Cast

Hannah Cullen - Penny

Hannah is a 6th grader, living in Sun Valley, CA. She adores Panda Bears and is an active member of Panda’s International. Hannah also loves dancing and can be found most afternoons at her ballet studio in Burbank, CA. A few years ago Hannah had the opportunity to take acting classes with Gary Spatz of The Playground, and was discovered in a showcase by her current agent. She has appeared in several commercials, (including Chinet and Yamaha), a feature film directed by Oliver Robins, and quite a few short films. For Hannah, Penny and Charlie was her opportunity to shine as an actress. She thoroughly enjoyed every minute of filming and loved all of the people involved in this project.

Blake Alan Fairbanks – Charlie

Blake is 11-years-old and lives in Valencia, CA. He is an avid collector of Wizard of Oz memorabilia. He is an excellent reader who always has a book in hand. Blake has been acting and singing for quite a few years. He appeared in a Reba McIntire music video, has been in four other short films, and has been featured in several made for television movies. But his experience in Penny and Charlie was very exciting and a wonderful learning experience. Blake continues to perfect his acting and singing and hopes to continue in this business for a long time.

Christine Dunn - Margaret

Christine has been on stage since the age of 5, taking the lead in church musicals, school plays, and in front of the mirror…pretending her Ken doll was a knight in shining armor coming to rescue the princess. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere. After getting a B.A. in Theatre from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, she made her way to the big city of LA to pursue film. Since then she has been in numerous independent films, both comedic and dramatic, playing a variety of roles. Christine is also trying her hand in production as Assoc. Producer with her partner Simon Veredon and is in development for a trilogy of films slated to shoot in Poland next year. She really enjoyed working with Shannon and her team on Penny and Charlie and hopes to work with them again. Christine is still waiting for that knight in shining armor, though.

Mark Overholt - John

Mark Overholt is an independent film actor who has appeared in numerous films since beginning work in the Cleveland theatre scene. He has studied with luminary acting coaches including the legendary Jeff Cory. Mark has been the recipient of two Best Actor awards including the MethodFest film festival award for best actor. Having worked in TV and film genres ranging from comedy to drama, horror to sci-fi, Mark is currently working on his own feature—a dark comedy which he wrote.

Crew

Shannon Latimer – Writer/Director

Born and raised in New Mexico, Shannon's love for storytelling began with short fiction and theatre. She earned her BA in writing from Knox College. Her fiction and literary essays have been published online and she received several awards, including the Howard Wilson Prize for Literary Criticism and placing in ACM’s Nick Adams Short Story Contest. After Knox, Shannon lived in Chicago where she worked as a writer and dramaturg with such theatre companies as The Mill and Vitalist Theatre Chicago.

In 2010 she earned her MFA from USC's School of Cinematic Arts. In addition to writing and directing at USC, Shannon also produced several short projects, including the Coca Cola Refreshing Filmmaker Finalist, Back to the Movies, and Your Wedding, a short film told entirely from the video camera of an 11-year-old-girl. She was a Mary Pickford Scholar, SCA Scholar, and was also awarded the Entertainment Partners Scholarship for Excellence in Producing. For Penny and Charlie, she was awarded the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant.

She currently lives in Los Angeles where she is developing new projects and writing.

Matthew Mercer - Producer

Matt is a devoted husband and filmmaker. In 2001, as a senior in high school, he organized the First Annual Nevada County Student Film Festival. In 2004, he won first prize in the documentary category of the UCSD Student Film Fest. In 2006, after graduating from UCSD with a B.A. in Visual Arts, Matthew moved to Los Angeles, married his college sweetheart, and was accepted to the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Matt recently completed his thesis film, Your Wedding, which Shannon Latimer produced. Matt received his MFA from USC in 2010, and he continues to write, direct, and edit in Los Angeles.

Adam Habib - Cinematographer

For cinema, Adam Habib has been deported from China (Moth in Spring), frozen solid in the rough parts of Chicago (The Cost), left in the desert without water (Before I Wake), and charged an obscene amount of money to earn an MFA in cinematography (USC). He would do it all over again. Currently a Camera & Staging Artist at Pixar Animation Studios, Adam is working on the upcoming film, Brave. His website can be found at www.adamhabib.com

Christine Louise Berry - Editor

Born and raised in the heat and fog of California’s San Joaquin Valley, Christine Louise Berry swoons for quiet, small town stories. While pursuing a professional career “below the line”, Berry continues to run Smart Gals Productions (www.smartgals.org), her non-profit arts organization dedicated to creating one-of-a-kind performance events and literary gatherings in and around Los Angeles. Her work has been featured in the LA Weekly, the Los Angeles Times, Bitch and Los Angeles magazine. Berry received her MFA in film production from the USC School of Cinematic Arts where she pursued a dual emphasis in screenwriting and editing. Most recently, she has been working as a junior editor on non-fiction television projects for Berman Braun, BBC Worldwide and the History Channel. A proud member of the pedestrian revolution, she enjoys a car-less existence in Los Angeles. Discover car-free culture via her blog SoCal Soft Pedal.

Kristine Uribes – Production Designer

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Kristi began to study film as an undergraduate at UC Davis. While attending Davis, she directed and produced short films as co-president of a student filmmaking organization and directed several documentaries for Davis Community TV. She graduated in 2005 and, after a brief stay at Stanford Instructional TV, she moved to Los Angeles and started USC in 2007. There, she continues to direct her own films and has branched out to producing, production design and editing. Kristi recently completed principal photography of her own thesis film, Bride of Frank.

Amy Reynolds – Sound Designer

Amy grew up Los Angeles, where she trained for 12 years as an artistic gymnast at Gymnastics Olympica USA under the direction of Fritz Reiter. She went on to earn a B.A. in Film & Media Studies at the University of California, Irvine. Amy earned her M.F.A. in Cinema-Television Production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2009 with an emphasis in sound design. She is currently working as a freelance picture editor and sound designer.

Ben Huff – Sound Designer

Ben Huff is an audiophile, musician, and documentary filmmaker who teaches production and post production film sound. A lifelong artist, he spent the better part of the past decade making experimental video shorts and sound pieces, earning his BFA at Alfred University in New York State before moving to California to study film at California Institute of the Arts. After graduating, Ben began freelancing as a professional sound editor/designer and recording engineer. Ben's work and sound design have been exhibited at numerous venues and festivals, including The Edgemar Center for the Arts, The MAK Center, The Venizia Film Festival and The Berlinale Film Festival. Aside from his freelance sound work, music continues to be a big part of Ben's life—usually working with several groups and projects.

Bob Lydecker - Composer

Raised on a diet of punk rock, classical music, Beatles and reggae, melodies and rhythms pounded relentlessly in Bob Lydecker's head since he can remember. Although he has a firm foundation in classical composition, Bob spent his teenage years playing high-octane drums in punk bands and has a passion for a variety of sounds and styles. In his own musical imaginings he often finds himself trying to balance a sometimes out-of-control collage of diverse elements and musical concepts. Over the past few years Bob has found an increasing number of opportunities collaborating on films. This experience has provided Bob with new challenges, creative ideas and personal rewards. Several recent projects, for example, have inspired Bob to create scores by sampling and manipulating actual sounds from the film (foley, dialogue, etc.) and using these as the basis for his instrumental palette; the goal being to more subtly weave his scores into the fabric of the film. In addition to collaborating with filmmakers and concocting musical creations of his own, Bob has begun working with and learning from the long-established composer Mark Isham. Most importantly Bob hopes to bring positive vibrations to the world through his music!"