The Judges

Gillian Grisman, director/producer, "Grateful Dawg," featuring Jerry Garcia/David Grisman, Sundance Channel's mini-series, "Keeping Time: New Music from America's Roots"

Gillian Grisman is an accomplished filmmaker who has been living and working in New York City for the past decade. For 15 years, she has honed her craft as a producer, director, editor and cinematographer. Grisman is a seasoned storyteller whose work reflects the relationship she has with musicians and her innate understanding of the music they create. Today she is accepted by a wide range of artists and prominent figures—not only as a filmmaker, but as an insider and a friend.

Grisman's credits include "Grateful Dawg," her award-winning theatrical debut about the musical friendship between the late Jerry Garcia and his father, mandolinist David Grisman. The film is being distributed by Sony Pictures Classics/Columbia TriStar and has received accolades at the Telluride, Toronto and London Film Festivals. She also produced the critically acclaimed mini series, "Keeping Time" for the Sundance Channel. Since then she's produced a handful of corporate, commercial, non-profit and documentary projects. She recently moved back to the Bay Area and is in post production on her latest feature film about the legendary record store, Village Music. Artists featured include: Bonnie Raitt, Elvis Costello, BB King, Bob Weir, Ry Cooder, Sammy Hagar, DJ Shadow and Huey Lewis.

In addition to her film projects, Grisman also utilizes her talents to make a difference in the community by working with many non-profit organizations—including a documentary she produced for Change for Kids, a non-profit dedicated to improving children's education in New York City, about kids growing up in New York City's under-funded public schools. Participating filmmakers included: Steve Buscemi, Doug Liman, Oliver Platt, Stanley Tucci, John Turturro, and Frank Whaley. Her ability to bring together key forces in the community has made significant strides toward mobilizing the arts and entertainment industry to affect positive social change.

Robert Greenwald, director/producer, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism" and "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price"

Filmmaker and political activist Robert Greenwald is the director/producer of "Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers" (2006), an exposé of what happens when corporations go to war; as well as "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" (2005), detailing the retail giant’s assault on families and American values; and "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism" (2004), about the right-wing opinion factory known as Fox "News." Millions of viewers have seen these films via grassroots "house parties" and independent online DVD sales, a groundbreaking method of alternative distribution.

Barbara Kopple, director, "Shut Up and Sing"

Barbara Kopple, a two-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, recently completed the feature-length documentary “Shut Up and Sing,” which tells the story of the Dixie Chicks and their personal and creative response to the political fallout they faced after making comments critical of President Bush on the eve of the Iraq war. “Shut Up and Sing” premiered in a gala screening at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival before being released in theaters nationwide. She also recently completed the non-fiction short film "Steamfitters Local Union 638," which is part of HBO’s Addiction series that premiered on HBO in March 2007. This program was awarded the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Governor’s Award. She is currently in the post production phase of a documentary for the Disney Channel following students in Fort Worth Texas performing a theatrical version of “High School Musical,” a teenage journey of joy, angst and breaking free from your designated roles. Also in post production is a one-hour pilot for Court TV exploring the life of Mildred Muhammad, fomer wife of infamous Washington, DC-area sniper John Allen Muhammad.

Dawn Laguens, president of political media firm, Laguens Kully Klose Partners, American Association of Political Consultants

Dawn Laguens is the founder and president of Laguens Kully Klose Partners. Laguens specializes in campaign strategy, message integration and television production. She is one of the leading ballot measure consultants in America, having worked on every major social issue that has been put to a vote. For her role as media producer in the hotly contested Michigan Senate race that elected Debbie Stabenow, she was called “a rising star of political media” and featured as a “Mover and Shaker” by Campaigns and Elections' Politics magazine. Her clients include Sens. Stabenow, Ben Cardin and Jon Tester; Gov. Bill Ritter; the National Education Association; several divisions of Planned Parenthood; The Nature Conservancy; and The White House Project. She is on the board of directors of the American Association of Political Consultants and is the mother of triplets.

