Category: People

Andy Awes is the President and co-owner of Committee Films and has been working professionally in film and video production as a director, producer, editor and Tom Hanks’ stand-in for over 20 years. That’s 140 in dog years.

Andy has produced and/or directed well over 100 hours of television series and specials for networks and streamers including Hulu, ABC, the CW, History Channel, Travel Channel, Discovery ID, HGTV, and more. Known for his ability to blend striking visuals with emotionally resonant storytelling, he brings a cinematic eye to both scripted and unscripted work.

Whew.  As if that’s not enough…

Andy’s television work doesn’t stop at successful network and cable programming. He continues to direct and edit national spots, digital content and brand campaigns for companies such as Best Buy, Target, Walmart, Sperry, Dairy Queen, Herman Miller and Alice’s Wig Warehouse. (Okay, the last one’s a joke. But if Alice were ever to want cool branding, he’d be all over it. But we all know Alice.)

Maria Awes is Sr. Vice President, Executive Producer and Head of Development for Committee Films. She also holds the title for most titles. Prior to coming on board, she spent 10.2 years (she’s very detailed) in broadcast journalism where she won multiple Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow award for her investigative projects. In 2009, after realizing her journalism award shelf had no more room, she decided to turn her talents toward one of her two other passions: producing and writing TV series and specials – or cooking.  While she’s been known to make a mean pork slider, she’s even better at cooking up ideas for kick-$*% television shows.

Since the success of her first television special, Holy Grail in America on HISTORY, she’s gone on to produce a LOT more content – including the hit docudrama series In An Instant on ABC.  She spent three years as the Executive and Series Producer for H2’s top-rated show, America Unearthed, oversaw the new HISTORY series True Monsters and was an EP on Top of the World for Travel Channel.  Specials she’s developed, produced or written include Who Really Discovered America, Bigfoot Captured, Secrets of Einstein’s Brain, and Nostradamus: 21st Century Prophecies Revealed – all for HISTORY – and Mystery of Easter Island for National Geographic/NOVA.

Maria has also done not too shabby of a job overseeing the successful, rapid growth of the company, which now employs nearly 30 people in varying roles.  That’s a lot more than the 4 it started with!

Is there anything she doesn’t do?  Yes, get enough sleep.  But – on the bright side she does still cook every night for her family while she and her husband Andy prep their two young children to take over the world, or at least the company, someday.

The first thing you need to know about Will is that he is the only person at Committee Films with a genuine British accent. This is because he’s from Boston. Confused? This threw us all for loop too until we looked at a map. Turns out there is a Boston, England. This is apparently the “original Boston” – just with a different accent. Who knew? At any rate, we spend a large part of our time here decoding the English vernacular, but it’s worth it.

Will is a producer here at Committee and has spearheaded projects for us all over the world due to his affable personality and attention to detail. He’s truly a cracking gent (great guy), and is able to connect with people anywhere. He’s responsible for getting all the odds and sods (bits and pieces) of a production together no matter where we’re filming and is always there with a solution when a spanner is thrown into the works (there’s a problem).

Whilst at home in Chanhassen (Minnesota this time, no English “original”) he enjoys spending time with his three daughters and watching football (soccer) and Star Trek (Star Trek) on TV. He’s a huge William T Riker fan apparently (please see Wikipedia if you do not understand this reference). When his girls kip down (go to sleep) he occasionally will relax with and Old Fashioned and a book, always on the lookout for a great story.

Whether or not we always understand what he’s saying there’s one thing we do understand: Will is an extraordinary producer and we’re lucky to have him on the team.

Say you’re walking down the street and see a captain’s hat floating by in your periphery. There’s probably a 95% chance that Ben Krueger is under it wearing his trademark navy and gold captain’s hat. Hint: if the guy doesn’t have a medium to medium large beard – it’s not him.

Ben would be the most senior employee at Committee Films if it hadn’t been for Covid, which forced him and 72% or other Bens in the world to change their work situations. Prior, he’d been with Committee Films for over 10 years working as a production Swiss Army knife – doing everything from holding a boom to lugging gear to producing and/or directing all manner of media. He returned to cf in 2022, which allowed his in-office nemesis, Ryan Soule, to claim the title of most senior employee. It’s fine. Stings… but it’s fine.

His long history with Committee means Ben has had a hand in almost all of the projects we’ve produced over the years and has been all over the world with us too. He’s a pretty fun guy to have around though – so it works out for everyone. Let’s just say if this were Dungeons and Dragons he’d have like 17 charisma – plus 1 with his hat.

In his free time Ben enjoys spending time with his two boys, though that may not be mutual as they’re in striking distance of being teenagers. He also messes around with custom Lego creations as if he is still 10-12 years old, making all sorts of pop-culture-inspired creations at his home in Waconia, MN.

