Team Biographies
Alyssa Rallo Bennett
Co-President / Head of Production & Development
Alyssa Rallo Bennett is an award-winning producer and director and co-founder of Stonestreet Studios (www.stonestreetstudios.com), home of the advanced screen acting and directing conservatory for NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Since its inception over twenty years ago Stonestreet has produced multiple award-winning features films, pilots and PSAs. For the last decade years Alyssa has produced the Stonestreet-Goldberg Festival of New Short Films producing between 6 and 22 films each spring, many of which have become festival films. At Stonestreet Alyssa produces and director the internet’s unique historical mystery webseries, The 47th Floor (www.the47thfloor.com), now in its 9th season and currently aired on NYU-TV & Blip TV.
Alyssa directed, produced & co-wrote the award-winning feature film The Pack¸ starring Lucie Arnaz, Elisabeth Moss, Roger Robinson, Molly Culver, Tibor Feldman, Adam Ferrara, Zach Galligan et al which was recently released theatrically and will now be distributed on DVD and digitally in 2011. The Pack has won Best Director, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Rising Star Award at Wildwood Film Festival, and had “Best Feature Film: Honorable Mention” at Baltimore Women’s Film Festival and Bayou Inspirational Film Festival. It was also an official selection in Independent Features Film Festival at Tribeca Cinema, Hoboken International Film Festival, Sedona International Film Festival, Northampton International Film Festival, Jersey Shore Film Festival, Festival of Festivals, Connecticut Film Festival, Sweet Auburn Film Festival, and First Take Film Festival.
Previously, Alyssa directed and produced Sonnets in the City starring Joe Siravo (The Sopranos, Jersey Boys); and produced Revengers, Inc., directed by Robert Bella (Colin Fitz Lives), The Code aka Cryptogram starring Angela Pietropinto et al. She developed and associate produced Rain Without Thunder, starring Jeff Daniels, Linda Hunt, Betty Buckley, Frederick Forrest, Graham Greene, Ming Na Wen, Austin Pendelton & Steve Zahn. Rain Without Thunder was theatrically released & distributed by Orion Classics, featured in over a dozen major film festivals and was recently bought by Sony Pictures. The film is now a featured selection on Hulu and Netflix.
Alyssa is also the host and producer of the series Behind the Scenes at Stonestreet Studios. Her guests have included Mike Myers, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Kevin Bacon, Peter Gallagher, Michael Imperioli, James Earl Jones, Elisabeth Shue, Chaske Spenser, Melba Moore, Vincent Pastore, and Joey Pantoliano. The show focuses on the process and art of film making for independent and studio films. She has worked in both films and television in front of the camera with directors such as Woody Allen, Franco Zeffirelli, and Andre Gregory. In New York she has directed many short and full length plays at Ensemble Studio Theater and the Harold Clurman Theater and was accepted into Sundance Institute’s Playwriting Festival where she worked as director, writer and actor, again developing new material for stage and screen. Alyssa attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and has a BFA in Drama & MA in Drama & Psychology.
Victoria Yampolsky, CFA
Co-President / CFO
Victoria Yampolsky spent her career to date in financial services and consulting. Prior to founding Vistar Pictures and Viteli Entertainment www.vitelientertainment.com, Victoria worked for Deutsche Bank at the Capital Structure Analysis research group where she identified and developed cross-asset class investment ideas among North American, Canadian and European companies. She focused on arbitraging discrepancies among equity, debt and derivatives markets for the same issuer. Concurrently, she held a position of the Executive Director at the Third Eye Theatre Company, where she oversaw fundraising, budgeting, marketing, and other business-related activities. Prior to Business School, Victoria worked as a senior consultant for Capgemini in the financial services division. Victoria holds a Bachelor’s degree, Cum Laude, in Computer Science from Cornell University and an MBA, with honors, from Columbia Business School.
Marian Koltai-Levine
Distribution, Marketing & PR
Marian Koltai-Levine is a President of Zipline Entertainment, a distribution and marketing company that recently became part of PMK BNC. The company’s distinctive approach to marketing and distribution reflects the team’s prior experience on both the studio and agency sides of the film industry. Since its launch in April 2009, Zipline Entertainment has become a leader in the evolving world of content and distribution. Some notable successes include: Is Anybody There?; Bass Ackwards; the award-winning documentary Racing Dreams; Focus Features’ The Kids Are All Right; the new cable channel EPIX; and last year’s Independent Summit in conjunction with MOMA and IndieWIRE. In addition, Zipline Entertainment has represented MOMA/Film Society of Lincoln Center’s “New Directors/New Films Festival.”
