Founders

Justin Williams

Justin Williams is the Park Director for Putnam County Parks and Recreation. Born in Lavalette, WV, Justin has always been passionate about making films and telling stories. He enjoys hiking and flying his drone. Justin currently resides in Hurricane, WV with his 2 children.

Ashley Stinnett

Ashley Stinnett is an American actor, author, writer and filmmaker. Born in Huntington, WV, Ashley began acting in theatre as a child. Since then, he has appeared on television, multiple short and feature films along with numerous commercials. Since, 2006, he has been a writer for various online and print publications. Ashley currently resides in West Virginia with his wife and three sons.

Board Members

Mark Maynard

Mark Maynard is the Senator from Distract 6 in West Virginia and is a Marshall University Graduate. He serves on various senate committees and has a passion for serving the people of West Virginia. Mark is from Wayne, West Virginia and loves anything with a motor.

Ashley Deal

Ashley is a grant writer and owner of Social, an event venue in Putnam County.

Sara Stinnett

Sara Stinnett is an actress, singer and educator. Since childhood, Sara has been an accomplished model appearing in print and television advertising. Sara has also been a regular commercial and film actress since 2006. Most recently, Sara has appeared in the “Christmas at the Greenbrier” film. Sara is a full time associate professor of Human Anatomy and Physiology at BridgeValley Community and Technical College. She lives in Scott Depot with her husband and three children.

Chris Tatum

Chris Tatum currently serves as the mayor of Barboursville, West Virginia filling that position since 2015.

Chris is also very involved in his community and serves on a variety of Community service boards and authorities. He is a member of the Goodwill Board of Directors, the Cabell County Development Authority, the Cabell County Community Corrections Board, The Robert Shell Juvenile Center Board of Directors, and is the state-wide chair of the Regional Jail Oversight Committee. He has previously served as President of the Chamber of Commerce’s Young Professionals and is a former recipient of the Chamber’s Volunteer of the Year for his service to the Downtown Live Committee. Chris was also recipient of a proclamation from Marshall University and President Stephen J. Kopp for his work during the premier of the movie “We Are Marshall”.

Tijah Bumgarner

Bumgarner is a filmmaker, scholar, and professor. She teaches narrative and documentary filmmaking at Marshall University. Since writing and directing her first feature film, Meadow Bridge, in 2017, she has co-directed and starred in the experimental short Becoming Annette (2020); co-created the web series Quarantine Life (2020); served as the 1st Assistant Director for Occupational Hazard (2021) directed by Ursula Ellis; co-wrote and directed the pilot episode of Her Hope Haven (2021); co-directed the short documentary Patchwork (2022); co-produced/directed/cinematographer on the feature documentary Picture Proof (2022) and served as a cinematographer for Small Town Universe (expected: 2023) directed by Katie Dellamaggiore.

Jessica Blank & Erik Jensen

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen are a multihyphenate husband and wife creative team who the New Yorker calls “the foremost practitioners of documentary theater in the US.”

As a team, they are authors of The Exonerated, a genre-defining play based on interviews they conducted with death row exonerees across the US (Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Ovation, Fringe First, Herald Angel Awards; NAACP Image Award nominee; awards from the American Bar Association, The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, named “Best Play of the Year” by the New York Times).

As TV/screenwriters, Jessica and Erik currently have projects in development with David Simon/Blown Deadline, Levinson/Fontana, and Ed Burns (The Wire, Generation Kill).

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