 James
Ronald Whitney
writer • director • producer • editor • composer
"Just,
Melvin"
"Telling
Nicholas"
"TheWorkingGirl.com"
"GAMES
PEOPLE PLAY: New York"
"GAMES
PEOPLE PLAY: Hollywood"
"GAMES
PEOPLE
PLAY: The Bible Belt"
Now living in New York City, Emmy Award winning
director, James Ronald Whitney (JamesRonaldWhitney.com) was
born in Las Vegas. In his formative years, James (also known
as Ron) was a competitive wrestler, golfer, racquetball player
and gymnast; an instructor of martial arts and dance; and
an avid skydiver who raised three monkeys as he backpacked
through more than 80 countries. During Whitney's travels,
he learned to speak Indonesian, German, Esperanto, and bits
of other languages, and he is presently creating his own
universal language, alphabet and numerical system.
At a young age, Whitney began his
first career as a professional dancer which later included
shows such as the popular "Fame," the
campy "Dance Fever" and "Star Search," and
the unforgettable "Chippendales," where he danced
for a number of years during the '80s. At 17, Whitney was
awarded an appointment to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where,
as a cadet, he joined both the cheerleading squad and the
gymnastics team. He left the Academy for Arizona State University
with a full scholarship in economics, where he joined that
cheerleading squad and became president of a fraternity.
He also opened a dance studio, and competed on numerous game
shows, where, as an undefeated CBS game show contestant,
he earned tens of thousands of dollars, while writing two
game show treatments—one of them is the subject of
his last film, "GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: New York."
At 21, Whitney married the tightrope
walker from "Cirque
Du Soleil." They met while she was starring in "CATS," and
they eventually became dance partners. James then opened
the largest store in Hollywood called "Oscar's Wilde," where,
as his customers shopped, he and his wife walked the tightrope
over the patrons' heads, and performed routines on a trapeze
he had mounted 20 feet in the air. Eight years later, they
divorced.
Throughout the 90's, Whitney served
as Vice President at several Wall Street firms including
John Hancock, and The
Royal Bank of Canada. As a financial expert, he has been
featured in The New York Times’ Business Day, and has
been featured and on the cover of (to name a few) Wall Street
rags including Research Magazine, Registered Representative
and On Wall Street. Additionally, he has served on the Goldman
Sachs Fund’s Blue Chip Council, Munder Fund’s
Millenium Advisory Council, and Oppenheimer Fund’s
Executive Council, where he has received countless Awards.
During this time, in that Whitney is also an accomplished
musician (saxophone, percussion, cello, piano) he wrote and
scored two musicals, "Yesterday's Tear" and "Hoods," wrote
and orchestrated dozens of songs, and scored two of his films, "Just,
Melvin" and "TheWorkingGirl.com." Additionally,
he wrote the theme song to his film, "Telling Nicholas," and
the lyrics for his last two movies, "GAMES PEOPLE PLAY:
New York" and "GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Hollywood."
"Just, Melvin" (JustMelvin.com) was Whitney's
directorial debut, premiering at the Sundance Film Festival
2000. His film won the "Best Documentary Award" at
numerous film festivals across the country and was nominated
for the 'Independent Spirit Award' in 2001. After playing
theatrically in New York City and Los Angeles, HBO purchased
the US broadcast rights for "Just, Melvin." April,
2001, the world broadcast premiere of Whitney's first film
aired following HBO's "The Sopranos," and his movie
was broadcast into the living rooms of nearly 10 million
homes. "Just, Melvin" continues to air on HBO,
and it continues to debut on television and in theaters around
the world from Australia, Sweden and Israel to Canada, Holland
and England, where it was one of only ten films chosen by
the British Film Institute to tour the United Kingdom after
premiering at the National Theatre in London. Whitney qualified
for Academy Award consideration in 2001, and Emmy Award consideration
in 2002.
James now lives in Tribeca, a neighborhood
in Manhattan, only a few blocks from where the Twin Towers
once stood.
When the World Trade Center was attacked, he filmed in horror
as he watched more than two dozen people jump from the Twin
Towers to their deaths, and as both of the towers collapsed.
