LongTale, LLC, Management and Staff

Omar Kaczmarczyk, Managing Director of LongTale, LLC, has a long and distinguished history in the motion picture industry. He is LongTale’s founder and recognized internationally as a pioneer of innovative motion picture licensing techniques. In 1984, he challenged industry frontiers with a segmented-licensing system, which, while revolutionary at the time, is now the industry standard. He helped found the first CAM (Collection Account Manager) for independent film distribution royalties. He initiated and implemented pre-sale rights licensing for “Superman III,” “Supergirl,” and “Santa Claus, The Movie.” He is producer of the animated feature “Ninja Knights,” from film maker Jack Olesker. He is an Entertainment Consultant to Invicta Financing Ltd. in London, and controls the copyright of several film libraries. He executive produced Roman Polanski’s “Pirates” (1985), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's “The Lost World” (1998), and developed / executive produced Trimark Pictures' “The Eternal” starring Christopher Walken. In 2000, in conjunction with the Fries Film Group, he executive produced the live action film "Pinocchio II," starring Martin Landau. Kaczmarczyk has several films in development; “Frost and Fire,” based on a Ray Bradbury novel, “Boogeyman The Return,” with Ulli Lommel and “Hanuman.” He has managed numerous producers including Raju Patel and Ulli Lommel.

Mr. Lars Bjorck, LongTale’s Vice President of International Sales, has been in the international film business for the past 25 years in positions ranging from: executive management, director and VP of sales and acquisitions of feature films and television series, to producer and executive producer of independent films. He has personal relationships with key executives and foreign sales companies worldwide. Recent clients include Global Cinema Group, Performance Digital Cinema, Aurora Entertainment Corporation, Out of Band Entertainment, and Ambitious Entertainment/In Sight Film Studios. With these firms, he handled, distributed or produced: “The White Countess,” “The Marsh,” “Return To The Night Of The Living Dead (4 &5),” “Foodfight,” and “September Dawn.” Bjorck secured financing and distribution and is credited producer for “Havoc,” two-time academy award director Barbara Kopple’s youth oriented, teenage drama with: Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, and Freddy Rodriguez, written by Stephen Gaghan, Academy Award Writer of “Traffic.” Previously Bjorck worked as a Senior VP of International sales and acquisitions for Cinemavault Releasing of Toronto (“ATANARJUAT:The Fast Runner” and George Sluizer’s “The Stoneraft”). Bjorck worked with Muse Distribution International of Montreal as VP of International sales (“Tales From The Never Ending Story”and three time Genie winning feature “Savage Messiah”). He set up the international film sales division for Independent Artists Company (IA) and was responsible for sales of their theatrical films, including “Love Stinks.” Bjorck co-founded Tradewinds Entertainment Corporation, some of whose titles included, “Out of Control” (Sean Young, Tom Conti), “The New Swiss Family Robinson” (Jane Seymour, David Carradine), and “Goosed” (Jennifer Tilly). Bjorck was senior VP of Finance and Production at Bjorck Film Corp prior to its acquisition by Karlin-Green Media Associates. In this position, he assisted Shochiku to acquire “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy for distribution in Japan. Bjorck entered the business through Bjorck Film Corporation (founded by his father, Lennart Bjorck), the first international distribution representation company in Los Angeles, where he was involved in the acquisition of several hundred independently produced films, some of which include, “Amadeus,” “Dances With Wolves,” “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Four Weddings And A Funeral,” and “Rambo.”

Ava B, LongTale’s, Vice President of Acquisitions, started her career in film and television on worldwide projects with some of the best known talent in the business, directors like John Huston, Anthony Page, Maximilian Shell, and Roman Polanski, and, actors like Michael Caine, Jeff Bridges, Maggie Smith, Sylvester Stallone, Christopher Plummer, Jane Alexander, Bo Derek and Nicholas Cage. Ava then ventured into the field of television to facilitate the start-up of Kanal 2, a private terrestrial TV channel in Estonia. After securing the initial financing, she took charge of overseeing the licensing of all its programming during the station's first five years of operation. Her targeted acquisitions helped the channel achieve the highest possible ratings on a shoe-string budget and made Kanal 2 the market leader. This position gave her the opportunity to regularly attend all the major international TV and film markets both in Europe and in the U.S. She then accepted the position of Marketing and PR Manager of VIASAT3, Europe’s leading satellite television network and was later asked to work as a consultant for RTL, Europe’s largest. Ava has also worked as production consultant to a number of major international feature film co-productions, including “Sunshine” starring Ralph Fiennes and “Candles in the Dark” starring Alyssa Milano and Chad Lowe. For the past four years, Ava B. has focused on the field of acquisitions as a Director of Acquisitions for Cinequest Distribution, Jaman and York Entertainment, in charge of all aspects of the acquisitions process for these companies. Her experience in the international film and television marketplace, complemented by her achievements in creating, developing, and growing successful entertainment companies, exemplifies the strong work ethic and willingness to achieve that are the cornerstones of our company.

