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 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]
Personal life
Traina was born on October 22, 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 Traina, is a technology entrepreneur in San Francisco and a contributor to the online magazine Huffington Post. His late brother Nick Traina was a member of the punk/ska band Link 80.
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.
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]
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)
References
- 1 2 3 4 "San Francisco Film Society Elects Jennifer Chaiken and Todd Traina to Board of Directors". Press release. San Francisco Film Society. October 8, 2009. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Zinko, Carolyne (February 5, 2008). "Todd Traina's passion is movies, not money". SFGate. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved May 2, 2010.
- ↑ "Todd Traina". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved May 4, 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 Howard, Mary (Winter 2008–2009). "Making Movie Magic: Close-up with independent film producer Todd Traina ´91". Connecticut College Magazine. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
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