I Need a Drink | A Comedy Film by Ernie Charles

 Ernie Charles has been a successful actor and writer as well. He recently received a writer’s award selection in the Santa Barbara and Culver City Film Festivals for his written script, I Need A Drink. He has also published a book on college football, titled College Football Fanatics: Due to Remarkable Passion. He grew up in Ohio surrounded by cornfields where he was crowned the County Fair King. He started as an actor and writer but soon moved into producing. Often Ernie is asked to be the assistant director on-set or to help with pre-production.

Ernie is also an enrolled agent and runs a tax practice Entertaining Taxes. Most of his clients are involved in the entertainment business. This has allowed him to communicate closely with highly successful entertainment professionals. He has been told by his close friends that he is adept at organization and inspiration. He loves being creative and working with an awesome team. Ernie is also the Managing Member of I Need A Drink, LLC, and the Chief Financial Officer.

 With strong leadership skills and superb problem-solving ability, Blake quickly found success in the role of Production Supervisor. She has an excellent ability to break down a budget and use available resources to fund and achieve the most successful results. She has been in the trenches on many high-profile productions, including Machete Kills, a film that brought in $18 million. She has also been involved in numerous Mariah Carey smash-hit-music videos. She is currently working with Skydance Productions.

Matthew began his entertainment career in Charlotte, North Carolina managing and developing musical artists. He then transitioned into film and television production accruing dozens of credits across the platforms of feature films, national and regional commercials, and episodic television. Matthew went on to found Pinyon Pictures in 2014 to develop, produce, and consult for feature films, television, and branded content.  He has several projects set for production in 2024 such as inspirational bio-drama Hux, crime comedy I Need a Drink, and horror/comedy Click Like, to Die as well as dark comedy Fleetwood & DeVille with George Gallo directing set for production in 2025. Mathew is developing several additional features including college basketball sports/drama Late in the Season, action-thriller Circuit, true-crime FBI thriller Alabama Bunker, WWII aviation biopic Steel Angels, paranormal thrillers House of Discord and The Sleeping House along with sci-fi thriller Wardenclyffe, based on the novella by New York Times Best Selling Author F. Paul Wilson.  Matthew is also developing several series for television including true crime dramas Techwood and Catcher-Catcher, original crime drama The Ten Thousand, and true crime FBI action/drama HRT: Hostage Rescue Team.  As a producer and consultant he works with clients & colleagues across all content platforms, genres and budget levels including project packaging, structured finance, casting, distribution, P&A, and investor relations. Originally from Rome Georgia, Matthew resides in Charleston, South Carolina where he remains a life-long fan of the Georgia Bulldogs, Atlanta Falcons, and Atlanta Braves.

A veteran professional actor, writer, and director in the Hollywood community for over thirty years, Hershberger brings his expertise in story, performance, and a playful creative eye to every film project he’s working on. Having established himself as a working actor with dozens of film and television credits to his resume, such as Six Feet Under, Big Love, Grey’s Anatomy, The West Wing, Sneakers, and the original Twin Peaks, Gary knows his way around a productive, effective set. Gary has worked with such greats as Robert Redford, Naomi Watts, David Lynch, Tom Hanks, Tom Berenger, Peter Falk, Michael C. Hall, and many others.  Gary is an award-winning and produced screenwriter, and is looking forward to his feature drama Hux, which he wrote and is pre-production for 2024, and the inspirational sports drama Late in the Season, which he wrote and will direct in Fall 2024. He’s very excited about coming on to direct the comedy-drama I Need a Drink in May 2024.

 Some of Gary’s writing awards include:

Top Ten Feature Finalist – Final Draft/Big Break Screenwriting Award, for the family action comedy Danger, Inc.; Bronze Prize for Best Television Comedy – Page International Screenwriting Award, Flanagan; Top Ten Finalist for Best Television Drama – Page International Screenwriting Award, for the action/thriller Revelation.

Ray Ellingsen began his film career in 1987 as a writer. He has since gone on to pursue numerous aspects of film making, from directing and producing, to supervising post production of feature films, documentaries, and commercials. In 1999, Ellingsen helped form the motion picture entertainment company, Ugly Old Bird Productions, which produced multiple film and video projects during its five years of doing business.

Ellingsen moved to Arizona in 2005 to manage the largest motion picture film studio in the state of Arizona, Hollywood-Phoenix Film Studios. Within a year, Ellingsen brought in three feature films, numerous commercials, as well as a television series for the studio to produce. Ellingsen left the studio and moved back to Los Angeles to further his filmmaking career.

To date, Ellingsen has written and directed two documentaries and a feature film, along with a multitude of commercial, instructional, and industrial projects. He has also produced nine feature films and over 30 video and commercial projects, with two feature films currently in development

Ron Takehara, Esq., is a Los Angeles born attorney, admitted to the State Bar of California in 1987. Ron is also admitted to the Central, Southern and Northern Federal District Courts of California. He received the American Jurisprudence Award in 1986. Through years of practice, he has obtained a wide range of legal experience in the entertainment industry, from high profile cases involving motion picture and television industry litigation, to representing entertainment production companies, television networks, actors, stunt men and women, and screenwriters. Ron gained his experience working in a large international law firm as well as boutique firms in Century City. His own firm, Takehara & Stuart, LLP is located in Santa Monica.

Ron has had successful appellate experience, with victorious appeals in the California Supreme Court and the California Court of Appeal, including the case resulting in the published opinion, Craig v. County of Los Angeles (1990) 221 Cal.App.3d 1294, 271 Cal.Rptr. 82.documentaries to narrative features, we strive to make a difference through the power of storytelling.

 Michael is a successful cinematographer who is brilliant at capturing beautiful images. We are lucky to have him on our team. The famous film director Quentin Tarantino raved about his film Avenged. Currently, he is the director of photography for the Wild West Chronicles TV series and previously for the series Deadliest Warrior. He was the cinematographer for the feature films Russian Bride and Dominique: Rise of the Phoenix.

Brady Hallongren is a Feature Film Editor and the CEO of the boutique post-production company Rocket Panda Post. As an alumnus of the American Film Institute Conservatory and a career spanning over 23 years, he’s demonstrated his versatility as an editor in a range of genres,

working with dozens of Directors and Producers over the years. He has worked with a range of studios, including Paramount, Netflix, Lionsgate, and Lifetime to name a few. His keen eye for detail and storytelling instincts have allowed him to shape raw footage into compelling and immersive cinematic experiences, including the films Pursuit starring John Cusack, Overrun starring Bruce Dern, and A Miracle Before Christmas starring Keith David..