Writer/director Raymond de Felitta and actor/producer Andy Garcia were brought together by their matchmaking agents at Paradigm. After their first introduction they agreed to work together on de Felitta's romantic comedy, City Island.

Director Raymond de Felitta and actor/producer Andy Garcia were brought together by their matchmaking agents at Paradigm. After their first introduction they agreed to work together on de Felitta's romantic comedy, City Island. Set in City Island, an obscure little island next to the Bronx, Garcia plays Vince Rizzo, a middle aged prison warden who secretly dreams of becoming an actor. It turns out he is not the only person in his family harboring a secret. As layers of secrets slowly reveal themselves, it becomes clear the Rizzo clan has been living in deception for years.

Writer/director Tina Mabry and producer Morgan Stiff met in 2003 at USC School of Film and Television's graduate program. Although Mabry had been thinking of going to law school, she changed her mind after watching Gina Prince-Bythewood's Love & Basketball and Kimberly Peirce's Boys Don't Cry. Stiff, who was a dramatic writing major at NYU, also opted for film and television when she realized most of the audience she wanted to reach were not avid theater-goers.

Writer/director Michael Hoffman has made a diverse bunch of movies, from the quirky comedy Soapdish to the romantic comedy One Fine Day to his take on Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.

For most of his Hollywood career, Scott Cooper has been known as an actor. He thought he was dreaming when he decided he wanted to direct his first film about the life of a down and out country singer with such stars as Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, and the famous composer T Bone Burnett. But his ambition paid off. Crazy Heart, stars Bridges, Duvall, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Colin Farrell as well as music by T Bone Burnett. Bridges and Farrell even sing their own ballads.