7A PRODUCTIONS

Using our experiences as guideposts we trust our instincts and imagination in our approach to making movies. Staying true to the script story, allowing it to direct us, and letting everyone involved influence the process, we enable ourselves to be creative in every step of making the film.

Michael Knowles (actor/writer/director, producer)

Michael Knowles is an award winning filmmaker who acts, writes, directs, edits, produces and is a cinematographer. His short film Nick and Stacey premiered at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival then went on to screen in eight more festivals as well as IFP Buzz Cuts. Nick and Stacey was the first story shot for his feature film Room 314 which he wrote, directed and produced twice as a play before making it into a feature film.

During Room 314 's week long Theatrical Run at The Pioneer Theater it was Called “an actor’s dream” by The New York Times, “Shot in self-contained episodes and entirely without music (except for the credits) , it has a vérité look and a voyeuristic atmosphere that complement the intimacy of the material.” Room 314 was also lauded by Joe Leydon of Variety for Knowles’ “fine-tuned gift for creating vivid characters with a minimum of dialogue and a sure feel for establishing and sustaining tension, sexual or otherwise, within limited timespans." Room 314 was selected at 18 domestic and international film festivals, most recently was the winner of the best feature film at the Landlocked Film Festival.

Michael's second feature film, ONE NIGHT, a screenplay he also wrote, starred Melissa Leo (21 Grams), Bill Sage(Mysterious Skin), Michael Muhney (Veronica Mars), Robert Clohessy (Across the Universe) among others. ONE NIGHT recently premiered at the 2007 Port Townsend Film Festival.

Michael's production company, 7A productions, recently inked a foreign distribution deal for both films, Room 314 and One Night with Maitland Primrose Group. This marks the beginning of world wide recognition for Michael's first two feature films.

Michael studied with and has been heavily influenced by actor and award winning filmmaker Tom Noonan. His other recent writing credits include: CHARACTERS, which starred Lukas Haas and Sara Foster, and ARGO which he co-wrote and co-directed alongside Jordan Bayne and starred Jordana Spiro (Must Love Dogs) and Marcus Chait (Million Dollar Baby).

As an actor Michael has appeared on the award winning HBO series Sex & the City as Marathon Man and on an award winning episode of Law & Order SVU as Artie Felton. He has also appeared on Guiding Light, As the World Turns and All My Children. More recent film credits include award-winning feature films such as POINT & SHOOT, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, screened at the Hamptons International Film Festival, and won the Audience Award at the Cinema Paradise Film Festival. WALKING ON THE SKY, another film Michael worked on recently, won best Dramatic Feature at the New York International Film & Video Festival (LA) and had a limited theatrical release in September 2005. In the summer of 2006, Michael had a role in THE BABYSITTERS, starring Cynthia Nixon and John Leguizamo.

In between film projects Michael coaches and teaches acting. For more info about Michael you can visit his production companies website: www.7Aproductions.com or www.MichaelKnowles.com

[official site]

[IMDB]

John Ramos
John was born and raised in New York City, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School and then Princeton University (Class of 1992). Following college, he worked as a business journalist for Across The Board, the official magazine of The Conference Board. He left that position to pursue a career in options trading, first on the floor of the American Stock Exchange, and then in off-floor positions in New Jersey and London. Upon returning to the U.S. in 2004, he set his sights on the film industry, forming 7A Productions with longtime friend Michael Knowles. Over the past three years he's honed his skills as both a producer and a writer, co-writing the feature script Perspective, a psychological drama, as well as producing the narrative feature One Night and the documentary feature Nikki. In addition, for the last five years he has written freelance television recaps for the well-known website Television Without Pity, which was recently acquired by Bravo/NBC Universal, and also contributed to Neptune Noir, an anthology of essays about the acclaimed television show Veronica Mars, guest edited by series creator Rob Thomas.