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AZITA ZENDEL’S BIO
Biography of Azita Zendel
AZITA ZENDEL is the author of the Career Guidebook, How To Break into
Hollywood.
She is also the Writer-Producer-Director of the hilarious movie, CONTROLLED
CHAOS. She was CONTROLLED CHAOS’ film's editor, production designer,
music composer, costume manager, line producer, unit production manager,
and second Assistant Director! She financed this movie on 26 credit cards and
managed to shoot it on film (not digitally) on an extremely tight budget by
circumventing the usual filmmaking channels.
Azita Zendel began taking ballet and singing classes at the age of six and acted,
sang and danced in several plays and musicals in high school, before competing
at the prestigious acting competition of the DTASC Drama Festival in Los
Angeles.
She spent her high school years tutoring younger kids, and worked part-time
and full-time as a legal secretary in order to be able to attend the UCLA
Undergraduate Film School, where she wrote and directed a short film entitled
“Ashes.”
Azita Zendel worked as a temp at several high-profile film production
companies, like Carolco (the producers of the “Rambo” and “Terminator”
series, and Oliver Stone’s “The Doors”). She was offered an internship by an
executive at Oliver Stone’s production company and quickly became Mr.
Stone’s second assistant.
She wrote a six-paged detailed critique of one of Mr. Stone’s scripts, which
caught Mr. Stone’s attention and inspired him to offer her a position as his
executive assistant. Mr. Stone incorporated her ideas in his script and placed
several of her scenes in his movie word for word.
She worked for Oliver Stone during the four years that were his most prolific
period: he directed JFK, HEAVEN & EARTH, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, and
NIXON and produced nine additional films. In total, she collaborated with
Oliver Stone on the production of the following thirteen films:
Assistant to Oliver Stone: Director & Producer
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"JFK"
"Heaven & Earth"
"Natural Born Killers"
"Nixon"
Assistant to Oliver Stone: Producer
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"The Joy Luck Club"
"People vs. Larry Flynt"
"Indictment: the Mc Martin Trial" (Golden Globe winner)
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"Freeway"
"Zebrahead"
"The New Age"
"South Central"
"Killer: A Journal of Murder"
"Wild Palms" Miniseries/ABC
(same pix used B4)
Azita Zendel has personally hired and trained over
fifty interns and has taught a seminar to students
that want to work in Hollywood.
Ms. Zendel graduated UCLA's prestigious School of
Communication Studies Phi Beta Kappa and with
honors.
Ms. Zendel an expert on Middle Eastern history,
culture and religions. She spent her childhood in
Tehran, Iran, and experienced the Iranian Islamic
Revolution and the Iran-Iraq war first hand. She has
been a reporter for an internationally broadcast radio
station and has been interviewed as a guest on
numerous radio and TV shows. She has also been
extensively quoted and featured in several articles
and books.
Azita Zendel’s picture courtesy of
http://www.wireimage.com/GalleryListing.asp
?navtyp=gls====19142&evntI=265
EXCERPTS ABOUT AZITA ZENDEL
JFK INFO.COM, PJM - Letters to the Editor - Whitmey
Click here to read the article
(pops open into www.jfk-info.com/pjm-let.htm)
In early 1992, Lewis began working for Oliver Stone at Ixtlan (which he described in
his book), and received a letter from Stone dated April 14, 1992 indicating that he
was not able to "...finance books, movies, documentaries, etc., but I like your book
and wish I could find a publisher. I tried, but right now, if Bill Schaap and Ellen Ray
won't take it, I can't think of anyone who would take that chance. Can Larry
Howard do anything?" (A copy of this letter was sent to me by Lewis when I
questioned his credibility, along with a Sept. 13, 1992 memo from Stone's
assistant, Azita Zendel, providing a one-paragraph endorsement of Lewis' selfpublished book.)