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Totally Grimm Series Treatment
By
Nikos Spiridakis
and
Nicole Hansen
WGAe#VTGA2B59OE3A
Green Galaxy Pictures Nicole Hansen President/Producer [email protected] 818-414-0350
"My program for educating youth is hard. Weakness must be
hammered away. In my castles of the Teutonic Order a youth will
grow up before which the world will tremble. I want a brutal,
domineering, fearless, cruel youth. Youth must be all that. It
must bear pain. There must be nothing weak and gentle about it.
The free, splendid beast of prey must once again flash from its
eyes...That is how I will eradicate thousands of years of human
domestication...That is how I will create the New Order." --
Adolf Hitler, 1933.
TOTALLY GRIMM - Series Treatment 9/12/08
"An even Grimmer Grimms" Gothic Horror with the twist and
turns of a psychological thriller, timeless and tragic,
grotesquely beautiful, otherworldly and magical, humorous
but dark. It's Once Upon a Time in a place far far away
with creatures who talk and cheaters that plot... and
practically never, a happily ever after...
The Story Around the Fairy Tales:
A German Chronicles of Narnia meets Pans Labyrinth. The urgent
journeyof a desperate group of orphans fleeing Nazi Germany
wherethey have been called to service by the Hitler Youth. They
take comfort and find solace reciting Grimm's Fairy Tales as
their parents had once done, taking them back to a simpler time
in German Life, when Mutilations, Cannibalism, Infanticide, Evil
Gnomes and Wicked Witches were the worst of children's fears.
LIST OF CHARACTERS:
Father Martin; mid 40's handsome but weathered. A man of
great moral conviction, pride in his heritage but shame for
the turn his country has taken. He has tried to give the
young boys in his care a sense of right and wrong and the
courage of their convictions. He's wise and sensitive but
can be stern when required to be to teach his young brood
the lessons of life. Think to Gregory Peck in To Kill a
Mockingbird.
Sister Abelinda; early 40's fair and patient with the gentlest
of speaking voices. She cares for each child as if they
were her own and admonishes them in such a way that they
never feel as if they are being punished, just embarrassed
that they may actually disappoint her. The Boys obey her
and the girls resent her strictness, regarding "ladylike
behavior".
Sister Giselle; 23, Beautiful and high strung, she plays
gleefully as if she's one of the girls but can be punishing
when pranks are pulled by the boys. Rumor has it, she became
a nun when her betrothed left her for an older beautiful
Jewish widow that he sought to protect from the Nazi's.
Heidi; age 7, with her beautiful blonde ringlets and wide
blue eyes, she's the vision of purity with the devil lying
just beneath the surface. She always carries a worn rag
doll and is a constant companion to Sister Giselle, who may
not be the best of influences on her.
Daniel; age 6, Innocent and full of wonder, this darling
Jewish boy follows Heidi around everywhere she goes which
she finds quite annoying. In which case he turns to the
older boys and is always conned into doing their bidding,
but never gets the trouble for it since he's so obviously
their pawn.
Friedrich; age 10, the younger brother of Lance, he is a
decent young boy who looks up to father Martin, always trying
to emulate his role model. Young Friedrich does his best to
seem older and more mature than his actual years by helping
Sister Abelinda gather wood and by taking responsibilities
the older boys would rather shun.
Liehla: age 14, a stunning Jewish girl with a hauntingly
exotic but sad face. She has a soulful approach to all she
does and when she actually manages to smile, it brightens
everything around her. She keeps a locket around her neck,
elegant portraits of her missing parents, which come to life
when she tells her tales...
Carl: age 15, he is the tortured clown. His father was an
officer in the SS who was killed while in Africa. His mother
abandoned him for another officer, then moved to Berlin and
left him at the Hitler Youth Camp which he escaped. He seems
to have more disdain for the Nazi's than even Father Martin
and loves to pull pranks on their peruesers.
