Kevin Heelan is an American playwright. He is the author of numerous plays, including Distant Fires, seen in New York off-Broadway at the Circle in the Square theatre. It was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award as best play and subsequently was produced in Los Angeles, starring Samuel L. Jackson, and was nominated for Hollywood's Ovation Award. Other plays include Right Behind the Flag, produced at Playwrights Horizons with Kevin Spacey, and Heartland, starring Sean Penn on Broadway. The Hope Zone was produced in New York in 1996 by Circle Rep and starred Olympia Dukakis. His screen adaptation of Split Cherry Tree, starring the late Colleen Dewhurst, was seen on HBO and subsequently nominated for an Academy Award as best live action short. Along with Norman Lear, Heelan wrote and co-produced the pilot episode of a television series, "704 Hauser". In 2008, Heelan’s one-act play was part of Atlantic Theatre Company’s 20th Anniversary Festival.

Currently, Heelan is an instructor at the Phillips Andover Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.

R.J. Cutler is an American producer and director. He has worked in film, television, theater andradio. He has won an Emmy Award and been nominated for two others, has received the Peabody Award, and has been nominated for an Academy® Award, an Independent Spirit Award, and a Producers Guild Award.  His production company, Actual Reality Pictures, specializes in the development and
production of non-fiction projects for film and television.
 
Cutler began his filmmaking career producing The War Room, the acclaimed
feature documentary about Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign for the presidency.
The War Room was named Best Documentary of the Year by the National Board of
Review and was nominated for an Academy Award.
 
Cutler then directed and produced the feature documentary A Perfect
Candidate, which followed the now-legendary Virginia Senate campaign between
Oliver North and Charles Robb.  A Perfect Candidate was named one of the
Best Documentaries of 1996 by The New York Times and was nominated for both
an Independent Spirit Award and an Emmy Award.
 
For television, Cutler created, directed and executive produced American
High, a documentary television series which aired on both FOX and PBS.
Following the stories of fourteen Chicago-area high school students over the
course of a school year, American High received the very first Emmy Award
for Outstanding Reality Program in 2001, and was nominated for the same
award in 2002.
 
Cutler also executive produced the acclaimed FX series Black.White, the
premiere of which was watched by more viewers than any non-fiction series in
cable television history. Also for FX, Cutler executive produced 30 Days
featuring Morgan Spurlock. The series just completed its second season on the
air. In its first season, it was nominated for numerous awards, including the
Producers Guild Award for best Non-Fiction Series and a GLAAD Award.
 
Cutler’s other television productions include Freshman Diaries (Showtime);
The Residents (TLC); American Candidate (Showtime); Military Diaries (VH-1);
Bound for Glory (ESPN); Flip that House (TLC); and Making Dazed (AMC).
 
Cutler’s other work includes producing and directing for the theater, and
producing the nightly National Public Radio series Heat, which won the 1991
Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting.