Jason Connell

Jason Connell is the president and founder of Connell Creations, a Los Angeles-based production company since 2004. The company was formed in Connell's hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1999 where the focus was on creating local commercials, corporate & wedding videos as well as short films. The relocation was an opportunity to tell bigger stories to wider audiences and by 2007 Connell had produced and directed his first feature length documentary, "Strictly Background", a heartwarming and humorous story about professional background actors trying to make it in Hollywood. The film won numerous US & International Awards and was released in 2008. Next came, "The Rock-afire Explosion", a nostalgic cult fan favorite documentary which explores the rise and fall of Showbiz Pizza Place, it's animatronic rock band, and the origins of Chuck E. Cheese's. The film received rave reviews in the USA Today, Time Out London and SPIN Magazine, received a theatrical run in Austin, Texas and was released in 2009. In 2011, Connell produced "I Do, I Don't", an insightful documentary looking into how one young Christian couple's struggling marriage clashes with their traditional Christian beliefs and "Gabi on the Roof in July", an independent comedy/drama which won multiple awards on the festival circuit and consisted of a breakout cast that would go onto mainstream projects. Connell next produced the hit documentary "Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians", which captures the inner workings of a team of professional blackjack players made up entirely of churchgoing Christians. The film garnered praise from CNN, The New York Times, The Colbert Report, and NPR's This American Life and was released by Warner Bros in 2012. Also released that year was "Cleanflix", a controversial documentary that examines the companies who self sanitize Hollywood films for Mormon audiences, as well as "GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling", Connell's second nostalgic cult fan favorite which chronicles the rise and fall of the first ever all-female wrestling show. The film premiered at Hot Docs, won the Comic-Con film festival and was released by MTV/LOGO. Netflix recently created a fictionalized series based on the documentary, which has become one of their most popular series. In 2013, Connell produced "Sadermania", a touching documentary about the true story of professional wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan and his number one fan, as well as "Tough Ain't Enough: Conversations with Albert S. Ruddy", a biopic documentary on the two time Academy Award winning legendary film producer ("The Godfather", "Million Dollar Baby", "Hogan's Heroes", "Cannonball Run"). Next came "County Fair, Texas", a cinéma vérité documentary based on a year in the lives of four, small-town kids as they raise and care for farm animals to show in competition at a local county fair, and was released in 2018 along with "Not Such A Bad Guy: Conversations with Dabney Coleman", a retrospective look at the storied career of the famous character actor ("9 to 5", "Tootsie", "WarGames", "Boardwalk Empire"). Connell has many more projects in development as he continues to fulfill his mission statement of bringing compelling films to life. Connell was also the founder and director of the highly celebrated United Film Festivals, which were located in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, London & Tulsa and ran from 2002-2014. The festival had a rich tradition of screening exceptional independent feature films, short films and select classic movies with the director, producer and cast members in attendance. Certain participants were immortalized, by having their hands cemented in front of the historic Vista Theatre in Los Angeles. These included legendary director John Landis ("Animal House", "The Blues Brothers", "American Werewolf in London", "Coming To America"), famous screenwriter Carl Gottlieb ("Jaws", "The Jerk", "Caveman", "Doctor Detroit"), and the late iconic cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond ("Deliverance", "Close Encounters", "Deer Hunter", "Blowout").