About the PRODUCER 

at the joyous end of a long day producing LOVE & VODKA's sound post in Berlin

producing & production managing HER TELLING HEART

producing the international co-production short film, KEEP YOUR HEAD UP, SWEET PEA! via Personae Entertainment Pictures.

producing, line-producing & production managing DARCY

What do you get when you take a University of Michigan undergraduate, place her in Germany long enough to learn the language and develop an outstanding professional background in international theatre, film production, journalism and global affairs, send her back stateside to cement those experiences, academically, with a Masters of International Media & Communications from Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs and a degree in Directing/Cinematography from the Motion Picture Institute of Michigan and then top it all off with “reel” experience in the film industry of NYC and upstate NY?

-- A dynamic, well-informed and educated producer, writer & director by the name of Heidi Elizabeth aka "Eli" Philipsen-Meissner.

 Heidi is a Producers Guild of America producer with with 25 years of professional experience in international theater, film, television and communications, who started out as an Associate Producer for THE JOURNAL program on Deutsche Welle TV in Berlin, Germany, and moved on to other mediums in her repertoire, including theater and film. 

This includes starting and running her very own theater ensemble in Ann Arbor, Michigan -- the Personae Ensemble -- after seeing an outlet for socially motivated works in theater, but finding only musicals.

Heidi Elizabeth went on to produce (and direct) "Extremities" by William Mastrosimone in conjunction with the University of Michigan's TAKE BACK THE NIGHT march and week of activities and events to create awareness and fight sexual assault.

And in 2006, on the 5th year anniversary in memory of 9/11, Heidi produced Anne Nelson's "The Guys" -- complete with an interview with Anne Nelson that played prior to the performance -- before a packed audience, which included the Mayor of Ann Arbor.

That same year, Heidi enrolled at the Motion Picture Institute in Troy, Michigan, to pursue her dreams of making movies -- and met her mentor, former Columbia Pictures VP, Kathryn McDermott, who taught her the nuts and bolts of production management and producing.

She moved to Schenectady, NY in upstate New York and went on to field produce content with Bob Shenise of Shenise Productions, as well as her short film, HER TELLING HEART, and, in coordination with Founder & Creative Director Doug LeClaire, Albany's first, second and third, annual Asbury Shorts short film concert.

​In 2016, after production coordinating around 14 feature films in the Hudson Valley, Heidi applied to the Producers Guild of America and became a member.

That same year, after producing her first feature film, DARCY, she applied for the prestigious "p.g.a. mark" and after a Producers Guild of America  panel of established producers reviewed her application in detail, was awarded the mark for her extensive work producing this feature film.

Pre-Pandemic, she moved back to Hamburg (2018) and then Berlin (2019) with her husband and two children, where she immediate enrolled in Advanced Scene Study work with renown acting coach Sandra Seacat, developing LOVE & VODKA, volunteering for Women in Film, Germany and New York Women in Film & Television and freelancing in production on the Babelsberg Studio / Sony Pictures mega feature UNCHARTED, as well as the German series DER GREIF (W&B Film & TV) and DER PASS III (Leonine Studios / Sky TV).

She most recently received the honored p.g.a. mark from the Producers Guild of America for her work in producing "Love & Vodka." . 

She presently lives in Berlin, Germany and Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor, MI, her native hometown.

Heidi holds a B.A. in the Independent Concentration of Film, Theater and German Literature from the University of Michigan, a Goethe Institute Fluency Certificate for her German proficiency as acquired during studies at the University of Freiburg, an MIA in International Communications with a focus on the European Union from Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, a Certificate of Completion from the Motion Picture Institute in Directing and Cinematography, a Certificate of Completion from UCLA's Professional Online Screenwriting Program, an MBA in Management from Eastern Michigan University, a Certificate of Completion in German Film Production Management from the Erich Pommer Institute in partnership with Babelsberg University's School of Film & Television  and multiple years of Advanced Scene Study and Acting Technique from the likes of Stella Adler Studios and Terry Schreiber Studios.

She is a member of the Producers Guild of America, Producers' Union, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, the Alliance of Women Directors, ProQuote Film, the Motion Picture Institute’s Directors Alumni Club, New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT), Upstate New York Women in Film & Television (UPWIFT) - which she founded in 2013, Chicago Women in Film & Television, and University of Michigan and Columbia University Alumni Groups, and is featured on THE DIRECTOR'S LIST, a centralized hub for finding women directors and their work.