Scott Rice, Director, Co-Producer

Scott Rice is an Addy Award-winning commercial director. His work includes spots for Shell, Time Warner Cable, Subway, Sears, Merry Maids and more. He also has written feature films on assignment for Elizabeth Avellan (Spy Kids) and Sixth Street Films (The Overbrook Brothers). Rice is attached to direct a number of high- concept feature comedies including My Monster (which he co-wrote), Buffalo Speedway (for which he shares story credit), and the coming-of-age comedy Gopal Gets It for Seth Caplan (In Search of a Midnight Kiss) and Anish Savjani (I’ll Come Running). In 2007 Rice founded The Sass Factory Productions. Under the new company he wrote and directed the hit comedy web series Script Cops for Sony Pictures. It received over one million hits. MTV Networks funded his next series, Never Do This, which ultimately aired on Comedy Central. In 2005, Rice associate produced and edited the indie feature Partner(s) starring Michael Ian Black, Julie Bowen and Saul Rubinek. The comedy premiered at HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival and was broadcast on Lifetime. Scott Rice teaches directing and screenwriting at the University of Texas. He also makes short films and holds a staggering film festival record of nearly 250 official selections and 85 awards. Showtime, Blockbuster, PBS and Atomfilms have distributed his films. Movie legend Roger Corman called Rice’s popular comedy Perils in Nude Modeling “a remarkable tour de force.” Scott Rice started directing action-comedies with his father’s camcorder at age 12. After a brief stint as an illustrator and sculptor, he studied film theory and analysis under world-renowned film scholar David Bordwell. After earning his BA, Rice art directed and wrote Activision’s smash-hit game Soldier of Fortune. Rice left games for graduate film school where he became the first person in history nominated for two Student Academy Awards in two different categories in the same year. He also received his school’s highest filmmaking honor, the Warren Skaaren Endowed Presidential Scholarship. Shortly after receiving his MFA degree in 2004, Shots Magazine named Rice one of 10 top new directors internationally. Known as an authority on short film writing and distribution, Rice takes part in film festival panels around the country and contributes articles to various publications. He continues work on his first academic book Small Stories, Big Ideas: Demystifying the Short Film. Rice is represented by the Brant Rose Agency in Los Angeles.

David Carren, Screenwriter, Co-Producer

David Bennett Carren graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor's in Journalism and then – after a very short career as a general reporter at The Big Spring Herald – he moved to California to begin a career in television, narrative film, and fiction. Over the last three decades David has written and/or produced more than 200 films and television shows. His credits include Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stargate SG-1, Buck Rogers, TekWar, Battlestar Galactica, Knightrider, Beauty and the Beast, Diagnosis Murder, Murder She Wrote, and Walker, Texas Ranger. His work on the CBS series Capitol earned him a Writer's Guild Award nomination. David has written and performed for the stage. His one act play, Christmas, was produced at the Back Alley Theater in Los Angeles, and he was a founding member of the Lot 26 Players and the Hollywood Theater Club. Medallion Books published David's first novel, No Power on Earth, and Stonelock Pictures optioned his second, I've Killed Mother. One of his stories for the Pacific Comics anthology, Alien Worlds, was produced as the "If She Dies" episode of The New Twilight Zone. David earned his Master’s in Fine Arts in screen writing at Spalding University. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Texas Pan American where he teaches screenwriting, cinema history, video editing, and TV field production.