2025 Script Competition Finalist Judge Announcements

We are thrilled to announce this year’s finalist judges for the 2025 script competitions! Our panel of judges are made up of industry leaders responsible for some of the most celebrated films and television series in recent history, bringing the stories you love to the screen.

Judges are posted on a rolling basis throughout the summer. Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter and follow our socials for the latest announcements.

Alison Flierl 

writer BoJack Horseman, School Of Rock, Conan

After having to wear an incredibly awkward chin gear as a kid, Alison realized the only path for her was comedy. One of her first big hits was a book, titled Mr. Kropp And The Hot Dog Attack. It got rave reviews from her fellow 3rd graders. After that giant success, Alison received a B.S. in Cinema Production from Ithaca College and made her way to Los Angeles, where some of the powers that be occasionally found her funny enough to hire. Alison has written for Emmy nominated shows. Her writing credits include BoJack Horseman, School Of Rock, Conan and Internet Comment Theater. She has not been nominated for an Emmy herself, but she did once win “Best Maude” at LebowskiFest. She has developed original content and IP content for companies like Warner Bros. Animation, Blue Ribbon Content, Beryllium Entertainment and Archie Comics. Alison’s work has been featured in Cannes International Film Festival, the Austin Film Festival, the LA Comedy Festival, FilmColumbia Film Festival, the LA Comedy Shorts Festival and on sites like Mashable and Funny Or Die.

Alvaro Rodriguez

Writer American Rust: Broken Justice, Florida Man, Machete, Seis Manos

Alvaro Rodriguez has been writing since childhood and, in fact, did his best work when he was 11. Still holding out for improvement, he is a writer for film and television (and animation!) based in Los Angeles. During the pandemic, he contributed a monologue from an imaginary Chet Baker not being able to leave his room to a web series based on The Decameron. He maintains Austin was much cooler in 1991 (he’s wrong).

BILL COLLAGE

William (Bill) Collage is an award-winning screenwriter of more than 60 feature length films (all for major studios) and television shows. His global box office receipts top $1 billion.

His produced credits include: Emancipation (2022), Divergent Series: Allegiant (2016), Assassin’s Creed (2016), Transporter: Refueled (2014),  Exodus (2014), Tower Heist (2011), Accepted (2006), New York Minute (2004).

His television show Of Kings and Prophets aired on ABC in 2016.

His upcoming film Sleeping Dogs (starring Russell Crowe and Karen Gillan) comes out this winter.

His upcoming film projects include:
THORPE directed by Tracey Deere;
BE FREE OR DIE directed by Charles Burnett;
BLACK COLLAR directed by Kenya Barris;
and WOLVES directed by Antoine Fuqua.

His uncredited work includes I’ll Be Home For Christmas (1998), Fun With Dick and Jane (2005), Get Smart (2008), The Great Wall (2016) and  Freelance (2023).

He has worked with directors Martin Scorsese, Sir Ridley Scott, Ron Howard, Antoine Fuqua, Darren Aronofksy,  Cary Fukinaga, Anton Corbijn, Zhang Yimou, and many many more.

Collage is also a Founding Board Member and Executive Board Member of the Sag Harbor Cinema (a 501c3 not-for-profit theater in Sag Harbor, NY) where he chairs the Education Program.

In 2021, Collage  served as a juror for the Hamptons International Film Festival, where he has been a mentor in the Screenwriting Program for several years. In 2022, he was a panelist and juror for the Austin Film Festival.

He has been a lecturer at The University of Michigan (his alma mater), West Virginia University, Hunter College, and The Learning Annex.

He lives in Austin, TX

Brian Siegele

Brian Siegele is a Colorado and Los Angeles-based writer and producer for film, television and audio. A graduate of the USC School of Cinematic Arts, he is a former AFF Screenplay Winner (2013), Podcast Finalist (2019), and Screenwriter to Watch (2022). Though he began his career writing tentpole features, he has since pivoted to generating high concept IP for podcasts and television. His first Ambie-nominated audio series BLACK BOX starring Joel McHale and Kelsey Grammer was acquired for television, and he is currently at work on several new franchises.

