Ellen Steloff

FOUNDER & Executive Director

Ellen Steloff founded Rabbit Hole in 2010 with a pilot program in a classroom at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles. Ellen’s passion for the medium of film is the result of both her personal journey and her professional career as a film executive and producer. For more than 20 years, Ellen has worked at screening, programming, acquiring, developing and producing films. Witnessing the transformative power of the medium, Ellen has always had an emotional connection to the world of film and this has organically translated to teenagers who needed a resource of personal expression and storytelling.

Oliver Mauldin

CReative Consultant

Oliver was raised in Franklin, Tennessee. After designing a bachelor's degree in Motion Picture Production at Belmont University, he moved to Los Angeles, got an MFA in Directing from Chapman University and began pursuing a career in film.
He's worked on countless feature, commercial and music video sets, and is happy now to be sharing his knowledge and experience with high schoolers.

Keiko Matsuo

Guest Teaching Artist

Keiko works with some of our Rabbit Hole programs by bringing her 30 years of experience as a holistic Qi therapist to the students. She enriches our workshops with cultural support, physical healing and exercises in mindfulness. She shares our great passion for supporting the self expression of young people and believes in the simple power of preparing, passing and sharing a cup of tea, which creates a sense of community and provides a moment to take pause.

Jacques Edeline

Teaching Artist

Jacques Edeline is a writer/director with a BA in history from Emory University and an MFA in screenwriting from Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. In addition to Saturday Suspension diversion at Fairfax High, he teaches creative writing to incarcerated juveniles at Central Juvenile Hall through Inside Out Writers.

Colin Lourie

Consultant

With a B.A. in Philosophy from UCLA, Colin led creative writing workshops for incarcerated youth at Central Juvenile Hall in LA. He became Site Coordinator/Lead Facilitator for The Beat Within, an organization that publishes participants’ writing for juvenile halls across the country. Also, he led computer training workshops for the unemployed and homeless at Chrysalis in Santa Monica. Colin wants to continue to provide a safe place for self-expression for youth through participation in the arts.

He has recently left daily Rabbit Hole operations to pursue a Masters degree in social work/heroism at NYU.

Becca Pecaut

Teaching Artist

Becca is a proud Canadian from Toronto. She completed her undergrad at NYU’s Gallatin School for Individualized Study with a self-titled degree in "Storytelling”, encompassing her interests in screenwriting, poetry, photography and experimental filmmaking. She is a recent graduate of USC’s John Wells Division of Writing for Screen and Television MFA program. Becca enjoys sharing her love of storytelling through multiple creative outlets and works part-time as a bookseller at Book Soup in West Hollywood.

Ellen Steloff

President

After a 20-year career in film, Ellen Steloff founded Rabbit Hole to transform young lives through the power of cinematic storytelling. Through Rabbit Hole, Ellen has forged long term relationships with school administrators and classroom teachers to address the needs of students with academic, behavioral and mental health challenges. She has developed an innovative pedagogical model integrating film and digital media into core curriculum, afterschool programs and suspension diversion efforts.

Rabbit Hole was born of a love of films and the magic they have to transform people’s lives. Film is not seen only as an escape, but as a connector and an ignition switch of possibility and wonder and that is one of the core principles of RHS mission.

Elissa Greer

Director

Elissa is an entertainment marketing executive with a proven track record working with creative brands, projects and franchises, including New Line Cinema, FilmDistrict and Focus Features.

Bernard Friedman

Treasurer

Bernard is an entrepreneur with a twenty-five year primary focus on the media and entertainment space.

Lianne Halfon

Board Member

Lianne is the producer of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Juno and Ghost World, among other films. She earned an Emmy for the documentary Which Way Home, and has been nominated for an Oscar. She recently finished Demolition Man with Jake Gyllenhaal and the documentary The Earth Moves in partnership with the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Drew Thomas

Board Member

Drew is the head teacher of the Phoenix Academy at Los Angeles High School. Hailing from Seattle, she now makes L.A. home, and it's lucky to have her. The social-emotional approach she spearheads at work has brought about wonderfully positive changes for her students.

Bob Tzudiker
& Noni White

Board Members

Bob and Noni are screenwriters with numerous features including Tarzan, Newsies, Anastasia and The Hunchback of Notre Dame.