Forum Session: "Nuts and Bolts of Producing"

Sam Riegel started off as an actor and a singer, appearing in the Broadway revival of The Sound of Music and the national touring company of Les Miserables, as well as several off-Broadway productions and television shows.

Sam then produced live theater with Special Productions, Inc., including the national touring companies of Shining Times Station – Live! and The Big Comfy Couch, both based on popular children’s television shows.

He studied film at the University of Virginia, and worked as an Assistant Editor on Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown and as a Producer’s Assistant on Richard Cummings’ Thicker Than Water, before becoming a full-time independent Producer/Production Manager five years ago. Since then, Mr. Riegel’s productions have included A Bad Situationist, starring Janeane Garofalo, Midnight Gospel, starring Frances Sternhagen, the French film Petty Crimes, and Semmelweis, a short film about the life of Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis that appeared in over 40 international Film Festivals (Winner: Alfred P. Sloan Grant, Dennis Riese Grant, Carl Lerner Award for Historical Significance).

Last year Sam was honored to produce the short film Savior, shot entirely in Iceland, which won the 2004 Wasserman Award Silver Medal, Microsoft Media Award, Austin Film Festival Audience Award, and awards at the Nashville, First Look, Boston, San Francisco, and Oberhausen Internat’l Film Festivals.

Sam can also be heard as the voice of Donatello on the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon, every Saturday morning on Fox.

Sam's experience at producing films with extremely limited resources will be of great benefit to youth as well as all independent filmmakers.

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