Christy Gressman

Christy Gressman is the vice president and executive producer of podcasts at Topic Studios, overseeing creative, production, and business strategy. She formerly led audio at The Intercept and was a partner and the executive producer at the fiction-focused podcast network Night Vale Presents, where she oversaw network-wide development, production, and distribution. Christy has also served as producer, executive producer, and/or co-creator of a number of pioneering and critically-acclaimed podcasts, including The Space Within, a thrilling sci-fi mystery starring Jessica Chastain, Michael Shannon, Bobby Cannavale, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Stuhlbarg, Shea Whigham, and Carmen Ejogo (Audible), which debuted at #1 on Audible’s charts and is an Audible Best of 2023; 100 Foot Wave Podcast, the companion show to the studio’s Emmy® and PGA-winning HBO big wave surfing series; Not Lost, the acclaimed food and travel show from former Dinner Party Download host Brendan Francis Newnam, a New York Times and Vulture Best Podcast of 2022 (Pushkin Industries, iHeartRadio); Operator (Wondery), about the dramatic rise and fall of the telecommunications company that pioneered live phone sex, which debuted at #1 on Apple’s Top Podcasts chart; Somebody (iHeartRadio), with The Intercept and the Invisible Institute, a Pulitzer Prize finalist; the Signal Award-winning Politically Re-Active with W. Kamau Bell and Hari Kondabolu (WarnerMedia); Fine Gorilla Person, hosted by Lauren Ober, about Koko the Gorilla (Audible); The Messenger, an extraordinary tale of friendship, lies, betrayal and terrorism (Audible); American ISIS, a portrait of an ordinary American who became a fighter for the Islamic State (Audible); the powerful investigative series Impostors (Spotify); and the groundbreaking fiction series The Orbiting Human Circus (featuring John Cameron Mitchell, Tim Robbins, and Mandy Patinkin), Dreamboy, Adventures in New America, Milky Way Underground, It Makes A Sound, and the upcoming Cancellation Island, from John Cameron Mitchell and Michael Cavadias, starring Holly Hunter. She has an MBA from Yale School of Management, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a BA in fine arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

Chuck Hayward

Screenwriting veteran across film and TV, Chuck Hayward, will join you to speak about his approach to character-driven storytelling. Chuck Hayward is a distinguished (and damned funny) writer with a variety of acclaimed credits in TV and film, including Apple/WBTV’s Ted Lasso and Marvel/Disney+ massive hit series WandaVision. 

CRAIG BRODY

Craig began his career as a corporate lawyer, specializing in intellectual property law at
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP in New York. After practicing law for five years,
Craig found that he had a deeper passion for championing creators than corporations. He decided to leave his legal career behind and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his passion. He joined Creative Artists Agency (CAA), where he spent over a decade in the motion picture literary department. As a film agent, Craig developed a reputation for discovering emerging talent and breaking writers and directors from television and theater into film.

In 2020, Craig founded Map Point with the mission to better navigate the changing entertainment landscape. Map Point is designed to further nurture the creative visions of his clients, discover and launch the careers of the next generation of exceptional creators, and elevate previously underrepresented voices.

Craig represents a diverse roster of distinct voices. His clients are award-winning writers, directors, producers, playwrights, and authors who have created and made significant contributions to some of the most memorable television shows and films. Among his clients are Debora Cahn (creator of The Diplomat), Virgil Williams (The Piano Lesson, Mudbound, A Journal for Jordan), Stephen Scaia (co-creator of Blood & Treasure; writer on Tulsa King), Zakiyyah Alexander (co-showrunner of Grown-ish; writer on Russian Doll, Hunters, La Brea), and Sandra Chwialkowska (author of The Ends of Things; writer on Alaska Daily). Craig lives in Los Angeles with his wife, their two children, and their pet turtle, Jerry.