Renate: age 16, is a serious and repressed girl with horrid
eye glasses (which she cannot see without) who seems more of
a grown up than Sister Giselle. Seemingly suspicious of her
caretakers and cordial with Liehla but never warm. She does
have a soft spot for Lance, however, but when she herself is
a princess, her walls come down and she is as vulnerable and
beautiful as a fairy tale princess could ever be.
Lance: age 17, is a handsome blonde German, the equivalent
of what Hitler imagined as the model for the Master Race.
But Lances conscience has kept him and his brother Friedrich
from submitting to the Nazi propaganda. Their parents were
intellectuals and were sent away due to their support of an
opposing political party.
Other Recurring Characters include:
Captain Bauer: age 30, Leader in charge of the Hitler Youth
Camp in the Bavarian Alps. A handsome and charming man who's
dark side is revealed in the most passive and non-committal
means. He's enchanting and soulful one moment, removed and
cold in the next. He runs a tight training camp and expects
his underlings to carry out orders without questions or
mistakes. No time for teenage angst in his camp.
Major Wagner: age 22, Recruiter from the HJ (Hitler Youth)
He has a mean streak in his humor and is the picture of the
pure blooded Germanic ideal. He is relentless in his pursuit
of the orphans and intent on becoming a commander once he is
able to capture and bring them into the HJ camp for training.
Sergeant Schmidt: age 19, a bumbling and loyal sidekick, he
is constantly bullied and derided by Wagner for his
inferiority as an officer. He is terrified of the woods at
night and though he tries not to show it, he is the perfectly
gullible target for Carl's pranks and diversion tactics to
keep them off the trail of the orphans.
The Story:
A small church orphanage run by a nun and a priest is
approached by recruiters of the Hitler Youth who have come
to enlist the orphans, giving notice they must show up for
service in two days. We see two brothers, 17 year old, Lance
and 10 year old brother, Friedrich. Have been listening and
are shielding a beautiful, 14 year old girl, Liehla who wears
a yellow Star of David band on her arm.
The Priest and two Nuns flee with the children to escape to
Switzerland. Like most kids in the woods, they tell frightful
stories of Grimm's German folk tales in which they each take
on the roles of the characters and their stories, so that
over the course of the series the audience loses perspective
on which of the characters are "good" and which ones are
"evil" since even the sweetest become villains and the least
likely become princes and princesses in the various versions
of Grimms:
Tie-Ins:
GRAPHIC NOVELLAS:
Each episode will be story-boarded by an artist that will
become a "comic book" to accompany the story and may even be
more violently graphic than the webisodes. Nikos can work
with the artist to explain the way he sees the shots and the
episodes can "come to life" from the artists drawings, so
that the comic book and the live action merge in a way that
blends the fantasy with reality. The drawings and creatures
should look REAL but OTHERWORLDLY so the computer animation
takes liberties with what one's perception of a "frog" or
"wolf" should look like.
TRADING CARDS:
The trading cards will include stills from the episodes.
They will have details on characters, plots, scholar's
interpretations of story symbolism, facts about Grimms, The
Hitler Youth as well as how and why children were the victims
of their philosophies.
THE FIRST 16: (FAIRY TALES IN BOLD ITALICS)
Pilot/ Episode 1 -- The Twelve Brothers - PART I -- A small
church in a tiny village is visited by Major Wagner and
Sergeant Schmidt of the Hitler Youth. They have come to
recruit the orphans and to find the AWOL boy, Carl. Father
Martin and Sister Abelinda plead for one more day with the
boys and are granted the favor. They then realize that to
protect their brood, they must flee with the children. As
they escape, Friedrich begins the tale of The Twelve Brothers.
Friedrich morphs into young Benjamin, Sister Abelinda, the
Queen and the Father Martin, The King. When the Queen shows
Benjamin/Friedrich the coffins and he envisions their
decomposed bodies inside. The 12 Brothers go into the woods
and wait and watch for their fate at the top of a tree.
The Queen gives the signal that a girl is born and the
brothers set forth with a mission to “kill all females!”
