Caucus Spotlights New Members

The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors welcomes new members from among the elite creative talents in the entertainment industry. Here are the profiles for those who have joined us in the winter and spring of this year.

Bruce Miller, Creator/Showrunner/Executive Producer, The Handmaid’s Tale

Bruce Miller is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the critically-acclaimed, Emmy, Golden Globe and Peabody Award-winning series The Handmaid’s Tale, based on Margaret Atwood’s groundbreaking novel.

The series recently aired its second season on Hulu, for which it was nominated for 20 Emmy awards, and will be returning for a third season in June 2019. The show was the recipient of multiple Emmy awards for season one, including Outstanding Drama Series and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for Miller.

The Handmaid’s Tale also won the Peabody Award; the Golden Globe for Best Television Series, Drama; the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Drama Series; the PGA Award for Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama; two WGA Awards, for Best Drama Series and Best New Series; and was honored by AFI as one of the top ten TV programs of the year.

Miller began his writing career on NBC’s long-running hit ER, and has been a writer/producer on Syfy’s Eureka and Alphas, and the CW’s The 100.

Originally from Stamford, Connecticut, Miller attended Brown University, and currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife Tracy, with whom he has three children.

James Pickens, Jr., Actor

Actor James Pickens, Jr. is best known for his starring role in ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. He has currently joined the cast of the modern day western Yellowstone with Kevin Costner and the reboot of Roseanne, The Conners.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, James Pickens, Jr. started acting at the Karamu House, distinguished as the oldest African-American theater in the United States.

After moving to New York, he performed in the historic 1981 production of Charles Fuller’s A Soldiers Play at the Negro Ensemble Company with fellow cast members Denzel Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. He was a member of the famed Circle Rep/Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s co-production of Lanford Wilson’s Balm in Gilead, and starred as Walter Lee in the 25th anniversary revival of A Raisin in the Sun at the Roundabout Theater.

On the big screen he has been directed by some of the film industry’s best, including Steven Soderbergh in Traffic, Oliver Stone in Nixon and Warren Beatty in Bulworth, and he appeared in four Barry Levinson films — Sleepers, Sphere, Jimmy Hollywood and Liberty Heights. He portrayed slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Ghosts of Mississippi (directed by Rob Reiner), and played Angela Bassett’s ex-husband in How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Other films include Menace II Society, Home Room, Gridlock’d and Just Wright, starring Queen Latifah and Common. He appeared in 42, the feature about baseball legend Jackie Robinson, which starred Harrison Ford and was directed by Brian Helgeland.

Well known to television audiences for his recurring roles on such series as NYPD Blue, The X-Files, The Practice, Philly, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under, The West Wing, Roseanne and Beverly Hills 90210. Pickens also starred opposite Rob Lowe in The Lyons Den (NBC) and with William H. Macy and Felicity Huffman in A Slight Case of Murder (TNT).

For his role on Grey’s Anatomy, he received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Drama Ensemble and won an NAACP Image Award.

He and his wife oversee the James Pickens, Jr. Foundation, whose mission is to enhance the lives of families and children in underserved communities. He hosts an annual charity roping event in Clovis, California which draws some of the best team ropers in the sport. He and his wife, Gina, a singer, have a son and a daughter.

Jonathan Sanger, Academy Award Winning Producer/Director, Broadway Producer, Media Advisor, Entertainment Financial Consultant

Jonathan has lead initiatives in virtually every sector of the filmed entertainment and media industry for the last forty years. He’s also produced prominent films in each of the last 4 decades, including The Elephant Man and Francis, which was rewarded with eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, as well as having won both the British Academy Film Award for Best Motion Picture and the French Cesar Award. He has made a strong impact on critics and audiences alike Producing films like Without Limits, Vanilla Sky, Suspect Zero, Paraiso Travel, Chapter & Verse and Marshall. Jonathan has supported and advised filmmakers and investors in making wise choices and innovative decisions in every part of the entertainment media space. To date his films have received 3 Academy Awards, 21 Academy Award nominations, a British Academy Film Award and a French Cesar Award.

Sanger formed Chanticleer Films and created The Discovery Program in the late 1980’s. Forty-two short films were produced, including the Academy Award winning and internationally acclaimed Ray’s Male Heterosexual Dance Hall as well as Academy Award winner, Session Man. Additionally, Chanticleer received seven more Academy Award nominations, and all the Discovery Program shorts have won awards at numerous international film festivals.

Jonathan is a member of the Directors Guild of America, The Screen Actors Guild, The Producers Guild of America, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and The Television Academy of Arts & Sciences.

You can follow his media activities on www.jonathansangerproductions.com.