VIGILANT TEAM

 

Buck Doyle is a highly respected technical advisor and creative consultant to television and film, with a deep understanding of the military and special operations. As a former U.S. Marine, Buck served 21 years and multiple combat tours with Force Reconnaissance and MARSOC units, earning numerous awards including the Bronze Star (with Valor) and Purple Heart. After being severely wounded during his third tour in Iraq, Buck's determination to heal and continue to serve his country led him to an additional combat tour in Afghanistan.

Buck's extensive experience in the military has also led him to be a sought-after tactical weapons trainer to current military, law enforcement and civilian clients, including Special Forces, SWAT, and Other Governmental Agencies.

Buck founded Follow Through Consulting, LLC, which provides tactical weapons training to military, law enforcement, and civilian sectors, and uses that experience to provide valuable input to projects at every stage of production from content development, writer’s-room consultation, cast preparation, and training. His most recent on-set technical advising includes Michael B. Jordan’s Without Remorse, Dwayne Johnson’s Skyscraper and USA Network’s Shooter.

Buck Doyle

James Lindell is infatuated with creating efficient solutions for complex situations. His ability to coax out refined resolutions to issues is a challenge he seeks out and enjoys. Regardless the subject matter he applies education, training, experience, the proper equipment, and teamwork to the work he is focused on.

Lindell grew up in the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest and continues to cherish any outdoor environment. After college and owning a company, he joined the US Navy to be a SEAL. During his military career as a US Navy SEAL, he traveled the globe and most important to him worked with a myriad of colleagues. The SEALs taught him teamwork, thorough planning, and the value of integrity in the work environment.  After 25 years of service, he retired from the SEALs as a Command Master Chief in 2014.

After the SEALs Lindell consulted for a diverse range of clients. His primary duty was to leverage his experience as a coach, mentor, and trainer for organizations and people striving to improve performance results. Drawing on his qualifications as a Master Training Specialist and years of practical experience at the Director and CEO levels in multiple businesses, he delivers extremely valuable insight on operational efficiency and methodical direction to the client.

James Lindell has now embarked on a venture he has loved since childhood. Creating tales and stories to share with others. Using knowledge, experience, the right team, and business methodologies he is creating and producing entertainment in multi-media formats.

Mr. Lindell will continue and looks forward to sharing his varied business, personal knowledge, and love for a great story with clients, business partners and audiences across the globe.

James Lindell

Gus Kangas

In a national security and intelligence career spanning three decades, Gus Kangas has been recognized as a creative and strategic leader, and innovative operations officer. He dedicated over 28 years to combined government service, holding critical roles within the United States Air Force and U.S. Department of State, but most notably within the Central Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Operations (DO), where he served in numerous foreign and HQ CIA leadership positions, heading large, globally dispersed teams and engaging foreign partners. His commitment to the nation saw him repeatedly deploying to conflict zones, where he not only led sensitive intelligence operations but also conducted high-stakes negotiations.

Throughout his decades of service, Gus demonstrated an innate ability to bridge the complex domains of technological innovationand human intelligence. For six years, he was at the forefront of leading digital innovation within the CIA, focusing on the integration of science, technology, and tradecraft in online HUMINT and influence operations. His vision for the seamless fusion of these fields was instrumental in reshaping how intelligence was both gathered and utilized.

Yet, Gus’ story is more than just intelligence and government service. For over 40 years, he has been a professional actor and proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Equity, appearing in feature films, commercials, and on Broadway. With a unique foot in both worlds, Gus is currently driving innovation at the nexus between the entertainment and creative arts industries and the national security domain.

  • Kevin Maurer

    Kevin Maurer is a co-founding partner of Vigilant Pictures, where he focuses on generating valuable intellectual property that can be developed across platforms for the company. He is also an accomplished author, having written several bestselling books including No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama Bin Laden, which spent several weeks at #1 on the New York Times best seller list and was the top-selling hardcover book in the industry in 2012. His current book, American Radical, is also a New York Times best seller, and tells the true story of an active Muslim American federal agent that reveals his experience infiltrating and bringing down a terror cell in North America.

