Biography:
Washington Square Films/Washington Square Arts is a management/production company based in Greenwich Village, New York. Opened in 1990 by Joshua Blum, WSF/WSA was founded with the mission to bring 'fringe' and emerging artists to a wider national audience. In it's early years the company produced work for PBS, HBO and MTV including the first television appearances of John Leguizamo, Henry Rollins, Maggie Estep and many others.

In 1996 the company produced the widely acclaimed The United States of Poetry, directed by Mark Pellington. The series, a stylized portrait of America as seen through language and poetry, featured fifty poets including, Allen Ginsburg, Czeslaw Milosz, Lou Reed, Jimmy Carter, Johnny Depp (as Jack Kerouac) and many others. The New York Times called the series "Breathtaking television", and Raygun magazine called it "quite simply the most powerful series about the spoken word ever produced."

In 1997 the company dramatically expanded its focus, entering talent management and commercial production. The talent management division started by Kathleen Russo and Mary Shimkin books and/or manages some of today's most compelling theatrical artists including Spalding Gray, Eric Bogosion and Danny Hoch. Russo and Shimkin came to Washington Square from Columbia Artists Management where they ran the "new artists" division. This past year WSA added managers Katherine Atkinson and Deya Marron, to focus on developing the acting side of client's careers. The duo came from Fox/Albert Management and brought with them a roster of young talent consistent with the edgy, New York profile of the company. Their roster includes, Dule Hill (West Wing, Bring in Da' Noise....) David Moscow (Zoe, Restaurant) and Sarita Choudury (Mississippi Masala, Kama Sutra).

The commercial division grew out of Blum's relationship with director, Jeff Feuerzeig. Blum had known Feuerzeig as an independent director (Half Japanese) and as a musician with his band Kickstand, and had discussed collaborating on a poetry project. In the mean time Feuerzeig had begun directing commercials and had hooked up at another company with head-of-sales Jonathan Schwartz. When the pair became disenchanted with their situation they approached Blum about joining his company. They launched in the summer of 1997 with Feuerzeig as the only director. Since that time the company added Peter Sillen and two additional directors will be joining the company this year.The company's involvement in independent film and television has led to the discovery exciting unique directors, and also allows the company to develop all aspects of the directors careers. Like the other divisions the commercial division is involved in developing all facets of its directors careers. Recent work has included work for the U.S. Mint, ESPN, RED, Showtime, Hitachi, The New Jersey Nets, HBO, the Bill Bradley presidential campaign, General Motors, Prudential, Ford, McDonalds, PNC Bank and many more. Long form projects include a large screen format film for Sony, which premiered at Comdex, and 18 videos for the New York City Police Museum which opened in the spring of 2000.

Theatrically, WSF is currently producing Spalding Gray's new film "It's a Slippery Slope," as well as a project by filmmaker Larry Carty called "Checks Cashed" a comedy about life around a check cashing store. Recently the company has received two substantial grants from the National Endowment for The Arts; the first is for "Design Show" a TV series about the hidden workings the objects in our life. The second grant is for "The World of Poetry" a follow up to "The United States of Poetry."


Partial Client List:
Coca-Cola, Marriott, U.S. Mint, PNC Bank, IBM, HBO, ESPN, Mobil, McDonalds, Wal-Mart, ADT, Lenscrafters, RCI, Sony, Fresh Samantha Juice, Hitachi, Ford, Prudential, RED, New Jersey Nets, Florida Marlins, AOL, OneMain.com, Connecticut Lottery, etc...


Jeff Feuerzeig:
Jeff Feuerzeig is a commercial director as well as a filmmaker, record producer and musician. His feature length film "Half Japanese: The Band that Would be King" is distributed by Vanguard International and now available on DVD. The film received 3 stars in the New York Daily News and was called the funniest rock and roll film since "This is Spinal Tap" by the Chicago Tribune. His short film "Jon Hendricks: The Freddie Sessions" premiered nationally on PBS and was hailed by the L.A. Times as a "rare blend of good music, good humor, and all around good vibes."

Jeff began his commercial career as a film editor working out of Red Car, New York. To this day, he is often involved in the edit as well as creating and producing music and sound design. Recent work includes spots for Wal-Mart, U.S. Mint, AOL, Red, Fresh Samantha Juices and Zion’s Bank.

Jeff also writes songs and plays guitar in his own band "The Chairs," and has produced songs for the Homestead and Teen Beat labels, as well as CD tracks for Kicking Giant, The Mad Scene, Codeine and The Bartlebees.


Peter Sillen:
Peter Sillen is a 32-year-old filmmaker from New York. He has a strong camera background, having worked as an AC for the likes of Jeff Preiss, Steve Horn and Matthew Rowlston.

He first received attention a few years ago at the Sundance Film Festival with the premiere of his critically acclaimed film "Speed Racer: Welcome to the World of Vic Chesnutt." The film is a portrait of the gifted singer/songwriter from Athens, Georgia.

After a few spec spots he started landing spot work for American Movie Classics, Intellos Cel Phones, and Marriott. Some recent work includes: PNC Bank, Mobil, HBO, OneMain.com, McDonalds and Connecticut Lottery.

His current documentary "Benjamin Smoke" is a portrait of singer/poet Benjamin (born Robert Dickerson), who died of AIDS in 1999. The first person to suggest that Sillen film the singer was none other than R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe. Michael was producing Vic Chesnutt’s record and he was the one who first planted the seed, that Benjamin would be an amazing subject. The film is currently on the film festival circuit playing to packed crowds and rave reviews.