Craig Cegielski

CEO of Centinel Media; former Co-CEO of Fremantle North America; executive producer American Gods, The Returned, Camelot, Tomorrow People

Craig Cegielski is the Founder of Centinel Media, an independent television and film company specializing on IP adaptations, original productions and global distribution. Centinel Media recently announced their partnership with Harlequin, the world’s largest romance publisher, to adapt their beloved stories for television and film into a first of its kind – Cinematic Universe for Women’s Contemporary Fiction. As part of this initiative, Centinel Media and partners, Bell Media and Fremantle Media, recently announced a 28 picture film slate over the next three years. Prior to Centinel Media, the veteran television executive was Co-CEO of FremantleMedia North America where he was responsible for launching the company’s scripted endeavors, including THE RETURNED for A&E and the critically acclaimed adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s urban fantasy novel, AMERICAN GODS (STARZ). Previously, he was President of GK-tv, a division of Graham King’s GK Films. Recent productions included CAMELOT, for Starz and CONTINUUM, for Shaw in Canada and Syfy in the US and UK. Prior to that, Cegielski was Executive Vice President, Programming & Sales for Lionsgate International Television. At Lionsgate, Cegielski was responsible for oversight of all international distribution and acquisitions, sales and marketing for the group’s comprehensive slate of programming, including WEEDS, MAD MEN and CRASH. Before joining Lionsgate, Cegielski worked for CBS/King World International specializing in local production and programming. From 1998 through 2004, Mr. Cegielski worked for Paramount Pictures in the co-production and international strategy division of Paramount International Television.

Christina Moore

Writer Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Christina K. Moore is a writer driven toward stories of identity, belonging, and social satire. She has staffed on Nickelodeon’s cult classic series , “Are You Afraid of the Dark“, and most recently wrote a feature for a Nickelodeon franchise. She is currently penning a NASA biopic and was selected for the 2025 Rideback Rise Program in Los Angeles, where she resides. Before becoming a writer, Christina was an actor as well as a Post Production Producer working on numerous VFX-heavy shows for WB, DC, Universal,
Marvel, and Viacom.

Jameel Saleem

Jihan Crowther

writer Daisy Jones & The Six, Class of ’09, Under the Bridge, The Underground Railroad, The Man in the High Castle, Here and Now

Jihan Crowther is a TV writer whose recent credits include Daisy Jones & The Six, Class of ’09, and the forthcoming Under the Bridge. Previous credits include The Underground Railroad, The Man in the High Castle, and Here and Now.

Her essays have appeared in Jezebel and Esquire. Her plays have been read, produced, and developed at the theaters and festivals in New York, London, Los Angeles, Edinburgh, Scotland, and Montreal, Quebec. Previous fellowships and residencies include New York Foundation for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship, New York Theatre Workshop Emerging Artists Fellow, Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Youngblood Writers Collective, and the LA-based Playwrights Union.

She received her MA in Writing for Performance at University of London – Goldsmiths College.

Joanna Calo

Joanna Calo is a writer and mother who lives in Los Angeles, CA. Her writing credits include the Emmy®-nominated Beef, Golden Globe®-winning Hacks, The Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix, Amazon’s Undone, and six seasons on the Emmy®-nominated  BoJack Horseman. 

Calo is also the co-showrunner, executive producer, writer, and director of FX’s The Bear. On the feature side, she is adapting the novel Suburban Hell for Legendary.

John Hoberg

writer/EP Paradise, co-writer Elemental, writer/producer Galavant, Better off Ted, My Name is Earl, Black-ish, Downward Dog

Jovan Robinson

Writer For All Mankind, Made For Love, Secret Invasion, The Code

Jovan Robinson is a writer-producer and Marine Corps veteran originally from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Jovan participated in the CBS writers mentoring program, the inaugural Rideback TV Incubator, and the Writers Guild’s Veterans Writing Project. Recent credits include the upcoming fifth season of FOR ALL MANKIND (AppleTV+), and MADE FOR LOVE (formerly on HBOMAX).

