S P E L L B O U N D P R O D U C T I O N S
A motion picture production company.
Creators of the #1 best selling documentary on AppleTV, 'General Magic'.
A B O U T
Spellbound Productions is founded by the award winning producers, Sarah Kerruish & Michael Stern.
Winner of 16 Best Picture Awards, Spellbound's films have been released on Showtime, National Geographic & Canal+
Spellbound are based in offices in Palo Alto, Boulder, Paris, and London.
Follow updates on our Projects on our Substack.
Michael is a journalist, literary critic, political activist and Silicon Valley lawyer with a focus on how storytelling can be used to create a more just and inclusive world. Before co-founding Spellbound Productions, Mike was a long time partner at Cooley LLP in Palo Alto, where he worked on some of the most interesting cases in recent history, including spinning General Magic out of Apple, helping set up The Intercept, working on Pixar movie deals, and settling Cisco’s lawsuit against Huawei.
His varied background includes teaching at Harvey Mudd College as an English professor, co-endowing a chair in Dickens studies at UC Santa Cruz, reporting for The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post, reviewing books for national newspapers and magazines, being a contributing editor of The American Lawyer and serving as the chairman on the board of The American Prospect.
As Spellbound's in house executive producer, Michael works closely with the creative team gearing the narrative towards distribution, and connecting the legal dots with the financial tees.
M I C H A E L S T E R N
C E O
Sarah is a great believer in the power of stories to heal and to help bring change in our world. She has directed and written several films and TV shows, which have been distributed worldwide and won many awards, including a Peabody award and an Emmy nomination. Her last feature documentary, ‘General Magic’, a Showtime, National Geographic and Canal+ Release, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2019 and 2020, General Magic was the number #1 best selling documentary on iTunes.
As Spellbound's Creative Director, Sarah develops the stories Spellbound realises in production. Working in creative partnership with the Spellbound's Head of Production, Matt Maude, Sarah leads the directorial vision for each of Spellbound's projects.
C R E A T I V E D I R E C T O R
S A R A H K E R R U I S H
D E E G A R D E T T I
H E A D O F O P E R A T I O N S & P R O D U C E R
A founding team member of the original General Magic company, Dee transitioned from supporting legendary Macintosh inventor, Bill Atkinson, to managing HR, operations, and culture at one of Silicon Valley’s most storied startups.
At Spellbound, Dee plays a pivotal role in shaping each of our film’s emotional cores —both in forming the story of a project, and in managing each of projects' crews, logistics, budgeting and finance.
CYNTHIA COOPER
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIST
Cynthia Cooper is a Silicon Valley native who contributed to the launch of Sony’s MagicLink through the pioneering General Magic Alliance and the Emmy Award–winning Slingbox, and to technologies, industry firsts, that redefined how we connect. She directs innovation and entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University’s Ciocca Center, while amplifying Silicon Valley’s nonprofit performing arts community through the Silicon Valley Arts Coalition.
Cindy applies her strategic and marketing expertise to support Spellbound's online promotional activities.
T A M A R A H E L M
H E A D O F L E G A C Y
Tamara Helm began her career in the marketing team at General Magic, where she helped translate the company’s visionary technology into compelling stories during one of Silicon Valley’s most formative eras. She went on to lead marketing teams with brands such as Netscape, Adobe, HP, Akamai, and The Wall Street Journal.
Today, she leads the development of the General Magic Legacy Project—a multi-platform initiative including a podcast, book, and digital archive that reframes General Magic as a cautionary tale for the future of innovation. Her work bridges historical storytelling with present-day relevance, engaging with academic institutions, cultural organizations, and industry leaders to ensure the lessons of General Magic reach the next generation of builders.