La Monte Edwards

La Monte Edwards first fell in love with pop culture growing up in the tranquil city of Meadville, PA. His family marveled at his ability to abandon household chores while he obsessed over comic books, television and movies. With a passion that began so early in La Monte's life, it's only natural he would set out on an exciting and often curious journey of filmmaking. Eager to develop his craft in the same classrooms as Woody Allen, Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese, La Monte graduated from New York University's film school in 1996. An internship at Tommy Boy Records lead to a full time position assisting the video commissioner, working on projects for Naughty By Nature, Coolio and De La Soul. La Monte would later start his own production company where he worked with record labels such as Jive and MCA. Directing, editing and producing music videos for artists such as Average White Band, 740 Boyz, Sugar Bear and Heather B, he eventually tip-toed into the commercial world directing national commercials for MTV Party to Go, DJ Mix and Trek Bicycles. Reflecting on his humorous childhood experiences, La Monte wrote his first feature length script, a coming of age comedy, My Favorite Cousin, which was chosen as a top five finalist in The IFP Gordon Parks Screenwriting competition in 2003. In 2004, La Monte wrote, directed and edited Anguish, a twenty-minute psychological drama that screened in New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Anguish was featured in The IFP Gordon Parks Showcase and later gained recognition with its "Best Film" win at The Spaghetti Junction Film Festival. Over the summer of 2006 in Los Angeles, La Monte learned some hard lessons while shooting a feature length film that he wrote and directed - proving how important resilience is (long story). Bouncing back in a big way, he later wrote and directed King of Paper Chasin' in New York with anticipation for a late 2010 release. La Monte is shopping Melvin the Magnificent, a feature length story of a magician from an unlikely background.