Ben Van Bergen

Born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Co-wrote his first stage play at age 11 and was fascinated by being able to captivate an audience. At the time music was a more 'stable' profession and for 10 years he toured and was part of several ensembles, did studio and TV and radio work and taught Latin Percussion and accompanied modern dance schools as a percussionist using 5 conga drums. Over the years (and after moving to the U.S.) he wrote/co-wrote more than 20 screenplays, 2 T.V. series, and a volume of monologues and poetry & composed 50 songs. Does script doctor work. Produced a feature film and 2 feature length documentaries as well as 6 short projects. Lives in New York City and commutes to the EU when necessary. Assists other indie helmers on the production side when needed. Came to NYC first on a cultural grant to write an instruction book for an East Harlem School. Studied with Eve Collyer for stage, film and T.V. work. Now primarily works on film and T.V. projects. Does the odd commercial and voice over jobs (yes the 'odd' ones), Author/director of the nominated feature length documentary "Fireworks On The Brain" (putting a human face on ADHD). Other projects include a five part documentary series on art and artists, a 2 hour version with updates, multiple short film projects, including a feature award winning dark comedy ("Mobfathers: Permanent Rehab") which won several awards on the festival circuit, one of the shorts "Double Blind" was an early award winner. A recent addition: "Domestic Bliss" garnered 25 wins and accolades in the festival circuit. Development of a number of projects is ongoing, including the sequel "Mobfathers, Dance With the Devil", an international dramatic love story, a comedy television series (26 episodes) as well as a major television crime series (4-5 seasons) set in NYC covering 40 years of a man who lived to tell the tale(s). Pitch decks, scripts, bibles, tentative budgets and schedules are in the works, and now the right outlet is being sought out to bring this to the general public.

Speaks English, Dutch, German (the latter has to be scripted) and several dialects. Is looking to parlay over 30 years of entertainment into the right art form, which is a life long fulfilling quest. By: Eric Duvalier.