Episode 2 -- As the 12 brothers flee deeper into the woods,
they come upon a cottage with a woman and her daughters and
take it over, carrying out their mission against women as
young Benjamin watches. Time Lapses: the brothers become
men, hunting and fishing while Benjamin/Lance does household
chores. FADE INTO: Liehla steps into an abandoned cottage,
transforming into: a Young Princess skipping through a castle.
The gold arm band with the Star of David disappears, in it's
stead, a gold star embedded upon her forehead.
She comes upon the Queen as she exits a room and asks her
mother what is inside. The Queen shows her the room with
the twelve, dust covered beds with various sizes of boys
clothes laid upon them suddenly her father’s angry voice calls
out.
Episode 3 -- Liehla screams! We're back in the cottage with
the orphans and she has walked into a room with a pile of
bodies shot and dumped in the corner. Father Martin tries
to hold her when Sister Abelinda runs in on them and gasps -
Liehla/Princess' POV - of bodies as the scene then dissolves
back to the fairy tale and becomes the twelve coffins made for
her 12 brothers. Father Martin's/Kings voice yells "Stop"! The
King sees them turning and the Princess flees the castle in
horror at what her father has done and her birth had wrought.
The king mounts his horse and chases her as she runs through
the forest frightened of the sites and sounds she encounters
in the darkness. While she hides behind a tree a hand comes
from behind her and covers her mouth!
Episode 4 -- Liehla's eyes wide with terror as she screams
into the hand. REVEAL: Lance is her captor. Liehla speaks
in two voices overlapping: "I can't stay in that cabin(castle)
with the ghost of my brothers." Lance is now Benjamin and
he gives her a questioning and suspicious look asking from
which castle she came? She explains that she is looking for
her 12 brothers. He reveals that he is one, but that she
must hide from the others or risk her death! "But I am here
to bring you home! Promising to explain her good intentions
he hides the princess and tells her to wait until he signals
to her that it is safe by opening the window. The brothers
gather for dinner and as Benjamin is about to speak, the
oldest asks for him some ale. Benjamin exits as one brother
opens the window. The Princess runs inside joyfully, then
screams! Benjamin emerges from the cellar to: the shadow of
the Princess stabbed and torn limb from limb in silhouette
behind the curtain as Benjamin screaming "Stop!"
Episode 5 -- (This Episode inter-cuts between both worlds)
"Stop!" Two German Shepherds jump at a fence, barking as
Liehla and Lance find themselves at a gate to what looks
like an overnight camp. The guard, a teenage boy, Sergeant
Schmidt once again yells for them to stop!
Back to: The Eleven brothers emerge from the woods on
horseback and heading towards the castle. The oldest, raises
a small bag, high above his head. The Kings army fends off
the assault, all the brother's are slaughtered. Back on:
Sergeant Schmidt approaches Liehla and Lance giving them the
once over. Back on: The King surveys the remains of his
sons. Back to Sergeant Schmidt inspecting Liehla's hair...
the King: Finding the bag, he empties it into his hand, horror
crossing his eyes as he sees his daughters hair; Sergeant
Schmidt opens Liehla's locket to see her Jewish looking
parents: The King sees her locket and; Sergeant Schmidt
discovers her arm-band with the Star of David; the King finds
and recognizes the gold star which had been cut from is
daughters forehead! Just then the oldest son reaches out for his
father, wanting forgiveness…
Episode 6 -- Sergeant Schmidt looks suspiciously from Liehla
to Lance. He questions why Lance is traveling with a jew.
Lance is at a loss for words and the Sergeant grabs onto
Liehla. Just then, Carl approaches and intervenes. He speaks
to Schmidt as if he was his commander, telling him to let
Liehla go and allow Lance to be on his way! Sergeant Schmidt
recognizes Carl. You're father was a great Hero For the
Feurer, he would disown you if he knew you were defending
her! Major Wagner has heard the commotion and approaches.
Liehla tries to defend Carl and Lance by telling Major Wagner
that they were only turning her in. Sergeant Schmidt blows
his whistle!
