Cass Warner
Cass Warner has the honor of being a third-generation filmmaker. Her grandfather, Harry Warner, was the original President and one of the founders of Warner Bros. studio. Her father was writer-producer Milton Sperling, who was nominated twice for an Academy Award.
Cass began her career sitting in on story meetings with her father and wandering the lot observing the magic of movie making.
After studying acting with the acclaimed Milton Katselas and learning screenwriting under the mentorship of her father and Howard Koch of Casablanca (1942) fame, she began her production company, Warner Sisters (www.warnersisters.com), which carries on the original Warner Bros. motto by making films and other media that “educate, entertain, and enlighten.” They are proud to have on their slate most of Howard Koch’s library of unproduced screenplays, plays, short stories, and novels, as well as other projects. Cass’s feature documentary project on Dennis Hopper, Hopper: In His Own Words, won the Critics Award at a festival in Bologna, Italy.
After years of research, Cass wrote her family’s saga in a book published in 1993, now in its third printing in celebration of Warner Bros. studio’s 100th anniversary. The Brothers Warner has been proclaimed a bestselling non-fiction book.
In 2008 she completed a feature documentary, The Brothers Warner, which she directed, wrote, produced, and narrated. The film is an intimate portrait of the family and a tribute to their legacy. It aired on PBS’s American Masters series for two years. The film has won numerous awards, and Cass won the prestigious HBO Films Producer Award and was nominated for an Emmy as a Director in 2009. It has also aired on Turner Classic Movies and is available for streaming on HBO Max. (www.thebrotherswarner.com)
From 2012 to 2016, Cass had the pleasure of telling the family history and anecdotes for those who came for the VIP Warner Bros. Studio Tour on the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank, California, and she worked part-time as a historic outreach coordinator. (www.vipstudiotour.warnerbros.com)
With the purpose of encouraging the dreams of others, Cass created a nonprofit called The Dream Factory Project. With the intention to inspire, she has an ongoing, one-on-one interview series that captures personal insights, stories of accomplishments, and anecdotes of overcoming obstacles, as well as what the interviewee envisions their expansion to be. Excerpts from the series have aired on Starz. Matthew McConaughey was her first interview. (www.thedreamfactory.us)
On a personal note, Cass is the proud mother of four. One of her sons is talented actor Cole Hauser, who has been in over 30 films and several TV series. Currently, he is featured as the character Rip in the hit series Yellowstone.