Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Joe produced and directed television programming for local RCN Cable TV until he moved to Los Angeles in 2000. Later in 2000, Kodak Film selected Joe to attend the 'Cannes International Film Festival' and represent the United States. In 2001, Joe's thesis film, Last Breath (2001), was shown at several film festivals,...
(talking about story) "I'm always amazed when I read a bad script that someone is moving forward on. People are quick to throw money at you, and it's hard to say no. But it'd be a whole lot harder to direct that. To tell a story that wasn't good enough yet. Or have characters that aren't defined enough yet. Story and character is much harder than you think, but it's always worth it."
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(after receiving the ACLU Humanitarian and Visionary award in 2001) To me, it's about storytelling. Whatever genre. Anything, even an action movie; sure there's an explosion, but after the BANG what's the first thing you want to know? What happened to the people? Who was hurt, who was killed? That's not just humanitarian. That's good storytelling.
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Fact
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He's a huge fan of Frank Sinatra, for both his music and as an interesting character in history. Has a feature film project in early development based on Mr. Sinatra's life and work.
Was an uncredited script doctor on 6 films from 2001-2006, including E-Girl (2007), his first romantic comedy.
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Moved from Pennsylvania to California on a film scholarship after the premiere of his first film; a DV feature, "To Be Great," at age 20.
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Studied with Academy Award nominee Leonard Schrader Created/founded a website for Schrader's birthday in 2002.
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Student film Last Breath (2001) was acquired by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for nationwide distribution. Only the 4th film in its history and its first-ever short film.
$18 Million
