CHARIN R. BARONE, Producer

Charin R. Barone is an entertainment industry veteran who has worked alongside such producers and studio executive luminaries of our time as, Norman Lear, Ted Turner, Amy Pascal, Dawn Steel, and others. She has worked in both film and TV at Disney, TNT (Warner Bros.), Columbia (Sony) and Embassy (Universal). In 2010, Ms. Barone launched Black Label Filmworks, LLC to fulfill her dream of bringing impactful film and television projects to life that excite and unite audiences, transcending barriers of all form.

Ms. Barone began her career at Norman Lear’s TAT/Embassy Communications during the heyday of production for this legendary TV producer and mini-studio. During her time there, Ms. Barone saw production of such hits as “All in the Family”, “The Jeffersons”, “One Day at a Time”, “The Facts of Life”, “Who’s the Boss?”, “Diff’rent Strokes”, “Silver Spoons”, “227” and more. Embassy TV Produced over 20 hit sitcom series over a 13-year period, with a record-setting 12-shows on-air at one time. In addition, Mr. Lear also operated Embassy Pictures, producing such notable films as “Fanny and Alexander”, “Eddie and the Cruisers”, “The Sure Thing”, “Emerald Forest” and “A Chorus Line”, along with a series of now classic genre films, such as “This is Spinal Tap”. Embassy Home Entertainment was the third element completing Embassy Communications, which led the way in launching the nascent home video industry.

Throughout her association with Mr. Lear and Embassy Communications, Ms. Barone held multiple roles, which including supporting studio Public Relations and Publicity under the venerable Barbara Brogliatti. She then went on to manage the executive offices directly for Mr. Lear. After the sale of Embassy Communications in 1985 to Coca Cola, Ms. Barone worked in Comedy Development for the newly transitioned Columbia Pictures Television. In 1987, she rejoined Mr. Lear with his launch of Act III Communications, working directly with Mr. Lear and managing Operations for the new organization.

In 1990, Ms. Barone accepted a position in Disney Studios’ Operations Management. Shortly thereafter, Ms. Barone had the opportunity to join Dawn Steel, the former President of Columbia Pictures, as she established her new production company, Steel Pictures, in association with Disney. During her tenure at Steel Pictures, Ms. Barone oversaw Operations, coordinated with the studio, interfaced with talent and supported Ms. Steel with production of such films as, “Sister Act 2”, “Cool Runnings”, “Honey I Blew Up the Kid” and “What’s Love Got to Do with It”.

Ms. Barone moved to Columbia pictures in 1994, to work with Amy Pascal in the studio’s Executive Offices during the production of, “Little Women”. She joined Ms. Pascal in a move to Turner Pictures/TNT (Turner Network Television), where she supported Ted Turner and Ms. Pascal through the production of, “Last Stand at Saber River”, “Rough Riders”, and “Andersonville”.

In 2000, Ms. Barone began pursuit of a teaching and ministry practice that saw her and her husband (TV Writer) return to their ranching home in South Dakota. Throughout this period, Ms. Barone also remained a sought after motivational speaker and coach with a focus on family and personal enrichment.

2010 marked the launch of Black Label Filmworks, with the beginning of a series of long-form Western TV projects. And in 2012, Ms. Barone led organizing of an event that reunited over 400 of the original Embassy Communications industry alumni, honoring Norman Lear for his legacy of accomplishment and impact on the lives of so many throughout the entertainment industry.

Ms. Barone looks forward to shepherding Black Label Filmworks’ slate of fine film and TV projects through production in achievement of her continuing goal to bring change to the world through positive, impactful entertainment that inspires and delights.

TROY BROWNING, Producer

Troy Browning is an entertainment industry veteran who worked his way up through the production and studio ranks before venturing outside the industry as an entrepreneur/business owner.  He began his career working at the legendary Embassy Communications with such luminaries as Norman Lear, Jerry Perenchio, Glenn Padnick and Alan Horn.  Starting in marketing, he quickly moved into development at Columbia Pictures Television during the heyday of sitcoms.  He then joined Dawn Steel’s production team at Columbia Pictures.  Browning eventually left the studio to work with iconic music and film producer, David Geffen, and later moved into independent film production. 

With the downturn of independent film production by the early 2000’s, Browning turned to the burgeoning convergence of the tech and entertainment industries, launching Beacon Interactive Group in 2008.  Then in 2015 he partnered with long-time friend and colleague, Producer, Charin Barone, forming Browning|Barone.  With the renewed vigor of film, TV and streaming production, the two look forward to shepherding a slate of projects to market under their Browning|Barone, Ei2 Media label.

