Brian Vander Ark (left) as Larry and Steven Chester Prince as Del Steven Chester Prince (left) as Del and Lysa Apostle as Harvard. Steven Chester Prince (left) as Del and Martha Byrne as Iowa. Lee Tergesen (left) as Isaac and Steven Chester Prince as Del. (click photo for larger image) Introduction Mergers & Acquisitions is a low budget feature film produced by Lopsided Pictures in association with Sid Flips Films. Paul Tobias of Unicorn Films is the producers representative. Plot Summary "Mergers & Acquisitions" follows Del Richards, a 35 year-old idealistic, underachieving corporate worker, who has spent the last ten years of his life writing for American Homework, a trade magazine covering the home improvement field. His life hasn't lived up to his expectations. He lives paycheck to paycheck, and he is acutely aware that he is not "making a difference" in the world, a lesson his hippie parents repeatedly pressed upon him and his brother, Larry. Nevertheless, Del's dogged insistence on living his life by his parents' values has made him the "golden child" in their eyes, while Larry, much to his disbelief, is viewed as a failure for committing the "crime" of becoming a successful banker. Del still has hopes for the future, and he has managed to carve out a life for himself He shares an office with his best friend from high school, Isaac, and keeps in touch with his ex-wife, Kate, and Sam, the greyhound over whom they maintain joint custody. He even has some good feelings about his dead-end job, mostly as a result of his relationship with Nathan Williamson, Sr., the magazinešs owner, and the man who hired Del and became his mentor. Even after Homework is the target of various mergers and acquisitions, resulting in Nathan relinquishing control of the magazine to his duplicitous, downsizing-happy son, Junior, Del still enjoyed his elder statesman status at the magazine, even through his constant battles with Junior. And recently, the attention of an attractive and ambitious new Homework employee has revitalized Delšs outlook on life, despite Isaac's objections that she is out to destroy the company. But as time goes on, Del's world slowly begins to unravel. Everyone around him is moving on with their lives, and his job and apartment are put in jeopardy. Most unsettling is the rapid deterioration of his mother's mental condition (his father had passed away three years earlier), and her non-negotiable insistence that she be allowed to stay in her house. Larry thinks she should be put in a "facility," while Del stands by his mother's wishes. But Del's mother has failed to keep her real estate taxes current, and it will take a substantial amount of money to keep her in her home; money that Del doesn't have, and that Larry will not give. With Del's motheršs ouster from her home imminent, he is forced to confront a question that he has been avoiding for a few weeks: Should he help a rival corporation take over Homework, which would result in the staff being terminated, and the magazine (and Del) moving to another city? Del's decision, and his handling of the consequences, will test the strength of the values he has espoused his whole life. Steven Chester Prince (left) as Del and Brian Vander Ark as Larry. Steven Chester Prince as Del and Martha Byrne as Iowa.. Jill Haworth as Mrs. Richards. Lee Tergesen (left) as Isaac, Jill Haworth (center)as Mrs. Richards and Karol Ward as Michelle. (click photo for larger image) Who is involved in M & A? Complete Cast and Crew Writer/Producer/Director Mitchell Bard has produced three projects prior to "Mergers & Acquisitions": An award winning short film entitled "Soup Or Salad?" which he also wrote and directed (and which has been selected by 24 film festivals, been sold to Japanese television and picked up by Big Film Shorts for international distribution); "The Day I Ran Into All My Ex-Boyfriends," a 12 minute film, which was sold to a European distributor and to American cable television; and the feature film "The Dry Season," which was completed on time, despite a shooting schedule of only 12 days, and on budget, despite the tiny amount of money available to the director (and which was acquired by foreign sales representative M & L Banks for international distribution). Mitchell has also written several feature-length screenplays, including "Take Me Back," which was cited in two national screenplay competitions. He is a graduate of Brandeis University and the University of Miami School of Law, and studied screenwriting for one year with the award winning filmmaker Renee Silverman. Actors Steven Chester Prince has a lead role in the upcoming Touchstone Pictures film "The Alamo," directed by John Lee Hancock ("The Rookie") and starring Billy Bob Thornton. Steven has also starred in the Lion's Gate film "Perfume," co-starring Jeff Goldblum, and "Allie & Me," both directed by Michael Rymer ("In Too Deep"). Brian Vander Ark is the lead singer and guitar player of the rock and roll band The Verve Pipe, who had an international hit Platinum album ("Villains") and Top Ten single ("The Freshmen") in 1997. The Verve Pipe's self-titled album, containing the hit single "Hero," was released in July 1999, and the fantastic follow-up, Underneath, was released in 2001. Brian had a lead role in "Rock Star," directed by Stephen Herek ("Mr. Holland's Opus"), which starred Mark Wahlberg and Jennifer Aniston. Brian has also appeared in the film "Road Kill," which