Episode 7 – The King takes a sword off his son and stabs the son
and then himself in the heart. Watching from the tower, the
silhouette of the queen, she sees there are only eleven brothers
dead on the ground. She looks up to the highest tree in the
forest and sees Benjamin's red tunic. Benjamin returns home to
the castle. His subjects bow as he approaches the center of the
courtyard, shouting, "Long live the King!" Benjamin's horse
stops in front of the Queen. He gets off and she bows before
him. Benjamin pulls his mother up to meet his eyes. They
smile at one another knowingly. FLASHBACKS: the Queen shows
Benjamin the coffins, The Queen tells Benjamin to flee,
Benjamin sees the red flag from the tree, Benjamin listens
as the brothers vow to avenge themselves, The Queen is caught
exiting the room caught by the Princess, Benjamin befriends
Princess, Benjamin emerges from cellar too late, the Queen
and Benjamin lock eyes, she in the tower. Back to the Queen,
Benjamin takes her hand as they walk inside the castle, grins on
both of their faces.
Episode 8 -- Major tries to take on Carl and fails. Lance knocks
Segreant Schmidt cold as he releases Liehla. The three orphans
run for their lives as the dogs bark wildly in pursuit. They
retrun to their cabin and summon the rest of their group to run!
Later the Orphan's on the run again as Friedrich wraps up the
story of the sinister plot between Benjamin and the Queen.
Sister Abelinda admonishes Friedrich for adding the gruesome
murder of the princess because it is not the way the Grimms
brothers ended it and much more horrific. Sister Abelinda tells
the story the way the Grimm brothers published it: The princess
comes to the forest and Benjamin makes the brothers promise not
to kill the first female they see. They agree and the sister is
revealed. The twelve brothers and sister live in harmony until
one day the sister picks lilies for each brother. The
Brothers turn into black ravens and the house "disappears"
leaving the Princess is alone in the woods. When she turns,
there is an old woman, "Dear Child what have you done? Why
didn't you leave the those white flowers alone? They were
your brother's and now they'll be ravens forever." The only
way for her to disenchant them is not to say a word for seven
years.
INTERACTIVE ALTERNATE: (can be animated)
THREE CHOICES FOR THE (true) ENDING: you can watch all three
and try to guess -
1. The Princess returns to her kingdom, remaining silent
for years. But when it comes time for her to marry, her
father insist he will only allow the marriage if she agrees
to speak. Refusing for her brothers' sake, the King sends
her betrothed(Sergeant Schmidt) on his way. The raven's see
the Kings cruelty as the Princess chases after her match...
they swoop down and attack the King in defense of their dear
sister. She watches in horror when it dawns on her; the
king is dead. Her Betrothed kneels down and a strange looks
comes over her visage... she laughs; in unison the Ravens
turn their heads to their sister, "I am Queen!", she exclaims
with relish as the first words she has spoken in nearly 7
years. Their fate is sealed... in lightening speed the
ravens alight and engulf their sister as she screams at her
demise.
2. The Princess is found by a Prince(Carl). She goes back
to his kingdom and marries him. Blissfully happy, she forgets
her dear brothers and speaks frequently while the ravens
circle overhead, but her mother in Law turns out to be the
old woman from the forest and when she reveals to the prince
that his wife has forsaken her brothers who are also of Royal
blood and she would just as soon do the same to him... he
confronts her and the woman presents the princess with a
fresh cut lily.. The princess is turned into a raven by the
old woman and the brothers are returned to their human forms.
3. (THE TRUE GRIMM'S ENDING) - the sister sits in a tree
spinning when she is found by a King(Captain Bauer) hunting
in the forest. He marries her although she never once speaks
or laughs. They're happy for several years when the King's
mother starts to tell the king that the girl must be evil since
she never laughs or speaks. The King believes
his mother and plans an execution of his wife. He watches
weeping (he still loves her) from his room while the flames
of fire lick at the bottom of her gown. Just then, 7 years
have come to pass and the ravens turn back into their human
form around her and stomp out the flames that engulf their
sister. She speaks and explains it all to her husband who then
condemns his mother to be thrown into a barrel of boiling
oil and poisonous snakes.
