JOHN SCHEINFELD
John has flown under the radar most of his career writing, producing and directing highly personal, idiosyncratic documentary films.
Born in Chicago, raised in Milwaukee, John brings a relentless optimism to everything he does. When his parents took him to a local movie theatre to see Lawrence of Arabia at the age of 12, he was completely captivated and began to dream of a career in Hollywood.
After majoring in Sociology and Communications at Oberlin College, John went on to receive an MFA from the film school at Northwestern University. Now, he was ready to head for the west coast.
With no family or other significant connections to the industry, John needed to find a way to get noticed in order to land his first studio job. A unique resume presentation (later written up in a book about how to get a job in Hollywood) was successful in getting him interviews at several major studios and production companies. He arrived in California on a Sunday and by Friday he’d been hired by Paramount Pictures as a junior TV development executive.
Eighteen months later, John was hired away by MTM, the top boutique production company at the time, to oversee development of drama and comedy TV series for a handful of years. Feeling the need to exercise his creative muscles, he then went out on his own, using his experience and contacts first as an executive producer of a pilot for CBS and later writing episodes for TV series he’d be embarrassed to admit that he wrote for.
However, this did lead him into becoming a pilot writer and for the next few years he created and wrote drama pilot scripts for ABC, NBC, and Fox – not one of which was made, but he did come close a few times. Then John discovered documentaries.
Coming out of the scripted world informed John’s storytelling and distinguishes it from other documentary filmmakers with more journalistic backgrounds. His first productions were for A&E, PBS, and National Geographic. He broke into feature documentaries with The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which was picked up early in the game by Lionsgate and he’s been on an exciting ride ever since.
John’s films have premiered at such prestigious film festivals as Telluride, Toronto and Venice and played in theaters worldwide to critical acclaim. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime have all come calling to license various titles for streaming. There has been the occasional foray to PBS as well as ABC with the first non-news documentary aired in primetime by that network in nearly 25 years.
Known for the high quality and craft of his work, John has been entrusted with the significant legacies of such iconic artists as Herb Alpert, Nat ‘King’ Cole, John Coltrane, Bob Hope, John Lennon, Garry Marshall, Harry Nilsson, Sergio Mendes, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.
DAVE HARDING
Dave Harding is an award-winning film and television producer and production executive.
Associated with the Academy Award®- nominated Encounters At The End of The World, he is also known for his work on The Grizzly Man, The U.S. vs John Lennon, Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man, The Cold Blue, Cave of Forgotten Dreams and The Day The Music Died: The Story of Don McLean’s American Pie.
Since teaming up with John Scheinfeld, the two have produced the feature docs, I Hope You Dance: The Power and Spirit of Song, Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary, Sergio Mendes In The Key of Joy, Herb Alpert Is…, plus current releases What The Hell Happened to Blood Sweat & Tears? and Reinventing Elvis: The ’68 Comeback. The team also collaborated on This Is Bob Hope, Dick Cavett’s Vietnam and Dick Cavett’s Watergate, all for PBS.
Honored with three Emmy® nominations for his work in television, and one Emmy® win for Wage Slaves – Not Getting By in America, Harding has produced or supervised more than 1000 hours of documentary and non-fiction programs for television while the Exec VP of indie powerhouse Creative Differences. Harding received a BS in Radio/TV/Film and a BA in Economics, from Northwestern University and returned for an MSJ from the University’s esteemed Medill School of Journalism.
PETER S. LYNCH, II
Peter’s career as a documentary filmmaker, primarily working as an editor, has spanned two decades. And he has collaborated with writer/producer/director John Scheinfeld for almost the entirety of that career.
Heck, he started out as a production assistant for John’s company, Crew Neck, more than twenty years ago and worked his way up, ultimately fulfilling his life-long dream of making movies.
For Scheinfeld, Peter has edited the acclaimed feature documentaries Herb Alpert Is…, This Is Bob Hope (for PBS’ American Masters), Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary, I Hope You Dance: The Power and Spirit of Song, Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him)? and The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which was co-directed by David Leaf. With Leaf as director, Lynch also edited the GRAMMY®-nominated, Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and The Story of SMiLE and The Night James Brown Saved Boston, a doc that received the FOCAL International Award for Best Use of Footage in a Factual Production.
Recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Peter edited and co-produced Mixtape Trilogy: Stories of the Power of Music, for first-time director, Kathleen Ermitage. The documentary played film festivals throughout 2022, most notably as a “Spotlight” selection of the Bentonville Film Festival and as the closing night film at the Richmond International Film Festival.
Peter and Scheinfeld have just emerged from the editing room, following the releases of What The Hell Happened to Blood Sweat & Tears? and Reinventing Elvis: The ’68 Comeback.
KATHLEEN ERMITAGE
With a strong foundation in nonfiction and educational filmmaking, Kathleen is a writer, director and producer.
Her work includes award-winning content funded by the Gates Foundation and MacArthur Foundation and more than 200 educational films distributed nationally on Channel One.
With John Scheinfeld and Dave Harding, she worked as an associate producer and researcher on the feature documentaries What The Hell Happened to Blood Sweat & Tears?, Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary, Sergio Mendes In The Key of Joy and Herb Alpert Is… . Kathleen made her own feature documentary debut as director/writer/producer of Mixtape Trilogy: Stories of the Power of Music which headlined film festivals across the U.S. in 2022, including Bentonville, Cleveland, Richmond, Sarasota and Sonoma.
