Angus Benfield is an Australian-born, multi-award-winning director, producer, actor and writer and is the Founder and CEO of California based film production and distribution company LAMA ENTERTAINMENT and production company BRIDGE and ACORN ENTERTAINMENT.
Movies have been a lifelong passion for Angus, starting in the industry as a production runner at 14, he later went on to train as an actor at The Actor's Centre at 20 and landed the lead role in Dean Murphy's Australian feature film Lex and Rory straight out of acting school.
Angus has since worked in all major departments of the film industry, as an actor, screenwriter, producer, director and distributor (theatrical & non-theatrical), as well as in financing. Angus has successfully managed multiple film production companies in the US, Australia and New Zealand along with working as a head of department at the New York Film Academy.
Angus began Bridge and Acorn Entertainment in 2017 and LAMA Entertainment in 2019 in Los Angeles, specializing in independent distribution and production, uniquely creating content from script to screen and producing noteworthy films with impacting messages that inspire and entertain. Producing films that have won multiple awards including Best Comedy Film, Best Feature, Best Drama, Best Gospel Feature, Best Narrative, Best Ensemble, Best Actor, Best Editing and Best Original Score.
Bridge and Acorn Entertainment and LAMA Entertainment’s films have been released theatrically and can be found on Amazon, AppleTV, Prime, YouTube, Tubi, Vimeo, Roku, PureFlix and many other digital platforms, with feature Trust having been viewed over 4.4 million times worldwide.
Angus was awarded Best Director at the Canadian International Film Festival and at the Hollywood Gold Awards in 2020 for feature films Heaven (Eric Roberts), and Motorvation (Judy Norton), and has directed feature films, The Great Turkey Town Miracle (2023), Yellow Bird (Brian Doyle-Murray, Kathy Garver, 2023), Trust (2018) and Wait Up Harriet (2006) and is currently directing the upcoming film The Keeper.
Angus was awarded Best Producer at the EEI Movie Awards in 2021 and has produced films The Post (2023), Purgatory Station (Bob Gunton, Sean O’Bryan, 2023), and written and produced films Motorvation (Judy Norton, 2022), Heaven (Eric Roberts, 2020), High Rollers (2019) Trust (2018), and The Holy Roller (Mark Hadlow, 2010), as well as producing Meet Me in Miami (Carlos Ponce, 2005).
Angus is also an accomplished, multiple award-winning and incredibly versatile actor, having acted alongside some of the biggest names in Hollywood including, Eric Roberts, Julia Garner, Bob Gunton, Brian Doyle-Murray, Cate Blanchett, Anna Chlumsky, Kathy Garver, Judy Norton, LL Cool J, Eric Christian Olsen and Chris O'Donnell.
CURRENT SLATE OF PROJECTS BY LAMA ENTERTAINMENT
RECENTLY COMPLETED:
THE POST
Dir: Justin Hunt / Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: DRAMA /THRILLER
STATUS: COMPLETED 2023
Everything is bigger in Texas, including revenge
The Post is an edgy, revenge thriller steeped in the undetermined boundaries of social media crime and punishment.
THE GREAT TURKEY TOWN MIRACLE
Dir / Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: FAITH-BASED/TRUE STORY/DRAMA
STATUS: COMPLETED 2023
Based on a true story
Five loaves. Two Fish. Four thousand turkeys. When a widowed, burned out, morning-drive DJ is fired, he finds himself having to procure four thousand turkeys by Thanksgiving, in order to keep his new job and hold his family together.
RELEASED:
YELLOW BIRD
Dir/Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: COMEDY/DRAMA /WORKPLACE
STATUS: RELEASED 2023
www.lamaentertainment.com/yellow-bird
A story about searching for happiness
In the style of The Office and Schitt’s Creek, comes a fun new comedy about searching for happiness, “Yellow Bird.” This heart-felt film, set in a small country-town grocery store named "The Yellow Bird," is centered around once successful PR specialist, Jake (Angus Benfield), now a stock boy in his mid-forties, struggling with his sobriety, and his conscience in the guise of a gnome (Brian Doyle-Murray) who is determined to remind Jake of all his failings, including his marriage. Jake’s mother, Rachel Rush (Kathy Garver), is struggling with Alzheimer's and is living in an RV, Rachel is holding onto a past she remembers as much more adventurous and exciting than this life, and is determined to find it once again, and Scotty, the protagonistic store manager who is stuck in a job his father wants him to be in, and so makes all the fun and quirky employees at “The Yellow Bird” miserable in return.
