Michael Prupas
President and CEO of Muse Entertainment
Emmy Award nominated and multiple award winner Michael Prupas is a 33-year veteran of the Canadian and international film and television industries. A former entertainment attorney and senior partner at the law firm Heenan Blaikie, Mr. Prupas launched Muse Entertainment Enterprises in June 1998 and Muse Distribution International in 2000. Muse Entertainment has become a major international production company, known around the world for its high-quality, award-winning films and television programs.
An expert in international co-productions, Mr. Prupas most recently executive produced the miniseries Bomb Girls as well as the television event miniseries The Kennedys and The Pillars of the Earth. He is the executive producer of two seasons of the paranormal series, Being Human. He also executive produced event miniseries Ben Hur and The Phantom, as well as the television movie Cyberbully
In 2009 he executive produced the third season of the crime series Durham County, the television movies Wild Girl, Unstable and The Night Before the Night Before Christmas. He executive produced the documentary feature film Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae and Muse Entertainment’s first animated series for children, The Mysteries of Alfred Hedgehog.
Mr. Prupas’ television series credits include Family Biz, Crusoe, This is Wonderland, Twice in a Lifetime, Largo Winch, Doc (Season 1) and Tales from the Neverending Story.
His miniseries credits include Impact, The Last Templar, The Flood, Killer Wave, Answered by Fire, and Human Trafficking.
He executive produced a number of family movies including The Wind in the Willows, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving, Accidental Friendship, A Christmas Choir, Girl’s Best Friend, Too Young to Marry and I Me Wed, as well as several sci-fi movies including Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Carny, Rise of the Gargoyle, Hellhounds, Sand Serpents, Alien Western, Swamp Devil, Infected, The Watch and Black Swarm.
In 2007, Mr. Prupas produced the feature film The Deal starring William H. Macy and Meg Ryan, which premiered at the Sundance Festival. He produced Niagara Motel starring Craig Ferguson and Anna Friel, The Guilty, starring Bill Pullman and Joanne Whalley, Tracker, starring Casper Van Dien and Savage Messiah (winner of 3 Genie Awards), starring Polly Walker, Luc Picard and Isabelle Blais.
His numerous other TV movie credits include Reviving Ophelia,The Party Never Stops, House Next Door, Tipping Point, House Sitter, Proof of Lies, Murder in the Hamptons, Mind over Murder, Black Widower, Plain Truth, Ice Bound, The Clinic, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of Four, The Royal Scandal, The Case of the Whitechapel Vampire, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, The Stork Derby, The Investigation, The Many Trials of One Jane Doe, Chasing Cain II: Face and Silent Night.
Irene Litinsky
President of Production, Quebec
Irene Litinsky joined Muse Entertainment in 2000 as the head of the Montreal Production Center, bringing over 20 years of production experience with her.
Throughout her career, Ms. Litinsky has collaborated with some of the industry’s top producers including Jodi Foster, Robert Greenwald, Ivan Reitman, Iain Smith, Robert Halmi Sr. and Robert Altman. She has worked with such distinguished directors as Robert Dornhelm, Vincent Ward, Darren Aronofsky, Christian Duguay, Paolo Barzman, Alan Rudolph, and Steven Spielberg.
Ms. Litinsky was the Canadian Production Supervisor of Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal and Catch Me if You Can (Dreamworks), Blades of Glory (Dreamworks), and of Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain (Warner Brothers). Her other feature film credits include, The Deal (Muse/Peace Arch), Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (Miramax), Map of the Human Heart (Miramax), Waking the Dead (Gramercy/Polygram) and Levity (Columbia Pictures).
