Kent Victor Schuelke is The Rabble Rouser. He is an actor and filmmaker, and the editor of www.independentfilmsdirect.com. He has acted in several independent films and on-stage in Los Angeles, and he plans to direct from his own script (but not act in) a digital feature in 2008. He has a long history in film and television production (check him out on IMDb), and also worked in the video game biz. He got his start in journalism as a college freshman in 1981. In 1986, he interviewed movie legend Cary Grant for his little college paper and when the actor died a couple months later Schuelke sold his Grant talk to Andy Warhol's Interview magazine. He is a product of Hollywood's last Golden Era (1967-1980). As a child, Schuelke remembers seeing Bonnie and Clyde on the big screen at about age six. Schuelke watched American Graffiti about 30 times on the big screen at the little single screen movie house in the tiny Iowa farming village where he was reared. He has been almost singularly obsessed by movies since age four. His favorite films are the ultra realistic ones — Dog Day Afternoon is among his favorites and the purest description of the type of filmmaking he holds in highest regard. Schuelke lives in Los Angeles, and loves it. His current professional life is focused on acting, making films and writing about movies, and he is so happy with his life path that he might even consider dropping his therapist. But the Rouser will not go off his medication — his co-workers at IFD will see to that, for everybody's sakes.

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Kelley Baker has written and directed three features (The Gas Café, Kicking Bird and Birddog) and was the sound designer on six of Gus Van Sant's feature films including, My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, and Finding Forrester. In addition, Baker designed the sound on Todd Haynes feature film, Far From Heaven.

Kelley has written and directed eight short films which have aired on a variety of channels including PBS, The Learning Channel and Canadian and Australian television. His films continue to be shown at film festivals including London, Sydney, Annecy, Edinburgh, Sundance, Chicago, Mill Valley and Aspen. He was an Editor and a Sound Designer for Will Vinton's The Adventures of Mark Twain, as well as multiple Claymation Specials for CBS.

Kelley is currently promoting and distributing his short and feature films. His book, The Angry Filmmaker Survival Guide: Making The Extreme Low Budget Film will be out in Spring 2008. Kelley has spent the past six years touring the U.S., teaching his subversive brand of filmmaking at workshops during the day and showing his films at art house theaters and colleges in the evenings.

Kelley attended the University of Southern California's "Famous Film School", where he received a BA and an MFA in Film Production. He also did some post-graduate work at the American Film Institute. This and four bucks gets him coffee at Starbucks.

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Chandler Maness, AKA The Working Actor, is a product of post-modern apathy by way of a military upbringing. He was born in Coevorden, Holland in 1984 and enjoys dual citizenship. Courtesy of his father's occupation in the US Army, he moved every two years, living in places like Washington, D.C., Detroit, Germany, and South Carolina. His conservative upbringing planted the seeds for artistic rebellion that inspired Chandler to pursue the most unorthodox profession of all, acting. Chandler has enjoyed a fascination (some would say borderline obsession) with film for as long as he can remember. The movie that inspired him to become an actor was the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, which led the then 8-year-old to reenact the ear-cutting scene with his friends on the playground, much to the chagrin of his horrified teachers. Chandler finished high school in Washington, D.C., playing the anti-hero role for fellow theatre types due to his participation in school athletics such as basketball and football. Chandler attended College of Charleston in South Carolina with a double-major in Theatre and History, and a minor in Classics.  Chandler drove cross-country in January 2008 to pursue his dreams of being an in-demand indie actor. Since arriving in Los Angeles, he has met challenges, but more successes, including roles in eight films, commercials, and an extended stint as a NoHo Player. Chandler's favorite films range from the classic - On the Waterfront - to indie cult favs such as The Lookout and Swingers. Trained in Muay-Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he also loves martial arts films such as Ong-Bak: Thai Warrior and the gorgeous dreamscapes of Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In addition to acting, Chandler is a screenwriter and the associate editor of IFD. He utilizes many acting disciplines, but relies mostly on Stanislavski's Method and the Alexander techniques. Chandler's experiences as an upstart actor will be shared via The Working Actor blog, offering another perspective on the independent filmmaking process.

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