Produced by: The Usual BS Productions & steel penny productions
who we are:
MELISSA ARCHER (Exec. Producer/Actor) followed her ten year run on ABCʼs One Life To Live with starring roles in three backtoback indie movies. She then reprised her OLTL role of Natalie when the series was picked up by Prospect Park and made the groundbreaking move to online.A Texas native, the fiery redheadʼs love for acting began in high school where she was also an accomplished singer and dancer, appearing in numerous local productions. In her late teens she relocated to Hollywood to follow her dream.In 2001 she was cast in the role of Natalie on One Life To Live and enjoyed a front burner storyline for a decade. She was continually voted the showʼs favorite actress in fan polls.She recently wrapped a one year stint on Days of Our Lives playing the role of Serena Mason.In her rare spare time, the accomplished marksman loves martial arts, writing, producing, and is a true tech geek.
JESSICA MORRIS (Exec. Producer/Actor) was raised in Florida; where she began doing local theatre and dancing competitively, while modeling internationally during the summer. She moved to Los Angeles after graduating. Arriving in L.A., Jessica quickly booked her first feature film. Then moved to New York where she portrayed Jen on ABC's "One Life to Live" for 5 years. Moving back to Los Angeles, she has been doing guest-star appearances on television and starring in numerous independent films. Best know for her provocative role in Universal's "Role Models."
Jessica loves cooking, practicing yoga, and has just discovered her passion for writing.
SONIA BLANGIARDO (Exec. Producer/Creator/Director/Writer) is a 3x Emmy winning director/producer/writer and 6x nominee, with 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry. She is currently on the directing team for NBC’s Days Of Our Lives where she won the 2018 Best Directing Emmy.
Sonia is the creator, director and executive producer of the 8x Emmy nominated Tainted Dreams, currently streaming on Amazon Prime as well as Popstar! TV and YouToo America, where it quickly became the top viewed show for the latter two.
Sonia is also the co-owner of The Usual BS Productions, founded with Brandon Goins. The Usual BS Productions focuses on writing and creating both scripted series and films of varying genres, as well as unscripted concepts and live theatre.
The Usual BS Productions first scripted comedy web series, Viral, starring One Life to Live’s Melissa Archer and Jessica Morris, was recently nominated for several Indie Series Awards, including a win for Melissa Archer in the "Best Lead Actress in a Comedy" category.
Sonia was the Executive Producer of C.A.W.L. (College Arm Wrestling League) To Arms, which aired on ESPN in May, 2014.
Sonia began her career as a production assistant for ABC’s All My Children, serving as an associate producer before joining ABC’s One Life to Live as a coordinating producer in 2000. In 2004 she joined CBS’ As the World Turns as a director and line producer. She then joined the directing team at ABC’s General Hospital. She also served as supervising producer and director for TOLN’s All My Children until July of 2013. Sonia won an Emmy for best drama in 2002 (One Life to Live) and best directing team in 2007 (As the World Turns).
Sonia directed and produced the world premieres of the hit Off-Broadway shows My Big Gay Italian Wedding and My Big Gay Italian Funeral in New York City and the regional premiere of My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City.
Sonia also recently directed the series, Winterthorne and Ladies of the Lake both currently streaming on Amazon as well as co-executive producing, co-writing and directing a comedy pilot, Bromies all for Corday Productions.
Sonia is the founder of CARLO’S GOAL, a non-for-profit organization for pancreatic cancer research, which has raised over $30,000.
Sonia is a graduate of St. John’s University.
Sonia is a dual citizen of both the USA and Italy. She is fluent in Italian and has basic comprehension of Spanish.
TERESA CICALA (Exec. Producer/Editor) has worked in television production and post production for almost twenty years. She got her start on the ABC series One Life to Live, where she rose quickly in the ranks to Associate Director and Editor, positions that earned her four Emmy Awards, and seven Director’s Guild of America Awards. In 2011 she left to work on other projects, and has since edited episodes for a variety of shows, including The Chew (ABC), Say Yes to the Dress (TLC), 90 Day Fiancé (TLC), Man Finds Food (TRAVEL), and the feature The Grove (Open Book Productions).
In addition to television, Teresa has also worked in theatre. In 2007, she collaborated with playwright Anthony Wilkinson on the script for Boys Just Wanna Have Fun, which she then co-directed with Sonia Blangiardo. She also produced and directed the 2011 revival of My Big Gay Italian Wedding, which received and Off-Broadway Alliance Award nomination for Best Play Revival. The show ran for 15 months at the St. Luke’s Theatre in New York City.
In 2014 Teresa produced the first season of C.A.W.L. to Arms for ESPN2/ESPNU, and was the Senior Producer, as well as the Editor, for Tainted Dreams (NYC Brand Productions). She is currently editing the third season of the FYI series Tiny House Nation.
BRANDON GOINS (Exec. Producer/Creator/Actor/Writer) co-owner of THE USUAL BS PRODUCTIONS, has worked in the entertainment industry for over 15 years in a variety of capacities including actor, writer, stuntman, director, and producer.
Along with Viral Brandon's most recent projects include the Emmy nominated series, Tainted Dreams, in which he worked on as both a Cast Member and Story Producer as well as working as Stunt Coordinator on the web series, Winterthorne.
A member of both SAG/AFTRA and Actors's Equity, Brandon was just recently seen starring in the hit Off-Broadway production of My Big Gay Italian Wedding and the sequel, My Big Gay Italian Funeral in NYC.
Fellow co-owner of THE USUAL BS PRODUCTIONS and two-time Emmy winning director/producer, Sonia Blangiardo directs both shows, and it was there Brandon and Sonia began their creative partnership as a writing/producing team and now have several film and television projects in varying stages of production and development.
As an actor, Brandon has been seen in such films as What Happens in Vegas, The Final Level, and Death OnDemand and such TV shows as Golden Boy, Deadly Sins, All My Children, Scorned: Love Kills, My Crazy Love, Momsters, One Life to Live, Bunk, Guiding Light, and Important Things with Demetri Martin.
To see a list of all Brandon's credits go to: IMDB or visit his website www.brandongoins.com
During his time working on the CBS series, Golden Boy, Brandon was also asked to write, direct, and produce a promo video for the show which allowed him to work with such talent as Divergent star, Theo James, Arrow and True Blood star, Kevin Alejandro, and Friends star, Bonnie Somerville.
Brandon is a graduate of Western Kentucky University where he received degrees in both Marketing/Business Management as well as Theatre.