Kat Likkel

Kat Likkel has been a professional screenwriter for nearly 30 years, working with her husband John Hoberg, co-writing Pixar’s “Elemental” as well writing/producing numerous TV comedies including “My Name is Earl,” “Black-ish,” Better off Ted,” and show-running the ABC sitcoms “Downward Dog” and “Galavant,” having started her career writing animated shows like Rugrats and Real Monsters.

Kelly Edwards

Kelly Edwards often calls herself the Queen of the Pivot. After years as a film and TV creative exec at Fox and UPN, she started her own production company under a deal at Paramount before heading into the DEI space at NBCUniversal. Her last stint in the corporate world was as an SVP at HBO overseeing all of the emerging artists programs and producing 10 award winning short films. In 2020, she finally rolled out of HBO and into her current life as a writer by receiving her MFA, becoming a Sundance Episodic fellow, and staffing on a Fox drama series. Since then she published The Executive Chair: A Writer’s Guide To TV Series Development, sold a pilot, and a feature. In addition to working on her own projects, Edwards also consults for Apple TV Studios, Sony, BET, and PBS to help emerging artists hone their crafts. Executive producer Sex, Love & Secrets; writer Our Kind of People; author The Executive Chair

Kor Adana

writer/producer Dune: Prophecy, Star Wars: The Acolyte, Mr. Robot

Kor Adana came up as a writer/producer on USA’s award-winning series, Mr. Robot. He went on to co-executive produce Lucasfilm’s live-action Star Wars series The Acolyte, which is airing on Disney+. He is also a co-executive producer on HBO’s upcoming Dune prequel series, Dune: Prophecy.

PIA WILSON

Writer of the Webby Award-winning fiction podcast If I Go Missing The Witches Did It; tv writer: Genius: Aretha, Sacrifice; playwright: Sundance fellow, and member of The Public Theater’s 2008 Emerging Writers Group. 

Pia Wilson wrote the audio component in the Harriet Tubman Monument in Newark, New Jersey, performed by Queen Latifah. The audio – which won a 2024 Anthem Award – can be found on Audible as Monumental: Harriet Tubman and Newark’s Liberation Movement. Pia is also a 2024 Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove participant, Newark Creative Catalyst grant recipient, Newark Arts Community Grant recipient, Traveling Master for Dramatist Guild Foundation, resident with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Sundance fellow, and member of the 2008 Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater. Her plays have been produced by AD Players, Crossroads Theatre, Workspace Collective, Drew University, Yendor Theatre Company, Adelphi University, Horse Trade Theater Group, and The Fire This Time play festival. Her Webby Award-winning fiction podcast, IF I GO MISSING THE WITCHES DID IT, starring Gabourey Sidibe, is available wherever you get your podcasts and was listed as one of the Best New Podcasts of 2021 by Variety and Mashable. She has also written episodes for Audible’s TILL TODAY podcast, a nonfiction companion to the movie about Mamie Till Mobley and her son Emmett. As a writer for Wondery’s BLACK HISTORY FOR REAL, Pia has written about the Talented Tenth and Motown vs. Stax. In television, Pia was a staff writer for NatGeo’s GENIUS ARETHA and BET’s SACRIFICE.

Marc Bernardin

WGA Award winner, writer Star Trek: Picard

Marc Bernardin is a WGA Award-winning television writer-producer who has worked on Star Trek: Picard, Batman: Caped Crusader, The Continental, Carnival Row, Treadstone, Castle Rock, Critical Role: The Legend of Vox Machina, Masters of the Universe: Revelations, and  Alphas. In 2023, he made his directorial debut with the award-winning short film, Splinter. In comics, he’s the Eisner-nominated writer of Star Wars: Mace Windu, Anansi Boys, Messenger: The Legend of Muhammad Ali, Adora and the Distance, Census, Peter Parker: The Amazing Shutterbug, Genius, and  The Highwaymen. In an earlier life, he was an editor-writer for the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, Playboy, and Entertainment Weekly. He also cohosts the Fatman Beyond pop-culture podcast with Kevin Smith. 

