Producer/Director Arnold Leibovit optioned the feature buddy comedy “I Want my Baby Back” from InkTip.com writing duo Stephanie Storey and Mike Gandolfi after discovering it on InkTip.com. Arnold was an Executive Producer on Dreamworks’ and Warner Bros’ “The Time Machine” (with Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons), among other feature credits. With an Emmy, a Peabody, a Golden Globe, and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding TV News between them, not to mention a bevy of television writing and producing credits, Storey and Gandolfi had the style, skill and experience that Leibovit was looking for. This is Storey and Gandolfi’s first option through InkTip, although you’ll want to keep an eye out for them in future announcements, as more deals appear to be underway.

Written by: Mike Gandolfi
Directed by: Stephanie Storey
Produced by: Tommy Caprio

Starring:
Mike Gandolfi as Dr. Kevin Carr
Caitlin Muelder as Nurse Meg
Susane Lee as Receptionist Angie

Featuring:
Brian Unger as Drug Rep Chris
Bryan Branly as Lab Tech Ty

Guest Starring:
Bil Dwyer as Knee Patient
Amy Linker as Psychic
Julie Brister as New Age Patient
Ed Marques as Air Conditioning Guy
Shira Scott Astrof as Stitches Patient
Meghan Maureen McDonough as Hypochondriac Patient
Alison Rood as Teen Patient
Joel Henry Stein as Rashy Patient
Allison Dykstra as Flu Patient

Director of Photography: Marcus Martinez
Camera and Sound: Marc Harrison
Camera: Thomas Freeman
Make-up: Daniele Piersons
Music: Joel Henry Stein
Production Assistant: Joe Stears

On October 14th, a popular Gilmore Girls website published a story about our new web series, Don’t Make Me Sick, starring two former Gilmore Girls regulars, Mike Gandolfi and Susane Lee.

All eight episodes of the first season of Don’t Make Me Sick were filmed in Los Angeles on October 3rd and 4th, 2009. Despite a major location delay, the dedicated cast and crew shot over 37 pages of material in less than 17 hours (spread over two days).

Don’t Make Me Sick is a new medical comedy web series about a hypochondriac doctor and his odd-ball staff. It stars Mike Gandolfi (Gilmore Girls), Caitlin Muelder (New York Film Academy), and Susane Lee (Gilmore Girls, Grey’s Anatomy). Mike Gandolfi, who is an award-winning comedy writer, also wrote the series.

The series features hysterical performances from comedy talent such as Brian Unger (The Daily Show, The Jay Leno Show), Bil Dwyer (Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central Presents: Bil Dwyer), Ed Marques (Scrubs, MADtv), Amy Linker (Square Pegs), Shira Scott Astrof (The Office), Bryan Branly (the behind-the-scenes web host for The Jay Leno Show), Julie Brister (Upright Citizens Brigade, Reno 911!) and Meghan Maureen McDonough (Pretty Funny Women).

Stephanie Storey attended the Squaw Valley Community of Writers workshop in early August, where she studied under screenwriters Judith Rascoe (Havana), Thomas Rickman (Coal Miner’s Daughter), Michael Urban (Saved!), Camille Thomasson (The Brooke Ellison Story), Eugene Corr (Desert Bloom), and Lisa Rosenberg (The Riddle).

Every summer for 40 years, the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley has brought together writers for workshops, individual conferences, lectures, panels, readings, and discussions of the craft and the business of writing. Only 25 screenwriters are selected each year to attend the conference.

Visit the website at: http://www.squawvalleywriters.org/

Extraordinary Proof has been selected to play at the Broad Humor Film Festival in Venice, California on Saturday, June 13th. It will play as part of the Shorts Program #1. Writer-director Stephanie Storey and Executive Producer and co-star Mike Gandolfi will attend the event. Tickets are on sale now.

Following the films, Stephanie will participate in a question and answer session with the other filmmakers.

Extraordinary Proof was written and directed by Stephanie Storey. It stars Shae Kennedy, Ruthie Cullinane, Bret Porter and Mike Gandolfi.

The Broad Humor Film Festival showcases comedy films by female filmmakers. Women write. Women direct. Everybody laughs.

Mike Gandolfi plays Lopakhin in the upcoming Cherry Orchard Project, directed by Camille Thoman and Dan Milne.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD PROJECT is an experimental performance piece based on the classic play by Anton Chekhov. It takes place in an extraordinary private residence, incorporating elements of movement, live music, mime and song, with additional texts developed from the performers own lives. The Cherry Orchard, Chekhov’s final play, was written one year before the Russian Revolution in 1905 and is the story of a family losing their home. Written on the eve of his death, Chekhov was responding to the cultural sea change he observed in Russia at that time. It is a story that feels prescient in today’s America, exploring our attachments to the past and both our connection to and dislocation from the present.

ABOUT THE DIRECTORS:
Camille Thoman – In addition to a critically acclaimed one-woman show that played at the Edinburgh Festival and London’s The Young Vic, Camille’s recent film, FALLING OBJECTS, starred Timothy Hutton, Oscar-nominee Melissa Leo and Tony-nominated Mireille Enos.

