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Rory Culkin (Sam) Rory Culkin was born in New York City as the seventh child in a family of seven. He recently wrapped on two independent films, "Mean Creek" and "In Control of All Things." Last year Rory was seen in "It Runs in the Family" where he starred opposite Michael and Kirk Douglas. He appeared in the feature films, "Signs" opposite Mel Gibson, and "Igby Goes Down." Prior to that, he co-starred in the Showtime film, "Off Season". Rory was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for his performance opposite Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo in the Paramount Classics release "You Can Count On Me", directed by Kenneth Lonergan. His first film appearance was in 20th Century Fox’s "The Good Son"; other films include "Getting Even With Dad", "Amanda" and Warner Brothers’ "Richie Rich" playing the four-year-old Richie. He also appeared as Denis Leary’s son on the ABC television series "The Job" as well as a stand-out guest star role on NBC’s "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit." http://culkintimes.com Ryan Kelley (Clyde) The Hollywood Reporter named Ryan Kelley on their "Ones To Watch" list, placing him with a select group of young actors who are expected to draw more attention with upcoming feature film work, as well as primetime network television exposure. The recognition followed Ryan’s acclaimed appearance as "Ryan" a recurring character who can read other people’s minds on The WB’s hit show "Smallville". In fact, Ryan’s character is the only role in the show’s history who knows Clark Kent’s "true identity." Ryan had previously guest starred on the CBS series "Early Edition." Ryan has recently completed a lead role in the independent film "Mean Creek" with Rory Culkin and Trevor Morgan. Just prior to that project, Ryan played the lead role in another film, "The Dust Factory" opposite Hayden Panettiere and Armin Mueller Stahl. Ryan appeared in a major role in the first Project Greenlight movie, "Stolen Summer" produced by HBO/Miramax. Ryan’s other movie credits include a lead role in "Stray Dogs" and a supporting role in "Charming Billy." Ryan’s first movie success came in 1995 as "Mo" in "Roommates," an Interscope/Disney film with D. B. Sweeney, Peter Falk and Julianne Moore.

Scott Mechlowicz (Marty) Upon graduating with honors from the UCLA Conservatory Acting Program last May, Scott got off to a great start by landing the lead role in the Dreamworks picture, "Eurotrip" alongside Jacob Pitts and Michelle Trachtenberg. Directed by Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Shaffer, "Eurotrip" will be released in February 2004. Immediately following production in Prague, Scott flew to Portland, Oregon to begin production on the independent film "Mean Creek" with Rory Culkin. A native of Texas by way of New York, Scott moved to Los Angeles to study at UCLA in 2001.

Trevor Morgan (Rocky) Trevor Morgan has distinguished himself as one of the busiest and most talented young actors in Hollywood today. Morgan began his career at the early age of five, filming a string of national commercial campaigns. Trevor then won a lead role in the Viacom Pictures family movie "Family Plan," and hasn’t stopped working since. His film credits include "I’ll Remember April," "The Sixth Sense," "The Patriot," "The Glass House" and a lead role opposite Academy Award-winning actress Vanessa Redgrave in "A Rumor of Angels." Trevor also starred in "Jurassic Park III," for which Steven Spielberg handpicked him after seeing his work as Mel Gibson’s son in "The Patriot." That performance garnered him a Hollywood Reporter Young Star Award nomination. Trevor is featured as the young Jim Morris in Disney’s "The Rookie," for which he learned to pitch left-handed, and played a starring role in "Uncle Nino," playing Joe Montegna’s troubled son. Trevor is known to television audiences for his portrayal of young cancer victim Scott Anspaugh in the 1998-1999 season of NBC’s Emmy-winning drama "ER". His performance won him a Screen Actors Guild Ensemble Cast Award and another Young Artist Award nomination for both "ER" and his starring role in the Disney Channel film "Genius". Trevor has recently completed the independent film "Mean Creek" playing a lead role opposite Rory Culkin, and is currently finishing production on HBO’s "Empire Falls" starring Paul Newman, Ed Harris, and Helen Hunt. http://trevormorgan.com