 Matthew Cirulnick

Matt Circulnick first took Hollywood by the storm when he became the youngest professional screenwriter ever, landing a three-picture deal (at Miramax) at the age of 21. His 1st produced film credit was Paid in Full, starring Regina Hall, Wood Harris, and Mekhi Phifer; it was named #4 in the New York Times’ Top Ten films of 2002. He has since written for nearly all major studios. His most recent feature film credit was Rambo: Last Blood for Lionsgate, which he co-wrote with Sylvester Stallone. On the TV side, Matt has created and written on shows across 20th, Sony, UCP, Lionsgate, Paramount, and most recently was the showrunner/creator for Amazon’s hit series, Absentia, which completed its planned 3-year run. Currently, Matt is developing and serving as showrunner on Amazon’s  Sigma Force with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way producing. His original feature The Good Samaritan will be directed by Pierre Morel (TAKEN) and has Daisy Ridley attached to star. Matt also has a new drama series in development with Stallone’s Balboa Productions, and is prepping his feature directorial debut, The Writer.  

Nancy Savoca

Along with international screenings and honors, Nancy Savoca’s films True Love
and Household Saints are listed in The NY Times Guide to the Best 1,000
Movies Ever Made, and True Love was named one of the “50 Greatest Independent Films of All Time” by Entertainment Weekly. HBO’s If These Walls Could Talk won multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Reno: Rebel Without a Pause (Unrestrained Reflections on September 11th) was awarded the Seal of Peace by the City of Florence, Italy. Dirt, a bilingual dramedy on immigration won Best Director at LA Latino Fest and a Writer’s Guild nomination.

Savoca’s archives are part of University of Michigan’s Film Mavericks Collection which holds the works of Orson Welles, Robert Altman, and her mentors John Sayles and Jonathan Demme. 

Nicole Perlman

Nicole Perlmen is best known for co-writing “Guardians of the Galaxy,” “Captain Marvel,” and “Detective Pikachu.” Her screenplays have won the Tribeca Film Festival’s Sloan Foundation Grant for Science in Film, the Hugo Award, and the Ray Bradbury award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation. She is currently developing a detective television series for FX, and is, (together with her husband David Chasteen,) developing an original spy series for Netflix. They also co-created and are executive producing the new Dick Wolf procedural, “CIA”, which premieres this January on CBS.

Oren Uziel

Writer for The Lost City, 22 Jump Street, Mortal Kombat, The Cloverfield Paradox, Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, Freaks of Nature, and Shimmer Lake, which he wrote and directed.

He is currently working on a number of projects, including the next installment of Fast & Furious franchise, as well as a Spider-Man Noir television series.

Peter Craig

Peter Craig is a crime novelist and screenwriter, whose credits include The Town (2010), The Batman (2022), Bad Boys for Life (2021), and Parts 1 and 2 of The Hunger Games: Mockingjay (2014, 2015). He was nominated for an Academy Award in 2022 for his contributions to Top Gun: Maverick. His upcoming series, Dope Thief, will air in early 2025, the pilot episode of which was directed by Ridley Scott.

Raamla Mohamed

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Raamla Mohamed is the Creator and Showrunner/Executive Producer for Onyx Collective’s first scripted drama series, “Reasonable Doubt”, in conjunction with ABC Signature. The hit drama is currently in production on season two. Raamla signed her she started as a PA on Grey’s Anatomy followed by becoming a fellow in the Disney/ABC Writing program. She also was a writer/co-executive producer on the Emmy®-nominated “Little Fires Everywhere” for Hulu. Prior to that, she was a writer and producer on “Scandal”, where she penned eleven episodes for the series, including the seventh-season crossover episode with “How To Get Away with Murder.” Raamla graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English and Comparative Literature. She also has an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California. Her other projects include a feature film with Devon Franklin’s company for Amazon and a romantic comedy feature for Universal Pictures.

