Named for their birth stone and their love of urban frenzy, UrbanTopaz is Christopher Romero Wilson and Schnele Wilson. Christopher and Schnele began their careers over 18 years ago as two of the founding members of Open Door Productions, a Dallas based film and video production company. Together, with partner Anthony Brownrigg, Open Door Productions made short films, music videos and commercials. Open Door later merged with Annie Biggs of Igo Films to become Process Project. The four worked together as a creative team to write, act, produce and direct the independent feature film Cyberstalker (currently in release as the Digital Prophet). After the completion of the film, Process Project went on to produce music videos, corporate films and commercials as well as branching out into graphic design. After five years the group broke up to pursue individual interests. Schnele formed Schnele Wilson Design which focused on website and graphic work. Christopher formed Velocity Pictures, reuniting with Annie, Anthony and Schnele one more time to produce their second independent feature film, The Process of Creative Deception. Shortly thereafter, Christopher and Schnele re-located to New York City where they have worked together and independently in film, theatre, and graphic art. This site contains selected examples of their work over the course of their careers.
Christopher Romero Wilson
(Click for Acting/Directing/Writing page)
Christopher’s background as an actor led him to portray roles as varied as Lucio in Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, to Bernardo in West Side Story. It was during this time in the theatre that he began to direct stage productions. Eager to make the transition to screen, he co-wrote and produced Silent Interchanges (1991), a short film which won the Texas Showcase Award and aired on PBS. From there, Christopher went on to produce and direct commercials, corporate films, and music videos as one of the co-founders of Process Project, a Dallas-based production company. He co-wrote and directed the cyber punk thriller, The Digital Prophet (1995), which starred Jeffrey Combs (Re-animator, The Frighteners), was released by Troma Entertainment and is now available on DVD through NetFlix. His second feature was the digital art-house drama, The Process of Creative Deception, which won Best Art Film at the New York Independent International Film and Video Festival/LA, as well as taking the top prize at the Fort Worth Film Festival in 2001. After relocating to New York he made a return to the stage, directing the award winning play Finding Center Three as part of the Spotlight On Theatre Festival, as well as producing and directing the interactive video art for the Looking Glass Theatre’s production of Spring Awakening. He has written two new screenplays, The Last Days of the Fast and Cool andThe Lost Texans of Manhattan, which are in development. In 2007 Christopher directed Day and Night, a music video for German techno pop artist, BBerlin. His most recent work, Standard Research, is a meditation on the electronic consciousness of the technologic age. Completed in late 2008, it is the seventh segment of the Tag You’re It film project produced by Meghan Scibona of Small Media XL.
Christopher Romero aka Christopher Romero Wilson:
Regarding the variation in name appearance, when Christopher was 19 he got his first acting agent who wanted to market him as a Hispanic actor. The problem was “Chris Wilson” didn’t sound very Spanish. So he added his mother’s maiden name, “Romero”, and worked as Christopher Romero Wilson. When he began directing he decided to drop the Wilson, and work as just Christopher Romero. He worked under that name until the summer of 2005 when his father suffered multiple heart attacks and nearly died. He decided then to work again as Christopher Romero Wilson to honor his father’s name.
Schnele Wilson
Schnele Wilson began her career as a classically trained actress and musician working professionally in theater. She moved to screen acting when she teamed up with Christopher on the award-winning short film Silent Interchanges. She co-founded Open Door Productions, Process Project, and Velocity Pictures, multi-media companies that produced commercials, corporate films, music videos, and feature films, including The Digital Prophet and The Process of Creative Deception. As part of a creative team, Schnele co-wrote, produced, acted and edited various projects. After relocating to New York in 2002, Schnele returned to the stage, earning a best actress nomination at the Spotlight On Theatre Festival for her work in the award winning production of Finding Center Three. More recently Schnele was the editor on BBerlin’s music video, Day and Night. She also designed and produced Sabbatical Pictures' animated logo for their theatrical releases. Most recently she was the editor for Standard Research, the 7th segment of the Tag You’re It film project.
