Beth Brickell, President
Beth
Brickell formed her own independent film company, Luminous Films Inc., to
pursue a passion to make uplifting character-driven movies that speak to
the lives of viewers. The
company is currently developing two feature projects based on screenplays
that she has written. Big Doc, an adaptation of a New York Times best-selling novel, won
“
Best Feature Screenplay
” in a competition with over 5,000 submissions at the Moondance
International Film Festival in
Hollywood. Disappearance,
an original screenplay, is based on an 18-article investigative series
that she wrote for the Pulitzer Prize winning Arkansas Gazette.
Beth
put aside a successful acting career to accept a director fellowship at
the American Film Institute from which she graduated with an MFA in 1978.
She
has written, produced and directed a trilogy of award-winning movies for
television, "A Rainy Day," "Summer’s End" and
"Mr. Christmas."
"A
Rainy Day,"
starring Mariette Hartley, Tracey Gold and Collin Wilcox, premiered on
PBS and won seven film festival and television awards, including
First Place
at the USA Film Festival in
Dallas. Reviewers declared the movie “Remarkable” at the Los
Angeles Times, “A rare gem” at the New York Daily News, “Powerful
and moving” at the Hollywood Reporter, and “An exquisitely fulfilled
moment in time” at the Christian Science Monitor.
"Summer’s
End," starring Bill Vint and Jennifer Miller, was made
for PBS and subsequently was licensed by Showtime, A&E and
Nickelodeon. The movie won a
total of 16 first and second-place film festival and television awards,
including “
First Place
” at the Los Angeles International Film Festival, Chicago International
Film Festival, American Film & Video Festival (New York), Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, and the National Assn. of Television Program
Executives.
"Mr.
Christmas," starring Jace
McLean, Jen Celene Little, Ireland Rose Maddox and Abigail Kinslow, was
licensed by PBS and HBO. The
holiday movie won “Best Family Film” at the Moondance Film Festival in
Hollywood
and an “Award of Excellence” from the Film Advisory Board in
Los Angeles
.
Beth
has directed episodes for the CBS series “Knots Landing,"
and written, produced and directed several short
dramas that include "Little Boy Blue,"
starring Chynna Phillips and
Robert Walden, and "To Tell the Truth."
She developed a story idea for a CBS movie, "A
Family Matter," and an idea for a four-part series for PBS, "Susan B.,"
about the 19th century women’s suffrage movement.
Beginning her career as an actress, Beth studied in
New York
in the 1960s with Lee Strasberg and Sanford Meisner and became a lifetime
member of the Actors Studio. While
developing her craft, she acted in twenty-five stage productions in and
out of the city.
Moving to
Hollywood
at the request of her agents at the
William
Morris
Agency, she was cast in her first TV role three weeks later on "The
Girl from U.N.C.L.E." and her first guest starring role the following
month on "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."
Five months later a successful screen test landed her a starring
role in the CBS series "Gentle Ben" with Dennis Weaver, Clint
Howard and a 650-pound bear. The
popular family series ran for two years, and then Beth went on to
guest star in most of the TV series of the 1970s, receiving Emmy
consideration for roles on "Bonanza" and "Hawaii
5-0." She starred in three television movies, including
"Brock’s Last Case" opposite Richard Widmark, and starred or
co-starred in three motion pictures, Posse with Kirk Douglas and
Bruce Dern, Death Game
with Sondra Locke and Seymour Cassell, and The Only Way Home with
Bo Hopkins.
Her civic activities have included Chair of the DGA Women’s Steering
Committee, member of the DGA Special Projects Committee, Board of
Directors for Women in Film, Emmy Awards Panel for the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences, Actors Studio-West Executive Steering
Committee, Grant Committee for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
Screening Committee for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, and the
James Bridges Scholarship Committee at the University of Central Arkansas.
She
has been honored with membership in the Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame
and the Southwest Theatre & Film Association Hall of Fame in
Denton,
Texas
.
Beth
resides in Sherman Oaks, California, a suburb of Los Angeles.
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