Wade Sellers
Wade is the founder of Coal Powered Filmworks. He had the same kind of childhood many other filmmakers had- parents had a 8mm camera- spent his allowance at K-Mart on film, and would invit his friends over to the house on the weekends to make a movie.
While attending music school in Atlanta he also worked for an office supply company. While on a delivery he saw huge lights, movie cameras and semi trucks- he thought he'd take a look (if you have a box of office supplies, you can get in anywhere). It was a TV show, he asked for a job doing anything and he got one. Hebegan working in the film biz carrying heavy equipment from one place then taking it back to the other place about 17 years ago.
He's a Producer, Director, Editor, Writer and Motion Designer. Pretty good at them all too. But what he loves most is concepting a project. Grabbing an idea that was nothing a second ago and figuring out how to help the client communicate the message they need to get out.
He is a two time Emmy nominee and has received Addy's, Telly's and numerous other awards for his work.
Lee Ann Kornegay
After graduating from USC, Lee Ann started working immediately as Broadcast Production Manager for Chernoff/Silver, one of South Carolina’s largest ad agencies. From 1984 until 2000, she was integral to the agency’s success, managing every aspect of high-end big-budget production for clients across the nation. She won numerous national and local advertising awards.
In 2000, she took a chance and left this lucrative advertising career to create L.A. Kornegay Media Productions, pursuing a life-long goal to direct, shoot and edit documentaries.
Her film Boloba, which explores West African arts, was awarded Best Documentary at the Colossal Film Crawl, has aired on SCETV, and was screened at the 2007 Indie Grits Film Festival. Kornegay’s other documentaries include SC First Ladies; Ivory Coast in Crisis; I’m Building a Bridge, South Carolina’s civil rights story; and Martinique, a video about economic opportunities for this Caribbean island.
Her documentary 701 Whaley, the story of the Olympia Mill community and the historic 701 Whaley building in Columbia, aired on SCETV’s Southern Lens series and was shown at the 2009 Indie Grits Film Festival. She has just completed a documentary about Furman University’s sustainability programs and is currently working on projects for the Historic Columbia Foundation and the Gills Creek Watershed Association. She is also contributing to documentaries on S.C. World War II veterans and women in military service.
Marycruz Figueroa
A 2012 graduate of the University of South Carolina, Marycruz started with Coal Powered Filmworks as an intern on the South Carolinians in World War II documentary series. She is now the Production Manager for all new projects. She keeps the trains running on ime and is the first person you usual talk to when you call the office. If you stop by you might even get to meet her pet prairie dog.