About us
At Eight East we make feature films from script to screen and are capable of an entirely in-house post production. Established in 2016, we’ve made numerous award winning shorts and narrative feature projects and continue to push the pace to find what can be the limit for young, driven and talented filmmakers in this new era of technology and collaboration.
creative director
Paul Daisuke Goodman
Paul founded Eight East Productions shortly after he was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 25. Once a camera operator on the high seas for the Discovery show, Whale Wars, he had to put that all aside and focus on what he could do in the present while undergoing chemotherapy and subsequent treatments. He turned to writing and editing as ways to stay productive during his periods of isolation and sickness. Eventually, he would achieve remission and leave the hospital with a folder full of scripts and newfound skills and purpose to achieve what he always wanted: to shoot feature films. In the three years following his diagnosis he would make Leafer, Six Windows and Evergreen, all scripts he wrote while in the hospital. Evergreen, their first feature, would wrap on location just 3 days before his final chemo therapy treatment.
Paul would relapse in December 2020 and would undergo a bone marrow transplant in March 2021. In November 2021 he began shooting his second feature film, No No Girl and wrapped on principle photography in December, less than a year out from his second cancer diagnosis. He is happily in remission once again.
Talent
We are lucky to be able to work with so many amazing actors throughout our films. From drama students to Academy Award Winners, at Eight East we take pride in the diverse talent we bring to our projects.
Scott Keiji Takeda is a Japanese-American performer that has been working in film, television, and theatre for over ten years. Onscreen, Scott’s credits include MDMA, Carrie Pilby, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and the Netflix original series Huge in France where he stars opposite comedian Gad Elmaleh. Onstage credits include the Ovation-award winning production of Next to Normal (EWP), The Great Leap (Cygnet Theatre), and Valley of the Heart (Mark Taper Forum) among many others.
Hannah Leigh was raised in Northern California until she moved to Los Angeles in 2001. She has portrayed a wide range of characters, from cult victim in CBS's S.W.A.T. to sociopath in Body of Proof (2011), to trouble-making hippie on AMC's Mad Men to a spunky nerd on the Disney XD show, Kickin’ It (2011) At 19 years old, Hannah graduated with her BA in Film and Television, from UC Santa Barbara. Hannah is also an indie-pop singer/songwriter with music available on all streaming platforms and has contributed to the soundtracks of every film we’ve worked with her on.
Josh Reynolds has worked with us since our very first award winning short, Six Windows, and has been in every project since. It is not a true production without him. When not in front of the camera, Josh has operated camera in a wide variety of environment docu-series’ that have taken him from icebergs in Antarctica to the Amazon jungle and the tropical oceans of Southeast Asia.
Producer
Rebecca Herndon started as a PA and quickly identified herself as a leader. Since our first production, it was clear that her only limitation was the responsibility we allowed her and trying to keep up with her potential just highlighted how slow we were. By our first feature, she found herself in a producing role and solidified herself within the ranks as a bonafide General. She’s worked in TV, film, music videos, shorts and all within the first few years of moving to Los Angeles. Rebecca makes this all possible.
Producer
Laurie Miho Goodman got her start in New York working on Broadway with the likes of Hamilton’s Daveed Digs and his collaborative partner Rafael Casal. In 2017, Laurie was accepted into the the prestigious BARS Workshop at the Public Theater where she would write and perform original works in front of a host of Broadway’s biggest names. She would leave New York during the pandemic to pursue a producing role with her brother at Eight East Productions and has been integral in every feature project since. Currently, Laurie is also a Staff Writer for iHeartRadio’s Noble Blood with Dana Schwartz.
Associate Producer
Tinbete Daniel is our resident film buff. Extremely knowledgeable in craft and a prolific writer, T brings a breadth of sophistication and perspective to all our shoots. Pre-production, location, edit; it’s a constant collaboration. His work ethic goes unchallenged. If you are ever lucky enough to cross paths with this holy figure, you sure won’t forget it.
He is currently pursuing his MFA at NYU.
Cinematography
Ben Slavens is our resident Director of Photography and has built a career around everything camera. He’s worked throughout town pulling focus, assistant camera and even more 1st and 2nd camera gigs. This is his field through and through and what he brings to this production house elevates our films to the level of professionalism and cinematic quality we’ve been able to achieve over these years. He is also the director of Chromatron Digital, a color correction post-production company and a long time partner of Eight East.
