Shawn Leister-Frazier

Sassy Mohen is a fresh indie filmmaker who thrives on powerful character-driven stories. After being handed the reigns of a play starring 30+ middle schoolers at age 13, she was quickly self-taught in the ways of discipline, character development, over-dramatic actors, and how get a full house to shush it. Since then, she has written, directed and produced several award-winning works from features, shorts, plays and web series.

While attending Dodge College of Media & Film at Chapman University she wrote & directed her first feature,Happy Holidays. This marked her as the first Chapman student to not just take on the task of a feature, but finish it. And finish it she did in December 2007 on a micro-budget, so small that when told to most filmmakers the usual response is, “No freaking way.”

Upon completion, Sassy took the film on tour around the country and sold it independently in the then new realm of self-distribution on the internet. Through this she turned a profit on "Happy Holidays" and today the films website has received over 300,000 hits from around the world. In 2008 she entered her next project "True Perfection" in the “First Cut Film Series” competition. The project placed in the top 1% out of thousands; if it won, Cyan Pictures would give the project a budget of $1,000,000. However, due to the unexpected 2008 recession the competition was cancelled. Not giving up, Sassy shot a pilot of the revised first act on the newly released RED Camera in late 2008. With this, a team was assembled and funding was made not just through private investors but also with a comprehensive, successful Kickstarter.com campaign.

Noticing a newly emerging beast in the entertainment industry known as a “web series,” Sassy quickly wrote her next venture "About Abby." Starring much of the same cast from "True Perfection," it was shot on the 5D in the inter-medium between the pilot and funding. Self-released, Abby clocked in over 100,000 video views, multiple awards including Best Director, Best Actress & Best Writer in the LA Web Festival, and is now distributed around the world in places such as Italy, Mexico, Canada and Germany.

Per "Abby’s" success, "True Perfection" received funding and it was shot in early 2011. Although ultimately wanting to end up in film, Sassy is eager to continue to explore the new world of web content and is currently in production of season 2 of her current web series 'A Single Girls Show.'

Sydney Nichols is a graphic designer based in Los Angeles. She has done work for the independent film "Drones" and the popular Largo show The Thrilling Adventure Hour, as well as for indie music acts like Eric Kufs and Common Rotation. Through her work with Capitol Music Group, she has designed for the likes of Katy Perry, the Beach Boys, Amos Lee, the Beastie Boys, Good Charlotte, and A Fine Frenzy. She is also the co-founder and creative director of ArdentLife Media, a graphic design and social media services agency.