PGA & Cadillac Announce Mentors for 'Make Your Mark' Film Competition

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) and Cadillac are pleased to announce the mentors for the Make Your Markcompetition- a short film competition open to producers across the country. Participating producers will compete for the opportunity of a lifetime - a portion of the winning short film and the winning producer's name will be featured in Cadillac's :30 spot that will air on ABC during the Oscars, on Sunday, February 22. The competition honors the work of renowned Academy Award® winning filmmaker Saul Zaentz ("The English Patient," "Amadeus," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), who passed away earlier this year. Zaentz's Passion continues to inspire the next generation of industry-defining producers through the Make Your Mark competition.

The Make Your Mark short film competition mentors, Bruce Cohen, Gale Anne Hurd and Peter Saraf, are all award-winning producers themselves with projects spanning from television to film. Once the three finalists of the competition are chosen, each will be paired with one of the aforementioned mentors. The mentors will then help this next generation of aspiring producers through the production of their short films to completion, showing them the ins and the outs of the industry, providing creative counsel and perfecting the final product.

Bruce Cohen is an Academy Award-winning producer of film, television, and theater. He won the Best Picture Academy Award for producing "American Beauty," along with Dan Jinks, and earned additional Best Picture nominations for "Milk" and "Silver Linings Playbook." Bruce was a lead producer of the stage musical version of "Big Fish," another film he produced, on Broadway last fall. In television, Cohen was an executive producer of the ABC series "Pushing Daisies," and was nominated for an Emmy for producing the "83rd Annual Academy Awards."

Gale Anne Hurd is a producer and writer of Academy Award winning films and Emmy Award winning programs that have shattered box office ratings. Her most notable film credits include "The Terminator" movie franchise, "Armageddon," "The Incredible Hulk" and "Aliens." On the Television side, Hurd is well known for producing "The Walking Dead," which is set to begin its fifth season this October on AMC. "The Walking Dead" currently reigns as the #1 drama on TV in the prized 18-49 demographic. Hurd is the founder and CEO of Valhalla Entertainment and has an overall deal with Universal Cable Productions to develop new television and digital programs.

Peter Saraf's producing credits include "The Kings of Summer," "Safety Not Guaranteed," "Our Idiot Brother," "Jack Goes Boating," "Sunshine Cleaning," "Away We Go, Is Anybody There?," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Everything Is Illuminated," Truth About Charlie," "Adaptation," "Ulee's Gold" and the feature documentaries "Mandela" and "The Agronomist." Peter is currently in post-production on "Me Him Her." He has been nominated for Academy and Golden Globe Awards and has won multiple awards including the Spirit, Gotham and PGA Awards. He is the co-founder of Big Beach; a New York based independent film production and financing company. Peter is Chair of the Producers Guild of America East.

How to participate in Make Your Mark:

Ø Until 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 25, 2014, contestants can enter the Make Your Mark competition atmakeyourmarkcompetition.com

Ø Once accepted to the competition, entrants will be asked to create a three-to five minute-short film that draws upon the storytelling and work of Saul Zaentz.

Ø Rules and creative specifications will be released on June 27, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. EDT and contestants will have 51 hours to complete their short film.

Ø Ten semi-finalists will be announced on or around July 29, 2014, and three finalists will be announced on or around August 25, 2014.

Ø The three finalists will collaborate with a distinguished PGA mentor to produce a further refined three-to-five-minute short film.

Ø The winning short and producer will be announced on January 24, 2015 at the 2015 Producers Guild Awards.

Ø The winning short will be highlighted in a :30 second Cadillac spot that will appear during the ABC broadcast of the 2015 Academy Awards.

Judges for the Make Your Mark competition include Kathy Bates ("About Schmidt," "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," "Titanic"), Danny DeVito ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Batman Returns," "Taxi"), Michael Douglas ("Wall Street," "Basic Instinct," "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), Hawk Koch ("Source Code," "Primal Fear," "Wayne's World"), Gary Lucchesi ("The Lincoln Lawyer," "Million Dollar Baby," "Underworld"), Lori McCreary ("Invictus," "The Maiden Heist"), and Chris Moore ("Good Will Hunting," "American Pie").

The Make Your Mark film competition is presented by the Producers Guild of America and Cadillac through the Producers Guild of America Foundation. The competition enhances the annual PGA Weekend Shorts Challenge.

1. A $100 registration fee is required and is limited to 500 entries accepted. Proceeds from the entry fee goes to the Producers Guild Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) charity. For Official Rules visit www.MakeYourMarkCompetition.com.

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