A native of New Haven, Connecticut, Dean grew up in the Almaden Valley suburb of San Jose, California. After graduating from prestigious Archbishop Mitty High School (and earning the award for Outstanding Male Student in his class), he moved to Los Angeles and graduated Cum Laude from UCLA’s School of Motion Pictures and Television.
In addition to exploring a variety of interests including graphic design, independent music promotion and sketch comedy, Dean has written, produced and directed over 200 short subjects and live shows. He has edited over 300 shows, in addition to designing titles and effects, and has been a Final Cut Pro instructor for UCLA Extension. He brings together the team of hardworking, creative individuals who comprise Hoplite Pictures.
Shannon has worked in productions as a producer and performer for music, television and film. Her knowledge in all these areas has served as a strong foundation for creating Musical Minds , a documentary on the process of music composition and the creative mind. Her production background includes working in development and production at Al Burton Productions (Universal) and Antares Productions (Universal). And most recently, Shannon worked for Hearst Entertainment as the music coordinator for Popeye.
Since arriving in Los Angeles almost eighteen years ago from his native New Jersey, David has worked at virtually every job listed in the credits of a movie. His experiences as a grip, electric, script supervisor, assistant director, post production supervisor (and so on) schooled him in the realities of the filmmaking process from every angle.
As an editor, he's cut eight independent feature films, several award-winning shorts, a dozen trailers, as well as countless promos, music videos, infomercials and commercials. He directed and wrote the indie feature Kick of Death, wrote four episodes of V.R. Troopers for Saban, and wrote one book and four Star Wars short stories published by West End Games. David is the son of the late pulp fiction novelist Michael Avallone, and his pride and joy is the internet serial Since Noon Yesterday based on his father's last novel. David writes, directs, produces, edits the series, which can be seen on Ifilm.com by clicking here.