Our story

Eddie Rosenstein grew up in Pittsburgh in a town where the word "culture" generally referred to something in the fridge or an impending lab test. For entertainment, he spent days on mall benches, inventing stories about strangers. He spent so much time making notes about passengers on city buses that, had it been another era, he would have surely been reported to Homeland Security. He studied film at Penn State then moved to New York. That was in 1984. Soon after, he was producing music videos and commercials. He worked on features, shorts, industrials and TV shows. He wrote screenplays with Pulitzer Prize winners and won international awards for his work. But, along the way, his bizarre addiction to people watching turned into a bad habit for documentary filmmaking. He hasn't been able to kick the habit, since.

Rick Velleu grew up in Minnesota and Iowa. His mother was an artist and, being artistic on the Great Plains, Rick learned two lessons early: how to draw insightful caricatures and how to run really fast. He worked his way through Wesleyan University as a bass guitar player, then came to New York where his favorite job to date was bartending at Trump Towers. Doodling on napkins somehow led to work as a staff illustrator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then as a production designer at the Jim Henson Company. Most people would have been happy with those achievements but, like Forrest Gump, Rick kept running. He returned to school and got a masters in Film from NYU. The first two fiction films he directed won international acclaim. His first documentary won an Emmy.

When Eddie and Rick finally met, it was a shock to both of them that there was actually anyone else who liked to work in all genres, including documentaries, fiction films, commercials, Kid's TV and corporate image films. They realized instantly that if they didn't join forces, they'd be destined to butt heads. Pacifists to the core, Eyepop was born...

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Rick Velleu

As a writer/director, Rick has straddled various worlds: in children's television, he served as co-creator and key character designer of Dora the Explorer for Nickelodeon / Nick Jr - America's top-rated show for preschool kids. He directed two seasons of The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss (Nickelodeon / The Jim Henson Company), as well as numerous segments for both Henson and Sesame Workshop. As a fiction filmmaker, he wrote and directed Two Days in Wisconsin and Sweet Talk (starring Edie Falco) both of which won many international awards. As a documentarian, Rick directed the Emmy Award-winning Moment of Impact (TNT) and was nominated for another Emmy for Called to Action: an Untold Story of 9/11 (AMC), which he co-directed with Eddie Rosenstein. Prior to becoming a writer/director, Rick served as the staff illustrator for the Metropolitan Museum and began his film career as a production designer. He received his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan and an MFA/Film from NYU. A partner at Eyepop Productions, Rick is currently spearheading two new projects for kids.

rv@eyepopproductions.com

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Edward Rosenstein

Primarily a documentary filmmaker, Eddie's work has been seen on PBS, HBO, ABC, A&E, Discovery Channel, AMC, MTV and in theaters around the world. His credits (as a producer and/or director) include A Tickle in the Heart, which set European documentary box office records in 1996; The Gospel According to Mr. Allen, winner of a dozen national awards in 2000; episodes for the HBO series Real Sex; Called to Action: The Untold Story of 9/11 for AMC, which was nominated for an Emmy in 2001; Reality People for AMC TV and the award winning film, Waging A Living, which will be broadcast this summer on PBS. As a screenwriter, Eddie has written for European Television and spent years as the writing partner of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Jonathan Larson (Rent). He's also produced over a hundred TV commercials, dozens of music videos and several children's shows. Eddie received a BFA in Film from Pennsylvania State University and formed Eyepop Productions in 1995. He is currently directing a documentary film called, "Sandhogs", about New York's legendary tunnel workers.

er@eyepopproductions.com

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Idahella "Iho" Therp

Idahella "Iho" Therp (Associate Producer) is our token European, which we think gives us lots of class. But she's more than just a fine little herring... Born and raised in Copenhagen, she went to film college in London, where she won awards for being both ambitious and cunning. Attempting to pay back her loans, she plied the Danish film and television world for cash for several years, directing shows for Danish National TV, programming for Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, among other jobs. But, as soon as she heard that the streets of NY were paved with gold, she rode her little bike all the way to our doorstep. Since joining Eyepop, Iho has line produced "Prize of the Pole", "School Play" and the NYC shoots of the feature film, "Lonely Hearts". Turns out she's a post-production goddess, a talented researcher, she swings a mean boom and throws a mean slider. Cursed with a congenital love for documentary film, Iho loves downtown NY, where she may spot a verite filmmaker at any local coffee shop (although, she wouldn't recognize Tom Cruise if he landed in her yogurt.)

iho@eyepopproductions.com

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Clients include -

• AMC Television
• A&E Television
• HBO
• PBS
• Nickelodeon
• PBS Kids
• ZDF
• CANAL+
• FDNY Firezone
• Museum of Jewish Heritage
• Corning, Inc.
• Pfizer Inc
• AstraZeneca

Get on this list. E-mail us: info@eyepopproductions.com

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Awards include -

• Cine Masters Series Award, Grand Prize, 2006
• Copenhagen Intl Documentary Festival, Amnesty Award, 2006
• Henry Hampton Award, National Council of Foundations, 2006
• New Jersey International Film Festival, Grand Prize Winner, 2005
• Philadelphia International Film Festival, Silver Award, 2005
• Columbus International Film Festival, Silver Chris Award, 2005
• Telly Award, 2004
• Columbus International Film Festival, First Prize, 2004
• National Emmy Award Nominee, 2002
• National Emmy Award, 2000
• San Francisco International Film Festival, Golden Gate Award, 2000
• Full Frame Documentary Festival, Audience Award, 2000
• Cine Golden Eagle, 2000
• Vermont International Film Festival, First Prize, 2000
• Rhode Island International Film Festival, First Prize, 2000
• Chicago International Film Festival, Winner, 1996
• Long Island Film Festival, First Prize, 1995
• Aspen Short Film Festival, First Prize, 1995
• Hampton's International Film Festival, Best Film, 1994

For a complete list, e-mail us: info@eyepopproductions.com

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