Curt Hahn is a filmmaker and entrepreneur best known for his feature films No Regrets (2004) and Deadline (2012)

Deadline (2012 film)

Deadline is a 2012 American mystery drama film directed by Curt Hahn with a screenplay by former Charlotte Observer managing editor Mark Ethridge, based upon his novel Grievances which was inspired by actual events. The film stars Steve Talley and Academy Award nominee Eric Roberts...

. Hahn is a pioneer of intelligent independent filmmaking who works outside the Hollywood studio system.
Hahn grew up in New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 and discovered architecture

Architecture

Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...

 at Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...

, enrolling in architecture school at Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis

Washington University in St. Louis is a private research university located in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. Founded in 1853, and named for George Washington, the university has students and faculty from all fifty U.S. states and more than 110 nations...

. Filmmaking was his other passion and in 1970 he attended UCLA's summer session in film production. He never went back to architecture school, staying in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 to attend film school at the new Disney

The Walt Disney Company

The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...

-endowed California Institute of the Arts

California Institute of the Arts

The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...

. After getting his BFA in Film from Cal Arts in 1972 he worked as director of the film department for WTVI-TV, a PBS station, and as a director for Walter J. Klein Company, Ltd., a national film production company. In 1976 he moved to Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

 and founded Film House.

Film House

Film House has grown over the years to become the largest film and video production company in Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

 and one of the largest producers of TV commercials in the US, moving into its 40000 square feet (3,716.1 m²) studio, editing and office facility in 1996. As CEO, Hahn leads a team of over 50 that produces hundreds of TV commercials and long form projects annually. He personally has directed thousands of commercials and longer films, featuring such performers as Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen

Candice Patricia Bergen is an American actress and former fashion model.She is known for starring in two TV series, as the title character on the situation comedy Murphy Brown , for which she won five Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards; and as Shirley Schmidt on the comedy-drama Boston Legal...

, Teri Garr

Teri Garr

-Early life:Garr was born in Lakewood, Ohio in 1947. Her father, Eddie Garr , was a vaudeville performer, comedian and actor whose career peaked when he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway drama Tobacco Road...

, Janine Turner

Janine Turner

Janine Turner is an American actress who starred on the prime time television show Northern Exposure from 1990 to 1995. From 2000 to 2002, she appeared on the Lifetime original series Strong Medicine...

, Garth Brooks

Garth Brooks

Troyal Garth Brooks , best known as Garth Brooks, is an American country music artist who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon. His eponymous first album was released in 1989 and peaked at number 2 in the US country album chart while climbing to number 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart...

, Amy Grant

Amy Grant

Amy Lee Grant is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress, best known for her Christian music. She has been referred to as "The Queen of Christian Pop"...

, Isaac Hayes

Isaac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...

, Reba McEntire

Reba McEntire

Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...

, Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille O'Neal

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal , nicknamed "Shaq" , is a former American professional basketball player. Standing tall and weighing , he was one of the heaviest players ever to play in the NBA...

 and Shania Twain

Shania Twain

Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...

. Film House has been a member of the select International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers

International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers

The International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers is a global peer network of production company owners. Founded in 1966, the organisation grew out of the vision to create a worldwide network of trusted filmmakers to pool knowledge and resources on international productions.- Organization :In...

 (IQ) since 1977 and Hahn has been on the Board of Governors since 1990, including serving as IQ President from 1999-2002. During his term as President he helped guide IQ to the most financially secure position in its thirty-seven year history, including the establishment of the IQ Endowment Fund. IQ is an invitation-only organization of some of the world's top film producers.

Transcendent

In 2003, Hahn founded Transcendent to produce high quality independent features. Drawing on the resources of Film House and utilizing the latest technology, Transcendent's goal is to produce the kind of inspiring, uplifting films that are often seen as too small for Hollywood; meaningful stories that speak to the viewer's heart. Transcendent's first project No Regrets (2004), starring Janine Turner

Janine Turner

Janine Turner is an American actress who starred on the prime time television show Northern Exposure from 1990 to 1995. From 2000 to 2002, she appeared on the Lifetime original series Strong Medicine...

 and Kate Jackson

Kate Jackson

Kate Jackson is an American actress, director, and producer, perhaps best known for her role as Sabrina Duncan in the popular 1970s television series Charlie's Angels...

, was written and directed by Hahn.

In 2006, Transcendent co-produced Two Weeks

Two Weeks

Two Weeks is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by Steve Stockman and starring Sally Field.-Plot:Four siblings return home to their mother's house, in North Carolina, for what they think are the last few days of her life...

 starring two time Academy Award

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 winner Sally Field

Sally Field

Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...

, Ben Chaplin

Ben Chaplin

Ben Chaplin , is an English actor.-Early life:Chaplin, the youngest of four children, was born in London, the son of Cynthia , a drama teacher, and Peter Greenwood, an engineer. He took his stage name after his mother's maiden name. He was raised in Windsor, Berkshire, England and attended Hurtwood...

 and Tom Cavanagh

Tom Cavanagh

Thomas "Tom" Cavanagh is a Canadian actor.-Early life:Cavanagh was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He is of Irish descent and was raised in a large Roman Catholic family. Cavanagh moved with his family to Winneba, a small city in Ghana, when he was seven years old. In his teens, the family moved to...

, with writer-director Steve Stockman. The film was shot in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

. Worldwide rights were acquired by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 which released the film theatrically and on DVD.

Next, Hahn produced and directed Deadline, starring Steve Talley

Steve Talley

Steve Talley is an American actor who played Dwight Stifler in later films of the American Pie film series.-Career:...

 and Academy Award

Academy Awards

An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...

 nominee Eric Roberts

Eric Roberts

Eric Anthony Roberts is an American actor. His career began with King of the Gypsies , earning a Golden Globe nomination for best actor debut. He starred as the protagonist in the 1980 dramatisation of Willa Cather's 1905 short story, Paul's Case...

. Deadline is adapted from Mark Ethridge's novel Grievances. Filming took place in middle Tennessee in January and February of 2011. Deadline will be released in theaters nationwide in 2012.