Ryan M. Place – Founder, President & CEO

Ryan M. Place was born on Detroit’s Southwest side on June 20th, 1985. Place was raised in Plymouth-Canton, Michigan and attended Plymouth-Canton Educational Park before receiving his B.S. in Film from Eastern Michigan University. He loves dark roasted early morning coffee, gobbling brainfood, shooting pocket billiards, freelance journalism, attempting to play the sitar and world travel. His primary cinematic influences are Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson, the genius satire comedy team o’ Christopher Guest and Eugene Levy & Co. (ie: Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind), Travis Bickle, Little Alex, Bill the Butcher, French New Wave, blaxploitation, Italian neorealism and Matt Groening’s The Simpsons. Place began questioning the validity of this reality when he discovered an array of micro-wormholes in dark, webby clusters behind the radiator. His involvement with Margrave Pictures is geared towards helping to provide an experimental DIY hands-on combat school of anything goes filmmaking that is fun, challenging, and creative. 

Paul Jason Rambo – Executive Vice President

Paul Jason Rambo was born on November 19, 1984 and has lived in the Metro Detroit area for most of his life. Raised in Rochester Hills and Canton, Michigan, Paul attended Canton High School and eventually went on to study the art of audio engineering at the Los Angeles Recording School in Hollywood California. Paul enjoys the sport of disc golf, and shooting pocket billiards, and is an avid consumer of craft beers, dark roasted coffee, and many different types of cuisine. Rambo has been a driving force in the Margrave Pictures family since the very beginning and has been heavily influenced in the art of film making and writing by Woody Allen, the “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” gang, Kurt Vonnegut, Etger Keret, Focus Features, Lions Gate Entertainment, Wes Anderson, Adam McKay, and Kevin Smith, to name a few. Questioning existence and reality came easily to Paul, as he is a confirmed atheist and lover of all types of science. Paul Jason Rambo works on a number of different projects from writing, acting, and directing feature length films and television pilots, to writing short stories and dabbling in music production. Some of Paul’s pet peeves include, but are not limited to: reality television, the difference between “Your” and “You’re” and “Their”, “There” and “They’re”, the mispronunciation of the word “Specifically”, and people who are rude despite having no reason to be rude.

Dave Conte – Vice Executive Advisor

Davide S. Conte was born June 17th, 1985 in Plymouth, Michigan. Conte was raised in Plymouth-Canton by parents with a strong Italian heritage from Ponza, a small island off the coast of Rome. Conte studied Business Administration at Schoolcraft College and is currently a Document Consultant at a prominent Ann Arbor hospital. Dave is a simple man but a good man and thorough, he’s a laid back gentleman who’s loyal to his friends, faithful to his Family and willing to meet new people. Dave loves history and cites the History Channel as his favorite show and The Situation from Jersey Shore as his life guide. Conte’s primary cinematic influences are Christopher Walken, Robert De Niro, The Godfather, Swiss Family Robinson and Robert Wise’s 1951 The Day the Earth Stood Still. Conte began questioning the validity of this reality at six years old, “there’s a point where you look in the mirror and ask yourself, this is your one life, is this really you? Why this body, why now?” Conte’s goal in life is to live freely without stress or worry and spend his money on posters of The Situation. He hopes Margrave Pictures will help many hundreds of people begin actualizing their acting and writing potentials.

Angie Wright – Lady Advisor

Bio coming soon…

 

 

 

 