Mr. David Holbert joined LongTale in 2006 as General Manager, bringing several management skills to the expanding business. Previously, Mr. Holbert held the position of Executive Director of the University of Southern California’s Western Research Application Center, a public/private partnership formed to help domestic firms adjust to globalization. In his tenure at USC, Mr. Holbert consulted directly with client management on business turn-around and renovation. In 2000, he founded a non-profit organization to coordinate advocacy for U.S. small and medium sized enterprises among disparate interest groups. Much of the source of his passion for organizational excellence derived from his experience as a business and social entrepreneur, affiliating his consulting practice with an international strategic planning consulting firm and managing operations for a dynamic non-profit organization building housing and providing technical assistance in some of the most dangerous and remote areas of the world. Mr. Holbert received an MBA and Bachelor of English Literature from Arizona State University.

Mr. Hilary Clay Hicks, Director of Marketing for LongTale, is a filmmaker, playwright, publicist, journalist, writer-editor, marketing consultant, creative executive and public speaker. He has over 35 years of experience in media of all kind, including print, audio, video, film, digital and online. He has served most of his career in public relations/publicity and marketing, as well as six years as editorial director of national magazines. He has consulted leading music companies, entertainment firms, and magazine publishers. In addition he has been a copywriter for BBDO Advertising, vice-president of EWW Corporation (public relations & promotion), editorial director for Challenge Publications (magazine publisher), and account executive for Joy Productions (public relations.) His list of clients includes virtually all the major music companies, as well as film studios, prominent celebrities, prominent bands, musicians, major corporations, and respected non-profit organizations and charities. Mr. Hicks holds communications degrees from the University of Michigan, earning a graduate fellowship and membership in professional organizations. In addition to his work as a media professional, Mr. Hicks teaches university courses in films studies, popular culture, playwriting, creative writing, and public relations.

Ron Lavery, Sales Manager for LongTale, started his career in the film industry in 1968. He was an assistant cameraman at Elstree Studio working such television shows as “The Pathfinders,” “The Protectors,” and many others. He then worked at Pinewood Studio on the popular television series, “Space 1999.” By 1971, Lavery began working in film with such projects as, “The Man Who Would be King” and “Star Wars.” In 1976, Lavery relocated to Hollywood, California. He worked on Ron Howard’s first two Directorial projects, “Eat My Dust” and “Grand Theft Auto” and Danny Devito’s directorial debut. During the initial years of MTV, Lavery worked with various recording artists such as Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, Neil Young, and Fleetwood Mac. In 1986, he produced his first film, “Terror in Beverly Hills.” Subsequent productions include “American Kickboxer 2,” “Dark Secrets,” “Frightmare,” and “Losing Grace.” In 1990, Lavery began working in film distribution attending 14 American Film Markets, 11 Cannes Film Festivals, and 8 MIFEDS (in Italy). Lavery has attended many film festivals in his role as acquisitions executive and has acquired over 50 films for a number of distribution companies.

Elizabeth “Lisa” Lutz, sales consultant to LongTale, has a distinguished background in film, law, and human capital services. Among her responsibilities at LongTale are sales of international distribution rights for the intellectual property asset manager and sales promotion management using cutting-edge software for electronic solicitations. Since 2004, she has served as an independent contractor for sales and acquisitions, and has created, developed and edited nonfiction work. As an independent contractor for York Entertainment starting in ‘04, she created York’s best practices approach in international sales and attended film markets including Cannes, AFM, and MIP.

Mr. R. Bob Lee, LongTale’s Director of Special Projects, is a screenwriter and software developer. Mr. Lee serves in various professional capacities at LongTale, LLC, where his knowledge and insights as a technologist and motion picture analyst are well applied. A graduate of Princeton University with degrees in philosophy and mathematics, Mr. Lee was recruited into the computer systems consulting business. Over the next twenty years Mr. Lee consulted or held positions at a large number of prominent technology firms including Digital Equipment Corporation, Oracle Corporation, and most recently, DirectTV. He is currently in development on "All Quacked Up!" with Omar Kaczmarczyk as Executive Producer and Yakov Bentsvi as Producer/Director.

Mr. Shaun Frentner has built his career around film, receiving both a B.A. and M.A. in film studies, teaching film courses, and working in the New York industry. He served in both the publicity and marketing departments of the venerated distribution boutique Kino International before relocating to Los Angeles. Additionally, he has written extensively on film and pop culture for widely-used reference publications and facilitated several screening and lecture series in both Iowa City and New York.

Mr. Yatin Parkhani, sales associate for LongTale, is a short format producer and editor with a strong indie film background in New York and Los Angeles. He brings over eight years of experience in production and post and one year in business development for features. In Los Angeles, Mr. Parkhani did MBA coursework at USC’s Marshall School of Business. He now works increasingly on the business side of film while continuing to edit TV promos for Disney. In New York, Mr. Parkhani worked on several features, in production, sound design (the Oscar-nominated Junebug), and post supervision. He’s edited and produced promos, segments, and shows for Disney, Warner Brothers, CBS, VH-1, BET, MTV, The Rosie O’Donnell Show, and NASCAR. His recent work includes associate producer on BlokHedz (in production), a $6.5M hip-hop animé feature being produced by Rueben Cannon, and producer on Whiskers (in development), a $3.5M children’s film set underwater in the Bahamas that he is producing with Jordan Klein Sr. (recipient of the Academy’s technical achievement award); and developing his script The Ambassador to Bangalore, a $1M India road trip film feature about outsourcing, for which Ravi Kapoor (NBC’s Crossing Jordan) is attached as the lead.