A local filmmaker once told us that "with a good group, you can do anything." We tend to agree.
United by love of science, dedication to storytelling, and desire to positively impact our viewers and world with our work, we're always looking to meet people to help us do what we're doing (jobs) in better and different ways.
Clayton Brown
Director
Clayton explores the hidden stories and compelling characters that emerge when people pursue their passions.
After earning a MFA in film at Northwestern University, he received several awards and saw his films screened across the country at the Los Angeles International Film Festival and elsewhere. He has also created a showcase film for Microsoft featured at the IFP Market in New York.
His films tell the stories of musicians, artists, actors, and others caught in curious obsessions. His lifelong fascination with science led him to found 137 Films, a Chicago science documentary production company, to tell the stories of scientists and their advances toward an understanding of the universe.
Clayton also teaches narrative and documentary film production at Northwestern University's Department of Radio/TV/Film. When not working with film, he can be found laying down songs on the stand-up bass for local group Paulina Hollers.
Monica Long Ross
Director/Writer
Monica is a playwright, filmmaker, and teacher with interest in women living in and struggling with American culture.
Another graduate of Northwestern's MFA film program, Monica's work has been screened at festivals around the world, including Dinner, a finalist at the Rose d'Or Montreux in Switzerland. Her plays have been produced nationally at The Dallas Theatre Center, UCLA, The Invisible Theater, and other venues.
Monica's interest in women and technology has driven her to study the state of women in scientific fields at the beginning of the twenty-first century.
Monica can also be found working with the Arizona Women's Theatre Company and digging through Chicago's estate sales at the crack of dawn to find film reels for her collection and old science novelties for Clayton.
Andrew Suprenant
Producer and Executive Director
Andrew has produced video, photography, design, and animation in the United States and United Kingdom.
He helped found 137 Films while creating work for New Balance, Sufjan Stevens/Asthmatic Kitty Records, and the Indy Racing League. He was recently seen shooting time-lapse photos in the rafters in Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry and producing event and performance photos at Lollapalooza.
He is currently developing a photo project examining Chicago through its stomach (hot dog stands). A writer of a mean check, he can whip up an emergency on-set salad in a pinch. He likes yoga, coffee, and red colored pencils.
Stefani B. Foster
Cinematographer
With a squint in her eye and whiskey in her boot, Stefani's passion for cinematography has been cultivated through film, video, and digital media production that has taken her all over the world.
Stefani knows how to use her tools, though she's pretty good at faking it if they aren't available. As director of photography for independent and commercial film and video projects (including experimental shorts, claymation, feature films, and documentary), Stefani has documented two thousand year-old Buddhist mural art in the deserts of western China and realized new methods of digital reproduction and presentation for the archives of the Chicago History Museum.
Most recently, Stefani's work was seen in the 2006 Idaho Panhandle International Film Festival (IPIFF) as the winner of the Soaring Eagle Award for Best Documentary for Art Seymour | Solo Performance, which follows the craft of chevron bead making over hundreds of years. The film also won the award for best cinematography, a rare feat in a category normally dominated by narrative films.
If Harrison Ford is too old for the next Indiana Jones movie, producers might take a look at Stefani for the update. When not jetting around, she relaxes as home with her string bass and shiny new husband.
Luke Haddock
Motion Graphics
Luke's recent work in science illustration includes collaborating with theoretical physicist Joseph D. Lykken for his The Super-strange World of Superstrings and Extra Dimensions article in World Book Science Year.
The opportunity to create visual representations of things that by their very nature cannot be seen draws Luke to the project.
Julie Rotz
Event Coordinator
Julie comes to 137 Films with no film background except that she "really likes them.”
Events, however, are something else. When Julie became interested in the industry, she scanned the Yellow Pages (her emphasis) under "Event Planning" and started making calls. It didn't take long for someone someone (Advance Event Group, Inc.) to jump at the opportunity to bring her on board.
Since, she has worked in events spanning from celebrity weddings to the Golden Globe Awards. Handling all aspects of a gatheings with wide ranges of attendees, Julie organizes screenings, lectures, discussions, rock shows, and annual benefits. She also likes to travel, read, and play with her two extraordinarily well-behaved dogs.
She's brought experience, candor, and a lot of fun and good ideas to the organization In the short time we’ve worked with her, so we invite you to come by and check out what she can do.
Like her work? Drop her a line, and she can do the same for you.
Peter Doetschman
Proposal and Grant Writer
Peter is originally from the Chicagoland area but has traveled extensively. From 2002 to 2004 he spent time in a small fishing village on the west coast of Japan teaching English to excitable middle school students. More recently, he received a master's degree in Anthropology from the London School of Economics. While in London he also worked for the British Red Cross as a volunteer researcher.
Currently, Peter works for Rotary International, one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations. Peter's role as Proposal and Grant Writer is to draft and submit grant requests to corporations and foundations in support of Rotary's polio eradication activities, as well as its other educational and humanitarian programs. In his spare time he enjoys making music and brewing beer.
Interns
Our current crack group of interns includes:
Sarah Davis
Stephen Poon
Melody Valdez
Nathan Young