KEY CAST
BRIAN DOYLE-MURRAY
Known for:
Caddyshack
Ghostbusters II
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Groundhog Day
PLASTIC MARTYR
Instagram Influencer 75k followers
Known for:
Little Women: LA
Models Talk
Transparent
IN POST-PRODUCTION:
There is no escape
A crooked lawyer wakes up to find himself in a pitch dark shipping container and learns he has eight hours to scuttle a corporate land grab or watch everyone he loves die one by one...
PURGATORY STATION
Dir: Ethan Hegel / Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: THRILLER
STATUS: IN POST-PRODUCTION 2023
KEY CAST
IN PRODUCTION:
THE KEEPER
GENRE: TRUE STORY/DRAMA/MILITARY
STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
No one walks the trail alone
A special group of military veteran hikers help a fellow vet battle depression, PTSD, and suicidal tendencies as he hikes the Appalachian Trail while carrying 363 military name tapes to raise awareness about veteran suicide.
IN PRE-PRODUCTION:
THE WEIGHT OF A VOID
Dir: Mark Furmie (Terminus) Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: HORROR/THRILLER
STATUS: IN PRE-PRODUCTION 2023
https://www.lamaentertainment.com/the-weight-of-a-void
The unknown is the heaviest weight of all
When a disabled man moves in next door, a successful psychiatrist with a family history of mental illness must uncover whether the horrific events that transpire next are connected to the mysterious new neighbor, or if he is being propelled into a loss of touch with reality.
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
THE DEPROGRAMMER
GENRE: HORROR
STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT
You . Are . Next
A troubled deprogrammer isolates himself with a young cult member to "break" her, but he soon learns her cult's nightmarish beliefs are real - and he's their next target.
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
SPANKY
Dir: Ellory Elkayem (Eight Legged Freaks)
Script/Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: FAMILY -FRIENDLY COMEDY
STATUS: IN PRE-PRODUCTION 2023
www.lamaentertainment.com/spanky
Every child needs a friend
A lonely boy receives a pet tarantula for his birthday and soon discovers that it has special and unique abilities.
GUS
Dir: Peter Cornwell (Haunting in Connecticut)
Script/Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: FAMILY-FRIENDLY COMEDY
STATUS: IN PRE-PRODUCTION 2023
Ventriloquism just got real
A down-on-his-luck ventriloquist serendipitously acquires a dummy that is alive, it would seem all his dreams are about to come true, however his jealous rival, a big-time ventriloquist has other ideas...
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
THE WIDOW MARSH
Dir: Enrico Colantoni (Galaxy Quest, Just Shoot Me)
Prod: Angus Benfield
GENRE: CRIME/THRILLER/DARK COMEDY
STATUS: IN PRE-PRODUCTION 2023
https://www.lamaentertainment.com/the-widow-marsh
She's the sweetest con-artist in town
Door-to-door salesman George Theophilis sells worthless insurance in a small town. When he attempts to con the sweetest widow in town, she turns the tables on him by involving George in fraud and multiple murders leading him down a path from which he may never return. A modern day film noir.
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
THE CHRISTMAS LETTER
GENRE: FAMILY/CHRISTMAS/COMEDY
STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT
The Christmas letter
Every year unemployed copywriter Joe Michaels reads his wealthy friend's annual over-the-top Christmas letter and feels like a loser, but this year is going to be different.
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
BOBBY HOLIDAY
Dir/Prod: Angus Benfield (Yellow Bird, Heaven)
GENRE: COMEDY/DRAMA
STATUS: IN PRE-PRODUCTION 2023
https://www.lamaentertainment.com/bobby-holiday
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
Hope is calling...
A down-on-his-luck salesman befriends a retired sales Lady, who teaches him the tricks of becoming a better salesman while opening his eyes to a better life.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
YELLOW BIRD - TV SERIES
Dir / Prod: Angus Benfield (Yellow Bird, Heaven)
Writer: Tony Jerris
GENRE: COMEDY/DRAMA /WORKPLACE
STATUS: IN PRE-PRODUCTION
www.lamaentertainment.com/yellow-bird
A story about searching for happiness
From the makers of the Yellow Bird movie comes a workplace comedy TV series in the style of The Office, Superstore and Schitt's Creek, set in a small country-town grocery store.
KEY CAST: Brian Doyle-Murray,
Kathy Garver, Angus Benfield, Plastic Martyr
DIRTY REAL
GENRE: TRUE STORY/DRAMA/MILITARY
STATUS: IN DEVELOPMENT
KEY CAST: Angus Benfield-more tbc
The Charles Bukowski story
The story of Charles Bukowski; a young boy that grew up in an abusive home, avoided the draft, worked in the post office, became a man who was a serial womanizer, his jealous girlfriend tried to run him over and he went on to become a famous underground writer.