 REBECCA WINDSOR

Rebecca Windsor is an independent producer developing a slate of TV and Film projects and is also a consultant with Australians in Film, overseeing their Artist Development programs. She most recently served as the Vice President and Head of the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, the premier writing and directing program for artists looking to embark on their television careers. In her role leading the Workshops, she launched the careers of over 60 writers and 45 directors. As an extension of her role developing new talent, Rebecca helped create Warner Bros.’ digital brand Stage13, overseeing Special, which premiered on Netflix and garnered four Emmy nominations, and the critically acclaimed Snatchers, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW. Rebecca also covered shows such as Riverdale, All Rise, and Shining Vale as a Current Executive for WBTV. Previously, she was Manager of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, playing a key role in coordinating the Screenwriters and Directors Labs, Episodic Story Lab, and Creative Producing Lab and Summit. Prior to Sundance, Rebecca was Manager of Development at Samuel L. Jackson’s television company, UppiTV, and at Mandeville Films. She started her career as an assistant at the Broder Webb Chervin Silbermann Agency and ICM. A San Diego native, she attended Northwestern University, where she received a BS in Theatre.

SARAH BECKETT

writer Resident Alien, 61st Street, Happy Face

SARAH BECKETT hails from Canada and has a lengthy background working in true crime documentary TV. After moving to LA in 2015 and making the switch to fiction, Sarah wrote on three seasons of Resident Alien on SyFy and Peacock, as well as both seasons of the legal thriller 61st Street for AMC. She wrote on Robert and Michelle King’s true crime drama series Happy Face at Paramount+, and is now a Supervising Producer on the third season of the Kings’ hit procedural Elsbeth on CBS. Sarah and her family live in the remote California desert, where she works out of a 1963 Streamline trailer.

Stuti Malhotra

Stuti Malhotra was born in Bhopal, India and immigrated to America at the age of five. Her first career was on Wall Street – she was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, an investor at multiple hedge funds, and a venture capitalist. After a full decade, she left it all behind to pursue her dream of writing for television. She’s written on prestige dramas including The Handmaid’s Tale spinoff The Testaments and Hulu’s Under the Bridge as well as on #1 trending hits like Dick Wolf’s FBI: International and Netflix’s Tiny Pretty Things. She’s enjoys traveling more than most things and has stayed in a mud hut with rural farmers in Yangshuo, China, root-hunted with the indigenous Masai tribe of the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, screened Midnight in Paris at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco, shared a cave dwelling in Turkey with a pet albino peacock, tumbled down Machu Picchu, and almost crashed a hang glider in Rio.

Sofya Levitsky-Weitz

Writer/Director for The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox, The Bear, The Dropout, Gaslit 

Sofya Levitsky-Weitz is a playwright and TV/film writer. She has original TV projects in development with Lionsgate, 20th Century Studios and Fifth Season. TV work includes FX’s THE BEAR (WGA Award for Outstanding New Comedy for S1 & 2), Hulu’s THE DROPOUT (WGA Nomination), GASLIT on Starz. She is a writer/producer for Hulu’s upcoming THE TWISTED TALE OF AMANDA KNOX for which she spent three months on set in Budapest in 2025. She has an original film in development (which she will direct) with Marc Platt and has worked on multiple features with Michael Showalter including The Eyes of Tammy Faye. As a playwright, Sofya’s work has been developed in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Her play flinching is currently being developed by the Hearth for an LA premiere. Her play this party sucks (2019 Kilroy’s List) is optioned for the stage/film & TV rights by Mark Gordon Pictures and will be commercially produced in the coming year. Her play be mean to me was produced at Northwestern University for their theatrical season in 2022 and she was a guest artist in summer 2023 at Chautauqua Theatre Festival with her play Cannabis Passover (2020 O’Neill Finalist, IAMA development). She has been a 2018-2019 Jerome Fellow and 2019-2022 Core Writer at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and is an alum of the Obie Award winning collective EST/Youngblood. She is a MacDowell Fellow and has been in residence at Barn Arts, TOFTE Lake, and was a panelist for the 2023 Austin Film Festival. She got her MFA in Writing for the Screen & Stage from Northwestern University, where she serves on the Advisory Board. 

