The THIS IS NOWHERE production team:

Executive Producer/Consult Kathryn J. McDermott has worked in feature film production for more than 27 years. From 1995 to 2005, Kathryn held the position of Vice President of Production at Columbia Pictures.  McDermott’s credits include Charlies’ Angels 1 & 2, Memoirs of a Geisha, Fun with Dick & Jane, Closer, Hitch, and Spiderman 1 & 2, just to name a few.  Prior to that, Kathryn worked in as Production Manager on Striking Distance (starring Bruce Willis), Assistant Producer on Last of the Mohicans, A League of Their Own, Only the Lonely, Career Opportunities, and was an Associate Producer for First Knight (starring Richard Gere and Sean Connery) and My Life (starring Nicole Kidman and Michael Keaton).

Kathryn J. McDermott is currently a Career Placement Advisor at the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan and teaches Production Management 1 and 2.

Producer/Co-Director/Principle Actress Heidi Elizabeth Philipsen-Meissner is a dedicated, union-affiliated (Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists/Actors Equity Association) actor, writer, director and producer whose background in film and theater spans over a decade and across the ocean from the United States to Germany and covers 15 short- and 26 feature-length films, independent and studio.

Heidi holds a B.A. in Film, Theatre & German Literature from the University of Michigan's Residential College, a Certificate in German Fluency from the Goethe Institute, a Masters in International Media & Communications with a Regional Focus on the European Union from Columbia University's School of International & Public Affairs, and a Graduate Training Certificate in Directing and Cinematography from the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan.  She has interned for German film director Wim Wender’s film production company, Road Movies GmBh, ABC Good Morning America, CBS 48 Hours and was selected by both Women in Film Chicago and New York Women in Film & Television for their Intern/Mentorship Program (Chicago mentor: 2008 Producer/Director Melissa Costello).

 Heidi has served on several boards, including Upstate Independents and the Electricity Arts and Entertainment Board of Schenectady from 2010 to 2013.  

She is the Founder/President of UPWIFT, Upstate NY Women in Film & Television, a project under New York Women in Film and Television, for women professionals in the industry living and working in upstate New York.

 In 2012, thought accepted into the UCLA’s School of Film & Television’s Professional Producers’ Program for the summer, Heidi made a gutt-decision work as a production coordinator on a series of features that paid-off.  She's since amassed nearly eleven back-to-back feature films including seven German-American international co-production, made-for-ZDF-TV feature films and three independent features, one of which, THE BETTER ANGELS, made it to Sundance and the Berlin International Film Festival in 2014.

Acting-wise, her most recent credits consist of principle roles in the following feature films: MARCY, HOBO HEYSEUS (directed by Jon Russell Cring), THIRSTY, BEHIND THE MIRROR, and BUSINESS& PLEASURE. She's also worked as a precision-driver (with professional stunts departments) on SALT, THE OTHER GUYS, TOWER HEIST, and PREMIUM RUSH, to name a few.  

As a director, she has brought stories to life both for stage and film, taking on such works as William Mastrosimone’s “Extremities” and Anne Nelson’s “The Guys,” through her socially motivated theater ensemble, “The Personae Ensemble,” as well as creating her own, such as “Tales from Motherville,” an official selection of 2007’s BoxFest, an annual theatre festival in Michigan showcasing local female artists.  On the film front, her thesis short “A FORK IN THE ROAD” for which she received “Best Screenplay” and was nominate for “Best Director” at the MPI Student Film Festival, went on to screen in several other film fests across the nation (Reel Women International, Electric City, and New York Shorts film festivals).

HER TELLING HEART, successfully fiscally sponsored by NYWIFT in 2009, represented her first period-piece thriller adaptation and fourth short film.  It went on to win Park City Film Music Film Festival’s “Best Performance & Experimental” in 2012, “Best Sound” in the ReachOut film festival in Kingston, NY in 2013, and was an official short within NYWIFT’s Summer Shorts Screening Series in 2012.  THIS IS NOWHERE marks her second feature film as producer and first as co-director.

