Preston Stutzman is a film producer and actor. He produced the 1999 independent film ''Chillicothe'', which was screened at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

and the 2005 independent animated film ''

Hoodwinked! ''Hoodwinked!'' is a 2005 American animated musical mystery comedy film directed and written by Cory Edwards along with Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech, and produced by Katie Hooten, Maurice Kanbar, David K. Lovegren, Sue Bea Montgomery, a ...

'', which was one of the first computer-animated films to be completely independently funded. He also performed the minor role of Timmy in ''Hoodwinked!''

Early life

Stutzman grew up in Ohio and graduated from Anderson University in 1992 with degrees in

Computer Science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

and

Marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

. While at Anderson University, he befriended fellow students

Cory Edwards Cory Edwards (born August 21, 1968) is an American film director, screenwriter, and stand-up comedian. He is best known for directing, co-writing, and voice acting in ''Hoodwinked!, Hoodwinked'' (2005), and for co-writing and voice acting in t ...

and

Todd Edwards Todd Edward Imperatrice (born December 9, 1972), known professionally as Todd Edwards, is an American garage house record producer, DJ, and singer. Nicknamed "The God" and known by various aliases throughout his career, he has been credited as ...

through involvement in the on-campus comedy show "Cheap Thrills".

Career

After graduation, Stutzman got a job at book

publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

company Warner Press, but left to be in charge of marketing for Blue Yonder Films, a film

production company A production company, production house or production studio is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television show, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video ...

founded by the Edwards brothers. Though the company started out by producing

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

, it produced the short film ''Swanky Nights'' in 1996, and then the 1999

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

'' Chillicothe'', on which Stutzman served as a producer. The film was directed by Todd Edwards, and premiered at the

. The three then moved to Los Angeles, where Stutzman took on an

editing Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written language, written, Image editing, visual, Audio engineer, audible, or Film editing, cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing p ...

job for the

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by the television network division of Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along wit ...

, while they looked for funding for new projects Sue Bea Montgomery, who had served as an associate producer on ''Chillicothe'', introduced the three to

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and inventor Maurice Kanbar, who had invested in their film. Though Kanbar expressed disinterest in the live-action projects that they pitched to him, he grew excited after seeing ''Wobots'', an animated short film that Cory had made, and proposed the idea of making an animated feature that put a twist on a familiar

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

. The brothers came up with the idea of telling ''

Little Red Riding Hood "Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...

'' as a police investigation, and Kanbar agreed to fully finance the film, before they had even shown him a finished script. The film, titled ''

'', was directed by Cory Edwards, Todd Edwards, and Tony Leech, and Stutzman and Montgomery both served as producers on the film. Stutzman also took on a minor role, playing the part of Timmy. It was one of the first computer-animated films to be fully independently funded, and due to its small budget, its animation was produced in

Manila, Philippines Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on the island of Luzon, it is ...

. The film was released in 2005, receiving mixed reviews, and earning over $110 million worldwide.

Personal life

Stutzman met his wife Ela in 2003, while working on ''Hoodwinked!'' in Manila,after the death of his older brother, Tyler Maxwell Stutzman and married her in 2007. They moved to

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, where their child Jacob Tyler was born. They then moved to

Fort Myers, Florida Fort Myers (or Ft. Myers) is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 86,395; it was estimated to have grown to 95,949 in 2022, making it the List o ...

in 2010 to be near Preston's sister Trinda and brother-in-law Mike. While there, Preston worked as a director of production and video producer/editor at Next Level Church and Ela worked as a nurse. In early 2012 they moved with Trinda and Mike to Tennessee to help plant Story Church.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stutzman, Preston Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American animated film producers American male film actors Anderson University (Indiana) alumni