Rick Derby
Producer and Director
Rick Derby has worked as a producer, director, editor and writer in documentary film, news, and independent and studio feature films for over twenty years. His resume includes work for Dateline NBC, Turner Broadcasting, Twentieth Century Fox, Tri-Star, Universal, Sony, and Paramount Pictures. Mr. Derby’s first film, Rocks with Wings, is a two-hour documentary about a women’s high school basketball team on the Navajo Reservation. As Producer, Director, Writer, and Editor, Rocks with Wings represents an impressive 13-year commitment of his talent, time, resources, and energy. Aired nationally on PBS as a Prime Time Special, the prestigious BBC Storyville strand & currently Canadian TV. The film received numerous awards at film festivals, including The HBO Feature Documentary Prize.
Mr. Derby’s diverse background in filmmaking proved helpful as Co-Producer, Editor and First Assistant Director of the independent feature Diamond Men, starring Robert Forster, Donnie Wahlberg, Bess Armstrong and Jasmine Guy. Diamond Men was featured premiered at The Hamptons Film Festival where a special jury prize was awarded to Robert Forster for his performance. The Stony Brook Film Festival awarded the film the Grand Jury Prize and the film also received a SPECIAL MENTION FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILMMAKING from the National Board of Review. Diamond Men opened to critical praise in major cities across the country. It appeared on Home Video, Showtime and The Sundance Channel.
Currently, Mr. Derby is in year four of Producing and Directing Axis of Good, a story from 9/11, a feature documentary about a New England family who builds a school for girls in Afghanistan as a memorial for their son, who was killed on 9/11, and as an alternative means to fight terrorism. The film is not yet completed. The FilmColumbia Film Festival graciously presented a “work in progress” section of the film on October 24th, 2009.
Mike Calvin
Co-Producer and Director of Photography
Mike Calvin's work has been featured on ABC World News Tonight, Boston.com and Naomi’s New Morning. He also shoots and edits video features for The A Team, a television blog run through GateHouse News Media.
Mr. Calvin has been an integral part of Axis of Good since the first shoot. Mr. Calvin’s drive to find perfect shot and outgoing personality has proved beneficial in the documentary.
Seasons are marked, not by the change in temperature, but in the annual shoots – from sugaring in late winter to fireworks on the Fourth of July to marking 9/11 with Don and Sally in their white house down the dirt path in Vermont. Mr. Calvin has become a fixture in the Goodrich household capturing every intimate moment. He is concerned for Sally as she undergoes chemo and excited for the Afghan students as they start college. It is this compassion that is evident in Mr. Calvin’s shooting and creates powerful moments in an already telling story.
Robert Wedge
Co-Producer and Editor
A filmmaker and aspiring screenwriter, Robert Wedge's passion for storytelling drew him to the Goodrich's story while still a student in college. The past four years, Mr. Wedge has worked in a variety of aspects on Axis of Good from editing promotional material to recording sound. His passion for film has been shaped working in post-production on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones and the up-coming HBO series Bored to Death. Mr. Wedge has worked as an editor at Mystic River Films and Moody Street Pictures on the reality TV pilot Extreme School. Currently, Robert is hard at work on the assembly cut of Axis of Good for a September 2011 release.Kathleen Rafiq
Co-Producer
Kathleen Rafiq, Multi-Cultural Development Program Consultant, is a seasoned writer and television producer who has earned an excellent national reputation as an advocate and educator about Afghanistan, its people and culture. She has been involved in the effort to implement a nationwide multicultural program on behalf of the organization and enhance Salute Our Services efforts in school systems throughout the U.S. bringing the country of Afghanistan, its people and culture to life. Additionally, she has provided information to develop presentations to be provided to educators, including curriculum outlines, and authentic Afghan materials.Jason Stant
Co-Producer
Jason Stant, a native of Williamstown, Mass., brings many years of
production experience to the documentary from a multitude of dramatic
television series, to numerous feature films and commercials, as well
as training videos for the U.S. government. Having spent the last
eleven years working in the New York film and television community as a
production manager, production accountant and post-production
coordinator, his past credits include: The Sopranos, Law and Order:
Special Victims Unit, The Taking of Pelham 1:23, Assignment Discovery
and Spider-Man 2. Jason played Little League baseball with Peter’s
younger brother, Foster.When he isn't working, Mr. Stant spends most of his time with his wife and 5-year-old daughter on the Jersey shore. Despite living in Yankee territory, Mr. Stant is a proud member of the Red Sox Nation.
Andrea Salisbury
Co-Producer and Still Photographer
Andrea Salisbury joined the Axis of Good crew in an official capacity in 2008, after years of casually attending shoots and contributing her abilities in time of need. Her background in community journalism lends a sense of gravitas to the production and has added a different and fresh perspective to the storytelling. Her experience as a newspaper editor for both The Dedham Transcript and the Daily News Tribune had made her a keen interviewer, capturing raw moments in story of the Goodrich family. Her skills as a writer and graphic artist are evident in many of the promotional materials she has created for grant and film festival applications and programs. Her visual sensibilities are displayed in her photography, capturing candid moments of the Goodrich family, the film crew and of the camaraderie and trust that exists between the two. She has proved invaluable in a pinch, often picking up a camera to serve as an extra cameraman or filling in audio duties as a boom operator.