Crew
Dennis Ho
Director, Writer (Story), Editor, Executive Producer
Creator of “A Better Place,” Dennis Ho has been an award-winning producer of multiple projects in his prolific career; the latest with this film as 2016 “Best Director” at the Lyon International Awards and The Modcon London Film Festival along with "Best Narration Feature" with the Los Angeles Movie Awards and “Best Independent Film for 2015” with Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival. His roster of projects as a television producer include Marvel’s animated TV series, “Fantastic Four” and “Iron Man.” Dennis’ wealth of experience as a short-form creative for major distributors and networks – spanning over two decades – include a legion of on-air promotion and advertising for television shows and theatrical features for Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Warner Bros., Universal and ABC. He has also won numerous television marketing awards for launching and promoting shows like “Home Improvement,” “Blossom,” “Roseanne,” “and “Golden Girls.” He's currently wrapping up two other films as Executive Producer for “Broken Memories,” starring Ivan Sergei and Rance Howard and “Day of Days,” starring Tom Skerritt. One of his goals in his first indie and award winning, “A Better Place,” was to cast and give deserving, talented fresh faces the opportunity to make their “big break” in Hollywood.
Deanna Shapiro
Producer
Deanna is a filmmaker, specializing in independent projects. Deanna has been producing and directing for over 18 years with numerous well received feature films, short films and music videos. Deanna's first feature film, "The Legend of Cryin' Ryan," won the Best Director and Best Feature Film award at the River Run International Film Festival, as well as the "Top Applause/Audience Favorite" at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival. Deanna’s recently completed films include,“Day of Days,” a heart-felt drama starring Tom Skerritt, “Bad Behavior,” a thriller starring Linda Hamilton and Ted McGinley which was released in 2013. Her other films include the psychological thriller, "Junkyard Dog", starring Vivica A. Fox and Brad Dourif, which headlined the Women's International Film Festival in Miami and the action thriller, "Kill Speed", starring Robert Patrick, Tom Arnold and Shawnee Smith. Deanna has also been a member of the Screen Actors Guild for over 25 years and has appeared in numerous commercials, television shows and films
K. R. Bass
Screenwriter
Kim Bass is a prolific writer who is a fan of both horror and spiritually-based films. After trekking the globe and spending many years in the far east where he became a student of eastern philosophy and other east Asian disciplines, Kim settled in Hollywood where he made a name and carved out a niche for himself, ghost-writing and doing un-credited "punch-ups" on a multitude of independent projects. Kim relished the opportunity to collaborate with writer-director, Dennis Ho, on "A Better Place," Ho's unique and inventive karmic, cautionary tale.
Russell S. Bell
Cinematographer
Russell grew up next to the Rockies in Canada. With a love of film from an early age, he worked on his first professional set at the age of 16 and helped produce a film that gained distribution by the age of 18. His early success drew him to Toronto where he became solely interested in cinematography and earned a Bachelor's degree at York University, Canada's top school in the craft. There, Russell worked as a gaffer, gaining experience in lighting under world renowned DP's before finally venturing out on his own to earn a Master's in Cinematography from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles (AFI). Russell has shot seven feature films and numerous shorts, commercials and music videos. He has been featured in "Kodak: In Camera Magazine" for outstanding work by an emerging Cinematographer. An associate member of the Canadian Society of Cinematorgraphers, Russell is also an avid cook and owner of cats. He pretends he can speak several languages including French, German and especially English.
Composer
Jerome Leroy
Jerome Leroy is an award-nominated composer who has written original music for feature films, TV movies, short films, video games and live events. Along with scoring numerous award-winning short films (including “Taking The Plunge”, winner of the coveted Student Academy Award and College Television Award), he started his career by writing music for independent feature films, and soon contributed to studio releases from New Line Cinema (“A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas”) and Universal Studios (“The Tale of Despereaux”). His credits in the film industry also includes Lionsgate’s tentpole movie “The Hunger Games”, “The Liberator” (with music by LA Phil Music Director Gustavo Dudamel), Don Handfield’s “Touchback” (starring Kurt Russell), and “50 To 1," directed by Academy Award winner Jim Wilson. In television, Jerome’s music can be heard on the Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, OWN, and Sony’s Crackle streaming network. In 2016, his original score to Dennis Ho’s “A Better Place” was nominated in the Best Music category at the Lyon International Film Festival.