Staff | Board of Directors | Mentors

Founder & Chair Emeritus, John S. Johnson
Chair, Mitchell Lichtenstein
Anthony Bregman
L.M. Kit Carson
Marcy Granata
Robert Powley
Jeffrey Soros

JOHN S. JOHNSON (Founder & Chair Emeritus)
Bio on Staff page

MITCHELL LICHTENSTEIN (Chair)
Mr. Lichtenstein’s writing/directing debut, TEETH, premiered to wide acclaim at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and was released by Lion’s Gate later that year. His second feature film as writer/director, HAPPY TEARS, was developed in residence at The Screenwriters Colony and debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009. Highlights of Mr. Lichtenstein’s acting career include a best actor award from the 1983 Venice Film Festival for STREAMERS (Robert Altman, director) and an American Spirit Award best actor nomination for THE WEDDING BANQUET (Ang Lee, director). Mr. Lichtenstein also acted in THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE (Franc Roddam, director), CRACKERS (Louis Malle, director), and RATCHET (John Johnson, director). He received a BA in Drama and Literature from Bennington College in1978 and an MFA in Acting from the Yale School of Drama in 1981.

ANTHONY BREGMAN
Anthony Bregman founded Likely Story in the fall of 2006 and with the company has produced films including THE EXTRA MAN, written by Bob Pulcini, Jonathan Ames, and Shari Springer Berman, directed by Bob Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman, and starring Kevin Kline, Paul Dano, Katie Holmes and John C. Reilly; PLEASE GIVE, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, to be released by Sony Picture Classics in fall 2009; the post-apocalyptic thriller CARRIERS, written and directed by David and Alex Pastor, to be released in 2009 by Paramount Vantage; and SLEEP DEALER, written and directed by Alex Rivera, released by Maya Releasing in 2009 after winning awards at the 2009 Gothams, the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival and Sundance Film Festival. Bregman’s other producing credits include SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK; FRIENDS WITH MONEY, his third collaboration with writer/director Nicole Holofcener; the Academy Award-winning ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND; THE EX; LOVELY & AMAZING; HUMAN NATURE; THE TAO OF STEVE; LUMINOUS MOTION; and LOVE GOD, the world’s first digital film.  Bregman executive produced THE SAVAGES and TRICK, and was associate producer on THE ICE STORM, THE BROTHERS MCMULLEN, THE MYTH OF FINGERPRINTS, and ROY COHN/JACK SMITH.  Before founding Likely Story, Bregman was a partner at This is That Productions for four years, and spent ten years as head of production at Good Machine, where he supervised the production and post production of over thirty feature films, including SENSE & SENSIBILITY, EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, WALKING & TALKING, WHAT HAPPENED WAS..., THE  WEDDING BANQUET, and SAFE. Bregman teaches producing at Columbia University’s Graduate Film School, and is on the board of the IFP. He lives in New York City with his wife Malaika Amon, sons Akira and Atticus, and daughter Eloise.

L.M. KIT CARSON
L.M. Kit Carson is an award-winning feature and documentary filmmaker with over 30 years experience in development and production as both a writer and producer on projects at Disney, Paramount, Tri-Star/Columbia, and MGM/UA. His films include PARIS TEXAS (Cannes), HURRICANE STREETS (Sundance), and DAVID HOLZMAN’S DIARY (Mannheim), his first film, which is honored in The Library of Congress American Film Collection. One of the original fellows at the launch of The Sundance Institute, Mr. Carson remains actively involved with the Institute’s writing program for new and emerging talent nationally and internationally. Called “The Big Brother of Independent Film” by Entertainment Weekly and “semi-legendary” by The New York Times, Mr. Carson has taught in the Film Division at Columbia University. Currently, he is producing a documentary series for the Sundance Channel telling the next new stories of Africa: AFRICA DIARY, digital-diaries (3-5 minutes each) of personal journalism going country-by-country across the heart-shaped continent.

MARCY GRANATA 
Marcy Granata, film marketing executive, is a 30 year veteran of the film industry.  She is best known for successfully growing mainstream attention and audiences for independent film while President of Publicity and Corporate Communications/Executive Vice President Marketing at Miramax Pictures. From 1994-2001 she oversaw the publicity strategy that shaped Miramax Films from a scrappy independent to a brand name, something rare in the film industry. She led record-setting, box office campaigns for such landmark films as PULP FICTION, IL POSTINO/THE POSTMAN, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, CLERKS, THE ENGLISH PATIENT, GOOD WILL HUNTING, SCREAM, CHOCOLAT and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.  Prior to Miramax, Ms. Granata honed skills in the Columbia/TriStar/Sony marketing departments, leading publicity campaigns for such films and filmmakers as Martin Scorsese’s THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, Robert Redford’s A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, Barbra Streisand's THE PRINCE OF TIDES, Warren Beatty's BUGSY and Francis Ford Coppola’s DRACULA.  Having taken a seven year sabbatical from the film business to raise her two young sons, she is currently returning as a strategic marketing consultant, recently working on David Fincher's THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON.

ROBERT POWLEY
Robert Powley is a partner at the New York City law firm of Powley and Gibson, P.C. He specializes in intellectual property, entertainment, and art law. His clientele includes a variety of domestic and international corporations, start-up companies, individuals, and not-for-profit organizations. Most notably, he provides counseling for one of the most successful Broadway musicals in history, in addition to a world famous sculptor, and various other successful corporations and entities offering a wide scope of products and services. Prior to founding Powley & Gibson, P.C. in 2002, Mr. Powley practiced trademark, copyright and patent law at Nims, Howes, Collinson, Hansen and Lackert, and Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto in New York City. Mr. Powley graduated from Washington and Lee School of Law in 1991. He is an active member in the International Trademark Association and a member of the New York Intellectual Property Law Association.

JEFFREY SOROS
Jeffrey Soros is President of Considered Entertainment, a film production and finance company. In addition to The Screenwriters Colony, Mr. Soros serves on the boards of The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The Creative Capital Foundation, and The Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans.