“The Player”) to period classics (“Little Women”), building on an amazing family tradition in Hollywood. Newman has received four Oscar nominations for his film work. He was the only double nominee in 1994’s Oscar race, receiving nominations for both “Little Women” and “The Shawshank Redemption,” and the following year for his score for Diane Keaton’s off-beat comedy “Unstrung Heroes.”

In 1999, Newman scored two outstanding films: “The Green Mile,” his second collaboration with director Frank Darabont, and the critically-acclaimed “American Beauty,” starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening, for which he received his fourth Oscar nomination.

Since the beginning of film scoring, the Newman name has been an integral part of its evolution.

Thomas Newman is the youngest son of the legendary Alfred Newman, a nine-time Oscar winner and 45-time nominee, who as musical director of 20th Century Fox from the mid-30s to the early ‘60s was responsible for overseeing or writing all the music created for over 200 Fox films. Alfred’s brother Lionel succeeded him as Fox music director, winning an Oscar for “Hello, Dolly!” and overseeing the studio’s scoring into the 1980’s.

Thomas Newman’s cousin, Randy Newman, has also achieved fame in both pop and film scoring (“The Natural”), and brother David is also a busy film composer (“The War Of the Roses”).

Newman studied composition and orchestration at USC with professors Frederick Lesemann and noted film composer David Raksin, and privately with composer George Tremblay. Newman completed his academic work at Yale, studying with Jacob Druckman, Bruce MacCombie and Robert Moore.

Newman’s reputation for originality and for intensifying mood and character grew rapidly with such films as Ron Howard’s comedy “Gung Ho”; “Desperately Seeking Susan”; “The Lost Boys”; the Academy Award nominated, “Scent Of A Woman”; “The Rapture”; the acclaimed cable movie “Citizen Cohn” and over 20 other major titles.

Newman’s recent film scores include “Erin Brockovich,” “Pay It Forward,” “Meet Joe Black,” “Up Close And Personal,” “Phenomenon,” “American Buffalo” (the film version of David Mamet’s award-winning play), “The People Vs. Larry Flynt” and “Oscar & Lucinda.”