We’re excited to announce the Finalist judges for our 2023 Script Competitions! Here’s the list:
A.M. Homes
A.M. Homes is the author of 13 books of fiction, short-story, and non-fiction, including most recently a novel: The Unfolding. Homes’ 2013 novel, May We Be Forgiven, won the Women’s Prize for Fiction and her memoir, The Mistress’s Daughter was published to international acclaim. Her work has been translated into 22 languages. In addition to writing books. Homes is also active in television and film and serves on the Council of the Writers Guild of America East. She was Co-Executive Producer David E. Kelly’s/Stephen King’s Mr. Mercedes and Falling Water on USA and a Writer/Producer on the original L WORD and has written for all the major networks and streamers. Currently, A.M. Homes is Professor of The Practice in the Creative Writing Program at Princeton University.
Amy Berg
Amy Berg is a screenwriter and television showrunner. She’s written and produced more than a dozen series, earning a Writers Guild Award nomination and other accolades. In recent years she ran the critically-acclaimed Starz series COUNTERPART and served as consulting producer on JACK RYAN, THE ALIENIST, and WARRIOR NUN. She’s sold numerous pilots, the latest an original spec to Paramount, and has participated in mini-rooms and done uncredited rewrites on several produced video games and feature films.
Beau DeMayo
Beau DeMayo is an American screenwriter hailing from Central Florida, the last of six children adopted from around the world. He started his career as a creative executive at Disney-ABC and Focus Features, helping oversee projects such as GRAVITY FALLS and ATOMIC BLONDE. He later transitioned into writing, working with Julie Plec on several seasons of CW’s THE ORIGINALS. DeMayo has served as a supervising producer and writer on hit shows like Marvel’s MOON KNIGHT and Paramount+’s STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS and as a writing-producer on Netflix’s THE WITCHER. He also produced and wrote Netflix’s hit anime THE WITCHER: NIGHTMARE OF THE WOLF. DeMayo currently spearheads Marvel’s long-awaited upcoming animated series X-MEN ’97 as both executive producer and head writer.
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.
Caitlin Schneiderhan
Caitlin Schneiderhan is a TV writer and novelist originally hailing from Silver Spring, Maryland. These days, you can find her pitching 80s references in the Stranger Things season 5 writer’s room. Her pilot BREAKFIELD was the winner of the Austin Film Festival’s One-Hour Pilot competition, and she has been named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s 25 Screenwriters to Watch.
Christina Hodson
Christina Hodson is a British born, Los Angeles based, writer and producer. She first transitioned from development executive to screenwriter in 2012. Since then, among various projects for studios, she wrote Bumblebee for Paramount (2018) and wrote and co-produced Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey (2020) for Warner Bros and DC Comics. She also wrote the upcoming film The Flash for Warner Bros. and DC Comics. Christina is currently co-writing the 11th installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise with friend and fellow panelist, Oren Uziel.
Christine Boylan
Christine Boylan grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, NY, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hofstra University. She studied literature in Munich as a Fulbright scholar. As a playwright, Christine co-founded BESPOKE PLAYS, a company that produces staged readings of new works in Los Angeles and New York. During the pandemic, she wrote and produced plays for the 24 Hour Play Festival and SEQUESTERED SUNDAYS, a series of zoom-based new works. Her science fiction plays MEET CUTE and ANALOGUE have had sold-out LA and NY readings. She has also written comic books for DC, Marvel, BOOM Studios, and Tokyopop.
In television, Christine is a seasoned writer and producer, most recently Co-Executive Producer on POKER FACE with Rian Johnson and Natasha Lyonne (Peacock), AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Netflix), CITADEL (Amazon), PUNISHER (Netflix), and CLOAK AND DAGGER (Freeform). She previously wrote on the hit shows CONSTANTINE (NBC), ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC), CASTLE (ABC), and LEVERAGE (TNT). Christine has also completed the WGA Showrunner Training Program, as well as the AFI Directing Workshop for Women and AFI’s Filmmakers Lab. Two of her short films, COME FLY WITH ME and HOSS are festival award winners and screened at the Austin Film Festival.
