company bios
Pati started working in the entertainment business at the age of 19 when she was offered the opportunity to work as a talent booker and later a talent agent at The Agency, in downtown Minneapolis, where she spent several years learning the industry from the ground up.
After moving to South Florida, Pati created, pitched and became the producer for a local television series called, ''Going Out''. A show with, literally, no budget - it was the perfect opportunity for her to hone her ''creative problem solving'' skills. It was a popular program in it's market and Pati produced it for three seasons before moving on.
She was offered and accepted the position of agency director of the Ada Gordon Talent Agency in Orlando, Florida. With an eye for talent, Pati built a stable of steady bookers, while developing lasting relationships with many industry professionals.
With the Central Florida production industry growing by leaps and bounds, Pati made a decision to leave the Ada Gordon Talent Agency after two years and opened her own company - The Reality Group, which offered a complete array of production services including, but not limited to, casting. Through it, she brought the independent feature, ''The Break'', (produced by Vince and Niles Van Patten) to Central Florida, resulting in an influx of 3 million dollars into the local economy. She also created and shot, at Universal Studios, a pilot for an intelligent, history quiz show called “The Third Millennium Challenge”. Developed for a group of Dutch businessmen, the show was used to sell Third Millennium Countdown watches.
Pati has had the opportunity to work on such major films as, “Armageddon” and “Instinct” and television series such as, HBO’s Emmy winning miniseries “From The Earth To The Moon” and Columbia/Tri Star's “Sheena”, to list only a few. She was instrumental in developing and organizing the format and talent search for the ABC/MTV show, “The Making of the Band” and was an associate producer on the recently released, “Stroke of Genius”, the story of golfer Bobby Jones. (A complete production resume is available upon request.)
The Reality Group has undergone a recent expansion and is currently developing both film and television projects in almost every genre imaginable.
Mike first realized his love for producing entertainment and organizing events when he agreed to take on the task of organizing an event for Indiana University including, but not limited to, procuring sound equipment, a venue, security and several bands for a celebratory concert. The party went on for almost ten hours drawing an estimated crowd of over 25,000 people.
Using his persuasive personality, Mike procured seed money to open a nightclub. Mike’s new club, The Castaway, seated over 800 people. Patrons were known to have traveled 200 miles to enjoy acts like Barbara Mandrel, B J Thomas, and Tommy James. After grossing over two million dollars the first year, he was able to exercise an option to buy out his investors and open another similar club in Indianapolis, followed by clubs in Springfield, and Columbus, Ohio. Following the same format as he had with The Castaway, the other clubs were soon a big success.
Mike owned and operated Robinson Productions, a talent agency in Orlando, Florida for over 27 years. Finding a void in the market, he began producing musical acts in the late 70's and became one of the most successful agencies in Florida. Robinson Productions employed six full time musical agents and two comedy agents and has had over one hundred bands playing all over the world. Several of his groups appeared on the original Star Search. Robinson Productions still maintains accounts and Mike is the entertainment director for the Rosen and other properties.
Always on the lookout for a great opportunity, Mike opened “International Studios,” a 200,000 square foot studio facility in Orlando, Florida. Over the years, his studio provided space to Columbia/Tri Star for the production of “My Girl” and “Passenger 57”, National Geographic, Frank Recording Studios, Disney, The Grand Ole’ Opry, Full Sail School and many more.
He also invested seed money and entered into a partnership with the French Navy to retrieve artifacts from the S.S. Titanic. After the French Navy located the ship, the group of investors organized the retrieving of some of the artifacts from the site. Mike was responsible for the setting up the first tours displaying the findings.
Mike has always kept his hands in the entertainment production business and currently is using his business expertise to develop entertainment and product placement deals for The Reality Group.
Earning the lead role in her first play at age 3...a fairy princess - a dream part for any little girl...Shannon was bitten by the entertainment bug. She, not only, appeared in several commercials, print ads, and catalogs in her youth, but also competed in dramatic and comedy acting competitions, winning several awards.
Shannon's third grade reading teacher told her parents, "If this girl doesn't become a writer, there's something wrong with the world." Taking her advice to heart and with the encouragement of her parents, Shannon wrote her first screenplay at the age of 14.
At the age of 19, wanting to work in any capacity in film and television, she was hired as an agent's assistant at The Ada Gordon Talent Agency in Orlando, Florida where she worked for the first time with Pati Robinson. When Pati started The Reality Group in 1989, Shannon went with her in the capacity of Casting Assistant. Over the years, Shannon moved up in the company from Casting Assistant to Extras Casting to Casting Associate. During this time, Shannon also worked as a freelance writer, Associate Producer, Production Coordinator, Post Supervisor, production assistant and researcher, which allowed her to learn nearly every aspect of the industry. A complete film and television production resume is available upon request.
As RGI expanded it's services, Shannon was promoted to Creative Development - a position in which her quirky fountain of entertainment concepts had a place to flow. With her penchant for comedy, her flair for the dramatic, her heart for action/adventure and her taste for fantasy, it's no wonder RGI'S project catalog is overflowing with fantastically unique concepts.
Shannon currently lives in Apopka, Florida with her husband and writing partner, Tim, their son, Noah, their five cats [Uno, T.C., Balderisa, Boogie and Rikku.
Tim grew up in a traditional neighborhood in Goodlettsville, Tennessee with many freedoms and even more friends. Showing a talent for art at an early age, Tim spent a lot of his time with a pencil or paintbrush in his hand and became quite well-known in his circle for being an accomplished artist. He was also well-known for his off-beat viewpoint of the world.
While growing up, Tim's art depicted creatures and scenes that would have made TV and film audiences rave with delight. His sense of humor developed as he watched shows like ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'', ''Benny Hill'', ''Saturday Night Live'', ''Friday's'' and more. Watching movies such as ''Star Wars'', ''Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and ''Mad Max'' created a stirring to work behind-the-scenes.
In 1994, Tim got an opportunity to do just that when, after moving to Orlando, Florida, he was hired by The Reality Group to work as a Casting Assistant and over the years has had the opportunity to work with such celebrities as Anthony Hopkins, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Tom Hanks, Donald Sutherland, Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler and Mark Hamill...just to name a few.
With the expansion of RGI, Tim was promoted to Creative Development where his skills could be fully put to use. His creative writing talents have been instrumental in nearly all the projects currently in RGI's catalog. In addition, his creative art talent has been used to design and implement creatures and effects for the RGI fantasy adventure series concept ''The Legion of Ru'' as well as storyboards and production design concepts for a youth spin-off series and two related video games.
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