About Us

Gail had a successful career editing TV spots for national advertising campaigns before switching gears and moving into entertainment.  She started by going to grad school for screenwriting and then made several award-winning short films. Now she splits her time between personal productions and episodic directing/editing.  PUPPY LOVE is her first feature film.    

Amanda Marien is a video editor / filmmaker and all-around animal lover. At the time of PUPPY LOVE she was working with Gail Gilbert at CERISE FILMS and when the opportunity came up to be around puppies and cameras all day, she was delighted to help out.  After a few weeks she offered to take Red home for a week to help Cindy care for the puppies who needed more attention. A week later she begged Cindy to allow her to keep him, claiming her current dog, Zeppy, fell in love and they couldn't be separated. In reality, she couldn't be apart from Red’s positive attitude and never-ending determination to live the best life. And so the epic decade began, Amanda, Zeppy and Red, the trio that couldn't be separated, lived their best life together. 

We had seven camera people working on the film.  THANK YOU ALL!

Penny Kurz says life began for her when her family moved to the country and she started tromping fields with dogs. Penny believes her science education and laboratory experience simply reinforced her tendency to question everything. When the beautiful puppies she had watched being born became paralyzed there was no way she was going to accept, “Oh yes it happens, we just put them down!”

Michelle Cullen was born in Dublin Ireland. She grew up continuing her family legacy by doing competitive Irish Dancing. After moving to the Chicago Area, she continued dancing in a huge Irish community, and traveled back and forth to Ireland / Canada / and across the US dancing. In 1990 she began a career at American Airlines which allowed her to continue traveling. A new puppy led to a friendship with Penny who introduced Michelle to a variety of dog sport. Thus she joined the close community of people that helped a talented group of puppies to survive and thrive. Michelle has an uncanny ability to bring out the best in all dogs she works with and Oliver was lucky to be her pick of the litter.

Many thanks to Dr. Barbara Royal and everyone at her center for helping our puppies recover!  

Thanks to Dr. Royal, the puppies were put on a diet of Darwin's raw food when they were four months old and they've been eating raw ever since.  It made all the difference.