Devon Greggory
Born the youngest of nine, in the heart of Dixie, Devon Greggory grew up escaping the harsh reality of the projects through film and television. Years later, this Alabama native would pack his bags and run away to pursue his dream of filmmaking. Homeless, hungry and living on the streets of LA, he failed. But in failure, he found resilience. Devon would refocus, obtain his JD from Emory University School of Law and join Jones Day, one of the world’s foremost law firms,
as a star associate.
But, after a season of legal practice, Devon left the comfort of law to again chase that dream; this time by earning his MFA in Production from the University of Southern California where he would hone his craft, winning the Jeffrey Jones Writing Award and becoming a finalist for both the Sundance Filmmaker’s Lab and Screenwriter’s Lab.
As a director, over 35 film festivals have recognized his work, including 12 finalist and 4 “best of” selections. Devon has also helmed several commercials, an award-winning music video and a critically lauded stand-up comedy feature.
But, it is as a writer where Devon truly found his passion… he’s penned two produced features (Sacred and Hair Show), written several pilots including, Black Wall Street, an event series about the Tulsa Race Riots, for HBO Max; Cruise, a Southern-set action procedural for CBS; and a reboot of the iconic series, The Game, which he co-wrote with creator Mara Brock Akil for CBS TV.
His credits also include stints on WGN’s critically acclaimed drama, Underground; CBS’s franchise spin-off, CSI: Cyber; and BET’s ground-breaking hit, Being Mary Jane… and he was the creative force behind BET’s Soul Train-inspired period drama, American Soul, as Co-Creator, Showrunner and Executive Producer. Devon is most recently wrote and executive produced both seasons of The Game reboot for Paramount+.
In success, Devon founded The Inphiniti Company, a full-service production house where he serves as President and CEO. Through Inphiniti, Devon is focused on creating content that touches the heart, inspires the soul, challenges the mind, and compels you to action. Currently in a multi-year overall deal with CBS TV Studios, Devon, through Inphiniti, will be writing, directing and producing content for CBS, Paramount+, The CW and various ViacomCBS-owned platforms.
Grateful for his success, Devon refuses to celebrate until his entire dream is reality. As he puts it, “The only success that interests me is fulfilling my God-given destiny, caring for my family, and becoming a better man. If film and TV is the conduit through which this is accomplished then so be it; if not, no matter, it’ll all be accomplished.”
Devon is repped by CAA, manager Steve Simons of The Shuman Company and attorney John Meigs of Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, & Hoberman. He serves as an adjunct professor at his alma mater, USC. And he currently resides in Los Angeles with his beautiful wife and two amazing sons.
George Ducker
George Ducker is a former writer for the Los Angeles Times, and his work has also appeared in The Believer and Bookforum. Feature film credits as producer and writer include Lighter and Luke And Brie Are On A First Date. Most recently, he’s written and produced audio dramas and narrative podcasts for Audible and Sundance Now. At Wondery, he was a staff writer for American Scandal and American History Tellers, where his series on the 1969 Stonewall uprising was nominated for an Ambie Award. Originally from South Carolina, he is a graduate of Columbia College Chicago and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Ronnie Gunter
Born and raised in Dark Corner, South Carolina, Ronnie Gunter has established a strong reputation as a writer/director who captures and showcases the Appalachian South.
His works include Solid Country Gold, Lighter, and Exeter.
Jameel Saleem
Jameel S. Saleem was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up in the Germantown area, until his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland when he was 9 years old. Jameel’s been working in TV and film for over fifteen years as a writer and producer and is known for shows like South Park and Disenchantment, and currently serves as a co-executive producer on Bob’s Burgers.
Jessica Mendez Siqueiros
Jessica Mendez Siqueiros is a Chicana writer & director of mixed indigenous Sonoran and European ancestry. Her short films have screened at over 75 festivals, garnering an Audience Pick from Palm Springs ShortFest, the KidsEye Grand Prize for Best Live Action Short from Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival, and Best Narrative Short (Comedy) from Cinequest, among other awards.
