Gabriel Cowan
Encyclopedia
Gabriel Cowan is a filmmaker and composer
best known for his work on horror films Scream 2
, Scream 3
, Breathing Room
, and Growth
. He has also made documentaries, dramas, and comedies.
, CA on December 4, 1973 to Geoff Cowan and Aileen Adams.
He went to elementary, Jr. High, and High School at Crossroads school for the arts. In high school, his band, "Comfort Station", was featured on MTV
as one of Los Angeles's fastest up and coming bands. He went on to study film and composition at CalArts and USC
, obtaining a bachelors degree in music composition in 2000.
In 2005, he went back to school, earning his masters degree in film directing from CalArts in 2008.
His paternal grandfather, Louis Cowan, was a radio and television
producer, and the president of CBS
television and radio in the 1950s. He is attributed with having created the game show
, first for radio
and later, on television. Gabriel's maternal grandfather, Peter Adams, was an actor
best known for his rolls in Jail House Rock, Bullwhip
, and as Capitan Arturo Toledano in the Television series Zorro
. His uncle is Peter Seitz Adams
, the prominent painter and President of the California Art Club
.
Cowan's great grandfather is George B. Seitz
, his great uncle is acclaimed filmmaker King Vidor
, and he is cousins with Adam Spiegel, also known as Spike Jonze
.
(of Band fame) and the Tower of Power horns for a Barry Levinson
film entitled Jimmy Hollywood
.
Cowan went on to acquire a recording contract with Geffen Records
, and in 1996 released "Legs and Arms" with his band "Lode". They toured America
and Europe
, playing at venues such as The House of Blues
and the Greek Theatre
in Los Angeles, CA..
Despite critical success, "Lode" disbanded in 1998, and Cowan formed "Ear Two Thousand" with friends Sam Music and David Arquette
. They too toured America and Europe
and in 2000, Gabe received the first of two Platinum records for songs he wrote and recorded for the films Scream 2
and Scream 3
.
In 2001, Ear Two Thousand split, and Cowan composed his first score for the Roger Corman
film "Take it to the Limit". Cowan spent the next years producing and recording a series of albums and demos including performing and recording with Jackson Browne
and Ry Cooder
.
In 2004, Cowan pursued his passion for filmmaking by earning a Masters Degree in Film Directing at CalArts. In his first two years, he wrote and directed over 20 short films, including the critically acclaimed "Remove" and "Pharmaceutical" and co-directed and co-wrote a feature film entitled Breathing Room
which sold internationally, and is available in the United States
via Anchor Bay Entertainment
.
In his third year at CalArts, he produced Family of Four, a feature film that delves into the hidden lives of four family members as they struggle with their desires and limitations.
He also directed, shot, and produced Flower in the Gun Barrel
, a stirring documentary that explores the complexities of forgiveness and reconciliation in post genocide
Rwanda
. The film is produced by Amiee Clark and Monica Forouzesh, and is narrated by Martin Sheen
.
A few months after graduating, Cowan wrote and directed the film "Growth", a Science Fiction thriller that examines the ways in which power, physical/mental/financial, can seduce and change people. Growth also gained international distribution through Paramount, Sony and Lionsgate, and became the #1 horror rental on iTunes, beating out "The Crazies", a film 100x Growth's budget.
In 2010, Cowan co-wrote and produced "Extracted", a science fiction drama. In 2011, Cowan co-wrote and produced "Static", a modern thriller.
Cowan currently has a series of projects in development including a comedy entitled "P.S. you ruined my life", a technological thriller, "The Disconnect" and coming of age science fiction story, "Codebreakers", and monster movie "DinoSpider".
Cowan, along with High School friend, Amiee Clark, and Filmmaking Partner, John Suits, founded New Artists Alliance, a production company that funds up and coming filmmakers feature films. Their advisory committee includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood. They endeavor to empower students and young filmmakers by giving them the experience of working on larger films while still in school.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
best known for his work on horror films Scream 2
Scream 2
Scream 2 is a 1997 American slasher film created and written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy and Liev Schreiber, released on December 12, 1997 as the second installment in the Scream film series...