Among her numerous television producer credits are: the new hit TV series Being Human (Syfy), the Golden Globe nominated mini-series Human Trafficking (Lifetime), the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated movie The Wool Cap (TNT), The Phantom (SyFy), The Last Templar (NBC), Dead Like Me (MGM), WarGames: The Dead Code (MGM), Baby for Sale (Lifetime), Bad Apple (TNT), When Angels Come to Town (CBS), Obsessed (Lifetime), It Must be Love (CBS), The Tournament (CBC), Sign of Four, The Hound of the Baskervilles and The Royal Scandal (CTV/Hallmark), Revenge of the Land (CBS & CBC), The Audrey Hepburn Story (ABC), The Sleep Room (CBC/CBS), Million Dollar Babies (CBC/CBS), All Souls (Spelling Television) and Redeemer (USA Network).
Irene is married to Francois Ouimet, a commercial director. They live in Montreal and have two sons.
Joel S. Rice
President, Muse Entertainment Enterprises USA Inc.
Executive Producer Joel S. Rice is responsible for developing projects with American television and cable networks in the areas of TV movies, TV series and family programming.
After a career in social work, Rice moved into television production where he has worked for 15 years developing and producing series pilots for a number of networks and executive producing over 30 television movies.
His most recent credits include the backdoor pilots Who Is Simon Miller? (NBC), Change Of Plans (Fox), The Jensen Project (NBC) and Secrets Of The Mountain (NBC); Cyberbully (ABC Family), Reviving Ophelia (Lifetime), An Old Fashioned Christmas (Hallmark Channel), One Kill (Showtime), About Sarah (CBS/P&G), and Shredderman Rules (Nickelodeon).
Jesse Prupas
VP Development & Distribution
Vice-President, Development & Distribution at Muse Entertainment, Jesse Prupas produced his first teen series in 2008, the live-action comedy Family Biz (YTV/France 2) and produced Muse’s first animated project, a mystery series for 6-9 year-olds titled Alfred Hedgehog (TVO/TFO/SRC/France 5) in 2009. He was also an associate producer on the second season of the award-winning and critically-acclaimed series Durham County (TMN/Movie Central/Ion).
In 2011, Prupas will be producing the television movie currently entitled Cyberbully and the second season of the animated series Gawayn. In 2010, Prupas produced the back-door pilot Jack of Diamonds and in 2007 produced the TV movies: The Watch, Too Young To Marry, I Me Wed and Girl’s Best Friend. That same year he served as associate producer on four other TV movies: Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Black Swarm, Swamp Devil and Infected. In 2006, he produced three TV movies: Proof of Lies, House Sitter and Tipping Point. In 2005, he produced the TV movies Mind Over Murder and Black Widower.
Prupas is currently developing a new slate of dramatic and comedy series, TV movies, mini-series and feature films for Canadian, US and international markets. He is also responsible for overseeing all Muse Entertainment’s New Media and web-based projects.
He also oversees Muse Distribution International and is responsible for selling television content in Canada, the United States and around the world. He is also a development executive at Just For Laughs Muse Comedy Productions, Muse Entertainment’s joint-venture with Just For Laughs, which is focused on the development and production television comedies and comedic feature films.
Jesse Prupas got his break in the industry as a writer on the animated series Mona the Vampire (Cinar/YTV/France 2) and as a unit department intern on the teen series Student Bodies. Prupas is a graduate of Columbia University and the United World College of the Atlantic. He is an avid computer gamer, skier and yoga practitioner.
Jeremy Spry
Director of Legal Affairs
jspry@muse.ca
After working with his father at Telescene Film Group in various capacities throughout his studies, Jeremy Spry began his career as a corporate-commercial lawyer at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg. He then worked as legal counsel for CBC/Radio-Canada, and then moved to Just for Laughs as Director of Business and Legal Affairs. During that time he executive produced the independent feature film Lucidité Passagère. Just prior to joining Muse in January 2012, he was account manager at the film and TV group of the National Bank of Canada.
After receiving a political science degree from McGill University, Spry obtained his law degrees at Université de Montréal and Oxford University. He also completed the HEC-TVA program in film and television management and has been a guest speaker on film and television financing for l’AJAVA (association des juristes pour l’avancement de la vie artistique) and RFAVQ (Regroupement de Formation Audio-Visuelle du Québec).
