Garrett’s third feature film THE SPY AND THE SPARROW, made its World Premiere in June at the Seattle International Film Festival and the film has already gathered critical praise – HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’S lead Film Critic - Stephen Farber called it “An engrossing, superbly acted movie!” SPY recently sold to a MARA VISTA/Warner Brothers.
Prior to THE SPY AND THE SPARROW Garrett’s feature, A RELATIVE THING, walked away with a 2006 Audience Award for Best Film at the Sedona Film Festival; was nominated for Best Film, New American Cinema Awards at the Seattle International Film Festival, and won Best Cinematography at the Ashland International Film Festival; the film is being distributed by Spiritual Cinema Circle and Filmgo. Garrett’s first feature, FAREWELL TO HARRY, took the Best Film Award at Worldfest Houston, earning Garrett a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award (“Someone to Watch” category), and is distributed by Porchlight Entertainment.
A Graduate of AFI, Garrett was honored as Best Director by the Hollywood Foreign Press for ICON, his featurette starring Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts. Garrett’s known for his ability to elicit strong performances from his actors which has attracted name actors to work with him. His previous feature - A RELATIVE THING, received the Best Ensemble Performance Award at the Phoenix Film Festival and veteran actress Elisabeth Rohm regards Garrett as “The best director she’s ever worked with.” Garrett began in the theater, directing and producing hundreds of stage productions, including the world premier of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, which ran to sold-out audiences for nearly a year. In addition, Garrett co-founded Seattle’s Annex Theatre.
Garrett is currently developing IN OUR BLOOD with producing partner Quinn Rudee with Code Seven.
Aron Michael Thompson – Executive Producer / Writer / Lead Actor
Aron Michael Thompson is an Actor, Writer and Executive Producer for independent films, working not only on his own projects but supporting those of other artists as well. He is an Executive Producer of WHITE LINES AND THE FEVER, which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at SIFF in 2010, as well as the Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and the Special Jury Prize at SXSW, 2010. He is an Executive Producer for THE OFF HOURS, a Seattle feature film that had its world premier at Sundance in 2011
Aron serves on the Board of Directors for the Seattle International Film Festival and TheFilmSchool.
Quinn Rudee – Producer
After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in business and economics, Quinn was hired at Paramount Studios in Hollywood in the DVD special features division. While at Paramount Quinn worked on numerous films in the home entertainment division giving him keen insight into DVD sales and film marketing strategy. With his further knowledge of the film Industry in LA, Quinn returned to the Pacific Northwest to head up and manage Hat Factory Studios Production Company where he supervised the Post-Production process for Garrett Bennett's film A RELATIVE THING, while managing and generating revenue for Hat Factory with the launch of the Commercial Production Division. In addition, Quinn initiated story development, dedicated to identifying Garrett Bennett’s next feature film. He was responsible for the acquisition of a number of screenplays as well as the genesis and story concept for Garrett and Quinn's next feature project DIRT.
Quinn currently manages production and story development for Code Seven.
Jacob W. Leander – Line Producer / Production Manager
Jacob Leander began his career in the film industry at just twenty years of age when he was cast as talent in a nationally televised commercial. Less than three years later, he has successfully risen from humble beginnings to being named in a recent magazine publication as one of the “up and coming young leaders of the Seattle film industry”. In early 2008 he was hired by production company Image Mind Light, and went on to produce director Bogdan Darev’s short film “Slushai”. He currently consults for IML and will produce their upcoming feature film, “Long Night’s Moon”. His film “The Day My Parents Became Cool”, co-produced with Zach Paul, went on to premier at the 2009 Sedona International Film Festival and recently won best short comedy at the International Family Film Festival. Jacob is acutely involved with NFFTY (National Film Festival for Talented Youth), the largest and most rapidly growing youth film festival in the world, where he served as the 2009 Operations Director/Festival Producer and currently sits on the Board of Directors.
In addition to his admirable accomplishments in film, Jacob has Produced or Coordinated for industry giants in commercial and television production such as MTV and Volvo – the MTV production “The Phone” nationally premiered in April 2009, and his Volvo XC-60 commercial resulted in documented sales of Volvo vehicles. Jacob has also worked extensively with corporate clients such as Lexus, Toyota, Microsoft, Discovery Channel, Chevrolet, United States NAVY, X-Games, and many major production companies. Although he primarily focuses on Producer and Coordinator roles, his experience extends to nearly every facet of the industry, and includes projects ranging from thousand dollar to million dollar budgets.
Jacob takes his contributions to the industry seriously, and combines his rich background in small business management, communications, live event management and production to each project he undertakes.
