There are two sides to every film.

One side is the artist who expresses thought and emotions and puts them on the screen. The other is the audience who receives and responds to those thoughts and emotions - laughs when the comedian speaks, cries when the character dies, cheers when the action hero saves the day.

Nurturing both sides is the producer, who provides the tools for artists to realize their work and the opportunities for audiences to experience it.

The producer sees the big picture - discovers the story that needs to be told; builds the team that will best complement the project and finds the path to reach the audience that will most appreciate the story.

At the same time, the producer manages the details - arranges the resources; watches the timeline; anticipates the daily obstacles; maintains the budget and pieces together the puzzle of prep, production, post and distribution.

A producer needs the compassion to identify a story that will resonate with others and the vision to express it. Most importantly, a producer needs passion. It is passion that champions the project from beginning to end; encourages the artists through their frustrations; resolves the day-to-day details to keep the everything moving forward; persists when doors are closing and maintains the integrity of the story above all else.

As a producer, it is my challenge to find the stories that need to be shared, provide room for artists to express themselves and give moviegoers the opportunity to experience something new, something influential, something meaningful. This is the philosophy that drives me as a producer and the philosophy that my production company embodies.

Having produced a variety of projects, I recently established Stairway Films to pursue the stories I am compelled to bring to life and to find the artists who could best express them to an audience. I have stories that I am working to turn into scripts and scripts for which I am working to find financing. By building trust and developing long-term relationships with artists, with audiences and with the industry, I will be able to create and share those stories that inspire my passion.