, Scream 3
Scream 3
Scream 3 is a 2000 American slasher film created by Kevin Williamson, directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger, starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette, released on February 4, 2000 as the third, and originally, concluding installment in the Scream film series...
, Breathing Room
Breathing Room
Breathing Room is a 2008 horror film written and directed by John Suits and Gabriel Cowan.The film is said to be "Low on camp and high on suspense", with a plot that resembles the 2006 French cult film 13 Tzameti and House of 9.-Plot:Gabriel Hui is tossed naked into a room with thirteen strangers...
, and Growth
Growth (2009 film)
Growth is a 2010 American horror film, written and directed by Gabriel Cowan.In 1989 on Kuttyhunk island, acclaimed scientist Mason Lane used microscopic parasites to advance human evolution. The experiment resulted in stronger, smarter, healthier humans, but something went wrong, and three...
. He has also made documentaries, dramas, and comedies.
Early life
Gabriel Cowan was born Louis Gabriel Cowan at UCLA hospital in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, CA on December 4, 1973 to Geoff Cowan and Aileen Adams.
He went to elementary, Jr. High, and High School at Crossroads school for the arts. In high school, his band, "Comfort Station", was featured on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
as one of Los Angeles's fastest up and coming bands. He went on to study film and composition at CalArts and USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
, obtaining a bachelors degree in music composition in 2000.
In 2005, he went back to school, earning his masters degree in film directing from CalArts in 2008.
His paternal grandfather, Louis Cowan, was a radio and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
producer, and the president of CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television and radio in the 1950s. He is attributed with having created the game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...
, first for radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
and later, on television. Gabriel's maternal grandfather, Peter Adams, was an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
best known for his rolls in Jail House Rock, Bullwhip
Bullwhip
A bullwhip is a single-tailed whip, usually made of braided leather, which was originally used as a tool for working with livestock.Bullwhips are pastoral tools, traditionally used to control livestock in open country...
, and as Capitan Arturo Toledano in the Television series Zorro
Zorro
Zorro is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York-based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has been featured in numerous books, films, television series, and other media....
. His uncle is Peter Seitz Adams
Peter Seitz Adams
Peter Seitz Adams is one of California’s most recognized landscape and figurative painters and an important figure in contemporary Southern California art. He is the longest serving President of the California Art Club and a member of the Board of Directors of the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena...
, the prominent painter and President of the California Art Club
California Art Club
The California Art Club , founded in 1909, is one of the oldest and most active arts organizations in California. It celebrated its centennial in the spring of 2010. The California Art Club originally evolved from the Painters Club of Los Angeles...
.
Cowan's great grandfather is George B. Seitz
George B. Seitz
George Brackett Seitz was an American playwright, screenwriter, film actor and director. He was known for his screenplays for action serials, including:*The Perils of Pauline *The Exploits of Elaine...
, his great uncle is acclaimed filmmaker King Vidor
King Vidor
King Wallis Vidor was an American film director, film producer, and screenwriter whose career spanned nearly seven decades...
, and he is cousins with Adam Spiegel, also known as Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
.
Career
At the age of eighteen, Cowan was hired for his first professional recording session with Robbie RobertsonRobbie Robertson
Robbie Robertson, OC; is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his membership as the guitarist and primary songwriter within The Band. He was ranked 59th in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...
(of Band fame) and the Tower of Power horns for a Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson
Barry Levinson is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer of film and television. His films include Good Morning, Vietnam, Sleepers and Rain Man.-Early life:...
film entitled Jimmy Hollywood
Jimmy Hollywood
Jimmy Hollywood is an American comedy film written and directed by Barry Levinson and starring Joe Pesci and Christian Slater.- Plot :Jimmy Alto is a failing actor living in Los Angeles. After increasing frustration with crime in the city Jimmy, along with his 'spaced-out' best friend William ,...
.
Cowan went on to acquire a recording contract with Geffen Records
Geffen Records
Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group.-Beginnings:...
, and in 1996 released "Legs and Arms" with his band "Lode". They toured America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, playing at venues such as The House of Blues
House of Blues
House of Blues is a chain of 13 live music concert halls and restaurants in major markets throughout the United States. House of Blues first location was in Cambridge's Harvard Square. It was opened in 1992 by Isaac Tigrett, co-founder of Hard Rock Cafe, and Dan Aykroyd, star of The Blues Brothers...
and the Greek Theatre
Greek Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Greek Theatre is a 5,700-seat amphitheater, located at Griffith Park, in Los Angeles, California. It was built in 1929, opening on September 29 of that year...
in Los Angeles, CA..
