The Ballad Of Sandeep

Deep Roy: Lead Actor
www.deeproyinc.com

Deep is a little person who plays larger-than-life characters on T.V. and the big screen. His roles as an Ewok, Droopy McCool, R2D2, and Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi have endeared him to millions of moviegoers throughout the world. He and Simon Pegg are the only holders of a unique science fiction trifecta, namely to have appeared in the Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Star Trek franchises respectively.

Deep Roy made his professional screen acting debut as a character named Klokoe in a 1976 episode of The New Avengers entitled “Target!” He made his film debut that same year in The Pink Panther Strikes Again, in which he played the Italian Assassin. In the Doctor Who serial “The Talons of Weng-Chiang,” he was cast as the “pig-brained” Mr. Sin, a villain with a distinct appetite for homicide. He has played apes in two movies: Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, and the Tim Burton remake of Planet of the Apes (2001). He has worked for Burton in three other films: Big Fish (2003), Corpse Bride (2005), and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), playing all 165 Oompa-Loompas, a role for which he trained extensively in yoga, dance, and minor instrument playing.

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He has several other film and T.V. acting credits, including roles in The X-Files, Flash Gordon, Return to Oz, Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, and the fantasy classic The Neverending Story (he played Teeny Weeny, the rider of the “racing snail”). He appeared in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) as an Egyptian guard, and in both Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) as Keenser, Montgomery Scott’s assistant. In one of his more prominent speaking roles, Roy played Aaron, a violent Mumbai-born Mexican criminal, in the second season of the HBO comedy Eastbound & Down. Deep also starred as Sandeep Majumdar in the 2012 award-winning short film The Ballad of Sandeep.

Derek Frey: Director, Producer
www.lazerfilm.com

Derek has a long and successful working relationship with director Tim Burton, running Tim Burton Productions for the past 13 years. Most recently Derek co-produced Frankenweenie, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Picture in 2012. That same year he produced the music video Here With Me for The Killers. Derek is currently serving as Executive Producer on Big Eyes, starring Christoph Waltz and Amy Adams, slated for a 2014 release.

Derek has worked on over 15 feature films, and acted as Associate Producer on Alice in Wonderland, Dark Shadows, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Corpse Bride, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. His credits also include producer on the documentary A Conversation with Danny Elfman and Tim Burton; writer of the Frankenweenie-based short film Captain Sparky vs. the Flying Saucers; and editor of the comprehensive and award- winning publication The Art of Tim Burton. Derek worked closely with curators from MoMA for the creation of the Tim Burton touring exhibit, which has made record-breaking stops in New York City, Toronto, Melbourne, Paris, Los Angeles, and Seoul.

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Derek has directed his own films and music videos, including The Ballad of Sandeep, which has appeared in over 35 film festivals and brought home 16 awards, including Best Director at the Independent Film Quarterly Festival, and Best Featurette at the Las Vegas International Cinefest. In 2013 he directed the comedic short Sky Blue Collar, which has been accepted into several film festivals around the world. Derek was awarded Best Director of a Short Film at the 2013 Chicago Comedy Film Festival for his work on Sky Blue Collar. He is currently in post-production on the featurette horror Green Lake, filmed on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Derek was born in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, and holds a Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude in Communication Studies from West Chester University.

The Minor Prophets: Writers
www.minorprophets.com

The Minor Prophets are a four-man comedy troupe from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since 2001, they have written, directed, and produced over 35 short films, the best of which have screened at the Trocadero Theater, the Bryn Mawr Film Institute, and New York’s Variety Underground. Also practiced in the art of sketch comedy, the troupe has performed seven full-length stage shows (among them World War Five, Altogether Awesome, and Fade to Yellow) at select venues in Philadelphia, New York, and Atlantic City. The Ballad of Sandeep marks their third venture with long-time collaborator Derek Frey, and their first with Mr. Deep Roy. They have recently completed work on the script for the feature-length version of The Ballad of Sandeep.

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"Students in the school of show business."
--Matt Smith, Philadelphia Metro

"Other sketch comedy troupes may rely on thinly veiled political commentary, slapstick and general gimmickry. But by combining sketch comedy with prerecorded short films, The Minor Prophets do all they can to flout convention."
--Maggie Serota, Philadelphia Weekly

"The funniest thing to come out of Pennsylvania since M. Night Shyamalan. The Minor Prophets are the absolute masters of WTF comedy. They've made about three dozen films over the last decade, and each is distinguished by a classical approach to writing and structure. They're very serious about making seriously funny films."
--openfilm.com

"Absurdity in motion."
--Mishael Devlin, The Triangle

Josh Roth: Producer
www.fatdragonfilms.com

Josh Roth has been working professionally in film since 2000. Immediately following graduation from college, Roth produced the micro-budgeted feature film Making Revolution, orchestrating a cast/crew of over 400 people to complete the project.

Roth next collaborated with Derek Connelly and Colin Trevorrow (Safety Not Guaranteed, Jurassic Park IV) on the independent television pilot GARY: UNDER CRISIS, which went on to premiere at the inaugural New York Television Festival in September 2005. The pilot subsequently sold to Touchstone Studios and was widely touted as a landmark independent television success.

Roth then made the calculated decision to work in various departments on numerous sets to better understand producing from every vantage point. Roth’s projects have included Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Steven Spielberg), Alice In Wonderland (Tim Burton), Men In Black 3 (Barry Sonnenfeld), Oblivion (Joseph Kosinski), and Fast & Furious 7 (James Wan). Roth credits his extensive knowledge of film production to lessons learned under the aforementioned directors and producers in collaboration with every major studio.

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During this time, Roth also produced myriad projects through his company Fat Dragon Films, including music videos, short films, television pilots, and feature films. As a producer, Roth oversees projects from development through delivery, routinely bringing his projects in on time and either at or under budget. While fiercely protective of both the bottom line and the director’s vision, Roth has nurtured numerous vendor relationships, enabling him to consistently deliver films with exceedingly high production values for reasonable rates. Thus far, projects that Roth has worked on have grossed well over a billion dollars at the box office.

The Ballad of Sandeep marks the first collaboration between Fat Dragon Films, Lazer Film, and the Minor Prophets.

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