Andrew Gernhard, founder of the thriving Production Company, Synthetic Cinema International, speaks at Storyteller’s Cottage ‘Screenwriting Summit’, April 6-7
Join Andrew Gernhard, founder of Synthetic Cinema, John Buchner ‘Writers and the Underworld Journey’, Douglas Wood, creator of ‘The Artists’ Playground’, Carole Kirschner ‘Welcome to the TV Business’, ESPN – Emmy Award Winner Ben Houser ‘Sports Matter – Telling the True Story‘, Barb Doyon of Extreme Screenwriting ‘Insider Secrets to Opening Doors in Hollywood’, Colin Theys of Synthetic Cinema on ‘The Writer’s Role in the Industry‘, Gus Marinak writer, director, producer of ‘Falling Angel‘ on ‘How to Create a film on$2,000, or How I stopped worrying and learned to love the craft‘ and Pamela Perry Goulardt: ‘Adapting a Novel for the Screen‘, in Simsbury, CT. this April 6-7.
Synthetic Cinema’s co-production of ‘A Very Nutty Christmas’ with Melissa Joan Hart.
Andrew Gernhard, the founder of the Connecticut based Production Company ‘Synthetic Cinema International’, graduated from Southern Connecticut State University. He is a producer of fast-paced fun, fantastical, out of the box films. His creature feature and horror stories stand out from the crowd, and are what gained the attention of NBC/Universal’s ‘The Chiller Network’. His continued success led to a relationship to produce films for Lifetime and Hallmark.
Synthetic Cinema International, LLC is headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut with offices in NYC and Los Angeles and offers complete video and film production services worldwide using the latest technology.
We’ve had some difficulty connecting, due to your busy schedule. What’s up?
Andrew Gernhard. Well, aside from welcoming my new baby girl, we are filming a new Hallmark movie Holiday for Heroes, with, Melissa Claire Egan, Marc Blucas, and Patti Murin star, which premieres on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries in November. The plot revolves around a woman (Egan) and a soldier (Blucas) who exchange letters for a year before their worlds collide.
It seems Hallmark is very supportive of female’s in the film industry.
Andrew Gernhard. That’s true. All the films I’ve produced for Hallmark have had strong female leading roles, many of the producers are women, many of the scripts are written by women, and they have a large female audience.
How did you start working with Hallmark?
Andrew Gernhard. Most of their ‘Holiday’ films were being shot in Canada or overseas. I pitched them on a New England setting, suggesting it would have more of an ‘authentic’ Christmas feel, if we shot in CT. It’s great because we get to use historical settings, use CT resources and New England residents as extras.
What do you actually do under your title ‘Producer’?
Andrew Gernhard. I do a little of everything. I follow all aspects of bringing a story to life – from pitch to delivery. It’s my job to organize and oversee the shoots, editing, music, production, cost and getting the work done on schedule. I’m good with dealing with pressure!
It’s a big jump from making Monster movies to Christmas films. How did that happen?
Andrew Gernhard. When I was first starting out, BlockBuster was the rage. Monster movies were sure to get shelf-space, and they can be relatively cost-effective to produce. It was a great way to really get ‘street cred’ and learn the in’s and outs of making a film first hand. I love making Christmas movies, I believe in Santa Claus!
Check out what’s coming up on the Hallmark channel here: https://ew.com/tv/2019/02/08/hallmark-christmas-movies-2019/
Join Andrew at the ‘Script to Screen’ Summit in Simsbury, CT. where he will give a workshop on producing for film and TV. April 6-7
https://www.storytellerscottage.com/script-to-screen-summit
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