Class Notes: 2010
As an Interdisciplinary Studies Field major, wearing many different hats on her debut feature film LOST & FOUND IN CLEVELAND felt organic for writer-producer-director Marisa Guterman ’10. Using the foundation of her created focus at Berkeley – Art’s Potential for Social & Political Change – she put her studies into action.
LOST & FOUND IN CLEVELAND is a look at the post-Industrial American Dream in the Industrial Midwest – a slice of life depiction over a 24-hour period that follows the personal odysseys of five very different people, whose lives intertwine when America’s favorite televised antiques appraisal show comes to Cleveland. It’s Best in Show meets The Wizard of Oz.
The Wizard of Oz was a political allegory at the turn of the last century, where Dorothy represented the common man, Tin Man the factory workers, Scarecrow the farmers. LOST & FOUND is a modern retelling of the condition of the American Dream 120 years later, set against the backdrop of America’s Rust Belt. Much like Tin Man, Scarecrow and Dorothy in the original myth, these everyday heroes – a retired LTV steel plant worker, a mailman and a Latino child – are emblematic of the archetypes who occupy contemporary life. Instead of a heart or a brain, they bring their objects to the Roadshow to the Great & Powerful Oz.
Through storytelling and the power of film, she explored the themes and motifs that echoed her research at Berkeley. Guterman says, “In a world marked by cynicism, a film about the sincerity of hope becomes a rebellious act.”
The kernel of the idea for the movie gestated while she was a student at Berkeley. It came to fruition when she met Keith Gerchak, co-founder of their production company Double G Films. For a better part of a decade, they navigated the rigorous and unpredictable course of the independent film world on their own Yellow Brick Road journey. With the film now completed, they are gearing up for an anticipated Holiday 2024 release.
Casting the film themselves, their award-winning ensemble includes Martin Sheen, Dennis Haysbert, Liza Weil, Stacy Keach, June Squibb, Santino Fontana, Esther Povitsky, Loretta Devine, Jon Lovitz, Jeff Hiller, Rory O’Malley, Dot-Marie Jones, and Mark L. Walberg (Host of Antiques Roadshow).
Their impressive creative team includes Cinematographer Davon Slininger (La La Land, Don’t Look Up), Editor Tricia Holmes (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), and Composer Sven Faulconer (The Elephant Whisperer, Top Gun: Maverick). Their producing partners are Oscar winners Shaun Redick & Yvette Yates (Get Out, Blackkklansman) and Tony winners Kevin McCollum (Rent, Avenue Q) and Hunter Arnold (Dear Evan Hansen, Hadestown). Their score is played by a 50-piece orchestra comprised of the musicians from La La Land and John Williams’s films.
This summer marks three years of Co-founding The Quality Edit (thequalityedit.com), is a modern media company at the intersection of content, curation, and conversion. The Quality Edit has become the go-to site for product recommendations, trend forecasting and more, and Scott Silver leads the Editorial Operation with over 50 writers contributing to the site monthly.
Scott just celebrated his first wedding anniversary this summer with his wife (and fellow Co-Founder!) Lee. The two were married last year amongst friends and family at the beautiful Hotel San Cristobal in Todos Santos, Mexico.
Melissa Blaustein is currently the Mayor of Sausalito. After graduating Berkeley in 2010, she got her masters in public policy at Science Po in Paris. She is getting her second masters in Homeland Security at Monterey Army base. A dedicated swimmer, she swam the English Channel in 2018. She is founder of Allied for Startups headquartered in Brussels.
Anderson Franco (J.D. 2013, B.A. 2010) is a Personal Injury Attorney in San Francisco, CA. He founded Anderson Franco Law and is focused on serving the Spanish-speaking community throughout California. He is proud to share that he was recently named a Rising Star by Super Lawyer magazine for the 5th year in a row. The attorneys selected as Rising Stars are limited to 2.5% of the outstanding emerging lawyers in Northern California. He lives in the Bay Area with his wife (M.B.A. 2019, B.A. 2010), and their puppy. From his family to yours, Happy 2023 and Go Bears!
Quinton Johnson, J.D. ’10, joined Stanton Law in April 2021. An active member of the bar in Georgia and New York, his business transactions practice focuses on advising and counseling entrepreneurs, start-ups, and small-to-medium businesses throughout the business life cycle. While at Berkeley Law, Quinton served as president and treasurer of the Law Students of African Descent and productions editor for the Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy.