After running from the debris cloud that forced Whitney from
his home, he filmed the events that followed the Attack on
America for the next 10 days, focusing on one story in particular--the
mother of a 7-year-old boy named Nicholas was in Tower Two
when it collapsed, and her family was certain that she was
simply lost and would eventually find her way home. It took
Nicholas' dad 10 days to tell his son that his mother is
dead. In May, 2002, only days after The Museum of Television
and Radio held a Special Screening for Whitney's film that
had already been featured on "Oprah," a film that
TIME Magazine described as "Wrenching, cathartic and
even funny...but not easy to watch!," the world premiere
of "Telling Nicholas" (TellingNicholas.com) debuted
following "Six Feet Under" on HBO. Additionally,
like "Just, Melvin," HBO continues to broadcast "Telling
Nicholas," and the movie has played theatrically in
San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles where it was
part of the Academy Award's Special Presentation Series.
In 2002, Whitney once again qualified for Academy Award consideration,
and in 2003, he won the Emmy Award.
James is currently completing production
on another film, "TheWorkingGirl.com," about
his friend, Sharon, who is the mother of 5-year-old Jake.
Struggling and single, in order to make ends meet, Sharon
decided to enter the cyber-sex industry. The movie and its
Web site, TheWorkingGirl.com, chronicle Whitney's journey
through this world of cyber-sex in an attempt to help his
friend make her business venture a success, while simultaneously
addressing the issue of moms doing porn. Of the film, Rex
Reed remarked "These are not your grandmother's working
girls. Sad, funny, provocative, informative, energetic, and
in your face! This remarkable film is all of this and more.
The only thing it isn't... is boring. You won't find this
stuff in the pages of Cosmo."
Whitney's latest film (part two of
a planned feature-film trilogy) "GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: Hollywood" is currently
in post-production. In 2003, Whitney completed part one of
this series called, "GAMES PEOPLE PLAY New York," (GamesPeoplePlayNewYork.com)
which premiered in Las Vegas last June to sold out audiences
at the CineVegas International Film Festival 2003. Whitney
then had a special screening on the 20th Century FOX studio
lot in July, where it ultimately got picked up for distribution.
March ‘04 marked the theatrical premiere of "GAMES
PEOPLE PLAY: New York." That weekend, indieWIRE reported
that, "Whitney's risqué feature seduced it's
way to #1...grabbing the throne from Mel Gibson's 'PASSION
OF THE CHRIST,' which had reigned for two weekends." In
fact, during the theatrical run of "GAMES," which
played in America's top10 movie markets, the reality movie
became #1 at the box office for a second time after Ebert & Roeper
featured it on their television show giving it a THUMBS UP!
Roger Ebert called the film "Compulsively watchable!" and
Rex Reed remarked that "...GAMES PEOPLE PLAY is from
a very original director--grounded in the fast-track pulse
of now, but so fresh, moving, outrageous and smart it's unlike
anything you've seen before, with enough shocks and constant
surprises to knock you right out of your shoes!"
As a filmmaker, Whitney has been
featured on every major network, including (to name a few) "Oprah," "The
Howard Stern Show, NBC’s "Celebrity Justice," "VH1," "Starz/Encore," "HBO," "CNN's
Anderson Cooper," "Inside Edition," "CNN's
Showbiz," "MSNBC," "NY1," "Fox & Friends," "The
Jenny Jones Show," "CNNfn," and ABC's "The
View." And on April 7, 2001, Roger Ebert featured "Just,
Melvin" on "Ebert & Roeper And The Movies," calling
the film "One of the angriest, most painful documentaries
I have ever seen--and it's one of the best... you have never
seen anything like it... THUMBS UP!" Additionally he
has been featured in (to name a few) Newsweek, Entertainment
Weekly, Premiere Magazine, New York Magazine, Variety, Hollywood
Reporter, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Time
Out Magazine, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle,
New York Post, Details Magazine, Newsday, Village Voice,
TV Guide, Daily News, and TIME Magazine.
After winning the Emmy, Whitney was
selected by the National Television Academy to join their
Blue Ribbon Panel of judges
for the 2004 Emmy Awards. He is currently in pre-production
with the third film in his "GAMES" trilogy, "GAMES
PEOPLE PLAY: The Bible Belt.”
Six months after the first film in the
GAMES PEOPLE PLAY trilogy hit theaters nationally, VH1 contracted
Whitney to turn GAMES PEOPLE PLAY into a one-hour, weekly
series.Ü The first installment of that potential series was
written, directed, executive produced, and hosted by Whitney
in 2005.Ü Whether it ultimately finds a home at VH1, or elsewhere,
many are calling this potential new series, "The most twisted
game that will ever get broadcast on national television!
www.JamesRonaldWhitney.com
|
