Max Barbakow is a director & writer from Santa Barbara, CA whose fondness for character-driven dark comedy probably stems from his conception in a closet at a high school house party. That hanky panky (for which he is most grateful) forms the basis of MOMMY, I’M A BASTARD!, Max’s feature-length documentary about his adoption. The film originated as his thesis at Yale before premiering at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. THE DUKE: BASED ON THE MEMOIR "I'M THE DUKE" BY J.P. DUKE, a short film produced at the AFI Conservatory, where Max earned his MFA in Directing, premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, won awards at Hamptons and Reykjavik IFF, and was shortlisted for a BAFTA Award. Post-grad, he shot two short films in Cuba with Werner Herzog. Max will direct Legendary’s upcoming action-adventure film GOOD BAD & UNDEAD, starring Jason Momoa and Peter Dinklage.

Andy Siara is currently a Co-Producer on UCP/Peacock’s upcoming series ANGELYNE produced by Esmail Corp, starring Emmy Rossum and Martin Freeman. His original anthology series, THE RESORT, is set up with UCP, also with Sam Esmail and Anonymous Content producing. Prior to this, he was a Writer on AMC’s critically-acclaimed series LODGE 49. Born and raised in Yorba Linda, CA, Andy graduated from UC Irvine, then spent several years touring the country with his indie rock band, The Henry Clay People, including performances at Coachella, Lollapalooza and more. After the band’s demise he studied at the American Film Institute, where he met director Max Barbakow, and together they made the award-winning short film, THE DUKE - a dark comedy about football and concussions (neither of which Andy has experienced), which premiered at Tribeca in 2016. Max and Andy teamed up again to make PALM SPRINGS.