Dan Raziel - Composer

Dan is a Guitar Player, Composer and Music Editor.  You may catch him playing the blues with The Mystic Miles, or working on current TV series Covert Affairs, Suits, RookieBlue and Banshee.  Other composing credits include HouseQuake,  Rock, Paper, Scissors - A Geek Tragedy, and the award-winning The Next Stop.  The Director believes he's the most wildly talented composer she's ever met, and she's not saying that because they're married.  Really.

Natia Nikolashvili - Animator

After a world-wide search, Natia was chosen as the animator for The Park Bench.  With her whimsical characters and keen use of bold, eye-popping colors, it was clear these stories would come to life in Natia's drawings.   Natia resides in Tblisi, Georgiawhere she is a graduate of the Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film Department at Georgian State University.  She currently works as the Creative Director, Layout Artist and Main Animator at 20 Steps Productions.  Here's a little known fact:  Tblisi is exactly 12 hours ahead of LA, making it, literally, half-way around the world.  Natia is currently hard at work on her own short animated film.

Ann LeSchander - Writer/Director

Ann worked as a singer in commercials, bands, and musicals across the U.S.  After singing an atonal creepy lullaby on a horror film, she realized she wanted to be a filmmaker.  Her award winning short film The Day Before has played at over 30 festivals worldwide and aired on the PBS series Fine Cuts.  Ann was the recipient of the Bridges Award for Best Directing at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.  She always hoped to make a movie about a librarian as an homage to her mother – the sole librarian in the upstate New York town in which Ann grew up.  Her mother once remarked that she absolutely loved her job because "you get to know a lot about a person by the books they read."  So Ann made a movie about just that.

Angel Thompson - Producer

Angel Thompson began her film and television career in Knoxville, TN working on commercials, feature films and television shows for Scripps Networks.  She moved to LA in 2005 to lend her production powers to "Freeform Furniture," a modern furniture building show on the DIY network.  That led to a staff position at Game Show Network where she produced various short form web series, promos, and branded entertainment spots with partners such as Perez Hilton, TMZ, People.com, AOL, e.l.f, Nascar, and Funny or Die. She also got to meet a bunch of really cool game show hosts (Hello Wink Martindale!)  

Bob McFalls - Editor

For Editor Bob McFalls, it started with four little words,  “I like cutting character.”  And so, Bob’s journey on The Park Bench began.  Prior to cutting character on The Park Bench, Bob cut his teeth cutting action on TV shows like Numb3rs on CBS, and cutting vegetables on his own award-winning documentary Homegrown (which screened at over thirty major film festival worldwide).  Other credits include A Good Day to Die,Winnebago Man and the upcoming Big Voice - Dare to Dream. Bob is an editor extraordinaire who brings incredible sensitivity and thoughtfulness to each slice.

Gareth Taylor - Cinematographer

Swiss born American cinematographer, Gareth Taylor  first met the director of The Park Bench during an anomalous thunderstorm in LA.  As thunder struck outside, lightning struck inside, as Ann realized Gareth had the creativity and ingenuity to take on a film completely set in one location.  Gareth's credits include a vast number of feature films, music videos, documentaries, and commercials.  When not filming, Gareth is an adventurous globetrotter trekking through parts of Africa, Asia and South America. Recently he enjoyed the opportunity to work in Colombia and Mexico shooting a series of commercials.