won the Audience Award at the 1999 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Lee Tergesen currently stars in the critically acclaimed HBO series "Oz." His film credits include a starring role in the upcoming Sundance favorite "Bark" (starring with Lisa Kudrow), lead roles in both "Wayne's World" movies, "Shaft" and "Point Break". Lee also appeared in the HBO Gary Gilmore film "Shot in the Heart" (with Giovanni Ribisi and Sam Shepard) and the Showtime movie "Wild Iris" (starring with Laura Linney). Lee had a recurring role in the NBC series "Homicide" and a lead role in the USA series "Weird Science." Martha Byrne plays Lily on the CBS soap opera "As the World Turns", for which she won the 2001 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Drama Series. Martha won a Daytime Emmy award for Outstanding Ingenue in a Drama Series in 1987, and has been a five-time Daytime Emmy award nominee for Outstanding Younger Actress in a Drama Series. Martha has appeared in numerous TV movies and series, and has released two CDs. Jill Haworth played the role of Sally Bowles in the original Broadway production of "Cabaret." She has appeared in numerous films including Otto Preminger's "Exodus." Amy Redford, in addition to her numerous theater credits, recently starred in the independent feature film "Casanova Falling." She was featured in the May 22, 2000 issue of People Magazine ("Sundance Kid"). Michael Suvorov had the lead role in Mitchell Bard's award winning short film "Soup or Salad?". In recent years, he has appeared in many New York theatrical productions, including "One Hundred Gates" at the Jewish Theater of New York, "Running In Place" at the American Theater of Actors, and "Waiting for Bardot" at The Duplex. On television's "Unsolved Mysteries" he appeared as hero police officer Ed Stancik and has had supporting roles in the short films "Dear Forum" and "The Day I Ran Into All My Ex-Boyfriends." Peter Pamela Rose appeared in the NBC series "Deadline." She wrote, directed, produced, and starred in the short film, "The Day I Ran Into All My Ex-Boyfriends," which airs on the Sundance Channel. Peter's film credits include a lead role in "Funny Bones," which also starred Jerry Lewis and Oliver Platt. Kevin Shinick recently served as Matthew Broderick's understudy in the Broadway production of "When Night Falls." He is also the host of the PBS series "Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?" Michael Ingram had a lead role in the Broadway production of "Jeckyl and Hyde." He has appeared in such television shows as "Sex in the City," "One Life to Live" and "Law and Order," and his film credits include "Payback" starring Mel Gibson. Gary Lewis is an actor and musician who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cadillacs. He has also toured with the Drifters and the Coasters. Jason Harris is host of Double Dare 2000 on Nickelodeon. Previously, he was host of MSG Metro Learning's daily program "School's Out." His other small screen credentials include appearances on ABC's "All My Children" and a hosting gig on Nickelodeon's "Big Help Week," as well as many commercials. Director of Photography Louis Mullen-LeRay works as a cinematographer and commercial director in New York and Connecticut, having shot several films, commercials, and music videos. His recent credits include Mitchell Bard's short film "Soup Or Salad? ", Brian Blotner's feature film "The Dry Season," a music video for rap star Tony Tone, and a self-financed feature film, "The Rhythm Method," which he wrote, directed, produced, shot, and edited. Louis studied film criticism and theory at the University of New Mexico. Editor Jacob Craycroft has edited such feature films as the Fox Searchlight comedy "Super Troopers," the documentaries "Ram Dass, Fierce Grace" and "Breath Control: The History of the Human Beat Box," and the Lifetime movie "All of It." Jacob also edited the short films "Helicopter," which appeared at Sundance and won the Student Academy Award, and "Soup Or Salad?". Co-Producer Liz Hanellin served as associate producer and still photographer of Mitchell Bard's "Soup Or Salad?" and Brian Blotner's feature film "The Dry Season ." She also was the still photographer on "The Day I Ran Into All My Ex-Boyfriends," a short film directed by Peter Pamela Rose. Liz is a graduate of Queens College and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and has studied photography at the School of Visual Arts. Executive Producer John Henry , a native New Yorker, is a filmmaker and an actor.  He wrote, produced, and directed the short film "Yawn," which now appears on the Unity Motion HD Satellite TV Network, and he is developing the indie feature spoof, "Background. Action!", with his wife and co-writer, Sarah.  As an actor, John has appeared in plays in Kyoto, Japan, San Francisco and New York.  He had a featured role in the Miramax film, "Cop Land," and appears as a frantic Y2K broker in the upcoming indie, "Other Voices," with Campell Scott and Stockard Channing. Steven Chester Prince (left) as Del, Lee Tergesen (center) as Isaac and Michael Suvorov as Junior. Publicity Photo from M&A Mitchell Bard (Director/Producer/Writer) (click photo for larger image)   Mergers & Acquisitions in the news iMusic Article on the Verve Pipe (Mergers is mentioned at the end) Item in Indiewire, the premier Internet news source for independent film

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