Hansel and Gretel
EPISODE 9 -- It's late autumn. The teenagers set up a new
campsite as Daniel chases Heidi into the woods. It is there
that they overhear Father Martin and Sister Giselle discussing
their worries over lack of food. She's desperate and doesn't
see how they can possibly be responsible for so many when
they can't even feed themselves. "Perhaps," she suggest "we
should take the Jewish children into the woods so they can
fend for themselves." Later, Daniel awakes in the dark with
gurgling sounds of hunger coming from his belly. He picks
up shiny stones glistening in the moonlight. Heidi joins
him as he goes to find some food. They walk into the woods
on their quest, alone until daybreak when tired and hungry
they realize they're lost. Heidi cries and Daniel comforts
her to fall asleep. Later at nightfall they see the stones
glistening in the moonlight and follow them back to camp,
met by a furious Sister Giselle!
EPISODE 10 -- Sister Giselle sees the kids and turns her
wrath onto Daniel, she grabs him by the hair and dragging
him to the campfire. Father Martin runs to rescue Daniel
from her hateful display. He admonishes the Sister
and lets Daniel explain himself. When he sees Daniel's
intentions were to find food he soothes the boy and the others
by encouraging them to stick together no matter what they
may encounter. Daniel falls asleep and wakes later with the
older children looking expressionless at him while Liehla holds
him protectively. Father Martin sees the strange gathering and
commands Daniel to "come help him look for berries". Heidi
follows, as Giselle' looks on angrily.
Episode 11 -- Daniel and Father Martin look for berries as
Heidi hungrily eats them. Daniel secretly drops some as
they go down the path searching for more. Father Martin
sees this, he bends down to retrieve them when a bird sings
beautifully in the BG. When he stands; the children are
gone! Close on: Heidi and Daniel's faces as they run with
delight behind a glorious bird and suddenly stop: a
Gingerbread House! The children run to the house and have
their pick of sweets! When suddenly a the bird transforms
into a skinny black cat. It hisses then crosses in front of
them to the front door. "Nibble nibble, where's the mouse?
Who's that nibbling at my house?" Ignoring this, the children
continue to eat as Heidi/Gretel knocks out an entire
windowpane as the door slowly opens:
Episode 12 – The door slowly opens to an old Witch. She brings
the children inside to a feast of pancakes that makes them
sleepy. The next morning she wakes them, hissing... "Get up
Lazybones!" She shakes Hansel and drags him into a cage. Gretel
cries but the witch tells her that if she ever wants to eat
she'll have to fatten up her brother, so maybe when the witch
feasts on him, Gretel will get a bite or two! Hansel gets the
finest food and Gretel gets crab shells. She works for the witch
with a sadness but somehow seems to become detached from Hansel
as she starves and he feasts. Each time the old witch goes to
check his finger to see if he's plumped up he sticks out a
chicken bone. The witch thinks he's thin because Gretel has
eaten his food. As Gretel gets punished, her resentment grows
and she picks up a knife while approaching the cage.
Episode 13 -- Daniel and Heidi are missing throughout harsh
winter weather as the band of orphans and their caretakers are
living in a cave and at one another's throats. Debating the fate
of the missing little ones they try to decide whether to abandon
hope of finding them and traveling on through the mountains to
get to Switzerland. All the while hiding out from the Hitler
Youth who try to track them as Carl and Sister Abelinda cleverly
keep them off their trail. Carl keeps watch outside the cave at
night, when he sees Sister Giselle sneak away and he follows
her. He watches as the nun, at wits end and nearly starved, goes
to the Youth Camp and collapses at the gate!
