Todd Traina
Todd Traina is an American film producer and the founder of Red Rover Films in 2007.[1] In 2007 Traina was named by Daily Variety as one one of its “10 Producers to Watch.”[2] My Suicide, a quirky low-budget dark comedy released in 2009 which Traina produced, won a Crystal Bear at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival,[1] among other prizes.
Traina was named to the board of the San Francisco Film Society in 2009.[1]
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[edit] Personal life
Traina was born on 22 October 1969 in San Francisco,[3] the son of shipping executive and art collector John Traina and Dede Wilsey, a San Francisco socialite, chair of the board of trustees of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and member of many other boards of non-profit organizations.[2] Traina′s stepmother is the romance novelist Danielle Steel.
Traina′s brother, Trevor, is a technology entrepreneur in San Francisco and a contributor to the online magazine Huffington Post. His late stepbrother is punk/ska musician Nick Traina.
On his mother′s side of the family, he is descended from Herbert Henry Dow, the founder of Dow Chemical. [2] Traina has served as an associate on the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation board.[1]
Traina, his mother and grandmother all were graduated from Connecticut College. He majored in government and minored in English.[4] Traina says he decided to become a producer while an undergraduate, saying “...I knew I didn't want to act or direct. The job of a producer has the right balance between the right and left brain, between the creative and business sides.”[4]
Traina is married to Katie Traina and has a young daughter, Daisy. He commutes between San Francisco and Los Angeles.
[edit] Film career
Fresh from college, Traina began his career in the film industry in 1991 as a production assistant on television movie-of-the-week adaptations of his stepmother′s novels.[2][4] He turned independent producer two years later. His very first complete film was Stanley′s Gig, which he sold to the Starz Network and was finally released in 2000.[2]
Traina has compared being a producer to being a wedding planner and “the father of the bride in a wedding that lasts a whole year.”[4]
[edit] Films
Traina has served as producer, co-producer or executive producer on the following films:
- Morning (2010)
- The Romantics (2010)
- Black Water Transit (2009)
- Night Train (2009)
- Blood and Bone (2009)
- My Suicide (2009))
- Stag Night (2008)
- Timber Falls (2007)
- What We Do Is Secret (2007)
- Punk′s Not Dead (2007)
- Grace Is Gone (2007)
- Skeleton Woman (2000)
- Stanley′s Gig (2000)
- Life Sold Separately (1997)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "San Francisco Film Society Elects Jennifer Chaiken and Todd Traina to Board of Directors". Press release (San Francisco Film Society). 8 October 2009. http://www.sffs.org/content.aspx?catid=22,37&pageid=1380. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ a b c d e Zinko, Carolyne (5 February 2008). "Todd Traina's passion is movies, not money". SFGate. San Francisco Chronicle. http://articles.sfgate.com/2008-02-05/entertainment/17140982_1_film-sunset-boulevard-los-angeles. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
- ^ "Todd Traina". Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0870694/. Retrieved 4 May 2010.
- ^ a b c d Howard, Mary (Winter 2008-2009). "Making Movie Magic: Close-up with independent film producer Todd Traina ´91". Connecticut College Magazine. http://aspen.conncoll.edu/camelweb/index.cfm?fuseaction=publications&circuit=cconline&function=view&uid=33&id=767105575. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
[edit] External links
- Red Rover Films
- Todd Traina at Internet Movie Database
- Todd Traina′s Facebook page
- 2007 interview of Todd Traina on Keehn on Art radio show on 960, The Quake, discussing punk rock