Patrick Lee, CEO of alivenotdead.com, executive producer, Daniel Wu's "The Heavenly Kings"

Patrick Lee is the CEO of alivenotdead.com, an online community for artists and their fans, with over 400 artists on the site including Jet Li, Kelly Hu, Justin Lin, Daniel Wu, and Van Ness Wu. Patrick was also the Executive Producer of Daniel Wu's "The Heavenly Kings". Prior to alivenotdead.com, Mr. Lee co-founded and served as CEO of Rotten Tomatoes (rottentomatoes.com), a leading entertainment website focused on movie and game reviews and news. Mr. Lee also co-founded and served as CEO for Design Reactor (designreactor.com), a leading Internet marketing firm focused on the entertainment industry. Design Reactor's portfolio of clients under Patrick's tenure included Disney, ABC, Warner Bros., and Artisan Entertainment, among others. Patrick holds a BA in Cognitive Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

Craig Minassian, producer and consultant for HBO, Comedy Central and festival director of HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival

Craig Minassian has a unique background in politics and entertainment, blending senior work in political and strategic communications with television and new media content development, producing and marketing. In politics, Minassian served as assistant press secretary and director of Television News in the White House for President Clinton. He developed and implemented communications strategies for television for presidential and administration initiatives and served as the primary liaison with the network and cable news divisions, as well as handling press for signature events such as President Clinton’s trips to Africa, China, Vietnam and the 2000 Camp David Peace Summit. Previously he was on the White House advance staff and served on several presidential and Senate campaigns. He also serves as a media consultant for the Clinton Global Initiative and the Clinton Foundation.

In entertainment, Minassian is a producer and consultant for media companies such as HBO and Comedy Central among others where he develops programming and content and creates communication and marketing strategies around politically themed and socially relevant programming. Current projects include “The Gaggle,” a new political talk show in development at HBO, “Ed Boards,” a Sunday morning-style debate show with college journalists and major newsmakers for mtvU and “Born to Run,” a reality show for Warner Horizons. Recently he helped re-launched “Comic Relief 2006” with Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg and Robin Williams to benefit families still recovering from Hurricane Katrina and is a consultant for Comedy Central’s Indecision activities for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report,” including Stephen Colbert’s appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.

Chris Moore, producer, "Project Greenlight" and "Good Will Hunting"

Chris Moore, founder and principal of Fusion Studios since 1996, has produced many film and television projects, including: “American Wedding,” “Project Greenlight,” “The Battle of Shaker Heights,” “American Pie 1" and "American Pie 2,” “Reindeer Games,” “Best Laid Plans,” “Pop & Me,” “Glory Daze,” “Good Will Hunting”, “Joyride” and “The Third Wheel.”

In June 2000, Moore took a two-year hiatus from producing to co-found LivePlanet with partners Ben Affleck, Sean Bailey and Matt Damon. In his role as LivePlanet's chief executive officer, Moore oversaw all of LivePlanet's business activities and led the strategy and vision of the company.

Moore also co-founded Launch MEDIA in 1994, where he developed a multimedia entertainment magazine entitled Launch. He began his career in entertainment in 1989 as a literary agent for Intertalent Agency, later moving to International Creative Management, where he represented numerous writers and directors in motion pictures, television and new media.

Mel Nieves, actor/playwright/screenwriter/teaching-artist

Mel Nieves is an actor, playwright, screenwriter, and teaching artist. He is a member of the award winning LAByrinth Theatre Company. Most recently, Nieves performed in Suzan-Lori Parks' "365Days/365Plays" at the Public theatre and in Quiara Alegria Hudes' 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist for drama “Elliot, a Soldier’s Fugue” at the Luna Stage.

His theater project, "Voices from the Front" was given the 2006 New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) award from the Brooklyn Arts Council. "Voices From The Front" is a two play cycle dealing with minority men and women serving on the front lines of Iraq.

Ed Redlich, executive producer, "Shark," "Without a Trace”

Ed Redlich is currently a television writer/producer working for Paramount Television. He was an executive producer on “Without a Trace,” "Felicity" and a Producer on “The Practice.”

Born and raised in Greenwich Village, N.Y., Redlich studied history and literature at Harvard University, then attended New York University Law School. He practiced corporate law in Manhattan for a year and a day, before leaving the firm to try his hand at writing.

He and his wife, Sarah Timberman, serve on the board of directors of Death Penalty Focus, a statewide abolitionist organization, and are active members of the "I Have A Dream" Foundation.

