TEAM OF CREATIVES

Adisa was born in Oakland, California,  is part of a new wave of Bay Area storytellers who are both bold and creatively adventurist in their filmmaking. An award winning director, producer, and philanthropist, he recently directed his debut feature film Skin in the Game a gritty, unflinching dramatic thriller that explores the underground world of human trafficking. Skin in the Game is produced by Kandoo Films, the production company behind the Oscar nominated and BAFTA award winning Netflix documentary 13th by Ava DuVernay.  Skin in the Game premiered at Urbanworld in 2019 and won the Best Director Award at the 27th Annual Pan African Film and ArtsFestival. Released theatrically in the United States, the film was embraced as paramount in raising the public awareness of human trafficking by the County of Los Angeles and Fourth District Supervisor Janice Hahn. Adisa was also honored with the Heroes for Angels Award for Outstanding Community Achievement by the Our Children's Keeper Foundation.  Adisa received his Master of Fine Arts in Film from New York University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts. His student narrative Garden of Love placed a spotlight on the traumatic affects of babies born addicted to drugs. Garden of Love won the esteemed NYU Carl Learner Award for Social Significance.  While at NYU, Adisa also directed the critically acclaimed Disney short narrative Notes in a Minor Key, staring Harry J. Lennix and Keith David. A jazz story set in 1947, Stephen Holden of the New York Times called the film "confident, assured and crisply accomplished." As a result Adisa garnered a First Look deal with Disney. Showtime Network premiered two films produced by Adisa -Gift for the Living and Sarang Song. Gift for the Living won the Outfest Audience Award for Outstanding Short Narrative and Sarang Song won the San Francisco Black Film Festival Award for Best Short Film.  Following his success at Showtime, Adisa went on to direct and produce A Day Without Mines. Filmed in the diamond district ofSierra Leone, West Africa, Adisa witnessed children as young as six years old working in the mines which impacted him greatly. He was able to capture this remarkable story in a short documentary which won Best Short Documentary at the Beverly Hills Film, TV & New Media Festival and was showcased on PBS.  Perhaps Adisa's proudest accomplishment to date is his philanthropic endeavors in Sierra Leone where he has provided hundreds of children with educational scholarships and an opportunity for a better life. Adisa received the Humanitarian Leadership Award for his efforts.  Recently Adisa traveled to South Africa where he was invited to do a workshop at the KwaZulu Natal African Film Festival in Durban for the next generation of young aspiring filmmakers.

Stefan Colson is a Los Angeles-based director of​ photography, editor and producer. His 2015 feature film “Honeyglue” was well received and won awards during its festival run (Napa Valley Film Festival, Big Island Film Festival, San Luis Obispo Film Festival, and Orlando Film Fest). 2018 was an exemplary year for Stefan with the release of​ feature films: “We are Boats”, “Valentine’s DayZ”, “B.B. King: On The Road”, and “Los Angeles Overnight” and ongoing TV comedy series “Bob and Vargas.” Driven by the process of creating, after nearly a decade as a jazz trumpet player and producer/recording engineer, he discovered a love for moving images and the power of visual storytelling. With extensive experience in a wide variety of digital formats (music videos, commercials, feature films, etc.), he brings a wealth of diverse multimedia production​ acumen with beautiful images and vivid narrative.​

Ben Madeley  is a British screenwriter who has a varied background which began with a productive career within the hospitality industry including restaurants, hotel, and cinema. Through this, Ben found his calling, and in early 2016 pursued his career as a screenwriter, beginning extensive research into the industry and developing his passion further. Towards the end of 2016, Ben was beginning to take small jobs in copywriting, blogs and even YouTube dialogues as well as establishing life-long connections. By 2018, Ben was commissioned his first feature length screenplay as a ghost-writer for an untitled sci-fi project through a small indie producer.  Although this was a great start, Ben wanted to excel his career further and reached out to fellow writers to collaborate, creating wonderful content along the way. Through this he met fellow writer J. Knobel and began to collaborate on a variety of works, including a new feature set on the island of Mallorca, with its own original music attached. Ben continues to work with his clients, improving their screenplays and helping their visions become a reality, all whilst continuing to develop his upcoming seven-episodic TV series, and continually develop new concepts that push the boundaries of imagination

Ben is and has been  a valuable asset in the way of lending his expert opinion and feedback to prepare the Tested  screenplay for filming.

Bernard Hiller is the world-renowned Hollywood acting coach, business trainer and life coach. He has been a transformational leader in the field of artistic performance, dynamic public speaking, and success strategies for the past 29 years.

He is the Author of the book “Stop Acting - Start living.“ a revolutionary guide to achieving success in show business and life. The book has been translated into Italian, Spanish and Russian.  His second book  “The Revolutionary Guide to Acting” which will be released November 2022. 

Bernard trains some of the top artists in Hollywood and has started the careers of many well-known television and film actors around the world including Cameron Diaz and many others. He coached Jeff Goldblum, Shira Haas, Evan Peters, LL Cool J, Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Dornan, Vanessa Hudgens, Milena Smit,  Suki Waterhouse, Fernando Cayo, A.R. Rahman, Emma Roberts, Lionel Richie, Billy Crystal, Michael Bolton, Emilio Rivera, and Chace Crawford - to name only a few.   

His unique techniques have been featured on television shows and in magazines all over the world. He is honored to have the support of his work from Samuel L Jackson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Deepak Chopra, and many others. Bernard has written for The Huffington Post, Positively Positive and UK-The Daily Mail on how to succeed in Hollywood and Life. In the last few years, he has also been interviewed about who was going to win an Academy Awards. He has also been a jury member at many film festivals around the world.   

Bernard also coaches on movie sets and repeatedly gives his sold-out acting Masterclasses all over the world. He has taught in over 26 countries to date. Al Pacino, Peter Farrelly, Bruce Dern, and Bryan Cranston - amongst many others - have spoken at his Masterclasses. 

Bernard has also trained performers and opera singers in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Venice. Bernard held a special workshop, in Tel Aviv, at the Shimon Peres Peace Center for Palestinians and Israelis.

We are thrilled to have Bernard on board to coach on set of “Tested” in the near future. 

Glenn enjoyes writing as a spiritual process . In the case of the “Tested” Sceenplay , he chose anagram personality types to match and mirror the collective conciosness. He carefully engineers his characters to synchronize the microcosm and the macrocosm. He also uses meditation as a means of character development. 

After writing the ruff draft of the “Tested“ screenplay he drew on  Ben Madelys experience and expertise for further development and constructive feedback. Reducing the screenplay from 120 pages to  98 pages was one of the outcomes of this collaboration.  Glenn has shown his screenplay to various evaluators in the process of getting it polished and ready for filming. 

Be ready to read some exerpts of his work in the form of quotes we will be sharing on  our instagram and facebook pages  in the months leading up to the movie release. Stay tuned!