Dan Milne – Dan’s most recent show,TWO MEN TALKING, has played in London, Johannesburg and is currently Off-Broadway in New York City. He has an extensive directing and acting background including directing credits in London’s West End, as well as The Young Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company. His acting credits include the BBC hit show EASTENDERS.

ABOUT THE CAST:
The cast of THE CHERRY ORCHARD PROJECT has a long list of film, tv and stage credits, ranging from Cirque du Soleil’s SALTIMBANCO to MTV’s ROCK THE CRADLE. Their talents cover a broad spectrum of performance in addition to acting – dance, mime, puppeteering and bird calls, to name a few. Many of them are also produced writers, with credits including ROSEANNE, DOWNLOADING NANCY and MR. PUNCH, which won the 2008 LADCC award for Best Writing (adaptation).

Thanksgiving Seconds was selected to premiere at the third annual Little Rock Film Festival, supported by the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library.

Writer-director Stephanie Storey and lead actress Allison Joy Dykstra will attend the festival on May 13-17, 2009.

Thanksgiving Seconds will show on Thursday, May 14th at 6:15 PM and again on Saturday, May 16th at 6:00 PM at the Riverdale Cinemas #8. Tickets are available at the festival website, www.littlerockfilmfestival.org

(The following article has been transcribed from the Hot Springs, Arkansas Sentinel-Record from Sunday, May 10, 2009.)

Lakeside High School graduate Stephanie Storey, who has produced more than 250 hours of television programming for shows such as “Tavis Smiley” on PBS and Lewis Black’s “Root of All Evil” on Comedy Central, will premiere a new film in Little Rock this month.

Her short film, “Thanksgiving Seconds,” will premiere at this year’s Little Rock Film Festival at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, May 14, and 6 p.m. Saturday, May 16, at Riverdale Cinemas.

Storey will attend with her family and Arkansas friends. Lead actress Allison Dykstra will also attend the event on Saturday, May 16.

Another Hot Springs native, Steven Schultz, is also part of the cast. Schultz, now of Los Angeles, graduated from Lakeside and attended Henderson State University.

Born and raised in Hot Springs, Storey graduated with honors from Lakeside High School in 1993.

She studied art history at Universita di Pisa in Pisa, Italy, and graduated with honors from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., with a degree in Fine Arts. In 2000, she obtained her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College in Boston and moved to Los Angeles.

She is also a screenwriter with her husband and writing partner, Mike Gandolfi, an Emmy-winning comedy writer for TV shows like “Roseanne” and “Dennis Miller Live.”

Last year, Storey and Gandolfi created a production company, Storeytime Entertainment. Produced by Storeytime, “Thanksgiving Seconds,” a comedy chronicling one dysfunctional family’s peculiar Thanksgiving, was written and directed by Storey.

The movie features a gifted ensemble of actors, including Dykstra, associate producer of Nickelodeon’s “True Jackson, VP,” and Gandolfi, best known for his recurring acting role on WB’s “Gilmore Girls.”

Storey’s parents, Steve and Kathy Storey, still live on Lake Hamilton. They grew up in Hot Springs, graduated from local high school and owned Resort Ford for 30 years before retiring in 2001.

Storeytime Entertainment’s Volume 1 DVD is being released just in time for the holidays. The DVD features two short comedies written and directed by Stephanie Storey and comedic performances by Mike Gandolfi, an actor best known for his recurring role on WB’s Gilmore Girls.

Storeytime Entertainment’s first-ever DVD is available from the website www.Storeytimes.com starting in November of 2008. The DVD features two short films, Extraordinary Proof and Thanksgiving Seconds.

The romantic comedy Extraordinary Proof stars the talented Shae Kennedy as Tess, a woman who doesn’t believe in destiny. But when a stranger insists that the universe is trying to set her up with a man named Michael Bell, Tess goes on an unforgettable journey to discover the truth about fate. The film features performances by Ruthie Cullinane, Bret Porter and Mike Gandolfi.

The family comedy Thanksgiving Seconds stars a spectacular ensemble cast as a dysfunctional family during one peculiar Thanksgiving. The film stars the gifted Meisner-trained actress Allison Dykstra as Beth, the youngest sister who finally exposes her family’s secrets. Steven Schultz, Caitlin Muelder, Melina Madsen, Charles Michael Davis, Judy Waller, Coco Schneider, Scott ‘Rocco’ Shonts and Mike Gandolfi also star.

Storeytime Entertainment is a Los Angeles-based production company, created in 2008 by Stephanie Storey and Mike Gandolfi.

Mike is an Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award-winning comedy writer who started his career as a stand-up comic, performing in comedy clubs all across the country. Mike’s award-winning writing career includes credits on such television shows as Roseanne, Veronica’s Closet, and Dennis Miller Live.

Stephanie Storey has an Art degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has produced over 500 half-hours of aired television for shows such as Tavis Smiley on PBS and Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil on Comedy Central.

As busy screenwriting partners, Mike and Stephanie also have five feature films in development with various producers.