Her work has been produced and supported by Warner Media/AT&T, Walt Disney Studios, The Sundance Institute, XRM Media, and WeTransfer. Her short films The Last of the Chupacabras and Pozole can now be streamed on Disney+ and Showtime, respectively.
Jessica’s current project slate includes collaborations with Boat Rocker and Laura Dern’s company, Jay Walker Pictures. Jessica’s first feature film, Reforma, is currently in development, with the support of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program and was the recipient of the 2021 Latinx Fellowship.
Jihan Crowther
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.
Kara Lee Corthron
Kara Lee Corthron is a TV/screenwriter, YA novelist, and playwright based in Los Angeles. She’s currently co-executive producer for season 5 of the Netflix hit thriller YOU — her fourth season on the show. She served as supervising producer and co-executive producer for M. Night Shyamalan’s horror series SERVANT (S3 and S4) on Apple TV+ and she wrote for season one of HBO Max’s THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT (WGA, Emmy, and Golden Globe nominations for the writing staff). Kara’s YA novel DAUGHTERS OF JUBILATION was optioned by Berlanti/WBTV and she sold the series adaptation to Disney+ where she’ll serve as EP. She has projects in development with WB/Alloy/i am OTHER and Blumhouse/Amazon, and she’s a proud graduate of the 2023 WGA Showrunner Training Program.
DAUGHTERS OF JUBILATION was a 2020 Kirkus Best Book of the Year, an Amazon Editors’ pick, and one of BUSTLE’s Best Books of Fall in 2020. Her debut novel THE TRUTH OF RIGHT NOW received the Parents’ Choice Gold Award. Kara’s plays have been performed around the country (a few in Europe), and she received the Princess Grace Award in Playwriting, a New Dramatists Residency, and multiple MacDowell Fellowships among other awards. Juilliard alumna.
Marc Manus
Marc Manus is a former award-winning photojournalist who attended USC film school before entering the field of artist representation. His first job was with manager Cathryn Jaymes, who represented Academy Award-winning writer/director Quentin Tarantino, among others. Over the last fifteen years, Marc has held positions at various management companies including, more recently, Zero Gravity (Netflix’s OZARK). Now, as a partner at World Builder Entertainment, the company behind the TROLLS animated feature franchise, Marc continues to guide a select roster of creators from around the globe who have film and television projects at the major networks, streamers, and studios. His credits as a producer include JOSIE, starring Sophie Turner, and the forthcoming horror-thriller DON’T MOVE, alongside Sam Raimi (EVIL DEAD) and Hammerstone Studios (BARBARIAN).
Mike Flynn
Mike Flynn’s credits for series where he has served as a writer and producer include the hit drama “Power Book III: Raising Kanan,” David E. Kelley’s “Big Sky” and Ava
DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar,” among others. He co-created and executive produced the short-lived hit drama “East New York” on CBS. Flynn is an alum of the Sundance Episodic Story Lab. He hails from College Park, Ga., by way of Brooklyn.
Oren Uziel
Oren Uziel’s writing credits include 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’s currently working on a number of projects, including the next installment of the FAST & FURIOUS franchise, as well as a SPIDER-MAN NOIR television series.
Rebecca Windsor
Rebecca Windsor served as the Vice President and Head of the Warner Bros. Television Workshop, the premier writing and directing program for artists looking to launch their television careers. As an extension of her role developing new talent, Rebecca helped launch Warner Bros. digital brand Stage13, overseeing the critically acclaimed Snatchers, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and SXSW,
and Special, which premiered on Netflix and garnered four Emmy nominations. Rebecca has also covered shows such as Riverdale, All Rise, and Shining Vale as a Current Executive for WBTV. Previously, she was the Creative Producing Initiative 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.
