Our Story
Darlene Conte and Habib Zargarpour met through a mutual friend as they both were transitioning their careers. They have collaborated on more than a half dozen projects and look forward to bringing exciting and impactful stories to the marketplace.
"While we come from different backgrounds, we found we were aligned in our professional goals as well as our mission to bring content that was meaningful to life."
- Darlene Conte
Darlene Conte
Darlene is a writer, producer, and director. She started as an actress on the stages of New York doing Off-Broadway and regional theatre. She then moved to Los Angeles to begin her film and television career. Her credits include Grey's Anatomy, Monk, Diagnosis Murder, Close to Home, Spiderman 2, Twice As Dead, and many others. She moved behind the camera when she started to write, produce, and direct short films. She has been a contributing writer to Cultural Weekly, Write Movies, as well as doing stand-up. She has garnered awards from the Inroads Fellowship, the Filmmatic Comedy Screenplay Awards, the Filmmatic' TV Pilot Awards, as well as the Outstanding Screenplay TV Pilot competition. She wrote and produced Worst-Case Scenario starring C. Thomas Howell at the Hudson Theatre.
Habib Zargarpour
Habib is a two-time BAFTA winner for VFX on Twister and The Perfect Storm. He has also been nominated for multiple Academy Awards. His credits include Blade Runner 2049, The Jungle Book, The Bourne Identity, Star Wars Episode 1, Greyhound, Ready Player One, The Adam Project, and Quantumania. He has also directed multiple short films including Squadron and Zhora. He is a founding member of the Visual Effects Society as well as a member of BAFTA and AMPAS. He also teaches visual effects at both USC and Yale film school. He has collaborated with Steven Spielberg, Kathy Kennedy, Tom Hanks, Denis Villenueve, Ridley Scott, and many others. He has pioneered real-time tools for pre-vids, allowing filmmakers to use technology to get the shot they want before the director yells "action."
About Us
We are truly a collaborative team. We discuss our vision and adjust it to whichever idea that best serves the story and gets the best shot.
HABIB VFX projects/ awards
About Hundredth Monkey Productions
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Do you have a mission statement?We focus on stories that have some degree of social relevance while still being entertaining. Right now, we're focusing on climate change in THE GATEWAY as told through the lens of a love story. Our mission is to produce impactful content as it relates to the world around us.
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Do you collaborate with other artists and companies?We love to collaborate. It's the nature of the business and it feeds the creative pool to incorporate ideas and work with people of various backgrounds and experience.
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Why is it called Hundredth Monkey Productions?The hundredth monkey idea is based on a theory developed in the 1950's after the United States conducted atomic testing on the Atoll in the South Pacific. Scientists found that when they taught a small number of monkeys how to clean their food from radiation, the information spread to the other monkeys on other islands by collective consciousness. It became known as the hundredth monkey theory. As Anthropologist Margaret Meade said, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."