Episode 14 – Just as Gretel is approaching the cage with a
knife, the Witch sees her and decides she can wait no longer for
Hansel to fatten up and decides it’s time to eat, "Whether he's
plump or not". She pulls Gretel over to the oven from which
flames leap from. "Crawl in, to see if it's hot enough for the
dough." Gretel realizes that she too is on the menu for meat
pies and refuses because there's "not enough room inside" the
witch goes to show her how to fit and Gretel still refuses until
exasperated the witch gets into the oven up to her waist and
Gretel turns and locks eyes with the caged Hansel in a moment of
indecision!
Episode 15 -- The Father and Sister Abelinda are alarmed
when they hear Carl explain how he watched Sister Giselle
approach the gates of the camp. They decide they must find
the little ones before they're discovered! Sister Giselle
awakes in what looks to be a boarding house. Girls dressed
in uniforms take notice of her arousal as she walks out of
the room and into a parlor where the girls sing German Folk
songs beneath a banner that reads, Kinder, Kirche, Küche
(Children, Church, Kitchen). Sister Giselle calls out to
them... "The Orphans are starving because of the Jew!" The
girls nod their heads in agreement. Giselle frantically
repeating. Trying to calm the rants of a woman who is clearly
ill, a Doctor comes in and subdues her with a shot, but Sister
Giselle continues to scream for "Heidi!"
Episode 16 -- Gretel summons her courage and shoves the
witch into the oven. As she looks on inside it, the witches
clothes burn in the flames and REVEAL: an Iron Cross stamped
with a Swastika. Panning to the floor: the Cap of a Nazi
Uniform. Gretel's terror makes her take flight! She runs
to the cage that Hansel is locked in and sets him free. The
children run out of the Gingerbread house and towards the
camera: As they run for their lives, the Gingerbread house
dissolves into a Mountain Chalet with smoke coming out of
the chimney, a Nazi flag unfurled over the outer wall. They
flee down the road, looking over their shoulders and smack
right into someone tall dressed in Black. The Man grabs the
struggling children and carries them away in his arms as they
scream and kick in fear. The man starts to hum a hymn which
seems eerily bizarre in the situation. As we pan up the man we
see, what the children can’t; it is Father Martin.
INTERACTIVE: Hansel and Gretel;
In this Season's interactive section we will feature a
Branching Narrative, meaning we will film the Hansel and
Gretel story from not just objectively as in the series, but
from the different points of view: the Father's(Father
Martin), the Step Mother's(Giselle), Hansel's, Gretel's and
the Witches. This way we will be answering the questions
that may have come up in the Narrative storyline that we may
have deliberately withheld points of view on. For example:
We can play it out through the Witches POV and see the
internal tug of war over "is it right to eat this boy and
enslave the girl or is it wrong?" And the audience will
realize that built into the primary ending there was a bit
of waffling that we may not have understood before and now
we see the inner turmoil of the Witch/Nazi. There will also
be other paths where the kids don't succeed and we soften
the kids dialogue and highlight their inner monologue plays
out on what is happening to them and how they can plot their
escape and also the horror of what happens when they fail!
The Witch will be the final "Boss Battle".
SEASON TWO --- The Water of Life -- While held captive by
the fanatical Hitler Youth. The three boys, Lance, Carl and
Friedrich have been forcibly recruited. They train in the
camp, at shooting, and combat. Meanwhile, Father Martin is
a prisoner and has taken ill. The boys go to visit him and
as he asks for water to drink the boys become the three
Princes in the story and set out upon a journey to find the
water of life and save their father the King (Father Martin).
In the end there is a combat scene as the older boys and
Friedrich manage to escape with Carl and Lance and as they
approach the castle of the princess (Renate) young Friedrich
is the only one to get through with Father Martin. When we
turn back we see that Carl and Lance are caught by the Hitler
youth.
--- Bearskin: Lt. Wagner, (out of uniform) comes across the
orphan's camp in the woods. Father Martin returns with the
little ones and recognizes Lt. Wagner. He grabs onto Liehla
who is returning to the camp with water. Meanwhile, LT.