Sylvia Batey Alcala

writer Legacies, Ordinary Joe, Field of Dreams; producer Primo, A Man on the Inside; supervising producer Every Year After

Sylvia Batey Alcalá cut her fangs on the CW’s LEGACIES before pivoting to family drama on ORDINARY JOE (NBC) and FIELD OF DREAMS (UTV). Since then, she has majored in comedy, first as writer-producer on Mike Schur and Shea Serrano’s family comedy PRIMO (Amazon), and Schur’s acclaimed mystery comedy, A MAN ON THE INSIDE (Netflix). Most recently, Sylvia served as Supervising Producer on Amazon’s upcoming romance EVERY YEAR AFTER. She has worked across media as a writer-director-actor-hyphen enthusiast, with films and a digital series that have played Oscar-qualifying festivals and collected numerous accolades. Sylvia is an alum of the Sundance Episodic Lab and the Black List/WIF Feature Residency.

Tripper Clancy

creator/showrunner Die Hart, I Am Not Okay With This

Tripper Clancy has written projects of all shapes and sizes for Disney, Universal, Netflix, Pixar, Amazon, Paramount, Columbia, MGM and even studios abroad. Tripper is the creator and showrunner of the Emmy-nominated, WGA Award-winning DIE HART series starring Kevin Hart, Nathalie Emmanuel, JK Simmons and Kathryn Hahn. His other credits include coming-of-age dramedy I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS (Netflix) and action comedy STUBER (Disney). He’s currently writing the next installment of the NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM franchise for 20th Century Studios. A graduate of Wake Forest undergrad and The University of Texas grad school, Tripper lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Maggie, and their daughters, Olive and Ruby. 

VJ Boyd

Wendy Calhoun

writer/producer The Rookie: Feds, Prodigal Son, Station 19, Empire, Nashville, Revenge, Justified

Peabody-award-winning Wendy Calhoun’s unique career spans one-hour dramas, unscripted series, VR, and gaming. She currently developing new scripted series for Starz, FX, and Universal UK. Her drama credits include writing/producing the historic blockbuster first season of Fox’s Empire and debut seasons for The Rookie Feds, Prodigal Son, Station 19, Nashville, Revenge, and Justified. Known as a champion for diversity and inclusion, Calhoun’s developed and sold over ten series pitches with bold leading roles for women and people of color. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, she’s an honored alumnus of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and serves on the Board of Directors for the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

Zach Baylin

writer The Order, Bob Marley: One Love, King Richard, The Crow, Gran Tursimo 

Zach Baylin is an Academy Award, BAFTA and WGA-nominated screenwriter and was named one of VARIETY’s “10 Screenwriters to Watch.” Baylin penned the script for the Oscar Nominated KING RICHARD for Warner Bros. Studios, which debuted to rave reviews in 2021 and went on to receive six Oscar nominations, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Film and Best Actor, which Will Smith took home for his performance as Richard Williams. Most recently, Baylin wrote BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE, Reinaldo Marcus Green’s Paramount film about the life of Bob Marley, which released on February 14. Previously, Baylin co-wrote the script for CREED III, the third installment of the revamped ROCKY series, for MGM. The film stars Michael B. Jordan, who also made his directorial debut with the film, and had the highest grossing opening weekend for a sports film of all time. Baylin also cowrote Sony’s GRAN TURISMO, directed by Neill Blomkamp, which released on August 25, 2023. Baylin has written projects for Lionsgate, Imagine, TNT, Studio 8, wiip, as well as for acclaimed filmmakers such as James Grey, Jeremy Saulinier, Francesco Munzi, and Jonathan Levine. Together with his wife, Kate Susman, Baylin co-founded Youngblood Pictures, a Film and Television Development Company dedicated to telling true stories about complex, unheralded characters. At Youngblood, Kate and Zach currently have a number of film and TV projects in development, including THE ORDER, a true crime heist thriller set in the dangerous American Militia movement of the 1980’s. The film stars Jude Law, Nick Hoult, Tye Sheridan and Jurnee Smollet. It is directed by Justin Kurzel and was released in December 2024. The duo also wrote and produced the limited series, BLACK RABBIT for Netflix, which stars and is executive produced by Jude Law and Jason Bateman.