Josh Peck (George) "I’ve never been the coolest kid in the crowd, but I don’t mind. I’ve realized that it’s better to be original." Josh Peck was last seen in the feature film, "Spun," directed by Jonas Ackerlund with John Leguizamo, Mena Suvari, Mickey Rourke and Jason Schwartzman. He also co-starred in Tim Hill’s "Max Keeble’s Big Move" and made his motion picture debut in "Snow Day". In television, Peck co-starred in "The Amanda Show," guest-starred on "ER" and "The Guardian" and appeared in the pilot for HBO’s hit "The Sopranos." Josh Peck recently completed work on "Mean Creek," opposite Rory Culkin and is currently starring in his own show, Nickelodeon’s "Drake and Josh." which premieres Spring 2004.

Carly Schroeder (Millie) Carly portrayed Serena Baldwin, the adorable smart-witted daughter of Scotty Baldwin and Lucy Coe on not one, but two, soap operas: "General Hospital" and the sister-show "Port Charles." She has completed over 480 episodes in the past six years as Serena Baldwin. Carly added 12 episodes of comedy to her resume by guest starring on the Disney Channel’s number one show, "Lizzie McGuire". She resumed her role as Melina Bianco, a devilish, free-spirited, prankster and best friend to Matt McGuire in "The Lizzie McGuire Movie". Carly stepped into the ring with THE ROCK for "The Best D*** Sports Show Period". And on the "George Lopez Show" Carly earned the role of a 15-year-old when she was only eleven. Carly has provided her voice in two movies, "Babe Pig in the City" and "Toy Story 2". She played Molly on "Dawson’s Creek" and Cindy Brady in the movie "Growing up Brady." She has appeared in dozens of commercials. Her most favorite was GOT MILK? This past summer, Carly filmed the movie "Mean Creek". This was the best filming experience of her life because the director, Jacob Estes, was so passionate about the film he wrote. Carly was thrilled to learn that "Mean Creek" had been chosen by the Sundance committee. http://carlyschroeder.com

Jacob Estes Writer/Director Jacob Estes won the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for his script, "Mean Creek". He has been selected twice to develop his scripts at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference under the artistic direction of Lloyd Richards, most recently in 1999 for his screenplay "Free Lessons". In 1997 Jacob wrote, produced and directed a short film called "Positive" which had its premier at The Frameline Film Festival and went on to play at OutFest and several other festivals around the country and the world. Jacob earned a Master's Degree in Film Directing at The American Film Institute, where he wrote and directed three short films including his thesis, "Summoning." While a fellow at A.F.I., Jacob also wrote the first draft screenplays for two of his classmates' thesis projects, including "Maria & Jose", a script which garnered the Colin Higgins Production Award for the team. "Summoning" premiered at the SXSW film festival and won the Best Actor Award and Silver Medal for Best Film at Mexico's Expression En Corto festival. Jacob began writing and filmmaking while attending The University of California at Santa Cruz, where he was given The Dean's Award for the Arts for the script and production of his one-act play "Leigh's Outrunning Her Mefa and Pefa Tonight." His interest in storytelling and theatrics began in Chicago, in grammar school, when he began writing short stories and acting in school plays, first starring in a musical rendition of 'Peter Pan' in which he was typecast as Captain Hook. He studied acting at The Young Conservatory Theater at A.C.T. and improvisation at The Second City of Chicago. Jacob recently wrote a script titled "Nearing's Grace" for director Rick Rosenthal which is being developed by Whitewater Films, John Wells Productions and Killer Films. He is currently writing an original script for director Rob Reiner with Castle Rock Films and Warner Brothers Independent.

