Martin Reese
CEO at Birth of a Notion, LLC
Producer, Screenwriter and Director
Cleveland, Ohio
November 2014
2 days ago
0
About Martin
Martin Reese is a worldbuilder who hails from Cleveland, Ohio, the home to the only NBA team to overcome a 3-1 deficit in the NBA Finals. The son of parents who introduced him to comic books, science fiction, and classic films he loved telling stories. He wrote and illustrated his first book in 1st grade called LIONEL AND THE MAGIC PEBBLE (unpublished) about a rabbit who finds a magic pebble and uses it to transform into a hawk in order scare off a hawk that was after his parents.
Inspired by the movie STAR WARS in 1977 at the age of 11, he dreamed of a career in special effects. He was so enthusiastic that he wrote to a columnist who specialized in career advice and asked how he could get into the special effects industry. The columnist responded by recommending that he go into carpentry. Martin could not visualize how being a carpenter would lead to building Star Destroyers and X-Wing Fighters. Seeing no other viable opportunities at that time to pursue his dream he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Cleveland State University. But he never gave up on his initial goal. In order to increase his opportunities to work in the entertainment industry, he took courses in 3-D animation and multimedia design. His work was displayed by organizations such as the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Cleveland Lumberjacks (AHL Hockey), the Cleveland Rockers (WNBA), and Sherwin Williams. He continued to write. In 2004 he wrote, produced and directed his first film, a horror short called SOUL POSSESSION.
He published the storybook MULOGO AND HIS QUINTUPLE OF TROUBLE (Amazon), about a boy who accidentally conjures a five-headed dragon while under the tutelage of a wizard, based on his short screenplay of the same name. The short screenplay was a quarter-finalist in the 2014 Bluecat Screenplay Competition. He co-produced a short film based on his award-winning short horror screenplay THE SNEEZE (2018 Wildsound Festival Best Short Screenplay and the 2020 Madwerkz VFX Award). It was shot in LA and is currently on festival runs. He is the founder and administrator of the Facebook group PEOPLE OF COLOR SCI-FI FILMMAKERS COLLABORATIVE, an inclusive networking and learning space that encourages the creation of film projects in the genres of sci-fi, fantasy and horror that feature People of Color.
His feature length horror script THE EYE OF OWUO was named the winner of the Micro-Budget Horror Script Competition (2020) sponsored by Stage 32, Trick Candle Productions, and Glass House Distribution. The logline for the EYE OF OWUO won the LA Screenwriter Logline Contest (March 2016) and was one of the featured loglines in their website article 3 SIMPLE STEPS TO A BETTER LOGLINE. Martin lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio with his wife of 27 years Stephanie.
Unique traits: Licensed Professional Engineer with a Master of Public Administration degree
Badges
Links
Loglines
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Herman Budget: $100K - $1M | Sci-fi A stranded alien goes on a killing rampage against neighborhood vigilantes after they kill his best friend, a homeless man wrongfully accused of an attempted rape.
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The Sneeze Budget: $0 - $100K | Horror One man's failure to exercise proper etiquette after a co-worker sneezes leads to demonic possession.
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Dark Empire Sci-fi Following his brother the emperor's assassination, a reluctant crown prince ascends the throne of a galactic empire on the verge of collapse, while an old enemy threatens to reignite an interstellar war that could end humanity.
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The Eye of Owuo Budget: $100K - $1M | Horror A desperate mother uses ancient African magic to resurrect her daughter, and then realizes that the price for keeping her daughter alive entails taking the lives of others.
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Mulogo and His Quintuple of Trouble Budget: $0 - $100K | Animation ⋄ Family When a sorcerer's apprentice Mulogo reads a spell from a forbidden book of magic he accidentally conjures a malevolent five-headed dragon that he has to find a way to get rid of before the sorcerer returns.
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Majk Horror ⋄ Crime In a modern-day city where humans and mythical creatures live in discordance, two detectives, one a highly-attuned empath and the other an elven cynic, must work together to prevent a series of ritualistic murders that could unleash a host of malevolent demigods from their ancient prison.
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A Grand Day Out Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy A young man's attempt to come out to his parents takes a turn when they begin to reveal secrets about themselves that he wishes they hadn't
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Burp! Budget: $0 - $100K | Horror ⋄ Comedy A father finds out that's his son's claim that a monster is under his bed isn't necessarily wrong.
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Second Date Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy A man tries to salvage a disastrous first date while on the drive to drop his date off.
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The Erth Chronicles Fantasy On an Earth conquered by a magical realm, two brothers go on a quest to find their long lost father who disappeared searching for the key to freeing their world from the tyrannical extra-dimensional Overlord.
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Checkmate Budget: $0 - $100K | Comedy An avid chess player who views life as a chess game has to confront his toughest opponent: his wife.
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Ice Budget: $0 - $100K | Sci-fi Soldiers on a training mission on a distant planet find themselves in a fight for their lives against planet's apex predator.
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The King's Pawn Budget: $0 - $100K | Fantasy A pawn ponder's its station in life on the chess board.
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Tommy Budget: $0 - $100K | Fantasy A robber gets more than he bargained for when he attempts to rob the mother of the man he murdered.
Credits
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The Sneeze (
2022 )
Film (short) by Birth of a Notion, LLC & Haynes Entertainment/Gerald Haynes (Horror) Writer -
Soul Possession (
2004 )
Film (short) by Birth of a Notion Producer, Writer, Director
Awards
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Short.Sweet.Film Fest (The Sneeze)
(2023) -
Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival (The Sneeze)
(2023) -
10th Annual Search for New Blood Contest Semifinalist (The Eye of Owuo)
(2023) -
Black Boy Writes/Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative Quarterfinalist (Majk)
(2022) -
Stage 32/Trick Candle Productions Micro-Budget Horror Script Competition Winner (The Eye of Owuo)
(2020) -
Madwerkz VFX Award (The Sneeze)
(2020) -
Wildsound Festival Top 20 Short Screenplay (The Sneeze)
(2018) -
LA Screenwriter Logline Contest (The Eye of Owuo)
(2016) -
BlueCat Quarterfinalist Short Screenplay (Mulogo and His Quintuple of Trouble)
(2014)
Education
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Cleveland State University
(1984-1991)
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