John Paul Cooney

Graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Literature. While there he met Billy Samoa Saleebey, whom he collaborated with on "Rolling." Acted in numerous stage plays while at LMU including "The Kentucky Cycle" and "The Baltimore Waltz." Worked as an actor on the original programs "Astonishing News" and "OZ" as well as numerous short films, several pilots and a few stage plays. In May of 2004 formed the production company Group in Progress. New York is also where he met company partner Robyn Reiter. The company's inaugural production was the 2004 off Broadway winter staging of Michael Weller's 1972 anti-war play "Moonchildren." The cast included Ben Morrison of "Punk'd" and Vincent Piazza of "Boardwalk Empire." Weller himself stated it was the best version he'd seen of his play since the Broadway original 32 years earlier. In February of 2005, John and his company moved west to produce "Rolling" with Saleebey's Believe Entertainment. The film starred Sanoe Lake & Erin Cummings and won the 2009 PRISM Award. John has also adapted a novel that takes place during the Memphis garbage strike of 1968 and examines the circumstances surrounding the assassination of MLK Jr. called "Jericho Road" that he hopes to get funded someday. John is currently penning a Jewish coming of age comedy set in NYC with Reiter as well as a supernatural thriller with veteran writer Garry Rusoff. He recently completed the dramatic thriller "Deviant" which will film sometime in 2014. In addition, he also works on numerous short films as well as music videos. The mission of Group in Progress is to produce quality work for stage and screen that deals with societal issues.