Sonia Almanza Gambaro
Sonia Almanza Gambaro is the Vice President of Television at Eugenio Derbez and Ben Odell’s 3Pas Studios. Gambaro was previously a literary manager at Equitable Management and her own company Pollinate Entertainment where she set up and sold projects to Netflix, Hulu, Freeform, Ellation, SonyTV, MWM, EndemolShine and brokered worldwide branding campaigns for clients. She also spent time at Madhouse Entertainment, Televisa USA (“Chasing Life”, “Devious Maids”) and Paradigm Talent Agency. Gambaro began her career in Hollywood as a segment producer after successfully touring over 60 cities as a DJ and mixing on LATV and KIIS-FM. She is currently producing season three of the successful Apple TV+ show ACAPULCO.
Tatiana Suarez-Pico
Tatiana Suarez-Pico is a playwright and a screenwriter. TV credits include Parenthood, A Series in Unfortunate Events, Snowfall, Iron Fist (season 2), The L Word: Generation Q, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, Hunters (season 2), and Invasion (season 2), among others. Theater residencies & fellowships include: Dramatists Guild fellow, Royal Court Theatre fellow, Mary Louise Rockwell Scholar at ESPA/Primary Stages, MFA Playwrights’ Workshop at The Kennedy Center, Old Vic Exchange, New York Stage and Film’s Powerhouse Theater Season, the Lark’s US/Mexico Exchange, among others. Tatiana is a graduate of the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at The Juilliard School and she has an MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School at The New School University.
Tripper Clancy
Tripper is a screenwriter who dabbles in tv and film, comedy and drama. He’s written projects with varying degrees of difficulty for every major studio as well as a couple of studios abroad. His credits include STUBER for 20th Century Studios, I AM NOT OKAY WITH THIS for Netflix, and the DIE HART franchise for Roku. 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
VJ Boyd spent six years on the FX hit drama JUSTIFIED, then went on to write for THE PLAYER (NBC), SNOWFALL (FX), and SWAT (CBS) before co-creating LINCOLN RHYME: HUNT FOR THE BONE COLLECTOR (NBC). He most recently worked on the JUSTIFIED spinoff, CITY PRIMEVAL (FX) and is currently co-showrunner on THE MADNESS (Netflix). He is also the author of the graphic novel Night Moves, from IDW.
Herschel Weingrod
Herschel Weingrod is a graduate with Honors at the University of Wisconsin with a B.A in History and then attained an MFA from the London Film School. While in London, he was also employed as a film critic and reviewer at Time Out as well as The Monthly Film Bulletin, a publication of the British Film Institute.
Mr. Weingrod has been a working screenwriting and producer based in Los Angeles for the past 40 years. Among his credits are Trading Places, Brewster’s Millions, Twins, Kindergarten Cop, Falling Down, Space Jam, and The Final Season. His directorial debut, Last Wishes, was the winner of the Special Jury Award – Best Narrative Short Film at the 2014 Houston International Film Festival and was also an Official Selection at the Austin Film Festival, Montreal International Film Festival, and G.I. Film Festival. His other awards include, for Trading Places, Best Motion Picture – NAACP Image Awards and a nomination for Best Screenplay by BAFTA, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Trading Places was also nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score. In addition, Twins was the winner of the Hollywood Foreign Press Award for Best Comedy.
Mr. Weingrod has been a member of the Writers Guild of America since 1980, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 1988, and the Advisory Board of the University of Oklahoma Department of Film & Video Studies since 1998.
He’s been a panelist, speaker, and Screenplay Finalist Judge at the Austin Film Festival for the last decade; he’s also done panels, seminars, and workshops at the Eugene, Oregon Film Festival; Loyola University – New Orleans; Victoria University – Wellington, New Zealand; Nashville Independent Film Festival; University of Oklahoma; Screenwriting EXPO – Los Angeles; Monterrey, Mexico International Film Festival; Seattle Film Festival; and several screenwriting seminars in Greece in conjunction with the University of Oklahoma Dept. of Film & Video Studies.
Mr. Weingrod also maintains a website – scriptmaven.com – which offers consultation services to aspiring writers by analyzing, reviewing, critiquing, and evaluating their screenplays.