1080 Entertainment has announced two
new hires who will join executive producers Ken Ashe and Kreg
Lauterbach at the TV series and feature film content development and
distribution company. Betty Buckley comes on board as supervising
producer and Ellyn S. Klein as 3D animation producer. They join the
team producing 10 one-hour episodes of “Jurassic Fight Club,” a new
look at the prehistoric beasts who walked the earth — and battled
their foes — millions of years ago. The series, green lit by The
History Channel and already generating a lot of buzz, is slated to
air in 2008.
“1080 Entertainment is growing by leaps and bounds. With so much
going on, we’re expanding our staff, and we’re delighted that Betty
and Ellyn will be filling two key positions here. They will be
instrumental in helping Kreg and me produce a dynamic slate of
programming we have planned.” says Ken Ashe.
Ashe is former manager of Match Frame Austin which, along with its
sister company in San Antonio, has been known for its TV
postproduction services, especially in the HD video arena. When the
companies wanted to diversify with longform programming several years
ago, 1080 Entertainment was launched.
1080 Entertainment and Match Frame along with its production division
5point6 Studios, in San Antonio shot, edited and animated director
Gary Foreman’s documentary, “First Invasion: The War of 1812,” which
aired on The History Channel. 1080 Entertainment and its post
production partners subsequently provided 3D animation for “Rome:
Engineering an Empire,” a double primetime Emmy Award winner, and
“Egypt: Engineering an Empire,” two more productions telecast by The
History Channel. Kreg Lauterbach created the “Mayan Doomsday
Prophecy” episode for The History Channel’s “Decoding The Past”
series. The new “Jurassic Fight Club” is based on a concept by
Lauterbach who will act as the series’ executive producer, director
and senior editor.
With 1080 Entertainment gearing up with a full roster of programming,
Buckley and Klein have had to hit the ground running. “It’s very
exciting to join Ken and Kreg in producing a number of great projects
which are already underway,” says Betty Buckley who brings over 20
years of experience in the film and television industry to her new
post. “The content currently in production and the programming in
development will demonstrate the ability of 1080 Entertainment to
create high-quality content which attracts viewers seeking the best
the medium has to offer.
Buckley recently co-created and produced the one-hour special “It’s
Easy Being Green” featuring host Renee Loux and guests Owen Wilson,
Jesse James and eco-recording artists Alanis Morisette and Guster.
Her previous credits include producing 50 half-hours of the multiple
Emmy Award-winning "Wishbone" series on PBS as well as the Wishbone
telefilm, "Dog Days of the West." Buckley won the coveted George
Foster Peabody Award for her work on “Wishbone.”
She has also been a consultant on independent films, serving as
producer/co-producer/line producer for five indies and assisting in
successfully finding distribution for three of them.
Earlier in her career, Buckley worked as production coordinator on
more than 10 feature films. She went on to open and manage the
Studios at Las Colinas during the period the studios hosted Mike
Nichols’s “Silkwood” and Robert Altman’s “Streamers.”
Buckley founded Women in Film.Dallas in 1984 and has received the
organization's Achievement Award. In 2003 she received the Gracie
Award for producing “Gilda’s Club,” a PSA featuring the voice of
Meryl Streep.
Buckley earned her broadcast/film degree from Southern Methodist
University and has served on multiple advisory boards, including
those of The Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing
Arts, Women in Film.Dallas, the University of North Texas, and the
Dallas Producers Association.
After earning a BS degree in Radio/TV/Film from The University of
Texas, Ellyn S. Klein began her career with a decade of live-action
production of music videos, commercials, movies of the week, TV
series and features. Among her credits were acting as key set PA on
17 episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger,” “Hexed” and Showtime’s “Curse
of the Starving Class” and serving as production manager and
production coordinator on spot shoots for the California Milk Board,
GMC, Saturn, McDonald’s, Cheer, Sears, and Levi Strauss Wide Leg Jeans.
She moved to the animation arena in 2000 joining DNA Productions as
lighting/FX department coordinator for the feature film "Jimmy
Neutron, Boy Genius.” Klein remained at DNA Productions where she
served as production coordinator of 45 episodes of the TV series,
“The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron,” which aired on Nickelodeon, and as
special effects department manager and lighting/film-out department
manager for the Warner Bros animated feature, “The Ant Bully.”
Among the projects in production at 1080 Entertainment is “Jurassic
Fight Club” which will feature extensive live-action HD location
production as well as hours of full-CG imagery recreating the
dinosaur battlefields where the weak were separated from the strong.
In recent years paleontologists have gained new insight into a
predatory world inhabited by cunning, quick-thinking, highly-
maneuverable dinosaurs. These ultimate fighters will be depicted in
“Jurassic Fight Club” with exciting episodes exploring Gang Killers,
T-Rex Hunters, Deep-Sea Pre-Historic Creatures, Armored Predators and
more.
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