Introduce Yourself : Where Do I start? by Vicki Palatas

Since this is an industry site, I guess I'll go backwards! I'm an assistant producer for MJR Films. My duties range from initial reading/coverage of screenplays and TV scripts to unit manager on the production and everything that occurs in between those moments. Right now we have 4 amazing projects in varying stages of development; all with superb up-and-coming directors attached. Once the screenplays meet the directors' criteria, we will need funding. They range from $5 - 15M in budget, depending on talent of course. We moved to LA most recently in 2006 to let our 3 sons pursue careers in acting after agents committed to signing them if we moved here. The oldest son is currently in a slump, the middle one is finishing his "Elvis tour" in the Army and plans to return next year to act and/or do stunt work, and the youngest is keeping pretty busy. So yes, I was a stage mom until this year....but not the horrible kind! Please check them out on IMDB - Nick, Phillip, and Cameron Palatas respectively. My husband retired from the Navy in 1999 whereupon we ended up in Kansas City, MO (not KS for those of you who know the difference!!) Prior to his retirement we lived in Yokosuka, Japan; Newport, RI; San Pedro, CA; Virginia Beach, VA; Cambridge, MA; Washington, DC; and San Francisco, CA where we met, dated, and married. I worked for Wells Fargo Bank as the operations manager for the domestic instruments trading and sales floor including the safekeeping and systems. I was recruited there from Kansas City where I had a similar job at a regional bank. My decision to go the investment banking route came from my enjoyment of analyzing investment portfolios of audit clients while working for Deloitte Touche. My degree is in Accounting from the University of Missouri - Columbia due to my ingrained obedience to my parents who insisted I had to either be a teacher or an accountant. However my true love was vocal and stage performance. So all my electives in college were in theater and vocal performance! My husband is a nuclear engineer who can do absolutely anything engineering related. Surprisingly, he was in performance choirs and taught ballroom dancing while in undergrad at Tulane University. We never thought with 3 sons that we'd end up with actors, but I guess the gene pool was too strong!!