About Us

Melissa Martin
Producer/Director Melissa Martin is an award winning producer/writer director working in independent film and theatre. She is the Producer/Writer/Director of The Bread, My Sweet, a critically acclaimed, award winning, commercially successful independent film. An award winner on the film festival scene, The Bread, My Sweet screened at more than twenty festivals, was a featured film in Chris Gore's Film Festival Survival Guide, and was released theatrically nationwide. It was distributed worldwide by Fox International, on DVD by Universal/Screen Media, and on ShowTime, Starz, The Sundance Channel and network television.

Martin is the writer, director, and co-creator of The Honorable (in post-production), a web series featuring David Conrad (star of Ghost Whisperer). Dog Bytes, a web series on which Martin is the writer and director, has garnered international attention, and screened at more than twenty film festivals, among them Berlin, Cape Fear and Cannes. Flour Baby, a short Martin directed, also screened at multiple film festivals. Another short film, Paper Umbrellas, is just beginning its festival life and a brand new web series, I'll Call You, gathers velocity and great reviews. A pilot, Dear Zoe, a screenplay on which Martin is a co-writer, is shooting this year.

Martin directs and writes for live theatre as well; A Steady Rain (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette top 10 of the year) and A Streetcar Named Desire (Post-Gazette top plays of the year) are among her credits. Martin is slated to direct One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest in the spring of 2016. She teaches Graduate Screenwriting at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama and Acting for Management for Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School of Management.

Mark Knobil
Cinematographer Mark Knobil is a world-class cinematographer whose career has taken him to every continent. He has filmed for National Geographic, Nova, Discovery, Nature and HBO. He has a particular passion for the land and cityscapes of South Western Pennsylvania as well.

The Bread, My Sweet, shot with Melissa Martin, was a cinematic feast of his lush images. His delivery of Pittsburgh's Strip District, its architecture, food and people made the film the indie stand-out that it is. His other work includes, but is not limited to, the following: Nova: Secrets of the Viking Sword, and Car of the Future. For National Geographic Explorer: Solitary Confinement, Sex, Lies, & Gender, The Virus Hunters, Marijuana Nation, Science of Cats, Border Ward, Inside the Body Trade. Also for National Geographic, the critically acclaimed film, Skin and National Geographic Specials, Mysteries of Mankind. For HBO First Look, The Making of Girl Interrupted. For Nature, Raptor Force and Animals Behaving Worse. Other documentaries include: Doomsday Earth: Mega Tsunami Border Wars, for Inside, KKK: Inside American Terror, for the Emmy Award winning series P.O.V., New Muslim Cool, a mini-series, Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge (Brad Pitt) and My Tale of Two Cities.

Don Ammon
Writer/Producer Don Ammons semi-autobiographical short story, On Geraci's Corner, was adapted with co-writer, Kris Veenis, to become Steeltown Entertainment's award-winning indie feature screenplay, Summerlings.

Don grew up in the small Southwestern Pennsylvania town of Trafford, part of the Westinghouse Valley, where Summerlings is set. He earned a BA, and the Award for Excellence in English at St. Vincent College, studied British literature and creative writing at Trinity College in Carmarthen, Wales, and received an MA in Communications at California University of Pennsylvania. While teaching Publication Production and Electronic Media at Saint Vincent College, he met his student and co-writer, Kris Veenis, who suggested they turn his short story into a screenplay. Don also taught Seminar in Thinking and Writing at Seton Hill University.

Don is the author of nine screenplays, including a coming-of-age Christmas rom-com, Yule Logs & Snow Balls, a semifinalist in Diverse Voices and ScreenCraft Comedy and a gay horror, Under Ice, which made it to the semifinals of Diverse Voices' writing contest.

An active student at ScreenwritingU, Don continues to study his craft. During Covid he wrote a ten episode TV thriller, Toxic High which he is currently marketing to producers.

Kristopher Veenis
Writer/Producer Kristopher Veenis is a writer and producer whose credits include being a producer on the Award Winning documentary film A Shot to Save the World, which premiered on the Smithsonian Channel in 2013. He produced EPK materials for the feature film A New York Heartbeat and has produced work for a diverse group of performing artists and nonprofit organizations including Attack Theater, Microscopic Opera, Holy Family Institute, The Grable Foundation, and The University of Pittsburgh. He also mentored under Los Angeles-based filmmakers Laura Davis, Tjardus Greidanus and Rusty Cundiff on three separate film projects.

As a teaching artist, he helped establish Steeltown Entertainment Project's Youth & Media Program, which since its inception, has mentored over 1,000 Allegheny County youth through various after school programs.

In 2018 he served as Co-producer of a documentar5y, "Burden of Genius" on the life and work of pioneering transplant surgeon Thomas Starzl. This project, commissioned through the University of Pittsburgh, has screened both internationally and in the United States.

While attending St. Vincent College he met his writing partner, Don Ammon, who introduced him to a short story he wrote titled On Geraci's Corner. The two have adapted this short story into the screenplay for Summerlings.

Peter Karlovich
Executive Producer Peter Karlovich brings extensive executive and entrepreneurial skills to Sulfur Creek Productions, LLC. He is experienced in organization development, system and process architecture, operations and technology. He has a strong background in planning, design, budgeting, problem solving and P & L management. His record of developing and implementing solutions to complex, multidimensional problems, was a key factor in the success of his former venture, where he served at various times as VP Technology Development, VP Operations, COO and CIO.

Mr. Karlovich was a co-founder of a successful technology venture which served the international transportation industry. He and his two partners built the business from the ground up to become the worldwide leader in their niche market, delivering back-office automation services to the world’s container ship operators, as well as shipping and pricing information to the multi-national customers of these operators. The company was
acquired by another transportation services provider and continues to operate as that firm’s largest U.S. subsidiary.

Since leaving the software services business, Mr. Karlovich and his husband, Steven Herforth, have been engaged in a variety of new ventures and activities, including a gay men’s club, construction of an architecturally unique home with a commanding view of downtown Pittsburgh, host and sponsor of numerous fundraising events for local charities: health and medical foundations, arts groups, theater companies and others. They also founded a real estate development company which purchases and rehabilitates neglected and underutilized properties for resale and/or rental. They created and operated an upscale dance/nightclub in Pittsburgh for many years until it was closed due to the building being razed for new development in the area. He is currently engaged in a startup developing apps/websites in several specialized niche markets including entertainment and operations management that draw on his experience and knowledge in those fields.