Morning Person Pictures is both a play on the founder’s name and an ironic play on the fact that she is completely the antithesis of a morning person. Morning Person Pictures’ intention is to create, develop, produce and distribute content that celebrates diversity and evokes conversation.
Dawn Higginbotham
Principal Producer / Filmmaker / Consulting Producer / Author
Dawn is a member of the Producers Guild of America, SAG/AFTRA, #WeAreWITI, Women in Animation, and AWD. She is an Award Winning Writer / Director / Producer. Her directorial debut, “The Usual,” was an Official Selection at Cannes Film Festival American Pavilion Emerging Filmmakers and screened at ShortsCorner at the Cannes Market, as well as many others (with Producers Sharen Davis, Renee O’Connor and Kumari Bakhru). Currently Dawn is splitting her time, consulting on a digital comedy series in NYC and on a feature film in Massachusetts, she is in prep on a film and podcast with Julian Moses, in editorial on a comedy series, “UDriveMe” (written & directed by Angela Oh), and on “#WEFilmLA” a docu-series, producing and directing the digital series “Four O’Clock” and in development on the feature films “Passing Through,” “Future Plains” and “Strong Silent Type.”
Dawn started out in productions on films like; “Die Hard W/ A Vengeance” (John McTiernan), Jim Cameron’s “ Titanic,” “The Thin Red Line” (Terrence Malick), and “Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas” (Terry Gilliam). Dawn’s background also includes VFX on the films “Godzilla” and “Armageddon,” and post production, as a manager for Dolby Laboratories (working with various filmmakers and studios), and as a post production supervisor for Lucasfilm/THX, she worked along side various labs in L.A., Canada, UK, Italy and Australia overseeing film print quality on “Star Wars: Episode I, II, and III” (George Lucas), she also worked on a variety of other projects for major studios (DreamWorks, Fox, Paramount, Disney…)
As a writer, Dawn has written several screenplays, including “Off The Ledge” starring Brooke P. Anderson (The Perfect Host, Lost) and Andrew Pinon (Singled Out), who also co-wrote the film; Zosia Mamet (HBO’s Girls, The Flight Attendant), Jenny Mollen, Nectar Rose, and Anne Ramsay (League of Their Own); “Diamonds & Guns” (starring Renee’ O’Connor and Ted Raimi); and the upcoming “Passing Through” (Cordova Pictures). She has produced several distributed feature films and projects including; “Diamonds & Guns,” “Off The Ledge,” ”Night of the Templar,” “You Are A Star,” “Outside My Window,” “Infinity,” “Words Unspoken,” etc.
She went on to direct “Last Chance” (starring & executive produced with Renee O’Connor, and executive produced by Sharen Davis) and “The Hub” (starring Derrex Brady, Brandon Gibson, Paul McKinney, Raymond O’Connor, and with executive producer Sharen Davis), “DreamWorks 3D Animation with Valerie Lettera Spletzer” for BSTEM Hall of Fame Films.
Serving in a more executive role, Dawn was the CEO of Carl Laemmle Studios overseeing studio and content development, business and legal and content creation and acquisition.
Additionally Dawn is an author, co-authoring the top rated book on Book Authority, The Guide to Managing PostProduction for Routledge / Focal Press and currently working on the next postproduction book with her co-authors, as well as other collaborations.
For more details please see:
The Guide To Managing PostProduction For Film, TV & Digital Distribution
For more information please contact us at
info@morningpersonpictures.com
Sharen Davis
Collaborating Producer / Emmy Winning, Two-Time Academy Award Nominated Costume Designer
Sharen Davis, two-time Academy Award® Nominee, Emmy Winner (WATCHMEN), designed the wardrobe for diverse projects whose genres span several different eras; additionally for the series WESTWORLD Season 2, as well as films such as – Quentin Tarantino’s Academy Award®-winning, 1850s Spaghetti western homage, “DJANGO UNCHAINED,” Rian Johnson’s futuristic thriller, “LOOPER” and the 2011 Oscar®-nominated Best Picture, “THE HELP,” which explores life in the 1960s South, and most recently Antoine Fuqua’s “MAGNIFICENT SEVEN.”
Sharen produced the acclaimed film, “THE USUAL,” which was an Official Selection at Festival de Cannes and screened at Shorts Corner at the Cannes Market, as well as Palm Springs Shortfest, amongst others. She is Producing the upcoming feature film “THE STRONG SILENT TYPE,” currently in prep with Morning Person Pictures.
Davis herself earned Oscar® nominations for her work on Taylor Hackford’s award-winning biopic, “RAY” (for which Jamie Foxx won a Best Actor Oscar®) and the 2008 big screen musical, “DREAMGIRLS.” She also earned Costume Designers Guild Award nominations for “The Help,” “Ray” and “Dreamgirls” and a Broadcast Film Critics Association nod for “The Help.”In a career spanning three decades, Davis has collaborated six times with actor Denzel Washington (most recently on the upcoming films “Magnificent Seven” and “FENCES,” and on films such as Carl Franklin’s “Devil in A Blue Dress” and “Out of Time,” the Hughes Brothers’ “THE BOOK OF ELI” and Washington’s directorial efforts “ANTWONE FISHER” and “THE GREAT DEBATORS”; twice with Will Smith (“Seven Pounds,” “The Pursuit of Happyness”); and on two projects with Eddie Murphy (“Doctor Doolittle,” “Nutty Professor II: The Klumps”). Her motion picture credits also include the critically-acclaimed drama, “Akeelah and the Bee,” “Beauty Shop,” Franklin’s “High Crimes,” Brett Ratner’s “Rush Hour” and “Money Talks,” George Gallo’s “Middle Men” and “The Take” and Alan Rudolph’s 1992 crime thriller, “Equinox,” which marked her first credit as designer.
Renee O’Connor (ROC Pictures)
Collaborating Producer / Director
Julian Moses (Midnitemove Productions)
Collaborating Producer / Writer
Bill Killgore (Hui Productions)
Collaborating Producer
Brooke P. Anderson (Cordova Pictures / Gala Films)
Collaborating Producer / Writer / Director
Kumari Bakhru
Post Production Producer / Associate Producer / Co-Author
Susan Spohr
Post Production Supervisor / Associate Producer / Co-Author
Beth Schore
Web Designer / Graphic Artist (MPP)
Gragg Higginbotham
Graphic Artist / Poster Art (MPP)
Lauren Clifton (Loz Graphics)
Graphic Artist / Poster Art (Freelance)