Gary Winick, a pioneering producer and director of independent digital films who found mainstream success with such movies as “13 Going on 30” and “Letters to Juliet,” has died. He was 49.

Winick, who was diagnosed with brain cancer about two years ago, died Sunday at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, said Niels Mueller, a longtime collaborator.

When Winick went to the Sundance Film Festival in 2002, he didn’t even have an agent. He screened the sixth film he made as a director, “Tadpole,” a coming-of-age comedy made in two weeks with digital cameras for a reported $150,000.

After he earned the festival’s directing award, and Miramax paid $5 million for distribution rights to “Tadpole,” Hollywood came calling.

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