Co-Writer/ Co-Director Jon Russell Cring

Born in Columbus, Ohio in 1971 to creative powerhouse parents, Jon grew up around the arts. Traveling and performing with his family, presenting music and drama on stages criss-crossing the USA. There was nothing abstract about entertainment.  It was a business to enthrall and he would get on the phone to book their travelling gypsy show as young as fourteen.His interest in film, besides rabid fandom, began when he met his future wife and muse Tracy Nichole.  Writing a variety show together, STREETWALKING, Tracy started editing and contributing her own unique and sometimes demented ideas.  An unstoppable team was born.

 Jon and Tracy spent a resident time in the wilderness of Indy Horror Filmmaking with a collaborator before making their first short film, HANK’S PLACE, which was immediately accepted into regional film fests (Southern Appalachian film fest 2006).After completing a string of fifteen experimental short films, Jon decided to do the same with feature-length films and the idea for the ExtraOrdinary Film Project was born. Can we make 12 feature length films in 12 months?

In 2007, traveling across the country from Nashville, Tennessee to San Francisco, California, Jon pumped out one feature film after the other, practicing his own hands-on film school, in every genre from a Rock Musical, FOUR ON THE FLOOR, to a Psycho Thriller, LENDERS MORGAN, and even a kids’ movie starring puppets, TOO. Many films from the ExtraOrdinary Film Project appeared in film festivals:  Top Ten Films in America,  "Bernee," "FOUR ON THE FLOOR,"  (Best Screenplay and Actress) Washougal Fest; Best Feature in the Michigan Film Fest for "WONDERFUL"

In 2010, the couple moved to upstate New York.  "I found fertile ground for my renegade style of filmmaking there," says Jon.Since then, upstate New York has been the backdrop for three more features, and PBS honored his work twice, as has Fangoria Magazine for his film "Creeping Crawling, An Entomological Anthology of Terror.”Further, most recently, Jon and Tracy’s LGBT feature, LITTLE BI PEEP, was decorated with the honors Best Actress and Supporting Actress, Best Comedy, and Best Director at the 2013 Atlantic City Cinefest.In the meantime, seemingly unable or willing to put their pens down, Jon began writing scripts with Tracy, accumulating ten in the past three years, and have sold three, thus far.

Jon's soon to be released project HOBO HEYSEUS, featuring THIS IS NOWHERE producer/actress Heidi Philipsen, and co-written with authors Joshua Owens and wife Tracy Nichole, brought on a new collaborator: Tony Award-winning Nathaniel Kramer as their Cinematographer.

THIS IS NOWHERE marks Heidi Philipsen and Jon's first joint project and a step for Jon toward focusing and perfect his very own, distinct version of the great 1970’s auteur director’s style.

 Co-Writer/Director of Photography Tracy Nichole Cring grew up in a small town in Tennessee. Surrounded by industrious and self-taught artisans, she was inspired to follow her own path and fell in love with film. By seventeen she had taught herself to use cameras, edit, and she won her first film festival (Los Angeles Film Fest 1997) for which she received the grand prize of the latest, new filmmaking gear.

After moving to Nashville at the dawn of the new millennium, she met Jon Russell Cring and put to use her festival winnings co-writing, shooting, and editing a TV Series together.

“The ExtraOrdinary Film Project” was born – an attempt to make twelve Feature Films in twelve months.  Though it took twenty months to complete all twelve features, shot on such locations as Bugscuffle, TN, Phoenix, AZ, San Fransisco, CA, and Flint, MI, Tracy was cinematographer for all twelve films.  In addition, she also co-directed "Budd" (film #12), appearing in the Route 66 Film Festival, Southern Appalachian Film Festival, and Memphis Film Festival in 2008.

In 2009, Tracy moved to Albany, New York with the aim of slowing the production pace and taking time to study and hone her craft.  Her last three films, AND SEE ALL THE PEOPLE, CREEPING CRAWLING, and LITTLE BI PEEP, currently touring the film festival circuit, have been winning awards ( New Orleans fest, Atlanta Horror,Atlantic City Cinefest (4 awards)and have distribution offers.

A natural at writing unique scenes that speak to her audience, Tracy has also taken on writing feature screenplays with partner Jon Russell Cring to great success, having optioned many to other producers.

 Co-Producer Niko Meissner loves the business development, budgets and contracts and isn't afraid of the bottom financial line.  He holds his MBA/MS in Renewable Energy and Sustainable Enterprise from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and has extensive experience in business development.

Formerly a writer/producer/director of his own short films, THIS IS NOWHERE marks his first feature.