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Clear Blue Sky Productions Hires Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss
New Director of Documentary Productions Joins from Disney Post
Monday, October 09, 2000
SEATTLE – Oct. 9, 2000 – Clear Blue Sky Productions, the independent film production company founded by investor Paul G. Allen, today announced it has hired Bonnie Benjamin-Phariss to serve as director of documentary productions. Benjamin-Phariss will begin her position on Monday, October 9, 2000. CBSP’s current slate of documentaries include Michael Apted’s ME & ISAAC NEWTON and INSPIRATIONS, a series on the Blues co-produced with Martin Scorsese, a seven-part series co-produced with WGBH on evolution airing in 2001, and a special NOVA program on the human genome, also airing next year. Prior to Clear Blue Sky Productions, Benjamin-Phariss was manager of program business administration and instruction at the Disney Institute.
“Bonnie is a terrific addition to our team,” said Jody Patton, president of Clear Blue Sky Productions. “Her range of production, business and strategic experience on various creative projects is a solid fit with our mission for creating artistic film and television projects. We are very pleased to have her on board.”
At the Disney Institute, Benjamin-Phariss managed a variety of executive, personal enrichment, youth and training programs designed to offer a transformative learning experience. She led a staff of more than 240 people, and was also part of the entrepreneurial team who developed and opened the Disney Institute in 1995.
Before her 7 years with Disney, Benjamin-Phariss worked on productions in San Francisco and New York including The Frugal Gourmet's Italian Kitchen Journal, and Secrets of Alcatraz. She also served as director of research and development for public affairs programming for WNET in New York, working on productions including Mandela: Free at Last and Intifada: The Palestinians and Israel. Benjamin-Phariss was also a science reporter for the nine-part series The Mind, and a science researcher for the eight-part PBS series The Brain.
She holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
About Clear Blue Sky Productions
Clear Blue Sky Productions is the independent film production company founded by investor Paul G. Allen in 1997 to originate, develop and finance creative, artistically-driven motion picture and television projects. Under the direction of president Jody Patton, the company has produced a variety of feature and documentary films including THE SAFETY OF OBJECTS as part of its deal with Killer Films and Renaissance Films (currently in production in Toronto and New York), THE LUZHIN DEFENSE as part of CBSP’s co-production deal with Renaissance, starring John Turturro and Emily Watson, Academy Award-nominee TITUS, directed by Julie Taymor and starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange, John Sayles’ MEN WITH GUNS, a Golden Globe Award nominee for Best Foreign Language film (1998), and Michael Apted’s latest documentary projects INSPIRATIONS and ME & ISAAC NEWTON, which debuted at the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival. Clear Blue Sky Productions has also partnered with WGBH-TV in Boston to produce an eight-hour series on evolution, under the creative direction of Paula Apsell (NOVA) and executive producer Richard Hutton, and a special NOVA documentary on the human genome, that will air next year. Visit Clear Blue Sky Productions on the Web at clearblueskyfilms.com.
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Jason J. Hunke,
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