Greg Coolidge (Writer/Director)
After studying acting, directing and play-writing in college, Greg Coolidge moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and found immediate success as a commercial actor and television guest star. But after several years of auditions, and screen tests for over fifteen television pilots, Coolidge decided to focus more heavily on writing, directing and producing. His first substantial break came with a film called Possums, which Coolidge produced and starred in while Oklahoma friend, Max Burnett, wrote and directed. Possums had great success, hitting all the festivals from CityplaceSeattle to Sundance. With the momentum of the film, Coolidge’s focus changed entirely, leaving acting behind.
In the last few years, Coolidge has built a career as an increasingly in-demand comedy writer. He partnered with another Oklahoma native, Joe Jarvis, and the two sold a number of scripts to place Hollywood studios, including New Line’s Truth or Dare, and Disney’s Sorority Boys, which was made into a film starring Harland Williams, Michael Rosenbaum and Barry Watson. After selling the comedy spec First Last and Security to Disney and writing Sorority Boys: The Sequel, Coolidge parted ways with Jarvis, wanting to focus his career as a director.
Since then, Coolidge has continued his writer-for-hire work, directed a short film called Queen for a Day, and co-written and directed his debut feature, Lionsgate’s Employee of the Month, starring Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. He has sold projects to Revolution Studios, Dreamworks Animation, Fox Television, NBC/Universal and recently sold another comedy pitch to CityplaceParamount, entitled Cockblocker. His focus now is producing his original idea, Mancrush, and directing his action comedy, Ride Along, both at New Line.
Peter Abrams (Producer)
Peter Abrams is a principal founder and partner of Tapestry Films. Since the inception of Tapestry eighteen years ago as a financing and production company, Abrams has produced numerous hit films under the banner including: Wedding Crashers, starring Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Christopher Walken; Serendipity, starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale; Pay It Forward starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment; The Wedding Planner, starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey; Van Wilder, starring Ryan Reynolds; the soon to be released sequel, Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, starring Kal Penn; She’s All That with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook; Underclassman, starring Nick Cannon; Disney’s A Kid in King Arthur’s Court; and Point Break, directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze.
Peter Abrams has produced fifteen award-winning children’s videos starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, which consistently ranked among the top of the best-seller lists. The three most recent productions were Winning London, When in Rome, and The Challenge.
Prior to forming his creative partnership with Robert L. Levy, Abrams produced “A Talent for Murder” starring Sir Laurence Olivier and Angela Lansbury for Showtime’s “Broadway on Showtime.”
Before entering the film business, Abrams spent two years at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University and his J.D. degree at George Washington University’s School of Law.
Robert L. Levy (Producer)
Robert L. Levy has written and/or produced motion pictures for over 20 years and is a principal partner with Peter Abrams and Andrew Panay in Tapestry Films. Levy has also directed and produced A Kid in Aladdin’s Court, the sequel to Tapestry’s A Kid in King Arthur’s Court.
Levy recently produced the hit films Wedding Crashers, starring Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams and Christopher Walken; Underclassman, starring Nick Cannon; Serendipity, starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale; The Wedding Planner with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey; Van Wilder starring Ryan Reynolds; the soon to be released sequel Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, starring Kal Penn; and She’s All That with Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook.
His additional producing credits include Pay It Forward, Point Break, Jane Austin’s Mafia!, The Last Time I Committed Sucide, Enemy of My Enemy, Denial, Full Eclipse, Warlock – The Armageddon and A Killing Time.
Levy has also executive produced such films as Swing, Black & White, Payback, The Chain, The Granny and Dark Tide. He also executive produced and wrote the story for the Burt Reynolds classic Smokey and the Bandit.
Levy graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles and received a producing fellowship from the American Film Institute.
Andrew Panay (Producer)
Andrew Panay is one of three partners at Tapestry Films, a Beverly Hills-based motion picture finance and production company. He is responsible for developing Miramax’s She’s All That, and co-producing Serendipity starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. He served as Executive Producer of On the Line starring Lance Bass and Joey Fatone of “N’ Sync.” He also created the idea and produced Artisan’s National Lampoon’s Van Wilder starring Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid. He is responsible for setting up and developing Pay It Forward starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment at Warner Brothers. Andrew recently produced the teen thriller Underclassman starring Nick Cannon, and came up with the idea and produced the acclaimed summer film Wedding Crashers starring Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, which has grossed $209,000,000 domestically.
Barry Katz (Producer)
Barry Katz was born in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. After graduating from Boston University, with a degree specializing in working with the disabled, Barry started his “alternative” career as a stand-up comedian in Beantown. It was there that he performed with such established artists as Denis Leary, Bob Goldthwait, Jonathan Katz, and Steven Wright, while also managing various comedy clubs in the placeNew England area for over a decade.
In the late 1980’s, he decided to quit performing and move to CityNew York City, opening up the Boston Comedy Club in placeGreenwich Village which helped launch the stand-up careers of Dave Chappelle, Jay Mohr, and Dane Cook, while serving as a home club to the late Rick Aviles, Bill Hicks, and Charlie Barnett. Simultaneously, he formed a management company that immediately landed four clients on “Saturday Night Live,” leading him to eventually expand his operation to Los Angeles where he brokered an unprecedented 70 television development deals for his clients within the first ten years of his west coast operation.
In 2003, Barry merged his company with New Wave Entertainment (NWE), a premiere film and television development/production company that is the largest creative marketing services agency in the entertainment industry. Together, they created one of the biggest independent, fully-diversified media enterprises in the world, and have produced thousands of award-winning hours of DVD’s, television programs, and feature films.
In addition to producing several films, Katz has executive produced over twenty different television specials, reality, and scripted series including NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” Fox’s “Action,” and HBO’s “Tourgasm.”
Barry is married to Australian actress/writer Susanna Brisk and they live in Los Angeles with their two sons.