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Sierra Club Productions
Coal Country: The Filmmakers

Phylis Geller, Writer/Producer/Director

Phylis Geller is president of Norman Star Media, a production and consulting company in Washington, DC. Geller has been a producer and media executive for over thirty years. She has overseen programs in all genres, including history, science, drama, performance and children's programs. Projects under her supervision have won the most prestigious awards in broadcasting.

Recent projects:

• Producer/Director: COAL COUNTRY
• Executive Producer: DEPRESSION: Out of the Shadows. PBS May 21, 2008.
• Co-writer: HOMEGROWN: Islam in Prison, for America at a Crossroads. PBS November, 2007.
• Writer/Producer: The Appalachians, three-part documentary series. PBS, 2006.
• Writer/Producer/Director: COSMIC JOURNEY: The Voyager Interstellar Mission and Message, A&E. Nominated for national Emmy as Best Science Documentary, 2004.
• Executive producer and Co-writer: Korean War Stories, PBS. Winner, national Emmy award for Best Historical Documentary, 2002.
• Executive Producer and Co-writer: Tesla, Master of Lightning, PBS, 2000
• Producer, PBS pledge specials with Suze Orman. Two nominations for national Daytime Emmy.

Executive positions:

• Senior Vice President, Cultural Programming and New Media, WETA, Washington, D.C.
• Senior Vice President, National Productions, KCET/ Hollywood
• Senior Vice President, National and International Production, Maryland Public Television
• Head of Special Projects, Mandalay Media Arts, Los Angeles
• Board of Directors: American Playhouse and P.O.V. (PBS)
• Programming Chair, International Public Television Consortium
• Producer, Thirteen/WNET, New York

Mari-Lynn Evans, Producer

Mari-Lynn Evans is the President of Evening Star Productions. She was executive producer on the American Public Television series The Appalachians, which the New York Times called "an elegant film about a region and a people that are rarely examined beyond stereotypes." Other executive producer credits include: "Living Well: A Guide to Healthy Aging," a 26-week series for PBS and the FOX Health Network; "Changes," a magazine program hosted by Nick Clooney, for FOX Health Network; the children's television program and video "Geezbo's Alley," the documentary "Standing in the Safety Zone," hosted by Surgeon General David Satcher for PBS and FOX Health Network, and "John Glenn: The International Year of Older Adults" for PBS.

Evans has served as a media and brand development consultant to international corporate and government organizations and has been the lead consultant on the senior market to Procter & Gamble. She is also the recipient of several national awards including the 1999 US Small Business Administration Tibbetts Award and a Bronze Award in the National Mature Media Awards. Evans has degrees in psychology, gerontology and women's studies. She is from Bulltown, West Virginia.