Prior to creating Zipline Entertainment, Marian was Executive Vice President of Marketing at Picturehouse, an independent film studio where she was instrumental in its growth since its inception in 2005. At Picturehouse, Marian spearheaded many successful campaigns including A Prairie Home Companion, the final film from director Robert Altman; the triple Academy Award winning Pan’s Labyrinth from acclaimed director Guillermo Del Toro; La Vie En Rose, which earned Marion Cotillard an Academy Award for her portrayal of Edith Piaf; and Diane English’s The Women, which opened to the largest box-office weekend in Picturehouse’s history.
Prior to her position at Picturehouse, Marian served as Executive Vice President of Marketing for Fine Line Features, where she created and led integrated marketing campaigns for the company’s entire release slate, including Academy Award nominated films Maria Full of Grace, American Splendor, Vera Drake and Before Night Falls.
Before she was promoted to EVP Marketing, Marian served as Fine Line’s Vice President of Publicity and Promotions for several years. In this capacity, she was responsible for generating significant awareness and press on many of the company’s Academy Award nominated films including Shine, The Sweet Hereafter, Deconstructing Harry and Hoop Dreams. Early in Marian’s career, she gained invaluable experience at PMK Public Relations working with filmmakers, talent and industry executives. Her first job in the business was overseeing Field Operations at Orion Pictures. She holds a Bachelors degree from UCLA.
Rich Macar
Post Production
Rich Macar is the executive producer and founder of Buttons, www.buttonsny.com, the audio and video post production facility located in Midtown Manhattan. Buttons provides high quality services equal to its largest competitors, and out performs its smaller and equal competitors with experience, investments in technologies, and continued dedication to the craft of audio design, with a Hollywood approach to creating and delivering great sound.
Since moving to New York City in 1985, Rich has produced sound for feature Films with Francis Ford Coppola and Stephen King, thousands of television and radio spots with advertising agencies like BBDO, McCann Erickson, DDB WW, Brouillard, Ogilvy & Mather, hundreds of Documentaries, TV shows, and thousands of on-air promos for Cable networks like Discovery, TLC, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, Bravo. Surround Sound projects for Toshiba, Coke with David Letterman, Brainlab of Germany, and Golden Books. Rich founded Buttons in 1991. 1995-1998 marked rapid growth and lead to it’s largest project, launching Pokemon, the hit series, delivering 52 episodes in 6 months, notably 20 shows in one of those months.
In 2007 Buttons accepted opportunities to expand into editorial' services for television, post producing a 16 show series for BET, as well as a 10 show series for the Playboy Network. We added 4 Final Cut Pro systems with 6 support Final Cut Pro systems connected to fibre channel and gigabit networks. In 2008 Buttons Entertainment was formed to pursue intellectual properties, developing web series,TV shows, and an assortment of digital media projects. Buttons entertainment acquired 48 celebrity interviews recorded at NYU NY and has begun developing and securing distribution worldwide. B.E. has secured relationships with director/ producers John Cirabisi, Rick Mowat, Bengt Anderson, and Jobe Cerny.
Dan Satorius, Esq.
Legal
Dan Satorius brings a depth of industry knowledge to his entertainment law practice – from having worked in the industry, earning advanced degrees, and practiced law in that area for over 25 years. He received a Masters of Arts in motion picture production from the University of Iowa and a law degree from Southern Illinois University. His experiences as a professional musician and an award-winning film-maker give Mr. Satorius a breadth of practical understanding and knowledge of the entertainment industry.
During the past 15 years, he has been an important figure in the development of the film and music industries in Minnesota. He was an adjunct professor of law for eight years at William Mitchell School of Law. He regularly teaches courses on the legal and business aspects of film and television production and the music industry at various colleges and universities. Mr. Satorius writes and lectures frequently on many topics relating to the entertainment industries, including speaking and writing for the American Bar Association Forum on the Entertainment and Sport Industries, the Minnesota State Bar Association, the University of Minnesota Law School and William Mitchell School of Law.