Dave Donaldson – Technical Advisor

Dave Donaldson was born November 9th, 1986 in Dearborn, MI. He grew up in the city of Canton and graduated from Plymouth Salem Highschool. He then attended Specs Howard School of Broadcast Arts (now Media Arts) and graduated with two certifications in both Video and Audio. He then received an internship with Kinetic Post for seven months while completing the Audio portion at Specs. When he was 17 he began his career in stand-up comedy. He has acted in several local plays and spent two years in Los Angeles as an extra, soaking in the overall pro production experience. Relocating back to Detroit, he worked as a production assistant on Michael Bays “Transformers 3: Dark Side of the Moon”. Dave has worked on multiple productions before in the indie world but this would be Daves first mainstream Film. He then landed his first speaking role when playing an officer on ABC’s “Detroit 187” in which he joined AFTRA (American Federation of Television Radio Artists) now newly joined with the Screen Actors Guild as SAG-AFTRA. He enjoys every aspect of production from pre to post, in front or off camera. His knowledge in film making has earned him his position as Margraves Tech Advisor. Got a tech question? He’ll solve it. Dave also enjoys Directing which he did in Margrave’s latest installment “Holding On” which won three awards for “best choreography”, “best in genre”, and “audience choice” in the 2012 Detroit 48 Hour Film Project. In his free time he enjoys continuing his research in production, writing jokes, scripts, and just recently CGI. Though his favorite movie is Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, his main influence in film research is Revision3’s web show entitled “FilmRiot”. His comedy influences are Denis Leary, Lewis Black, and Billy Gardell. He realized not long ago that had the ability to tell stories when he was in Post cutting together “Holding On” in which he was choked up by the end result. “I DIDN’T CRY! I was just so happy that the knowledge I attained just under a decade could be coordinated with such an amazing cast, crew and soundtrack to give a punch of worthiness in this industry, though there were parts I still would have changed I have to accept that I will never be happy with my work. It showed me the realism of being an artist in full”. He is involved with Margrave Pictures because he shares the same drive and has the passion to get it done. His pet peeves are people with Ego’s. “I’m not gonna lie, I thought I knew everything too and had that spark of I’m always right. But you have to set that aside and assume you know nothing and take in everything with questions until the end result makes reasonable sense. This will help you learn. If it doesn’t, make suggestions and don’t be a jerk about it.”

Edward D. Goree – Advisor

Edward D. Goree was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan on July 20, 1984. Mr. Goree grew up on Detroit’s Westside off of Joy Rd and Evergreen. He attended Lessenger Middle School and later moved to Belleville, Michigan to attend Belleville High School (where ‘techno’ was invented in 1982 by the Belleville Three of Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson & Derrick May). Goree graduated in 2003 and enrolled at Eastern Michigan University where he met a humorous deviant named Ryan Place and received his B.S. degree in Electronic Media and Film. His primary film influences are Quentin Tarantino, Antoine Fuqua, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese. Mr. Goree likes to take long dark walks on the moon to feel the moon dust between his toes and tries to infiltrate the women’s mind without setting off any alarms. He once said that “The validity of Reality has never been questioned”, because he’s living out his own biopic on the daily grind. Mr. Goree’s long-term goal for Margrave Pictures is to able to be part of something that is going to have World Domination and believes strongly in the all-inclusive rolling blob of Margrave that sucks people in like a dreamless amoeba. Mr. Goree’s pet peeves are smart stupid people and people that know absolutely nothing, but think they know it all.

Al Jamm – Financial Advisor

Ala Jammalieh, aka Al Jamm, eagerly popped out of a perfectly dilated cervix, head first, almost three weeks before he was due on Thursday, November 21st, 1985 when the doctor smacked dat ass and the weeping of a brand spanking new baby was heard echoing down the 2nd floor hallways of Princess Haya Hospital in Aqaba, Jordan. His father, a commercial marine pilot, was always on the move and as a result, Al attended seven different schools in five different cities in three different countries! Enticed by the glamour and filmmaking and general awesomeness of the West, Mr. Jamm had always wanted to gain his higher education credentials in the United States of America.  At the fragile age of seventeen, Jamm moved to Detroit, MI where he absent-mindedly attended classes at Wayne State University for about 6.5 years, only to gain a four year degree in Kinesiology. Unable to find a job in his field, Al Jamm decided to satisfy a stereotypical role that he felt was under-represented at the time he lived in Dearborn, MI. So he started working at a gas station and later on moved to a liquor store. Not pleased with the job market, he then partnered up with his uncle and started a Home Health Care Business in Indiana where he currently lives. Jamm began questioning the validity of this reality we call life when Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston decided to call it quits. He underwent two out-of-body experiences and one session in Taoism to help him calm down and started following the works of Alex Jones and George Noory. Since a young age, Al Jamm has always been into story telling, performing and grabbing the attention of strangers. He would perform magic tricks to make new friends whenever he changed schools or moved to a new city. He memorized jokes and some circus acts that he saw live and would perform them to his cousins whenever he went back to visit them in Jordan. His cinematic influences include geniuses and characters such as: Jerry Seinfeld, Loui CK, Woody Allen, Larry David, Chris Rock, Hannibal Lecter, Norman Bates, Ted Bundy, Guy Ritchie, Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese. Al Jamm is incredibly random, energetic, passionate, and a little bit weird. His three fears in life are: getting struck by lightning, getting eaten by a shark and turning schizophrenic. Jamm seems to easily get annoyed and irritated by drivers who switch lanes without signaling or folks who don’t distinguish between “your” & “you’re”. Al Jamm met Ryan Place for the first time back in 2006 when he was a physical trainer and Ryan approached him with a literal fourteen question list regarding the compatibility of entheogens and cannabinoids with a healthy lifestyle. Shortly after Mr. Place founded Margrave Pictures, he introduced Al to the ever-growing family and Al’s loyalty to Margrave was immediately solidified. Mr. Jamm wants to help the company grow and become well-known. He has interests in writing and acting, and will be contributing his thoughts whenever someone is pretending to listen.

