Eric d’Arbeloff MBA ‘93 and Howard Cohen AB ‘81
(Co-Founders, Roadside Attractions)

by Cristina Slattery

Eric d’Arbeloff MBA ‘93 and Howard Cohen AB ‘81 are the founders of Roadside Attractions, a specialty film distributor based in L.A.

They are also a married couple and parents of a ten-year-old son. The films they acquire and distribute are designed to appeal to an intellectually curious audience and films have included everything from a documentary about Anna Wintour and VOGUE magazine to a story about Brian Wilson from the Beach Boys. 

STONEWALL, a film about the famous Stonewall riots that initiated the gay rights movement in Greenwich Village in New York City in June of 1969, will be released on September 25th.

Eve Marson '04 (Producer, FED UP)

By Cristina Slattery '97

Producer Eve Marson '04 was brought on to the team of Fed Up, a new documentary film that is an indictment of the food industry. First shown at Sundance in January, Fed Up premiered internationally at Hot Docs in Toronto this spring. The film, which focuses on the role of hidden sugars in the American obesity epidemic, is narrated and executive produced by Katie Couric. It will be released on May 9th in select theatres and should have a life in the schools after that.

Helen Estabrook '03 (Producer, LABOR DAY, UP IN THE AIR, WHIPLASH)

By Cristina Slattery '97

"Every producer treats the job a little bit differently,” says Helen Estabrook ’03, one of the producers of the recently released LABOR DAY as well as a producer of films such as YOUNG ADULT, UP IN THE AIR, and JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME.

She continues, "You are creating an entire company,” each time a new production starts.

Right now, Estabrook is running Jason Reitman’s production company and she spends several months a year on set, away from her L.A. base. She explains that different types of producers are needed on a film set and that her role is that of creative producer.

Liz Ryan ’81 (Producer & Assistant Director, NYPD BLUE, THE OFFICE, THE GREEN MILE)

By Cristina Slattery '97

Liz Ryan ’81 was recently elected to the Board of Directors of the Directors Guild of America, and is proud to report her name sits on their website just above Steven Spielberg's!  She says that she overuses the phrases, "Wow,” and "that’s really interesting,” and this curiosity and enthusiasm have propelled her to the top of her profession as an Assistant Director of TV shows and films.  Her last film, GO FOR SISTERS, was shot in the deserts of Acton and Colexico, California, and Mexicali and Tijuana, Mexico and due out this fall, was directed by John Sayles.  Her TV credits include NYPD BLUE, FREAKS AND GEEKS, THE OFFICE, and THE REAL HUSBANDS OF HOLLYWOOD. 

She considers herself an optimist and has meditated for years.  Ryan notes that "for a woman, the greatest challenge of being a director is getting the job.”  She continues, stating that, "more often than not, we have to raise the money to make a movie ourselves.”  However, even if gender still may be an obstacle in Hollywood, Ryan has been overcoming obstacles since her youth and she continues to persevere to do work she loves.

Elizabeth Frascoia '00 (Trombonist, Singer, & Composer)

By Cristina Slattery '97

Elizabeth Frascoia '00, who was known as Elizabeth Dotson-Westphalen in college and in the years prior to getting married, is a trombone player, singer, composer, arranger and jazz educator. She says that she finally "admitted that she wanted to play music” in her mid-twenties after having worked in the dot-com sector in the early 2000s. After this realization, Frascoia attended Queens College, where she earned a graduate degree in music; she has been teaching, touring, writing songs and playing in venues in the New York area as well as internationally, ever since. This Vermont native’s love for music was kindled in childhood. Her father is a jazz musician, her grandmother taught piano, and her mother is also musical, so growing up in the family home in Woodstock, Vermont, Frascoia was exposed to the sounds of some of her now-favorite musicians such as Stevie Wonder, Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Ray Anderson, a trombone player.

Doug Mankoff HBS '95 (Producer, TSOTSI, THE JONESES, ROMEO & JULIET)

By Cristina Slattery '97

In the final scene of the 2006 film, WATER, a train filled with supporters of change agent and political leader, Mahatma Gandhi, pulls out of a crowded station. A seven-year-old child, Chuyia, is handed to an educated young man who has decided to leave his own city and follow Gandhi. An adult widow who shares her living space with Chuyia – who, despite being only seven, is also a widow after a childhood marriage – desperately hands her to the man on the train in order to free Chuyia from a life of poverty and prostitution. This final scene offers a glimpse of hope for the child’s future and for the future of Indian society, and exemplifies the theme of redemption that is prevalent in many of the movies that Doug Mankoff HBS '95 has helped to bring to audiences worldwide.

Lauren Kunze '08 (Novelist, THE IVY YA series)

By Cristina Slattery '97

The ten-year-old Lauren Kunze ‘08 was already devouring books and "pretending” to work, brush her teeth, eat vegetables and to sleep in order to make her parents happy.  She remembers attempting to read PARADISE LOST, rehearsing for her acting debut as Puck in A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, and attending soccer practice.  Kunze grew up in the Bay Area and a she conveys a certain Californian breezy optimism over the telephone that seems the antithesis of the brooding "serious writer” persona that one sometimes encounters. But, Kunze is, in fact, a serious writer.  At age twenty-four, she is about to publish her fourth and final novel in THE IVY young adult series – a series that she began writing her senior year in college.

Jay Chen '00 (Public Servant)

By Cristina Slattery '97

Jay Chen '00 has been getting by on very little sleep lately. Running for Congress is a "marathon, not a sprint,” he says. Chen, who is the current president of the Hacienda-La Puente School Board, decided to run for the congressional seat when a redistricting process changed the configuration of this Los Angeles district where he has lived for much of his life. Chen will face Republican incumbent, Ed Royce, in the opening primary this coming Tuesday as well as D’Marie Mulattieri, who is not affiliated with a political party. Royce has been representing the district for two decades and Chen, in fact, once worked in his office in Washington, D.C. as an intern. Now, however, he decided that it is time to take on the veteran since a redistricting process changed the demographics of the voting population in way that favors Chen, and, of course, Chen believes that Royce’s decisions are hurting the district rather than moving it forward.

Chris Salvaterra '90 (Producer, FAST FOOD NATION, GOOD NIGHT & GOOD LUCK, AMERICAN PIE)

By Cristina Slattery '97

"I have attempted to pursue the truth with some diligence and to report it,” states Edward R. Murrow, the legendary newsman and subject of the film, GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK. Chris Salvaterra ’90, former Harvard varsity football player and now a producer at Katonah Pictures (named after his hometown) helped to bring GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK to American and international audiences. Regarding movie scripts, he says that "I hope that if I am moved by the writing, others will be too.”