Who We Are

LYNETTE HOWELL TAYLOR

UK born Lynette Howell Taylor is the founder of 51 Entertainment, a platform agnostic filmmaker-driven production company.

This year Lynette produced Bradley Cooper's directorial debut A STAR IS BORN in which he stars opposite Lady Gaga. The film has received numerous award nominations from the Golden Globes, AFI, Critic’s Choice, and The National Board of Review. Lynette most recent production WANDER DARKLY, written and directed by Tara Miele, and starring Sienna Miller and Diego Luna is premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. She is also in pre-production on Derek Cianfrance’s HBO limited series I KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE starring Mark Ruffalo, which is based on the best-selling novel by Wally Lamb.

Lynette produced CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, written and directed by Matt Ross and starring Academy Award-nominee Viggo Mortensen. The film won multiple awards around the world including the Best Director prize in CANNES UN CERTAIN REGARD. Lynette is also producing Ross' film adaptation of Tom Sweterlitsch’s TOMORROW AND TOMORROW with Mark Gordon and Guymon Casady for TriStar and she previously produced Matt Ross' 28 HOTEL ROOMS, which premiered in Sundance and was released theatrically in 2012.

Last year, Lynette produced Brie Larson’s directorial debut UNICORN STORE. Lynette also produced the Warner Bros movie THE ACCOUNTANT, directed by Gavin O’Connor and starring Academy Award-winners Ben Affleck and JK Simmons. Some of Lynette's movies include the award-winning BIG EYES directed by Tim Burton, Ryan Fleck's Oscar nominated HALF NELSON, THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES and Oscar nominated BLUE VALENTINE, both directed by Derek Cianfrance, ALEX OF VENICE, TERRI, ON THE ICE, STEPHANIE DALEY, KRISTY, THE PASSAGE, PHOEBE IN WONDERLAND, THE GREATEST, AN INVISIBLE SIGN, SHARK NIGHT 3D, LEVITATED MASS, THE SPACE BETWEEN, and multiple episodes of the award-winning ESPN 30 FOR 30 docu-series.

CASSIAN ELWES

Elwes began his producing career with 1983's "Oxford Blues" starring Rob Lowe and Ally Sheedy and quickly went on to make another 29 films, including "Men At Work," with Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, and "The Chase" with Sheen.

In 1994, Elwes joined William Morris and headed William Morris Independent for 15 years. He financed such indie hits as "Slingblade" and "The Apostle,” both of which were nominated for multiple Oscars. "Monster's Ball" was their follow up, which won the “Best Actress” Oscar for Halle Berry, the first African American woman to do so.

Wikipedia calls Cassian Elwes one of the most important figures in independent cinema and an expert in the field of arranging financing and distribution for independent films, having done so for 283 films during his tenure at William Morris Independent.

Since leaving William Morris Independent 5 years ago, Elwes has either produced or executive produced 40 films including John Hillcoat’s “Lawless,” Lee Daniels’ “The Paperboy,” and David Lowery’s “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”, which was nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award for “Best Feature.”

Recently, Elwes produced the hit period drama “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” which featured an all-star cast headed by Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey. He also executive produced J.C. Chandor’s “All Is Lost” starring Robert Redford and executive produced and arranged financing for the Oscar winning hit “Dallas Buyers Club” directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, starring Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner.

Elwes executive produced the Kevin Costner release “Black and White”, directed by Mike Binder, and has produced both Werner Herzog’s “Queen of the Desert” and Eli Roth’s “Knock Knock”. His most current release was “Elvis & Nixon” starring Michael Shannon and Kevin Spacey. Cassian is in post on the 1980’s Los Angeles-set thriller “The Billionaire Boy’s Club”, starring Ansel Elgort, Taron Egerton, and Kevin Spacey. 

Elwes produced “Mudbound”, which was directed by Dee Rees, starring Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige and Garrett Hedlund and premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. His feature “Jeremiah Terminator Leroy”, starring Kristen Stewart, Diane Kruger, and Laura Dern was screened at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival and opened late 2018. He also recently executive produced “Farewell Amor” directed by Ekwa Msangi and starring Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine. Elwes’ second feature with director Dee Rees, “The Last Thing He Wanted” starring Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck, and Willem Dafoe will premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Advisory Team

ALISON EMILIO

Alison Emilio is Director of ReFrame, a partnership between Sundance Institute and Women In Film Los Angeles. ReFrame is an influential and dedicated group of entertainment industry leaders – more than 60 male and female Ambassadors – that includes studio heads, agency partners, senior network executives, producers, directors, writers, actors, agents, and guild leaders committed to increasing the number of women of all backgrounds working in film, TV, and media.

Prior to ReFrame, Alison served as Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Partnerships for CreativeFuture. Her feature film work includes executive positions at Lorimar Filmed Entertainment and New Line Cinema (New York and Los Angeles) as Senior Vice President, Marketing and Communications, responsible for the marketing, publicity, and promotional campaigns for more than 30 films, as well as supervising corporate and financial communications. She established the U.S. office of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, where she was responsible for generating over $150 million in revenue.

Emilio’s producing credits include Handmade Films’ Dinner at Fred’s, starring Parker Posey, Gil Bellows, and Christopher Lloyd; Drowning on Dry Land, starring Barbara Hershey and Naveen Andrews; Someone is Watching, starring Stephanie Powers, for Lifetime; and the award-winning short, Candlelight from director, Veronica Ortiz-Calderon.

Alison is a Faculty Advisor for Carnegie Mellon University’s Master of Entertainment Industry Management (MEIM) Program in Los Angeles.

MICHELLE SATTER

Michelle Satter is the founding director of the Sundance Institute's Feature Film Program, which was the inaugural program of the Institute. As the Feature Film Program director, she has provided year-round and in-depth support to groundbreaking and award-winning filmmakers from the U.S. and around the world. She also spearheaded the Institute's international work in Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East as well as the Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Award celebrating 100 years of cinematic history.

In 1989, Satter coproduced the Academy Award-nominated documentary Waldo Salt: A Screenwriters Journey. She is currently one of the producers on the film adaptation of Isabel Allende's International bestseller Eva Luna. Prior to the Sundance Institute, Satter lived in Boston and was the director of public relations/marketing at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art and a partner and program director of ArtiCulture, Inc., where she produced hundreds of performing arts events throughout the Boston area. She has served on the Boards of the Independent Feature Project, MAISHA, and Equinoxe. Most recently, Satter was recognized with the Women in Film Business Leadership Award and the ACLU Bill of Rights Award.