ROGER YOUNG, Director

Roger Young grew up on his Grandfather’s farm, and in the town of Mahomet, Illinois. Population 850. At age thirteen he moved to the big town of Bloomington, Illinois, where he learned to play pool, compete on the swim team, and circle the Steak-n-Shake in his buddy’s ’57 Chevy. After high school he went to the University of Illinois, where he almost flunked out the first year. By his junior year he was on the Dean’s List with straight A’s, in the school of Journalism.

Working his way through school meant working in a donut shop, selling shoes, corn de-tasseler, and finally stage manager at the local PBS station. That led to directing news shows. Then producing and directing an early morning talk show on the CBS channel in Champaign. After graduating from U of I, he spent a year in the sales department at the CBS affiliate while working toward his master’s degree. Hated sales ! Hated sales !! Moved to Indianapolis to direct the 5:30am Farm News show at the NBC affiliate. Then news shows, documentaries for Time/Life, and a variety show.

Chicago called. Producer of commercials for Foote, Cone & Belding Advertising. Then moved to directing commercials for a production company. And finally forming his own production company shooting Ford, Sears, Hallmark, and Johnson Wax commercials, among others.

When a friend told him to give Hollywood a try, Roger got an apartment in Los Feliz, and shuttled back and forth between LAX and ORD. After four months he was hired to be the Associate Producer on a MOW. Then Associate Producer on “Lou Grant”, the CBS series starring Ed Asner. There he was overseeing editing and spending a lot of time on the set. This was a graduate education in every phase of making a film. In the second year of the show Executive Producer Gene Reynolds gave Roger a shot at directing an episode. A few episodes later he won the DGA award and the Emmy for one of his episodes. Soon he was shooting films for television, and pilots. Later he moved on to mini-series, which has been the joy of his career, winning two more DGA awards, and working all over the world. 

DARRELL FETTY, Writer

…wrote and produced with Leslie Greif History Network’s successful miniseries Texas Rising, which won three Emmys, New York Film Festival Gold Medal Awards, Golden Reel awards, online film & television awards (Best Visual Effects and Costume Design) and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage award for Outstanding Television Feature. Directed by Oscar-nominated Roland Joffe and starring (among others) Bill Paxton, Kris Kristofferson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Olivier Martinez, Texas Rising earned the Screen Actors Guild “Best Actor in a TV Movie/Miniseries for Ray Liotta and the Women’s Image Network award “Best Actress in a Drama Series” for Cynthia Adai-Robinson.

Greif & Fetty’s Hatfields & McCoys miniseries for History, starring Kevin Costner and directed by Kevin Reynolds, was the highest rated entertainment cable telecast of all time, earning Emmy, Golden Globe, and Producer Guild Nominations for Darrell as well as sixteen Emmy nominations (with five wins) and two Golden Globes as well as Screen Actors Guild, Satellite, TCA, Critics Choice awards, and numerous other media and film industry nominations and awards for the miniseries. Darrell was originally inspired to tell the true version of this legendary feud by his first wife Carolyne McCoy, a descendant of both Hatfield and McCoy ancestors. Darrell partnered with Executive Producer Leslie Greif when both were just starting out in the film business and their journey to make the definitive Hatfields & McCoys was a years-in-the-making labor of love.

Darrell graduated at the top of his class from one of the last one-room schoolhouses in the nation at Balls’ Gap, West Virginia. Of course, he was also at the bottom of his class, since he was the only kid in sixth grade. As a teenager, Darrell went from playing piano for a church choir to singing and playing in Rock bands and acting. At Marshall University, he was active in theatre, WMUL TV & radio and the Parthenon newspaper. He was still in college when he created and fronted “The Satisfied Minds,” recording artists for Plato Records.

After graduation from Marshall, Darrell headed west. He soon got a job in the mail room of American International Pictures, working his way up to Story Analyst during the era of that storied company’s dominance in low-budget horror, “Blaxploitation,” and biker movies. He was also trying to kickstart an acting career by auditioning at every opportunity for Los Angeles theatre and student film productions, eventually landing roles at the Mark Taper Forum and Hollywood’s Ford Amphitheatre and in short films for, among others, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis (Back To The Future, Forest Gump), USC film students at the time.