Despite critical success, "Lode" disbanded in 1998, and Cowan formed "Ear Two Thousand" with friends Sam Music and David Arquette
David Arquette
David Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and occasional professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and...
. They too toured America and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and in 2000, Gabe received the first of two Platinum records for songs he wrote and recorded for the films Scream 2
Scream 2
Scream 2 is a 1997 American slasher film created and written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven, starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy and Liev Schreiber, released on December 12, 1997 as the second installment in the Scream film series...
and Scream 3
Scream 3
Scream 3 is a 2000 American slasher film created by Kevin Williamson, directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger, starring Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette and David Arquette, released on February 4, 2000 as the third, and originally, concluding installment in the Scream film series...
.
In 2001, Ear Two Thousand split, and Cowan composed his first score for the Roger Corman
Roger Corman
Roger William Corman is an American film producer, director and actor. He has mostly worked on low-budget B movies. Some of Corman's work has an established critical reputation, such as his cycle of films adapted from the tales of Edgar Allan Poe, and in 2009 he won an Honorary Academy Award for...
film "Take it to the Limit". Cowan spent the next years producing and recording a series of albums and demos including performing and recording with Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne
Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....
and Ry Cooder
Ry Cooder
Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...
.
In 2004, Cowan pursued his passion for filmmaking by earning a Masters Degree in Film Directing at CalArts. In his first two years, he wrote and directed over 20 short films, including the critically acclaimed "Remove" and "Pharmaceutical" and co-directed and co-wrote a feature film entitled Breathing Room
Breathing Room
Breathing Room is a 2008 horror film written and directed by John Suits and Gabriel Cowan.The film is said to be "Low on camp and high on suspense", with a plot that resembles the 2006 French cult film 13 Tzameti and House of 9.-Plot:Gabriel Hui is tossed naked into a room with thirteen strangers...
which sold internationally, and is available in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
via Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment
Anchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
.
In his third year at CalArts, he produced Family of Four, a feature film that delves into the hidden lives of four family members as they struggle with their desires and limitations.
He also directed, shot, and produced Flower in the Gun Barrel
Flower in the Gun Barrel (2008 film)
Flower in the Gun Barrel is a 2008 documentary film focusing on the process of reconciliation and forgiveness in post-genocide Rwanda. The film depicts both the current conditions in Rwanda and the build up to the genocide in 1994. It is unique in that it illustrates the complex challenges of...
, a stirring documentary that explores the complexities of forgiveness and reconciliation in post genocide
Genocide
Genocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
. The film is produced by Amiee Clark and Monica Forouzesh, and is narrated by Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
.
A few months after graduating, Cowan wrote and directed the film "Growth", a Science Fiction thriller that examines the ways in which power, physical/mental/financial, can seduce and change people. Growth also gained international distribution through Paramount, Sony and Lionsgate, and became the #1 horror rental on iTunes, beating out "The Crazies", a film 100x Growth's budget.
In 2010, Cowan co-wrote and produced "Extracted", a science fiction drama. In 2011, Cowan co-wrote and produced "Static", a modern thriller.
Cowan currently has a series of projects in development including a comedy entitled "P.S. you ruined my life", a technological thriller, "The Disconnect" and coming of age science fiction story, "Codebreakers", and monster movie "DinoSpider".
Cowan, along with High School friend, Amiee Clark, and Filmmaking Partner, John Suits, founded New Artists Alliance, a production company that funds up and coming filmmakers feature films. Their advisory committee includes some of the biggest names in Hollywood. They endeavor to empower students and young filmmakers by giving them the experience of working on larger films while still in school.
Citations
- http://www.imagination-llc.com/Breathing_Room
- http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~muses/lode.htm
- http://www.scream3music.com/band_pages/ear2000/index.html
- http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=401073
- http://www.breathingroomthemovie.com
- http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ADAM,+COHEN+NAMED+AS+CALARTS+TRUSTEES.-a0128394852