Thing one to know about Jen Blanck is that she hates water chestnuts. Don’t make the mistake of offering her a jar – you WILL regret it! Perhaps more germane to a bio, Jen is the Head Research Librarian at Committee Films. That’s right. We have a librarian. Back off! While this doesn’t seem like a “traditional” role at a TV production company, we can assure you it is essential. Jen spearheads any and all research for the many projects Committee takes on – that’s a LOT of research. The stack of paper on her desk could be described as “truly daunting” or “a serious fire hazard”. Seriously though, if you need an answer, Jen has it at her fingertips. Just give her 10 minutes instead of the traditional “jar of water chestnuts” and you’re good to go.

While not in the office Jen loves spending time with her husband and kids playing basketball and tennis, setting up treasure hunts, gardening, going for walks, and just hanging out their home, which they share with two cats and a fish. While not at home she spends time running marathons (she’s run 5!), and not-so-secretly plots to become a woodworker one day. To relax she enjoys sunset happy hours with family and friends, preferably featuring red wine while the Indigo Girls play on the stereo. I’m sure she has other color-based interests too, but we are unaware of them as of this bio – you could always ask though – she’s super nice. Big take away – get yourself a Head Research Librarian if you can. They’re the best!

*Fun fact for those fourteen of you who are Committee Films bio enthusiasts. Jen got a masters in Library and Information Science from St. Catherine University – the same as Meghan. Thanks St. Cate!

As a librarian at Committee Films, Meghan is truly an invaluable part of the {c_f} team. Her ability to read and organize massive amounts of information is truly incredible and aided by her Masters in Library and Information Science from St. Catherine University. She is currently the only person who lists her favorite sport as “reading”, which she calls “mind sport”. She sets a goal of how many books she hopes to read every year on Good Reads and usually smashed it. She’s like the LeBron of reading apparently, a fact that keeps all of Committee’s projects well researched and largely factually accurate (I mean, we did do a conspiracy history show).

Outside of Committee Meghan is a licensed teacher – an achievement she cites as a personal triumph – and helps middle school kids on year-long history projects. We don’t know if you remember being that age, but we’d say this makes her one of the toughest people at Committee as well. Despite being a grizzled middle school veteran, Meghan has a soft spot for animals and hopes to one day work in South Africa at a Wild Rhino Sanctuary – arguably a safer choice than a middle school.

Meghan currently lives in Chaska, MN where she has never had a cup of coffee. Can we just stop here a second? Never? NEVER? Somehow this fact causes physical pain. Anyway, moving on. She also has a Boston Terrier named Perrie, which she describes as the “smooshiest”, and loves being outside (probably reading outside if we’re being honest here), and being with her family. Side note, and I think this is obvious, she also loves potatoes in all forms. What I’m saying here is that on an ideal day she’s sitting outside, reading a book about rhinos, next to a smooshy dog, and eating a basket of fries. You go girl.

An anagram for Antonio Richardson is Radiant Noon Choirs – which is exactly what swore we heard singing when he applied at Committee Films for an Associate Producer position. And everyone knows when a noon choir sings – you listen! We’re glad we did because Antonio is the real deal. A man of many interests including fashion, art, film, meditation, music, and Batman – he’s always willing to dig into a topic and find out all there is to know. A critical feature of a great AP. Seriously. Pick a thing. It’s nigh certain he’s studied it or is about to.

In addition to keeping all our projects on track through tireless research and tenacious documentation, Antonio is a shoe aficionado. We’re not sure he’s ever worn the same pair to work more than once, though there is a rumor that someone once saw him repeat a sneaker in 2017. Snopes is still checking this out.

When he’s not at work Antonio works with at-risk youth and may be the most positive person anyone has ever met. Scientists are pretty sure he has no electrons (this is a pretty solid science joke, which we’re sure Antonio could explain to you in greater detail if you have questions). He currently lives in St. Paul where he enjoys vanilla-scented candles, mini-snickers bars, and seafood as well as many non-flavor-based activities.

So, if you’re driving through the capital and hear the faint tones of a radiant choir – just know it’s Antonio making something better… or you’re driving by the cathedral. Either one.

bio coming soon

If you took an x-ray of Lukas Medin’s torso you’d see all sorts of sprockets and gears, a sound drum, and a film gate because Lukas lives and breathes film. That’s a great thing for a post-production assistant, which, it turns out, he is at Committee. He was also a fencer in college, which isn’t as handy for post, but makes us all feel like we’ve got a better chance during an orc invasion (The Lord of the Rings trilogy is Lukas’s favorite book – hence the reference).

When not at Committee, watching films for review, Lukas loves watching films in the theater. Please see the part above about living and breathing film if you have questions about this. He’s a huge fan of Godzilla films in particular and hopes to one day zip line into Godzilla’s mouth. This is not a metaphor – apparently there is a hotel in Japan where you can do that, but then again there is a LOT of interesting stuff to do in Japan.

We’ve been told that Lukas is able to do a few really great impressions of certain film characters (go figure), but so far only have seen one impression – the great one he’s made on us. Wow. That was cheesy, but cheese… is for real, as is our opinion of Lukas.

Lukas currently lives in St. Louis Park with his dog Briley. While he’s certainly a household name there, he may soon be where you live too as his thesis film has recently been accepted into numerous festivals. Makes sense when you think about it.