Mr. Satorius assists individuals and businesses in the development of various forms of intellectual property within and outside the entertainment industry. His ongoing support of the local industry includes frequent lecturing and writing on various topics concerning intellectual property and entertainment law and service on various boards of directors, including the Independent Feature Project/North Minnesota Blockbuster McKnight Film Fund, Screenwriters Workshop, and Resources in Counseling for the Arts. His clients include producers, publishers, distributors, artists, writers and performers in the music, motion picture, television, book publishing, computer and interactive media industries.
Super Lawyers® list in the area of Intellectual Property/Arts, Entertainment, Advertising and Media in Minnesota's Journal of Law & Politics, 1994 - 2002, 2005 - 2009; and he is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell.
Richard Koenigsberg, CPA
Accountant
Richard Koenigsberg is an accountant, a CPA since 1979, and a Partner at Spielman, Koenigsberg & Parker, LLP since 1986, is a noted expert in individual and corporate taxation—both domestic and international—appearing on broadcast and cable networks as well as being widely quoted in major newspaper articles. He has served on various industry committees including those involved with entertainment, financial media and taxation. He currently serves as the North American board member of FIDUNION INTERNATIONAL, a global network of independent certified public accounting and management consulting firms with more than 260 offices worldwide.
While Richard’s clientele—including individuals and corporations—cover a broad spectrum, he concentrates his practice in the areas of financial management & taxation in the fields of advertising, entertainment, media and professional practices. He is best known for his ability to simplify and provide reasonable solutions to complex issues, whether they are budgets, taxes or financial & estate plans.
Ron Idra, Esq.
Web Design / Internet Marketing
An online producer with a background in law and the creative arts, Ron Idra is the founder of an interactive studio Promotion for Professionals, www.pfpfirm.com, which combines web design / development, online promotion, and photography for clients in business and the arts. Ron is also a former intellectual attorney who has worked with entertainment and business clients, and brings a multi-disciplined approach and analysis in all areas.
Ron has designed and developed websites for businesses, professional practices, and organizations, including attorneys & law firms, medical professionals, real estate and architecture firms, as well as directors, actors, and producers. He art-directed photography shoots, wrote marketing copy, and designed collateral materials for a variety of clients.
Ron was also a co-producer of the Off-Broadway show, Stone Cold Dead Serious by Pulitzer prize finalist playwright Adam Rapp (Theater Row, February ‘07). He co-produced several Off-Off Broadway theater productions in conjunction with Small Pond Entertainment, a Manhattan based theater company, and worked on other theater productions including Motherload (Sage Theater), Bubby’s Shadow, The Conjugality Test, Secrets Women Share (Midtown International Theater Festival); and North of Providence (29th Street Rep).
Ron was an IP attorney at two major Manhattan law firms: Pennie & Edmonds and Dewey Ballantine LLP, and consulted at companies such as J.P. Morgan & Co, MetLife, and V.N.U Inc. He advised entrepreneurs, inventors, writers and filmmakers as well as corporate clients on protection of copyright, trademark and patent rights. Ron is also the author of a guidebook on intellectual property and licensing entitled The Complete Licensing Kit, published by Sourcebooks, Inc. ('05), available on amazon.com and in bookstores.
Ron holds a J.D. from N.Y.U. School of Law where he was an editor on the N.Y.U. Law Review. He also has a B.S. in philosophy and science from Brooklyn College where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
Rachel Kaplove
Associate Producer
Rachel Kaplove is an associate producer of Vistar Pictures, and an actress with a BFA in drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. While at NYU, Rachel studied at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, the Cap21 studio of musical theatre, and Stonestreet Studios of Film and Television.
She performed in several plays, from Shakespeare to newly written works with Broadway directors, and even performed her own self-written piece at an Off-Broadway theatre. Over the past few years she has starred in over 20 short films. Her recent film, "Bless You", won best comedy at the Campus Movie Fest, and was in the International Grand Finale Festival in Hollywood, as well as The Big Apple Film Festival.
She can also be seen playing the role of Pasha Kale in the acclaimed webseries, "The 47th Floor". Her work may be viewed at www.RachelKaplove.com.
