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Matthew Cooke

Matthew Cooke - Writer / Director "How to Make Money Selling Drugs"

 

Matthew Cooke, the writer and director of "How to Make Money Selling Drugs," was born in Washington DC in 1973. He spent his formative years studying graphic design, acting, and music split between DC, NYC and Chicago. He graduated with great honors in 1996 from Pitzer College with a B.A. in film.

Cooke, along with 2 partners, raised 7 million dollars back in 1999 from Intel, AOL, and Time-Warner to build the first and only patented broadband search engine, Rampt.com for Time-Warner's RoadRunner network. Earning Print Magazine's "Best of the Web" Design award as the Executive Creative Director.

Teaching as a Professor of Creative Direction at Otis college of Art & Design in 2000, Cooke would spend the next decade designing, art directing, editing and animating as a freelancer.

Writing a screenplay in the summer of 2005 called FALCON, which was a true story sequel to the cult hit "The Falcon and the Snowman", Cooke received the offer of being both represented as writer and director, and having the film packaged by ICM.

2006 brought us Cooke's first feature film "Deliver Us From Evil" in which he both produced and edited. Winning him numerous awards and making over forty different critics' "best of" lists for that year. 2007 found the film receiving an Academy Award nomination for best documentary feature.

2007 also found Cooke working as an actor/writer/director for a variety show on Fuel TV called StupidFace. Many recognizable cast members from shows such as the Drew Carey show, the Sarah Silverman program, Arrested Development, plus others, all found themselves as guest stars in Cooke's sketches.

Cooke partnered with HBO's Entourage Adrian Grenier in 2008 to produce "Teenage Paparazzo". Premiering at Sundance in 2010 and being released on HBO, the film features Alec Baldwin, Rosie O’Donnell, Matt Damon, Whoopi Goldberg plus many others.

Emmy Award winning producer Steve Devore and Cooke partnered together in 2011 and launched Saturday Entertainment, a traditional and trans-media production company.

Starting in 2012, Cooke wrapped up post production of "How To Make Money Selling Drugs" which he produced with Adrian Grenier and Robin Garvick. Being theatrically distributed by Tribeca Films 2013, the film will also premiere at TIFF.

"How To Make Money Selling Drugs" is a shockingly candid examination of how a street dealer can rise to cartel lord with relative ease, How to Make Money Selling Drugs is an insider’s guide to the violent but extremely lucrative drug industry. Told from the perspective of former drug dealers, including Brian O'Dea who we've had as a guest on Cannabis Nation Radio, and featuring interviews with rights advocates Russell Simmons, Susan Sarandon, and David Simon (creator of “The Wire”), the film gives you the lessons you need to start your own drug empire while exposing the corruption behind the "war on drugs." Lawmakers and enforcers are also featured including Howard Wooldridge a previous guest on Cannabis Nation Radio. 

 

Release Date

VOD: June 18, 2013
Theatrical starting June 26 in NY and June 28 in LA.
Seattle, WA: Northwest Film Forum – June 28
Portland, OR: Hollywood Theatre – June 28
Atlanta, GA: The Plaza – June 28
Miami, FL: O Cinema – July 2
Columbus, OH: Gateway Film Center – July 5
Denver, CO: SIE FilmCenter – July 5
Louisville, KY: Village 8 – July 12
San Francisco, CA: Roxie – July 12
Berkley, CA: Elmwood 3 – July 12
Chicago, IL: Facets – July 12