Mark Tapio Kines (Writer/Director) graduated from the CalArts film school in 1992, where he was enrolled in the school's prestigious animation program. While at CalArts, however, he spent most of his time writing and directing live action films. It was here that he began his ascent into a promising writing career. In both 1992 and 1993 his plays were accepted into CalArts' highly competitive New Plays Festival. In 1993, a Los Angeles Times article featured Mark as one of three up-and-coming young dramatists in Southern California.

After CalArts, Mark forged a career as an artist in the exploding new media industry. He designed several award-winning CD-ROMS and had his work featured in Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. In 1995 he played an early role in the Internet revolution and became one of the Web's first "star" artists, creating some of the first story-based animations ever seen on the Internet, as well as high-profile sites for Universal, MGM, NBC and a host of other entertainment companies.

In the spring of 1996 he wrote the script for Foreign Correspondents and was determined to make it into a film the following year. Right on schedule, Foreign Correspondents was filmed in July-August 1997.

Mark continues to balance his two careers as a filmmaker and as an artist and has found the perfect synthesis at Paramount Pictures, where he is currently employed as art director for their online division. He recently completed his latest screenplay "Sharky Baby," which is a semi-finalist at the Project Greenlight, developed by Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Miramax Films. Mark has also completed two more feature screenplays, "Scarred For Life" and "Typhoid Mary," and is busy developing no less than three others.

Mark has completed principle photography on his latest feature film, "Claustrophobia".