Sneak Preview Entertainment has grown immensely since it was first founded by Producer Steven J. Wolfe and Writer Lynette Prucha Chavez, after a long and lasting friendship beginning in 1982, where they first worked together at Crown International Pictures.
Originally created as Sneak Preview Productions, the privately held company quickly gained a reputation for developing and packaging enticing and often daring independent theatrical features that have garnered critical success. Shortly thereafter, the company’s moniker changed with the addition of a Management division to further represent its synergistic ties to talent in the industry.
Sneak Preview has produced a diverse range of films since its inception, including the Golden Globe® Best Picture nominated Fox Searchlight release, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and directed by Marc Webb. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER marks Sneak Preview’s third Sundance Film Festival favorite.
Most recently, Sneak Preview has produced VALLEY GIRL, MGM’s remake of the classic 80s film. Starring Jessica Rothe and Josh Whitehouse, and featuring Logan Paul, Judy Greer, and Alicia Silverstone.
THE SECRET LIVES OF DORKS stars a cast of up and coming actors including Gaelan Connell, Vanessa Murano, Riley Voelkel and Beau Mirchoff, as well as seasoned industry veterans Jim Belushi and Jennifer Tilly. It’s the company’s third film with director Salomé Breziner and its fifth film with Academy Award® nominated actress Jennifer Tilly. Sneak Preview co-released the film theatrically with Gravitas Ventures and D&E Entertainment.
Along with THE SECRET LIVES OF DORKS, the company also completed producing a screen adaptation of David E. Talbert’s best-selling novel, BAGGAGE CLAIM, starring Paula Patton, Derek Luke, Jill Scott, Adam Brody, Taye Diggs, Djimon Hounsou and Trey Songz, which Fox Searchlight Pictures released on over 2,200 screens.
Sneak Preview also produced the Fox Searchlight romantic comedy, OUR FAMILY WEDDING, starring Forest Whitaker and America Ferrara, and the college road trip comedy, MISS MARCH written by, directed by, and starring the comedy troupe The Whitest Kids you Know for Fox Atomic.
The company gravitates toward stories that examine the human condition in a less than conventional manner. BEAUTIFUL LOSER, a touching story of a young boy who journeys through adulthood in love with a girl he will never have, was Written and Directed by first time filmmaker John Nolte. The film stars Adam Lamberg, Laura Breckinridge, Keith David, John Schneider, Cynda Williams, Cynthia Gibb, William Katt and Lenny Von Dohlen.
A DENNIS THE MENACE CHRISTMAS continues the successful comedy franchise, this time modeling itself after Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol.” Young discovery Maxwell Perry Cotton stars in the role of the precocious Dennis. The film also features the legendary Robert Wagner as Mr. Wilson, and Academy Award© winner, Louise Fletcher as Mrs. Wilson. Director Ron Oliver adds a vibrant new look to the classic story that was the first film to be released by Warner Brothers division, Warner Premiere.
Partnered with Outlaw Productions, Sneak Preview produced the debut feature of filmmaker Nnegest Likke’, PHAT GIRLZ, starring Mo’Nique, Jimmy Jean-Louis, Godfrey, Jack Noseworthy and Eric Roberts; an urban comedy about a “plus size” fashion designer who finds an unexpected love and learns the meaning of true acceptance, when she wins an all expense paid trip to Palm Springs. The film was purchased by Fox Searchlight Pictures during post production and opened nationwide on 1,100 screens.
While making, PHAT GIRLZ, the company concurrently completed WHEN DO WE EAT?, a comedy which follows a dysfunctional Jewish Family during the trials and tribulations of one especially tumultuous Passover Sedar. Written and Directed by Salvador Litvak, the ensemble cast includes Lesley Ann Warren, Jack Klugman, Michael Lerner, Cynda Williams, Shiri Appleby and Adam Lamberg. WHEN DO WE EAT? was Sneak Preview’s third film with Academy AwardÓ nominated actress Lesley Ann Warren as well as its third film with award winning cinematographer David Mullen. WHEN DO WE EAT was released through ThinkFilm day and date with PHAT GIRLZ.
Another highly character driven story, THE CIVILIZATION OF MAXWELL BRIGHT, continues Sneak Preview’s appetite for edgy independent productions. The story of a misogynist (Patrick Warburton) who learns an important life lesson when he purchases and Asian mail order bride (Marie Matiko). Also starring Eric Roberts, Carol Kane, John Glover, Jennifer Tilly and Simon Callow, MAX BRIGHT represents company president Steven Wolfe’s fourth film with writer/director David Beaird. Sneak Preview co-released the film in the US theatrically on the heels of the films multiple festival awards.
Known for shepherding up-and-coming new talent, the company produced and developed HELLBENT by 1st time writer-director Paul Etheredge-Ouzts. Starring a group of talented young Hollywood actors, including Bryan Kirkwood, Andrew Levitas, Hank Harris and Dylan Fergus. HELLBENT broke new ground as the 1st Gay-themed horror film to be produced for a wide audience and was released nationwide by Regent Entertainment / HERE Films.
The company produced FAST SOFA and CIRCUIT. FAST SOFA, starring Jake Busey, Crispin Glover, Adam Goldberg, Natasha Lyonne, Eric Roberts and Jennifer Tilly, chronicles the story of one man’s (Busey) obsession with a porn actress (Tilly), despite the negative consequences to his life. Co-produced with Storm Entertainment and Christopher Figg (“Trainspotting”), the film marks the company’s second feature with director Salome’ Breziner (“Tollbooth”).