Steve Skvara, retired steelworker

Steve Skvara began his career as a mechanical helper with Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co., which later became LTV Steel. He held several other positions in the plant, retiring as an electrical repairman with a total of 34 years of service. He’s been retired for five years and a member of SOAR for that long. Skvara served as a SOAR coordinator for two years before being elected in 2007 as his chapter president and the District 7 SOAR executive board member.

Skvara has always been involved in union work, his church and community. He served as a shop steward for more than 10 years at the United Steelworkers 1011. He’s involved in the Knights of Columbus, served on the homeowner’s association in his county and also as an elected Township School board member. When LTV Steel went into bankruptcy, leaving the retirees without health care, he became a certified SHIIP (Senior Health Insurance Information Program) representative, helping seniors with Medicare problems and finding Medigap insurance. Steve has assisted USW retirees at Bethlehem, National Steel and Slater Steel. He volunteers one day a week at the union hall and one day a month at a senior center in Valparaiso, Ind. Steve is 60 years old. He and his wife, Sandy, have been married 34 years and have four grown children.

Cherene Snow, Stage, Television and Movie Actress

Cherene is a native of Chicago and a proud member of Screen Actors Guild, AFTRA and Actors Equity Association. Film/TV credits include: My Sassy Girl, Goodbye Baby, City of Angels (w/Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan), The Long Walk Home ( w/Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek), Out of Darkness (ABC-MOW w/ Diana Ross), The Jury, Law & Order "Suicide Box", Chappelle's Show, Third Watch, Beyond Belief, L. A. Doctors, Reasonable Doubts, Caroline in the City, The Drew Carey Show and The Tonight Show w/ Jay Leno.

Theatre credits include: Doubt (Hartford TheatreWorks, Cleveland Playhouse), Walking Down Broadway (The Mint Theatre World Premiere), The Miracle Worker (Arkansas Rep), I See Fire in the Dead Man's Eyes (Off-Broadway World Premiere), Brooklyn Under Construction, The Last of the Thorntons (Signature Theatre/World Premiere), Home (NJ PAC), To Kill a Mockingbird, Straight As A Line (Edinburgh Scotland), Coyote on a Fence, Flyin' West, A Piece of My Heart, The Good Times are Killing Me (World Premiere), Playboy of the West Indies (U.S. Premiere), Othello, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Damon Williams, comedian

The following will introduce you to one of the hottest comedian in the nation Damon Williams! Williams a former Subway sandwich shop owner from Chicago began his career at All Jokes Aside Comedy club. Damon's numerous television appearances include BET's Comicview annually since '94 including his own one hour special. He's been featured on BET LIVE,Comedy Central's Premium Blend, The Tom Joyner Skyshow on TV ONE and HBO's P Diddy's Bad Boys of Comedy. Williams even hosted several episodes of the legendary Showtime at the Apollo formerly hosted by TV star Steve Harvey. In 1999 Damon performed for over 300,000 fans as the opening act for the highly successful Kings of Comedy Tour establishing him as one of the elite Comics in the nation. Damon was chosen to attend The Us Comedy Arts festival in Aspen Feb 2000. In the summer of 2000 Damon headlined the Cedric the Entertainer Comedy Revue. Damon is a crowd favorite on the college, club and concert circuit.

His material is universal and there's something for all ages. His popularity has provided him the opportunity to work with some of the biggest stars in the business. Some of these stars include Aretha Franklin, Pattie Labelle, Luther Vandross, Ray Charles, Harry Belafonte, Chris Rock James Brown,Jamie Foxx and even Little Richard. The monthly comedy shows he produced for the House of Blues came about after one appearance on the Jenny Jones Show. He was contracted to write, perform, and produce over 50 episodes. His starring role in the hit musical comedy tour "Laughin' on the Outside Cryin' on the Inside" generated standing ovations every performance. And finally, Damon maintains his monthly comedy showcases in Chicago (FunnyFirstSaturdays.Com) ,Gary In,Killeen Tx,Alexandria La, Edmonton and Vancouver BC in Canada. Look for Damon Later this Month on Jamie Foxx's Live from Lafapalooza special on Comedy Central.

A star on the rise his motto is "Don't Stop and Don't Quit".