Our Team

Partner

Originally from New Jersey, Riback started his career in the mailroom at ICM before becoming a Manager/Producer at Management 360, where he spent five years. For the past eight years Riback has been at Echo Lake Entertainment managing a client base which spans across all mediums and includes an eclectic and diverse list of creators.

Riback recently Executive Produced the sci-fi thriller feature film ASH, starring Aaron Paul, Eiza Gonzalez and Iko Uwais. He Executive Produced OXYGEN for Netflix, starring Melanie Laurent and directed by Alex Aja and he Produced THE SECRETS WE KEEP with di Bonaventura Pictures, which was released theatrically by Bleecker Street and stars Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman and Chris Messina.

Previously he Executive Produced the film INTERNET FAMOUS for Lakeshore Entertainment and Maker Studios.

Digital Strategist

Alison Wolin is an experienced social and digital media expert in the entertainment industry who has collaborated with top actors, athletes, models and musicians to build expansive social media profiles. She is known for her for creative growth strategies; and executing all varieties of campaigns for her clients. Having worked on launching TV shows, books, films, award show campaigns, charity fundraising and brand endorsements, she’s learned and strategized with the best in the business. Alison started her professional career at CAA in the television department and joined an affiliate group developing the WhoSay app. At WhoSay she built out social media profiles and strategies at a time when social media was just beginning, helping to launch some of the most prolific social media accounts still active today. Since then she has worked as a private consultant, built celebrity emojis, and helped talent and brands execute their vision on social media. Alison grew up in Newton, MA. She began working in the entertainment industry in NYC while still in college with a series of internships in production at 20th Century Fox, The Rachael Ray Show and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. She graduated with honors from Columbia University and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Partner

Amotz Zakai has worked at Echo Lake Entertainment since 2001, first in the production/financing division and now on the management side representing an international roster of directors, writers, and former spies. He grew up in Jerusalem, Israel, and received his BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and his MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California. He and his wife Abigail live in Los Angeles with their three children.

Partner / Head of IP Department

Amy Schiffman has been a literary agent and manager in the film and television fields for over twenty-five years.

After graduating from Hamilton College, she worked in New York, first at the CBS News Broadcast Center, and then in magazines, including the award-winning American Photographer Magazine, where she eventually became an editor and columnist, and later at GQ and Diversion magazines.

Her Hollywood career began in the Literary Properties division of the William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, where she was Vice President. There she sold the books “Friday Night Lights,” “Apollo 13,” “Sleepers,” “Permanent Midnight” and “Primal Fear,” all of which were produced as feature films during her tenure at the agency.

Schiffman ran the literary properties division at The Gersh Agency, and later became a partner in the literary management firm Intellectual Property Group. She represents Dennis Lehane, (“Mystic River,” “Gone Baby Gone,” “Shutter Island,” “The Drop,” “Mr. Mercedes”) Don DeLillo (“Cosmopolis” “White Noise,” “Underworld”), and Daniel Woodrell (“Winter’s Bone”), among many others. She joined Echo Lake in 2018. Recently she sold the bestseller “The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society,” by Mary Anne Shaeffer and Annie Barrows. The film, starring Lilly James and directed by Mike Newell, is streaming on Netflix, as is the film “Nappily Ever After,” based on the novel by Trisha R. Thomas.

Schiffman has been a guest speaker at The University of Southern California’s prestigious Peter Stark program, as well as at the Master of Professional Writing program. She has also guest lectured at American Film Institute and California State University at Northridge. She is a member of the board of Arts for LA and a mentor with Women in Film. Her own writing has appeared in Lost Orchard, (SUNY Press), and My City, My Los Angeles (Globe Pequot).

President ELE

Andrew Spaulding is a film producer and the President and Chief Operating Officer of Echo Lake Entertainment. He has produced or executive produced more than a dozen feature films, most recently ALL THE BRIGHT PLACES starring Elle Fanning and Justice Smith. Other credits include TRUTH, James Vanderbilt’s directorial debut, starring Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford and THE GREAT, a television series for Hulu which was just picked for a second season.

A native of Virginia, Andrew began his career in politics, and served for two years on the personal staff of Virginia Governor Charles Robb. He later served as the Virginia Film Commissioner. He is a graduate of the University of Virginia.

Manager

Chelsea Marelle Benson came to Echo Lake after earning her Master’s Degree in Producing from AFI in Los Angeles. She holds a BA degree in Film Production (with a minor in Literature) and a BFA degree in Dance from the University of Arizona. As a performer, she brings a unique perspective on entertainment as it relates to film and television and provides a fresh approach to the management team at Echo Lake.

Manager

Chris Davis recently extended his role to literary manager and producer at Echo Lake Entertainment after being the Head of Television for the company. Chris was among the original team responsible for setting up the company’s first series, Van Helsing, which is currently shooting season five and has gone on to become one of SyFy’s highest rated shows. Their success continued with The Great, written by Tony McNamara and starring Elle Fanning and Nicholas Hoult, which premiered on Hulu in May and received a season two pickup. Along with overseeing Echo Lake’s current on-air shows, Chris shepherded more than 40 projects in development. In his current position, Chris works with a variety of incredible writers and directors, and is the point manger on the team representing Forbes Entertainment and their 103+ years of archived articles and IP.

Prior to joining Echo Lake, Chris worked at A&E for over a decade, first in the publicity department and then in movies and mini-series. From there he moved into scripted series development, helping to launch A&E’s first two scripted drama series, The Cleaner, as well as The Beast. As Manager of Development and Current programming for A&E scripted series, he also oversaw shows such as Breakout Kings, Longmire, Bates Motel, Those Who Kill, and The Returned. He holds a degree from University of Hartford and lives in Los Angeles.

Manager

Dana Jackson has moved over to Echo Lake Entertainment where she will continue to represent a roster of directors and writers. A graduate of NYU Film School and Playwrights Horizon Theater School, Jackson worked at the William Morris Agency before landing at Castle Rock Entertainment, where she rose to Director of Development. During her five years there, she worked on dozens of major releases and was instrumental in securing distribution rights to THE SPITFIRE GRILL and PALMETTO. In 1997, Jackson was named Senior V.P. of Hunt/Tavel Productions, the Sony-based production company of Academy Award winning actor-producer Helen Hunt and producer/manager Connie Tavel. While there she developed and was a Co-Producer of Helen Hunt’s directorial debut THEN SHE FOUND ME, starring Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Helen Hunt. Jackson went on to become Senior Vice President for Freestyle Pictures where she developed and packaged THE ACCIDENTAL VIRGIN with Heather Graham to star. In 2004, Jackson became a manager, launching and guiding the careers of several up and coming writers including Bert V. Royal, the award-winning playwright of DOG SEES GOD and screenwriter of the critically acclaimed hit film EASY A, and Karen DiConcetto who, along with Royal, created the critically acclaimed television series RECOVERY ROAD for Freeform. Jackson also produced PARK, directed by Kurt Voelker which starred William Baldwin, Ricki Lake and Cheri Oteri. The film won the Audience Award at the CineVegas Film Festival, the film’s World Premiere. PARK also won numerous awards around the world in over 25 festivals. Jackson self-distributed the film theatrically in the U.S. and PARK aired on Showtime, Starz The Movie Channel and Netflix. In 2016, Jackson joined FINEMAN ENTERTAINMENT where she quickly helped to double the company’s client base managing over 30 filmmakers and television creators.