 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
"Revelation of character must anchor a film’s narrative trajectory. Character is best revealed one detail and one story at a time. We rely on evidence more than exposition."
Two-time Emmy award-winning filmmaker Peter Jones began his career as a broadcast journalist. A graduate of Stanford University (BA in American Studies, 1978) with a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Northwestern University (1981), Jones served as a news and feature reporter for KVUE (ABC) in Austin, Texas; an anchor for WSLS (NBC) in Roanoke, Virginia; and an assignment editor for KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. Jones won numerous honors, including several Outstanding Achievement Awards from United Press International and The Associated Press.
In 1987, he formed Peter Jones Productions, originally specializing in documentaries related to the history of the Hollywood film industry. The company produced 85 profiles for the A&E series Biography over a ten-year period. Jones became well known for securing previously unattainable rights without relinquishing editorial control, including those for such subjects as Sam Phillips, Brian Wilson, Charlie Chaplin, Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), and Georgia O’Keeffe. Jones wrote and directed a 2-hour special on Judy Garland that won a 1997 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Informational Series, the first for the network. His 2-hour special, Ozzie and Harriet: The Adventures of America’s Favorite Family, became the highest-rated documentary in the network’s history, earning a 1999 Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series. In 2001, his film, Goldwyn, premiered on the critically acclaimed PBS series, American Masters. In 2002 he received the Producer of the Year Award from the Producers Guild of America for Biography.
In 2003, Jones produced and directed Sunset Junction, a feature-length vérité documentary about a Beverly Hills hairdresser who becomes an unlikely father figure to gang members and the neglected children of illegal immigrants. The film had its world premiere at The Los Angeles International Film Festival (AFI FEST) in November 2003.
In 2006, Stardust: The Bette Davis Story had its U.S. premiere on Turner Classic Movies, garnering Jones and his team the best reviews in the company’s history, an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for Nonfiction Programming, and an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Nonfiction Special.
His latest project, Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times, a documentary on the single-family reign of four publishers of the Los Angeles Times newspaper, world premiered at the Santa Barbara International FIlm Festival to rave reviews. Variety wrote, “a considerable strength of Jones’ exceptionally resonant documentary is its broad appeal to a variety of viewers.”
"The right visual, preferably intimate and candid, can expose truth. How and when it’s presented can communicate more than words."
A native Texan, Catalena graduated summa cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Radio/Television/Film (1994). After receiving his Master of Fine Arts Degree in Film Editing (1997) from the American Film Institute, where he cut a Student Academy Award-winning short film, My Body, he worked as a freelance editor at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and The Learning Channel.
Catalena joined Peter Jones Productions in 1997 and has edited 25 films for the Emmy Award-winning A&E series, Biography, including six 2-hour specials on such icons as Charlie Chaplin, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Brian Wilson and Dr. Seuss. In addition to editing, he co-directed Goldwyn for the PBS series American Masters and directed the 2-hour Biography special on the life and career of artist Georgia O’Keeffe, which included an unprecedented collection of 110 works. He then co-directed and edited the vérité documentary Sunset Junction and the authoritative character study Stardust: The Bette Davis Story for TCM.
Still responsible for his usual roles, the sweeping American saga Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times also marked Catalena’s debut as a director of photography. His longtime creative partnership with Jones yielded what Variety called “a definitive look at the paper and the Chandler family with an encyclopedic gravitas... so rich, complex and contentious.”
Further evidence of Mark’s strength as a graphic artist and designer can be found in all of the company’s printed materials as well as the Peter Jones Productions website.
"If the evidence is out there, I’ll find it. I like to believe that truth is always around the corner – in the tiniest detail."
Tessier joined Peter Jones Productions in 1998 after graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology. As an Associate Producer, his credits include Biography episodes on Ann Miller, Spencer Tracy, Glen Campbell, Roman Polanksi and Dionne Warwick.
Known for his ability to unearth previously undiscovered material and manage tight production schedules and budgets, Tessier became a Producer of profiles on Marvin Gaye, Neil Sedaka, Peter Fonda, Eva Braun, and a Biography special on Las Vegas. In 2003, he produced and co-wrote the 2-hour A&E Biography special on the life and career of Dr. Seuss.
Tessier took on the role of Supervising Producer for Stardust: The Bette Davis Story, for which he received a 2006 Primetime Emmy nomination and praise from critic Tom Shales, who called the film “one of the most personal, intimate and shocking biographical documentaries ever made on a movie star.” For Inventing LA: The Chandlers and Their Times, Tessier amassed a striking collection of archival material that Variety hailed as “absolute aces.”