Darrell continued his music career by joining the L.A. band “Pacific Ocean” with actor/singer Edward James Olmos (Miami Vice, Blade Runner, Academy Award nominee for Stand And Deliver). Their adventures during those early days have been chronicled by his bandmate Steven “Rusty” Johnson in the book Walk Don’t Run from Kalisti Publishing Co. Darrell’s other musical endeavors include composing songs for TV and movies and a stage collaboration with poet/writer James Kavanaugh called “Street Music,” a musical staged in San Francisco and Beverly Hills.

Darrell’s first paid acting job was as a teenage bully on Room 222, one of television’s first high school dramas. He went on to guest star in over one hundred roles on episodic TV (Happy Days, Starsky & Hutch, Kojak, Streets Of San Francisco, Hawaii Five-O, Facts Of Life, thirty something, One Day At A Time, Fantasy Island…to name a few) as well as a number of television movies and miniseries (Gangster Chronicles, James Michener’s Centennial, Murder Ordained, Elvis And The Beauty Queen, etc.).

Darrell also had prominent roles in the feature films Endangered Species, Blood Beach, Stunts, The Wind And The Lion with Sean Connery and Candace Bergen, and writer/director John Milius’ surfing epic Big Wednesday. Darrell starred in several TV network pilots, including one about a rock band for CBS/Universal called Friends, (a title later used for a rather more successful series).

After Friends, Darrell began writing a screenplay intended as a starring vehicle for himself. The script, optioned but never produced, led to more writing jobs (TV’s Simon & Simon, Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer) and feature development deals. During this time, he teamed with MTV director Francis Delia to write music videos for recording artists Adam Ant, The Ramones, Jefferson Starship, Michael Murphy, The Blasters, and The Bangles.

Darrell married actress/model Joyce Ingalls (The Man Who Would Not Die, Deadly Force, Paradise Alley) in 1984. After the birth of their sons Derek & Tyler, Darrell turned to writing full-time, taking a staff job on the NBC series Viper and becoming a producer when the show was picked up by Paramount Pictures and UPN for worldwide syndication.

As a writer/producer for television, Darrell’s credits include the series Pensacola: Wings Of Gold, The Sentinel, Silk Stalkings, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, and, Supervising Producer on 18 Wheels Of Justice.

His produced feature films are Trouble Bound, Freeway, State Park, Paramedics, and Into The Fire. He has written screenplays for John Milius, Jeremy Thomas, Jerry Bruckheimer, Terry Melcher, Walt Disney Animation, Universal, Paramount, New World and other major studios.

Darrell and Joyce’s oldest son, aspiring writer/filmmaker Derek Fetty, worked as a writer/researcher on “America’s Greatest Feud: The Hatfields and The McCoys,” an historical documentary produced by Darrell for the History network. Their youngest son, actor Tyler F. Jackson, was featured in Texas Rising and in the Hatfields & McCoys miniseries in the role of the innocent McCoy boy, “Bud.”

In 2017 Darrell and Leslie wrote and produced the TV movie Dating Game Killer, directed by Peter Medak and filmed in Cape Town, South Africa. Darrell also had a recurring role as “Reverend Sutter” in five episodes of the CMT series Sun 6 Records. Darrell continues to write and develop feature films and series for television and digital media. He has a number of projects in development for various networks, including several which focus on the history of the American West and his Appalachian heritage. 

ZACK VAN EYCK, Writer

Zack Van Eyck is a film and television writer, director and producer. His features include the indie darling “Jupiter Landing” (2005), the award-winning auto racing film “Daytona Dream” (2010) and the romantic comedy “Three of One Kind” (2013). Two of his original feature screenplays have been optioned in 2020, giving him a total of seven film and TV projects now in development. He is available as a screenwriter for hire and works comfortably in all genres.

Four of Zack’s original television productions are available on Amazon Prime, including the Southern-influenced comedy satire “Sweet Caroline” and the sports-broadcast spoof “Coitus of the Week.” Those two projects were officially selected by 19 U.S. and Canadian film festivals, garnering 14 awards and nominations, including Best Director and Best Writer awards for Zack and a Best Actress award for Carolyn Meyer (“Sweet Caroline”).

Zack’s first novel was published when he was 12 and he began his professional journalism career at 14 as a sportswriter for The Anchorage Times. He won the Alaska Press Club’s Best Columnist award at age 17 and the Grantland Rice scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University. He won several national awards for investigative reporting and is known for breaking the “Skinwalker Ranch” story in 1996 while working for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City.