Summer

Carl Sprague

Director

Carl Sprague grew up in New York City, and now lives in Stockbridge, Massachusetts with his wife, painter and writer Susan Merrill, and their two children, Ruslan and Elena. His theatre work began with his great-grandfather’s Czech marionette theatre, and he continued doing theatre at Harvard College,  directing a number of plays there, including a production of Euripides’ Bacchae in Harvard Stadium. After graduating  in 1984  with a major in film and a minor in philosophy, he studied design at the Polakov Studio and at NYU, while working as a scene painter, assisting Jerome Robbins at Lincoln Center, and getting fired as a driver from Woody Allen’s Radio Days.

Carl worked for several years with special effects wizard Doug Trumbull – art directing the Back to the Future ride for Universal Studios and other projects.  His first feature design work was as an assistant art director for Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence. He went on to work on a number of features including The Paper, State & Main, Spartan, In Dreams, Before & After, Mona Lisa Smile, The Love Letter, and Amistad. He received a  Guild nomination as art director for The Royal Tenenbaums. Carl’s design credits include Another Harvest Moon, Hatteras Hotel, Satie & Suzanne, Long Distance, The Pleasure of Your Company and Campbell Scott’s Company Retreat. His sets at Mass MoCA for the photographer Gregory Crewdson were featured in The New York Times.

Carl also designs extensively for the stage – including the Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Berkshire Opera, The Music-Theatre Group, The Oldcastle Theatre, The Colonial Theatre, Mixed Company, Shakespeare & Co., The Miniature Theatre of Chester and the Albany/Berkshire Ballet.

Carl’s connection with Mrs. Wharton goes back to childhood summers hanging around the Lenox Library, and includes working as the U.S. art director for BBC’s The Buccaneers and mounting an exhibit about Wharton’s 1907 novel The Fruit of the Tree at The Mount last year. It was in association with developing a WWI exhibit for The Mount that he first read Summer, and realized how readily the novel could be adapted for the screen.

Diane Pearlman

Producer

Diane is an independent entertainment producer, studio executive and business woman with 25 years experience in media creation and production.  Her specialty is digital film production, animation and feature film visual effects.

Diane is currently serving as Executive Director of the Berkshire Film and Media Arts Commission, a newly formed economic initiative dedicated to promoting and facilitating film and media art production in the western Massachusetts region.

Diane is also a partner/producer/lead-writer in KinderMuse Entertainment, a developer of children’s and family entertainment (www.kindermuse.com). As a writer/producer, Diane’s current slate of development projects includes feature film script, Max Art, children’s television projects, Maddie’s World, Francie’s Toy Box Theater, Stink Monkeys, and a theatrical dramatic play, “Sharon’s Circle,” which had a staged reading at Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA.

She most recently served as Production Manager for the creation of a web-based health initiative for Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA.  She is also producing industrial animation projects for Ben Hillman & Company of Sheffield, MA.

Diane was Executive Producer and General Manager of Mass.Illusion, a visual effects movie studio located in Lenox, Massachusetts and Alameda, California.  From 1993 to1998 she oversaw up to 200 employees and a through put of $10-$15 million per year on such films as The Matrix (Academy Award 2000, Best Visual Effects), What Dreams May Come (Academy Award 1999, Best Visual Effects), Starship Troopers, Evita, Eraser, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Judge Dredd, The Scarlet Letter, and Event Horizon.

In addition to her award winning visual effects, Diane served as Supervising Producer for the production of three specialty films attractions for Circus Circus’ hotel, LUXOR LAS VEGAS.  The films were produced at The Trumbull Company, Lenox, Massachusetts with a total budget $50 million.  She also produced (with director, Scott Morris) the award winning behind-the-scenes documentary “The Making of Luxor.”

Prior to that, Diane worked for R/Greenberg Associates in New York City where she produced countless commercials and feature film title sequences. In the 1980’s, she was an associate producer for Tony Silver Films doing documentaries, feature trailers and television spots.

Diane holds a degree from Vassar College and attended Princeton University and NYU Film School.  She is a Board member of Berkshire Pulse, a performing arts center in Housatonic, MA and is Chairman of the eagle fund, the enrichment program for the Southern Berkshire Regional School District.  She is an active member of New York Women in Film and a voting member of the Visual Effects Society.