CIRCUIT, director Dirk Shafer’s follow up to his critically acclaimed first feature “Man of the Year” is a hard-hitting expose of one man’s decent into the dangerously seductive underground world of the gay circuit party scene, and his ultimate redemption. FAST SOFA was recently acquired by Lions Gate Entertainment and Sneak Preview co-released CIRCUIT with Jour de Fete Films theatrically in the US in the Summer of 2002
TWIN FALLS IDAHO was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics at its world premiere in the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. The story of a young woman who finds herself with feelings for one of two, adult conjoined twins, TWIN FALLS, is the debut feature of award winning writers Mark and Michael Polish, identical twin brothers who play the role of conjoined twins Blake and Francis in the film, with Michael directing as well. TWIN FALLS won the Special Jury Prize at the Deauville Film Festival and was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards, including Best First Film over $500,000.
Set in the industrial wasteland of Texas, THE CLEAN & NARROW stars Jack Noseworthy (“Event Horizon”), Laura Leighton (“Melrose Place”), Wings Hauser and Sondra Locke in the story of a young man who resorts to petty larceny to escape his blue collar roots so he and his wife can start anew in another town. Management client William Katt (“Big Wednesday”, “The Greatest American Hero”) made his directorial debut with this film.
RELAX…IT’S JUST SEX, accumulated exceptional grosses and stellar reviews in its US Theatrical engagements. The multi award winning film initially premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival and was the opening night selection of OUTFEST ’98. Adding another triumph to the company’s impressive list of producing accomplishments, and considered extremely controversial, “RELAX” stars Jennifer Tilly, Lori Petty, Mitchell Anderson, Serena Scott Thomas, Cynda Williams, Seymour Cassel & Paul Winfield, in the first feature from Writer- Director P.J. Castellaneta, since his award-winning debut “Together Alone” garnered critical raves around the world.
Starring Jennifer Tilly, Richard Chamberlain, Lenny Von Dohlen, Robert Carradine and Lesley Ann Warren, Sneak Preview’s BIRD OF PREY was shot on location in Sofia, Bulgaria. A stylish European thriller directed by Temistocles Lopez (“Chain of Desire”), the film was the first privately financed American/Bulgarian co-production.
The off-beat romance TOLLBOOTH had its world premiere at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. Daily Variety gave it a stellar review and proclaimed “Director Salomé Breziner’s TOLLBOOTH is generating more heat than the Riviera sun!” The film stars Fairuza Balk, Lenny Von Dohlen, Will Patton, Seymour Cassel, James Wilder, William Katt and Louise Fletcher. TOLLBOOTH competed against 4100 entries in the Houston International Film Festival where it won the Gold Award for “Best Theatrical Feature by a First Time Director”. In its US theatrical release, Kevin Thomas at the LA Times called TOLLBOOTH, “a giddy contemporary comedy that’s romantic on the one hand, gleefully prankish on the other, that’s distinctive and funny.”
Sneak Preview’s Management division has represented many notable actors, writers and directors including Kay Lenz (“Reasonable Doubts”, “Breezy”), Kim Darby (“True Grit”), William Katt (“The Greatest American Hero”, “Carrie”), T.C. Carson (“Living Single” “U-751”), Nancy Allen (“Out of Sight”, “Robocop”) Hallie Foote (“Talking Pictures”), David Beaird (“Scorchers”, “Key West”), Keith David (“Something About Mary”, “Requiem for a Dream”), Sarah Jacobson (“Mary Jane’s not a Virgin Anymore”), Dorothy Lyman (“The Nanny”), Lenny Von Dohlen (“Electric Dreams”, “Twin Peaks”), Brandon Tapp (“MTV Undressed”), Bryan Kirkwood (“Hellbent”), Beth Ann Warren (“MTV Undressed”) and Yareli Arizmendi (“Like Water for Chocolate”).
The company has recently wrapped SALLYWOOD, a comedy following the escapades of actress SALLY KIRKLAND and her assistant. Sneak Preview is also currently prepping a coming of age film, HICKEY, and the road trip comedy, 5th of July. Among films in development are, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF MONSTERS, DRUNK BUS, the series LANDED, INTERSECTION, THE YOUNG ONES, H.Y.D.E, THE HEARSE, MADAME PSYCHOSIS, RELAX, IT’S JUST MORE SEX! (a follow-up to the successful Sundance Film Festival Hit), HELLBENT ll, THREE FACES OF EVIE (written by Jack Plotnick ) with Lesley Ann Warren, QUEER FEAR by Ron Oliver, DEAR TURING with director Simon Callow, as well as TROPHY BOYS with producer Howard Rosenman and THE COVER with David Beaird, THE PREACHER’S SON (by writer-director Edgar Bravo (“I’ll Love You Forever… Tonight”), ARROW MAN to be directed by Craig Saavedra (“The Family Bloom”). Their ongoing packaging and development slate also includes A DENNIS THE MENACE HALLOWEEN, THIRTY-FIVE SUNSET AVENUE, LOVE MOST DEADLY, MOON IN JASMINE, LOVE & MEDICINE, ONE NIGHT TO LIVE (which company founders Wolfe and Lynette Prucha-Chavez have co-written together) and SITUATION WANTED.