Larry Francis – Advisor Emeritus

Mr. Francis was born in 1951 on Detroit’s Upper Eastside and has since moved to Ann Arbor where he is a performance poet and teacher. Larry Francis remains a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a befuddling eggroll of Chinese mist wrapped in a flabbergasting strait-jacket of oatcakes. His whereabouts and howabouts are currently unknown. Francis is a parachuting hermit who drops in when needed to mediate Margrave Pictures in-fighting, he’s the one gleefully dispensing polo mallets and long socks full of chicken fat.

Henry B. Aldridge – Advisor Emeritus

Dr. Henry B. Aldridge was born in 1943 in Chattanooga, Tennessee and has been passionate about cinema since he started going to the movies when he was twelve. Aldridge graduated from a private all-male prep military school McCallie in 1961, got his B.A. in 1963 and M.A. in 1965 in literature from UNC Chapel Hill and received his Doctorate from the University of Michigan in 1973. Dr. Aldridge is a classicaI music aficionado with an extensive record collection, he also owns a Steinway grand piano and plays the theater organ. Aldridge was one of the Incorporating Officers of the Michigan Theater Foundation and his efforts helped save the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor from being destroyed in 1979. Aldridge created the Film Studies and Electronic Media program at Eastern Michigan University in 1972 and has been a professor there ever since. Aldridge loves world travel, classical music, bike riding and all things cinema. His primary cinematic influences are Italian neorealism (particularly Vittorio de Sica’s 1948 Bicycle Thieves), French New Wave and classic British films. Dr. Aldridge hopes that Margrave Pictures will give many people the exciting opportunity to exhibit their work for an international audience.

Robert Oliver – Website Advisor

Robert Oliver was born in June of 1980 in Southfield and grew up in Plymouth, Michigan. He graduated from Plymouth-Canton High School in 1998 and attended University of Michigan – Dearborn, Schoolcraft College and Madonna University over an eleven year span. In 2009 he received his Bachelors of Science from Madonna University in Management Information Systems with high honors. While at University of Michigan – Dearborn he was Executive Producer of the student run organization known as Campus Video. Robert currently works as a Systems Analyst for a utility company and in his spare time enjoys tinkering with computers and electronic equipment, watching movies, playing video games, building websites, playing poker, watching sports, and spending time with his wife and pets. At one time during his lengthy college career he was a communications major with a minor in film and considered some of his major cinematic influences to be Diggstown, The Big Lebowski, the Back to the Future Trilogy, anything Star Trek, and lots of cheesy action and/or science fiction movies. In 2010 he was ordained as a Dudeist priest by The Church of the Latter Day Dude. He began questioning the validity of this reality when he accidentally took the red pill. As an IT professional his list of pet peeves is quite lengthy and would take entirely too long to list here. Let’s just say you better have rebooted your computer at least once before you call him for help. His primary function with Margrave is to be the resident website guru along with helping out elsewhere behind-the-scenes. Robert would like to see this site continue to grow as Margrave grows by adding more content and more reasons to visit the site. Robert Oliver is a profoundly gifted computer genius who has succeeded in making the Margrave Pictures website fresh and interesting.