MISSION
Zephyr Entertainment is an award-winning full-service production company based in Los Angeles, California. We are a collective of filmmakers that excels at bringing a polished aesthetic and mass-market ambition to high-concept, low-budget horror films. Our inspiration is the genre revolution of the 1970s, when a new generation of artists merged the artistic freedom of independent exploitation films with the mainstream appeal of the horror genre to launch themselves to the apex of Hollywood entertainment. We see a similar moment happening right now, and we have the ingenuity and skill set to bring our specific vision to a wide, dedicated audience with our current slate of under 5 million dollar horror features.
For over half a decade, Zephyr Entertainment has produced a wide variety of short-form content including music videos, commercials, narrative shorts, web series, sketch comedy and live music/performing arts recordings. Our award-winning films and videos have screened in theaters and film festivals across the nation to critical acclaim. Zephyr’s premium online content premieres on the industry titan platform, Amazon Prime, as well as broadly across the internet on Youtube, Vimeo and Facebook. Through these platforms, Zephyr’s projects have amassed millions of views online. Individually, members of Zephyr’s team have produced music videos, short films and web-series that have generated tens of millions of views online, won numerous awards and garnered critical acclaim.
THE TEAM
MIKE SMITH
PRESIDENT | CEO | CO-FOUNDER
Hailing from a small town in New Jersey you’ve never heard of, Mike is a visual storyteller for screens of all shapes and sizes. While studying at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, Mike envisioned a creative network whose strength lies in collaboration, which led to him co-founding Zephyr with his peers. Since then he has written, directed, edited and produced over a dozen award-winning shorts, web series and music videos such as the drama thriller Kismet (LA Shorts Film Festival 2019) the frat gangster comedy Brosa Nostra (HollyWeb Festival 2017), and the short documentary Seeking Shelter (Best Nature Documentary, Slamdance Film Festival 2017) as well as branded content for the likes of HBO and John Hardy Jewelry. Mike has also produced taped interviews for several members of Congress, including current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Now, Mike is developing and producing a slate of low-budget fiction and documentary features and pilots for production in 2021 & 2022.
MARC ROSENZWEIG
COO | VP PRODUCTION | CO-FOUNDER
Marc Rosenzweig is a Jewish kid from the Bible Belt. He is a graduate of the University of Southern California where he co-founded The Suspenders, a sketch comedy troupe which continues to this day and is now the longest running sketch troupe at USC. Marc continues to write, produce, and direct digital comedic sketches and his work has been featured by SketchFest Seattle, WhoHaha, and Funny or Die. Marc has written a collection of pilots, low-budget horror films and short films, which have won awards at several festivals including the Houston Comedy Film Festival. As a director and a producer, Marc's projects with Zephyr Entertainment have screened at festivals all over the country including Northeast Horror Film Festival, Crypticon Seattle, and Worldfest Houston.
KEVIN RAMLAL
DIRECTOR | WRITER | PRODUCER
Kevin Ramlal was born in Canada, raised in Texas, and is now based out of Los Angeles. He focuses on dark comedies and dramedies about identity while bending genres and visual aesthetics. Kevin graduated from University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts with a BFA in Film & Television Production, and a minor in Music Industry through the Thornton School of Music. During his time at USC, he produced the VR Thesis, blacclites, in collaboration with the JAUNT VR Lab.Through Zephyr, Kevin produced Seeking Shelter, a short documentary that premiered at Slamdance 2017 and won Best Nature Doc. Other accolades through Zephyr include selections in the LA Shorts International Film Festival 2019. In the digital space, projects he is credited on have collectively amassed millions of views between YouTube, Facebook, and Amazon Prime Video. Most recently Kevin has worked on Freeform's Kal Penn Approves This Message.
JASON DAVID
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Jason David graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in Dramatic Arts. Since then, he has lived in New York City, where he works as a writer, producer, and performer. With Zephyr, he wrote and co-produced the award winning short film Bum Promises in 2016, which won several awards on the film festival circuit. As a standup comedian, Jason performs regularly in New York City, as well as at clubs and colleges all over the country. He also regularly releases sketches as one half of the comedy duo Just Roommates.
JAMES GOLDBERG
DIRECTOR | WRITER | PRODUCER
James Goldberg is a third generation writer. By the age of 18 he was a nationally recognized filmmaker (YoungArts Winner). After graduating from USC School of Cinematic Arts with a degree in Film/TV Production, James has produced music videos with Grammy-winning artists like Kendrick Lamar, commercial work with partners like Google, Microsoft, and Bungie, TV shows for The History Channel, Discovery, and National Geographic, as well numerous short films that have won awards at festivals around the world. His documentary short, Seeking Shelter premiered at Slamdance and won best nature documentary. James, along with his father and grandfather, co-authored “The Hanged Man’s Tale,” which is due to hit shelves in spring of 2021 with Doubleday.
HAVEN JOHNSON
DIRECTOR | WRITER I PRODUCER | COMPOSER
Haven Johnson is an honors graduate of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts with a BA in Film Production and a minor in Screenwriting. After graduating, he worked as a producer's assistant for three years with Lenny Beckerman (Anonymous Content and Lotus Entertainment) where he assisted in the development and production of multiple studio feature films with Academy Award winning A-List talent. A lifelong writer, he has written over 18 feature films and TV pilots on spec. He has had multiple screenplays place as quarter-finalists in both the Page International Screenplay Awards and the ScreenCraft Horror Screenplay Competition. Haven has produced and directed multiple award winning horror and thriller short films, comedy web-series and music videos. Individual videos he has produced have reached tens of millions of views online. Haven is currently developing and producing a slate of films in the 1-3 million dollar range for production in 2021 & 2022.