THINK B.I.G.
BENDELL INTERMEDIA GROUP, INC.
HISTORY
Don and Shirley Bendell love to work together as a team, but also enjoy working individually. In 1981, they spent their honeymoon editing the low budget motion picture "THE INSTRUCTOR." The film was written, produced, and directed by Don, who also co-starred, choreographed stunts, was a stunt double, and raised the money for the feature. Don and Shirley together edited and sound-mixed the film, and reshot the first twenty minutes as a team. Shirley was an associate producer, negative cutter, stunt woman, and supporting actress. Distributed by Shapiro Entertainment Corporation in Hollywood, the film was sold and shown in 164 countries around the world and was distributed on video by Vestron Video. The feature film received a good review in weekly "VARIETY" newspaper and a number of other publications. It made plenty of money for its distributor, but not for the Bendell's, which Don half-jokingly refers to as his "PhD in the feature film business."
"THE INSTRUCTOR"
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In the early eighties, Don hosted a local low-budget television talk show, which was produced and directed by Shirley. With actor-friend Tom Atha as co-host, the show went over well and was popular with a limited audience in southern Colorado. Don, in the mid-eighties, was hired to direct, and Shirley was hired to produce, a low budget television musical variety pilot featuring Colorado dancers and singers, with a special guest appearance by the late-great Richard Farnsworth. They brought it in $100 under-budget.
In the late eighties, Don and Shirley were set to produce and direct "THE REVENGE," a sequel to "THE INSTRUCTOR" with a $ 3.6 million budget, and had a distribution deal with Tri-Star Pictures. Don had developed a good friendship with legendary stuntman Dar Robinson, and the three were going to make a series of action-adventure movies, which Dar and Don would write, Don would direct, and Shirley would produce. For "THE REVENGE," Dar was going to revolutionize stunt history by jumping off the world famous Royal Gorge Bridge at a height of 1,053 feet, with a secret technique known only to Don and Dar's trusted friend and stunt engineer Ky Michaelson. Then, tragically and unexpectedly, Dar was killed in a freak accident after performing a simple stunt on the film "MILLION DOLLAR MYSTERY." Shortly after that, Tri-Star was bought by Columbia Pictures and the executives dealing with the Bendell's were let go, and Tri-Star backed out of the deal.
Don had written a screenplay about his experiences living and fighting with Vietnam's Montagnard tribespeople as a green beret lieutenant in South Vietnam in 1968 and 1969. The script was called "FULRO." Jim Morris, an ex-green beret, and editor at Berkley Publishing in New York read the script, had Don write one chapter and outline for a book, changed the name to "CROSSBOW," and made a deal with Don for his first book. Ironically, a few years ago, Walt Disney Studios released a motion picture based on a true story written by Jim Morris, entitled "OPERATION DUMBO DROP," and the tail credits of the film have a "special thank you" to Don Bendell for some technical assistance and some translation he did on the script.
Don and Shirley were executive producers of a one-hour television pilot, which Don starred in, wrote, and directed, and Shirley produced and edited, entitled COWBOY. Shot and mastered and edited on digital video, Don decribes COWBOY, quite simply as, ""A western David Letterman Show, crossed with HEE HAW on steroids." It features a lot of comedy, scenic Colorado vistas, big name guests, and lots of foot-stompin' western singing and music. The Special Guest stars were western singing legend Rex Allen, Jr., who also acted in several skits, and long time film and television star Buck Taylor, who portrayed Newly O'Brian for eight years on the long-running series GUNSMOKE. Don's co-host, Tom Atha, from his old talk show, flew in from LA to be co-host on COWBOY. Besides Rex, the music was provided by the award-winning Jim and Jeanne Martin and the Rockin M' Wranglers, as well as Don and Shirley's longtime friend Chief Robert Talltree. Shirley edited the one-hour special on the Avid editing system. The Bendell's financed it out-of-pocket and hope to sell the pilot but have found again distributors are very resistant to cowboy themes right now.
Shirley not only graduated with honors from the University of Southern Colorado with a bachelors degree in mass communication, with emphasis on film and television, and did graduate work in the same field, she also wrote, produced, directed, and edited a series of business videos and video documentaries, which resulted in a prestigious GOLD SEAL AWARD at the Denver International Video Festival for the Int'l Television and Video Alliance, as well as becoming a national finalist for both the Horizon and Telly Awards. Shirley is trained and experienced on the Media 100, Avid Express, and Avid editing systems. In 2003, she also worked as a production assistant for IMS Productions on TILLY, a film for PAX TV.
To book Don or Shirley for acting, stunts, production, post, or ancillary positions,
please contact Don and Shirley's Business Manager Ms. S. Ebert.
e-mail: sebert@donbendell
Bendell Intermedia Group, Inc. at PO BOX 276, Canon City, CO 81215-0276, (719) 269-3929, FAX: (719) 269-3974.
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