Blake Calhoun (follow on Twitter)
Co-founder/Producer

Being both a filmmaker and entrepreneur gives Blake a unique skill set and high level of understanding in both the creative and business aspects of television and film production.

Put another way, Blake really knows how to deal with rejection from studios and banks.

A graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington with a Bachelor of Arts in Radio-TV-Film and a minor in marketing set Blake off on the right path. But like most folks in the film business, he started off at the bottom working as a production assistant, gopher, you-name-it -- but quickly grew fond of the post-production side of things. Learning the ropes as an assistant editor on the Avid gave him the confidence to eventually branch out on his own (as a freelance editor). And this is when he decided to form his first production company.

ImageWorks, Inc. was created to produce corporate videos, commercials, and a specialty video series called "Relaxing Journeys" (a self-help video of sorts... don't laugh it really was pretty cool). For several years Blake focused on this market and had some success, but he really always wanted to work on narrative feature film projects. Along the way he did produce and direct the occasional music video or short film, and so eventually Blake (against his better judgment) decided to take his company in that direction.

Loud Pictures was formed as a subsidiary of ImageWorks to focus on feature film and television production. The first feature film produced under this new banner was the micro-budgeted 16mm movie "Thugs". Surprisingly, this film found foreign distribution rather easily (considering it's extremely low budget and "first time" filmmaker appearance). It was not, however, the huge success the company or Blake hoped for (just ask the handful of Germans who saw the film), but it did put things in motion and set the stage for what was to come.

Since "Thugs", Blake has produced and directed three more feature films - a mockumentary called "Hit", an action-thriller called "Killing Down" and a comedy titled "Spilt Milk". "Killing Down" now has wide distribution on both DVD and television. "Spilt Milk" will be released in 2011. And "Hit" has been turned into a web series called "88 Hits" and is also being developed as a traditional TV pilot.

In addition to the feature film work, Blake created the popular Webby honored and Streamy winning series "Pink" with Mike Maden. The show has now been viewed online nearly 10 million times. So far three seasons have been produced (35 episodes), and more are under consideration, as is a DVD. And from the success of "Pink", Blake and Mike formed Alternative Fuel, LLC to produce a Warner Bros. web original called "Exposed" (executive proudeced by McG). It premiered in June 2010 on TheWB.com and is currently playing exclusively there and at DailyMotion.

Most recently Blake produced and directed the upcoming sci-fi thriller "Continuum". This show is still in post-production with a tentative 2011 release date.

Alternative Fuel is not limited to only producing web shows though, the company develops and produce content in the television, film and new media markets. Currently two feature film projects are being developed, along with a Warner Bros. TV script, and a new web series.

Narrative filmmaking is Blake's passion. He's a storyteller at heart. And whether he's writing a screenplay, directing a TV commercial, or producing a web series -- he brings the same level of passion and commitment to the job (especially if he's being paid well).

Mike Maden
Co-founder/Producer

Mike has written award winning scripts produced for stage, television, film and new media. 

His life, like most of his work, is based on a true story. Graduate degrees in political science and theology seemed like a better idea than film school at the time. This also may explain his tendency to refer to himself in the third person. His current IMDb power ranking of 514,479 proves Heraclitus’ famous dictum, “Character is destiny.” 

For Mike’s latest escapades regarding Alternative Fuel, see Blake’s bio--a better read, for sure.