Wagner joins the circle and tells them the story of "Bearskin"
and his deal with the devil. Liehla's the youngest daughter
who waits dutifully for his return and Lt. Wagner, Bearskin;
Father Martin, the Devil. In this version though not only
do the older sister's kill themselves, Bearskin kills the
youngest "because that is all he's trained to do" The devil
rejoices because now he has three souls for the price of
Bearskin's one. When the story is over, the orphan's are
surrounded by Hitler Youth, which include Carl and Lance.
Conclusion:
Through the eyes of 11 year old, Nikos Spiridakis we draw
the parallels of Fear and Manipulation in the politics of
the Nazi's and of the Stories of Grimms. We show how Society
is run on fear and how the Hitler youth were enslaved by it.
Influenced by Filmmakers Guillermo Del Toro, Peter Jackson
and Tim Burton, Nikos' dark view of Fairy Tales comes from
the fact that he can foresee where a story is going and would
rather be unpleasantly surprised on the taste of bitter
medicine than feel safe with a predictably sweet conclusion.
Because Fairy Tales and especially Grimm's Fairy Tales were
written in a time of war and meant to teach lessons in
survival and that can only be won by being enlightened to
the darkness that lies within us all...
TOTALLY GRIMM - Bios
Nikos Spiridakis – Creator/Director www.myspace.com/greengalaxypix
At the age of 7 weeks, Nikos was already attending his first film festival and having lunch with the likes of Ron
Perlman and Joe Pantoliano. He was photographed with distributor Samuel Goldwyn Jr. on the set of Tinseltown at
the age of 6 months, a film executive produced by his late grandfather James L.D. Roser.
In the documentary, Driving to Ground Zero at age 4, he poignantly explained a picture he drew for rescue workers
of the World Trade Center Attack. At 5, he appeared as a lost child in Beyond the Ashes, with Jeaneane Garofalo
and Jennifer Carpenter. By 6, he appeared in the award winning thriller, Noise, with Ally Sheedy and Giancarlo
Esposito, directed by his father, writer/producer Tony Spiridakis. Recently he played the older son of John
Schneider’s struggling father in, The Gods of Circumstance.
When Nikos was 9, he trailed Director Tony Goldwyn on the set of the TV movie, Winters, starring Famke Janssen,
where he impressed the producers with his interest in shot composition. He was able to do the same on the shows
Dexter and Dirty Sexy Money. With Mr. Goldwyn’s guidance, Nikos developed an eye for acting performances and
learning which takes to print.
Other Directors impressed with Nikos’ interest in filmmaking are Danny Cannon and Gary Fleder. Mr. Cannon gives
Nikos assignments of films to watch and discuss with him. Nikos in turn made a video of Danny’s family as a
birthday present. Gary Fleder, impressed with Nikos’ ideas, has allowed Nikos to sit in and observe the Sound Mix
for his Universal film, The Express as well as editing sessions for ABC’s Life on Mars .
Nikos has always had visual ideas when it comes to telling stories and is inspired by things he encounters in
everyday life. He came up with the idea for, Save It while sitting in a car at a gas station.
Nicole Hansen – Writer/Producer http://www.linkedin.com/in/greengalaxy
Nicole Hansen studied theatre at North Carolina School of the Arts, then left for Los Angeles to study at Playhouse
West with Jeff Goldblum. Soon after, she was acting as the unwitting victim of the Punk Magician in HBO’s,
Opening Night at Rodney’s Place.
Nicole co-produced and acted in the pilot, GT Inc. with Keenan Ivory Wayans. She was cast by director David
Fincher to play Marilyn Monroe in the Billy Idol videos, Cradle of Love and L.A. Woman. Director Dominic Sena cast
Nicole in The Blue Nile’s, Headlights on the Parade video, which led to her image gracing their CD cover. After
seeing The Blue Nile posters in London, director Danny Cannon cast Nicole as the young sister of Michael Cerveris’
troubled character in Mr. Cannon’s film, Strangers. This led to her lead role in the futuristic action-thriller,
American Cyborg.