Rick Rosenthal Producer An industry veteran, Rick Rosenthal has directed eight feature films including the critically acclaimed "Bad Boys" starring Sean Penn, and well over fifty hours of television on such shows as "Life Goes On", "Law & Order: SVU", "The Handler", "The District", "Providence", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", "Crossing Jordan" and "The Practice." Rick got his start filmmaking as a documentary director/cameraman for the New Hampshire Network, a PBS affiliate, after graduating cum laude from Harvard with a degree in Visual and Environmental Studies. Before attending the American Film Institute, Rick worked as a metal sculptor, a cabdriver, a carpenter, an assistant to a U.S. Senator, a deckhand on an 82-foot ketch and a tennis pro on the French Riviera, all of which he says "prepared him perfectly" for Hollywood. Rick’s AFI thesis film "Moonface" based on the Jack London short story, aired on PBS and jump-started his directing career. In 1989, Rick directed the pilot of the ground-breaking ABC series "Life Goes On" starring Patti LuPone, Chris Burke and Kellie Martin and stayed on as co-executive producer for the first two seasons. Rick’s other film credits include American Dreamer starring JoBeth Williams and Tom Conti; the pre-Glasnost film "Russkies," starring Whip Hubley and introducing Joaquin Phoenix; "Distant Thunder" starring John Lithgow and Ralph Macchio; last year’s indie "Just A Little Harmless Sex," a low-budget indie starring Allison Eastwood, Jonathan Silverman, Kimberly Williams and Lauren Hutton; and last summer’s hit "Halloween: Resurrection," starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Busta Rhymes, Thomas Ian Nicholas and Katee Sackhoff. This was a little bit of "deja vu" as Rick made his directing debut with "Halloween II" twenty years ago. Committed to helping new filmmakers find a voice, from 1998-2001, Rick served as Chair of the Directing Program at the AFI’s Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies, where his students included Patti Jenkins ("Monster") and Brian Dannelly ("Saved"). He has also taught at the International Film and Television Workshops in Maine and has been an adjunct Associate Professor at USC. He currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, three kids and a Golden Retriever named Elle. An avid hockey player, he skates on a team oxymoronically called "the L.A. Canadiens."

Susan Johnson Producer Susan Johnson serves as Vice President of Production/Partner at Whitewater Films. Susan began her career at the William Morris Agency. Eager to get into production, she left the agency after two years to work for British producer Stephen Woolley in both the US and UK. After several features, Susan returned to Los Angeles to form a music video production company through which she directed, produced and edited more than 60 videos. Her music video work has been nominated for awards from MTV, VH-1, CMT, Billboard Magazine and the Music Video Producers Association. In 2000 Susan worked with writer-director-producer Nancy Meyers on "What Women Want." Susan attended USC and earned an MFA in Directing at the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies, where she was awarded the prestigious Robert Duvall/American Express scholarship. Susan’s thesis film, "Destiny Stalled" was one of only four US short films selected to premiere internationally at the Milan International Film Festival and it premiered domestically at the Palm Springs International Film Festival. The film also won awards at Mexico's Expression En Corto Festival and Houston’s Worldfest. Currently Susan is producing "Nearing’s Grace" for Whitewater Films, with partners Killer Films and John Wells Productions. Partner Rick Rosenthal will direct the script, adapted by Jacob Estes for Whitewater from a novel by Scott Sommer, in 2004. Other Whitewater projects in development include features "Levittown," "Bulldogs" and "Burnt Bridge Road," as well as the pilot for a dramatic series entitled "Going Long."

Hagai Shaham Producer After producing several films and TV in Israel, Hagai came to the U.S. to pursue a Master's Degree at The American Film Institute. After leaving AFI, Hagai produced several music videos and was the Executive Producer of the award winning Sundance film "Peter Rabbit and the Crucifix". Additionally, Hagai recently served as the Associate Producer of the indie feature "Funny Ha-Ha" and produced "Hungry Hearts" for director Rolf Schrader.

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