    Maurer is an ongoing journalist, working with esteemed publications such as Rolling Stone, The Daily Beast, and the Washington Post. He has covered the military for over a decade, embedding with American soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, east Africa, and Haiti. His experiences have given him an in-depth understanding of the complexity of heroism and the toll it can take on individuals. This makes him uniquely qualified to tell the stories of real-life heroes with nuance and authenticity.

  • Eric Sherertz

    Eric is a highly skilled and experienced filmmaker who has honed his craft over many years. As the creative director of Silent R Productions from 2008 to 2018, he led the development of a wide variety of content, drawing inspiration from his experiences around the world. In 2021, he partnered with James Lindell and Kevin Maurer to launch Vigilant Pictures, a production company focused on creating authentic, diverse, and grounded creative projects. A graduate of the UNCSA School of Filmmaking, where he focused on cinematography and directing, Eric has worked to learn every aspect of filmmaking, including writing, directing, producing, editing, sound design, visual effects, and cinematography. His dedication to storytelling and interest in the military has allowed him to collaborate with a diverse group of veterans on a wide range of projects, including video game promos, commercials, documentary television series, and online content creation. His passion for telling the stories of real-life heroes has only grown stronger with each collaboration.

    Eric is leading the creative development of the company's slate of films, television shows, unscripted projects, and interactive content. He is committed to using his skills and experience to create compelling and impactful storytelling.

  • Rob Markovich

    With more than 20 years experience in the film and television industry, Mr. Markovich recently oversaw Production for S.U.I.T.E Media Prods. focusing on scripted film and television projects which target BIPOC socially relevant stories and talent. Prior, he headed up development for Zulu 7 Media, specializing in military and intelligence themed projects otherwise known as “militainment.”

    Mr. Markovich spent 10 years at Starz Entertainment initially in the acquisitions department licensing first run and library content from major studios like Warner Bros., Fox, New Line, Universal, Sony and Disney. In 2006 he was responsible for the Programming initiatives surrounding the launch of Vongo, a direct-to-consumer OTT channel. Recognizing the value of Starz providing original content to subscribers, he financed and produced Starz’s first series, THE 1st AMENDMENT, executive produced by Martin Lawrence. The series lasted five seasons and forged a pathway for launching Starz’s original programming department. In addition to overseeing strategy, he developed projects such as SPARTACUS, MAGIC CITY, CAMELOT, CRASH, and PARTY DOWN.

    Prior to Starz, Mr. Markovich was a talent manager guiding careers of Jim Caveizel, Doug Williams, Kevin Sorbo, Hilary Duff, Wilson Bethel and Lexi Alexander. He began his career in distribution working for ITC Entertainment where he sold film and television library content to pay and cable Networks.

  • Nathan Broshear

    As the Director of Air Force Entertainment, Nathan Broshear achieved great success during his tenure. He led the division to its most profitable period in over 70 years of cooperation with the Department of Defense and Hollywood. Under his leadership, the division provided coordination and on-set production support for a diverse range of films, such as Marvel Studios' CAPTAIN MARVEL, THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER and WANDAVISION, Universal's FIRST MAN, STX's GREENLAND, Netflix's holiday hit OPERATION CHRISTMAS DROP, and the record-setting comedy DON’T LOOK UP.

    He was also instrumental in bringing STX’s GREENLAND from script to screen and securing the first-ever in-cockpit cinematography of F-22 Raptor fighter jet in Amazon’s THE TOMORROW WAR. He has also recently managed the first DoD cooperative depiction in Paramount Picture’s franchise MISSION IMPOSSIBLE VII. His skills and experience allowed him to help in the successful portrayal of military elements in a wide range of productions, making a significant impact on the industry.