Growing Studio Greets Economic Gloom with Fiesta. Latina CEO Selected as One of Seattles Top Young Business Leaders

When your top client cancels one of your big projects, how do you respond? If youre Marisa Contratto Jeakle, CEO of event & marketing firm Filmateria Studios, you throw a $25,000 soiree at the Seattle Art Museum. The attitude has served her well. Shes just been selected one of Seattles top young business leaders by the Puget Sound Business Journal.

Growing Studio Greets Economic Gloom with Fiesta
Latina CEO Selected as One of Seattles Top Young Business Leaders

When your top client cancels one of your big projects, how do you respond? If youre Marisa Contratto Jeakle, CEO of event & marketing firm Filmateria Studios, you throw a $25,000 soiree at the Seattle Art Museum. The attitude has served her well. Shes just been selected one of Seattles top young business leaders by the Puget Sound Business Journal (http://seattle.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2003/09/15/focus33.html).

Im a Latina, so Im used to dealing with emotionally charged situations," says Jeakle. But you have to see every day as a new opportunity." Filmaterias Fiesta Frida event at SAM was the event of the last season for many. The production included a diorama with actors playing Frida (who continually cut her long hair during the evening), Trotsky (who stared at the capitalist crowd and read from The Communist Manifesto), served up with antojitos and bebidas. Invitations were sent with Day of the Dead sugar skulls. A Frida trivia web game was updated weekly for attendees.

Just another unique marketing splash from Filmateria.
Jeakle started Filmateria Studios in 1995 as a film production company, specializing in producing television advertising. Since then, the company has added several employees, and branched out into producing live events, corporate video, documentaries, print, and television programming.

Filmateria has produced hundreds of projects since its inception, notably, the Seattle launch of Microsofts XBOX, creation of the International Games Festival in Las Vegas, production of Microsoft Accessibility Groups event at the Los Angeles CSUN conference, and Microsoft Services Keynote at the Microsoft Global Briefing in New Orleans.

Our style seems to fit these challenging economic times," says Jeakle. We really focus on creating a unique experience for our audience, using all senses and media. Were small, so we can be creative with limited funds. Were always motivated by the idea, not the budget."
Contratto Jeakle began in the media business as a model in Salt Lake City. She attended the University of Utah before moving to Seattle to complete her education. She started as an administrative assistant at KIRO-TV, and rose to become a Producer at KIROs production arm before launching Filmateria.

Contratto Jeakle, a second generation Latina, is active in numerous organizations, including the Latina Empowerment Summit, Women in Film, University of Utah and University of Washington Alumni Associations, and Holy Rosary Catholic Church. She is a 1998 graduate of the Seattle Leadership Tomorrow program.

Filmateria produces film, events, digital, and print. In addition to Contratto Jeakle, the company features the talents of Creative Director William Jeakle, a writer and former business strategist for CNN, Art Director Mark Contratto, a former New York photographer who has shot for Vogue, Paper, and Entertainment Weekly, and Senior Producer Kris Wright, a veteran of production on numerous feature films.

Contact:
Kris Wright, Filmateria
206-938-6791 kris@filmateria.com