Since then, Nicole has co-produced, Tinseltown with Ron Perlman and Joe Pantoliano. She appeared as herself in,
Driving to Ground Zero, as Judy in, Beyond the Ashes with co-stars, Tony Goldwyn, Jeaneane Garafolo and
Giancorlo Esposito and Noise with Ally Sheedy and John Slattery. She just produced, Save It, a global warming
message by a 10 year old, directed by Nikos Spiridakis with Executive Producer, Marshall Herskovitz (Blood
Diamond). Nicole is currently writing a romantic comedy screenplay entitled, Nuclear Wedding based on her true
life double wedding with her brother to get all of their extensively blended family to attend.
Billy Mallery - Sound Design www.billymallery.com
Billy Mallery, started his career in New York where at the age of 24 he landed his first commercial score for Gallo Wine, performed by a 60 piece orchestra. He has since composed original scores for such accounts as Levis, Nike, Got Milk?, BMW, Sony and Pepsi, for which he received a CLIO Award for original music. Many years of scoring commercials has led him to work with such directors as David Fincher, Michael Bay, Mark Pellington, Joe Pytka and Zack Snyder. Billy has also composed numerous corporate logo scores including XBOX Sports (XSN), Rogue Pictures (a division of Focus Features) and most recently, the new Lionsgate logo released in front of the film See No Evil.In 1997 Mallery was chosen as the composer for ECO's Hidden City, narrated by Gene Hackman and Hector Elizando.
His first dramatic film project was Crossing Over, written and directed by Wayne Kramer (The Cooler, Running Scared), followed by Two Hearts, directed by the renowned acting coach Larry Moss. Billy's more recent feature films include Devil's Highway (starring Shane Brolly and Natassia Malthe) and Islander (featuring Philip Baker Hall).
Billy is passionate about sound design, and frequently merges music with sound within his scores. He was recently invited to speak at UCLA's Extension Program focusing on music and sound design for television and film. Billy is currently engaged in directing his own unique film project: capturing total solar eclipses using time-elapsed photography, as well as composing the scores for each piece. He sees this as a lifelong project, hoping to experience and film as many eclipses as possible and then merge them all together into a compilation he calls 'Totality'. Billy’s most recent work in Sound Design was for 10 year old Director, Nikos Spiridakis’ Save It in which the sounds a little boy hears in his head, correlate with the images and the chilling twist of sounds that leave the viewer with an undeniable sense of sadness.
Robin Olson http://www.myspace.com/robincomposer
An internationally-recognized virtuoso violinist, Robin has performed on virtually every Hollywood blockbuster film
of the last decade, including Academy Award-winners Titanic, Shrek 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 1, 2 & 3, Spiderman
1, 2 & 3, Jurassic Park, and Finding Nemo.
Now composing full-time, Robin scores independent and major films. iRecently Robin was hired as a composer for
FirstCom Music, a division of Universal Music Publishing Group, to compose all musical styles for film and
television.
What sets Robin apart is his ability to write, record and deliver ALL-LIVE orchestral scores at record speed. He
recently wrote, recorded, and delivered the score for the pilot episode of the upcoming Adult Swim animated
series "Calendar Boy" in less than two days.
Most recently Robin launched Studio Q, his state-of-the-art recording studio in West Hollywood. Specializing in all-
live orchestral recordings, Robin's compositions are iconic and lush, rivaling Academy Award-winning scores by
Horner and Elfman.
Drawing from an unparalleled pool of musical talent, Robin can create a score in virtually any style from orchestral
to electronica to modern rock. Most recently his classical score provided the haunting musical backdrop to Nikos
Spiridakis’ global warming message, Save It.
See next page:
Norm Quiros - Illustrator/Storyboards http://www.myspace.com/iamthenorm27
With approximately 250 Grimms Fairy tales to draw from, the possibilities for planting the stories
throughout all forms of digital media and interweaving the fears and fates of the orphans, Totally Grimm
will be Totali---tarian!