Alexander "Sandy" Jesion, CA
Chief Financial Officer
After more than 15 years of work in both public practice and industry, Sandy Jesion, CA joined the Muse team in 2006 to oversee Muse’s finance and accountings departments. This is a major challenge as Muse operates 4 separate and very active principal enterprises (MEE, MDI, MEO and Dogwood) as well as setting up a new corporation for every new production, each requiring their own financing and tax credit applications. Under Sandy’s guidance, Muse has been able to continue the strong relationships that Muse has established with both the Quebec and Canadian Governments particularly with respect to the calculation and payment of tax credits. This strong relationship allows Muse to generally receive their tax credits much quicker than most others.
Sandy is also actively involved in community work. He is the chair of Federation CJA West Island and sits on committees and boards of various charities. He and his wife Bonnie participate in many other West Island activities.
Evan Tussman
Director of Post-Production
Evan Tussman has been working in the field of Post Production since 1997. He has worked for various film companies including as Director of Post Production for Film Finances Canada.
Tussman has worked on theatrical feature films, television movies, mini-series and series, and has dealt with multiple co-productions partners, distributors and broadcasters worldwide.
As head of Post Production, his responsibilities include negotiating delivery items and terms with distributors, following up on deliveries and budgets and working with producers to fix any problems in order to meet delivery requirements and dates.
His experience has helped Muse Entertainment produce TV programming and theatrical films and honor delivery and budgetary requirements all over Canada, the United States, and Europe.
Betty Palik
Vice President of Communications and Factual
A graduate of McGill University, Betty Palik is Muse Entertainment’s Vice President of Communications and also heads up the company’s Factual Division. She joined Muse in 1998 after a prolific career in journalism and broadcasting. She worked as a magazine editor and was also a newspaper, radio and magazine staff reporter for The Gazette, Time Magazine (Canada) and the CBC.
Betty produces press releases, press kits, sales sheets, posters, catalogues, electronic press kits and audiovisual materials such as “EPK’s” and “Behind-the Scenes” for distributors, networks, cable, festivals and film markets. She also works as a Unit Publicist. Among her many unit publicity credits are Bomb Girls, The Kennedys, Being Human, Jack of Diamonds, Durham County, Ben Hur, The Deal, The Last Templar, Human Trafficking, This is Wonderland, Family Biz and Niagara Motel.
In the factual field, Betty co-produced the critically acclaimed theatrical feature Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae in 2009. Betty also directed and produced a number of behind-the-scenes documentaries for television and DVDs. They include The Making of The Kennedys, The Making of Durham County, The Making of Ben Hur, The Making of Human Trafficking, The Making of The Deal, The Making of Answered by Fire, The Making of Niagara Motel, The Making of Mind Over Murder and The Making of Tales from the Neverending Story.
Manuela Hunger
Director of Operations
Manuela Hunger started her career in the film and television industry in 1990 while working in financing at Allegro Films.
In 1994 she returned to Concordia University in order to obtain a B.A. in Communication Studies. Manuela then worked for Whalley-Abbey Media, producers of such lifestyle programs as Debbie Travis’ Painted House and Her Money. As Manager, Manuela’s responsibilities included overseeing three production and video distribution companies as well as Whalley-Abbey’s post-production facilities.
Seeking to acquire a better understanding of the animation industry, Manuela began working for CineGroupe in 2001 where she worked with the Director of Creative Affairs and various international co-producers in the financing and development of such projects as Galidor, Pinocchio 3000, What’s With Andy and Pig City.
In 2002, the opportunity to set up the Montreal offices of Reel One Entertainment exposed her to the world of international television distribution.
Manuela joined Muse Distribution International in January 2005, where her responsibilities included sales, marketing and management of Muse’s exceptional library of titles worldwide. In 2009, Manuela was promoted to Director of Operations and oversees Muse’s corporate operations.