PANEL SESSIONS:

On Writing Pixar’s Onward

PANEL SESSIONS:

Rep’s Perspective

Lindsay’s first film credit was as Executive in Charge of Production on the mock-documentary This is Spinal Tap.  As a producer, her credits include Dead Again, Sense and Sensibility, Nanny McPhee, and Stranger Than Fiction. She is currently in the early stages of producing a stage musical adaptation of Nanny McPhee, written and directed by Emma Thompson.

As an executive, Lindsay worked on dozens of films including The Sure Thing, Stand By Me, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Planes Trains and Automobiles, The Naked Gun, Pet Sematary, Ghost, The Thomas Crown Affair, The World is Not Enough and Tomorrow Never Dies.

She is an Oscar nominee and the winner of numerous awards including the Golden Globe Best Picture Award and the British Academy Award for Best Film, both for Sense and Sensibility. More recently she received the Pioneer Award from the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center for “igniting a movement toward Positive Film.”

Lindsay tries to be guided by the Three Rules of Drama, found in an ancient text, as the basis for what motion picture entertainment ought to be:

#1 It must be arresting and amusing to the drunk.

#2 It must address the question, “How should we live?”

#3 It must address the question, “How does the universe work?”

Simultaneously, she tries to be guided by the three rules of scene writing, found in the less ancient writings of David Mamet, as to the three questions that must be answered in every scene:

#1 Who wants what?

#2 What happens if he or she doesn’t get it?

#3 Why now?

PANEL SESSIONS:

The Movie that Made a Difference with Lindsay Doran

Out of Sight and Logan were both nominated for Academy Awards for Best Adapted Screenplay. Out of Sight won the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America as well as Best Screenplay awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics

Logan was also nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Get Shorty was nominated for both a Golden Globe and a Writers Guild Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. His directorial debut, The Lookout, won the Independent Spirit Award for “Best First Feature.”

Godless was nominated for 12 Emmy awards, including nominations for writing and directing, as well as nominations from the Directors and Writers Guilds.

Frank’s first novel, Shaker, was published by Knopf in 2015.

PANEL SESSIONS:

Research: A Writer’s Best Friend…and Worst Enemy

In 1982 Neil wrote and directed his first feature film, Angel, for which he won The London Evening Standard’s Most Promising Newcomer Award. The Company Of Wolves (1984) garnered Best Film and Best Director Awards  from the London Critics Circle.

Mona Lisa (1986), starring Michael Caine, Cathy Tyson and Bob Hoskins, won Best Actor at Cannes and a Golden Globe and was nominated for, a Los Angeles Film Critics Award and a Best Screenplay nomination from The Writer’s Guild Of America. Mona Lisa was followed by two comedies, High Spirits (1988) starring Darryl Hannah, Steve Guttenberg and Peter O’Toole, and We’re No Angels (1989) starring Robert De Niro and Sean Penn. He returned to Ireland to make The Miracle in 1991, starring  Donal McCann and Beverly D’Angelo.

In 1992, Neil wrote and directed The Crying Game which was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Stephen Rea), Best Supporting Actor (Jaye Davidson) and which won Neil an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

In 1994 Neil filmed an adaption of Anne Rice’s novel Interview With The Vampire, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and Christian Slater. Next came the film of the Irish revolutionary Michael Collins (1996), starring Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn and Julia Roberts, which won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film festival and was nominated for two Academy Awards.

His adaptation of Patrick McCabe’s novel The Butcher Boy (1997) won a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film festival in 1998.

In 1999 he made the psychological thriller In Dreams, starring Annette Bening, Robert Downey Jr, Aidan Quinn and Stephen Rea.

In the same year he directed his own adaption of Graham Greene’s novel The End Of The Affair, starring Ralph Fiennes, Julianne Moore and Stephen Rea. The film was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards, two Academy Awards and ten BAFTA Awards, Jordan was honoured with the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay. Neil went on to direct a fourteen-minute film based on Samuel Beckett’s play, NOT I, which starred Julianne Moore and premiered in the Cannes Film Festival in the year 2000. That was followed by The Good Thief (2002) starring Nick Nolte.

Breakfast on Pluto another McCabe adaptation followed in 2005.

He directed Jodie Foster in The Brave One for Warner Bros. in 2007.

Ondine, starring Colin Farrell was released in 2009.

From 2011 to 2013 Jordan wrote, directed and produced the television series The Borgias for Showtime.

His film Byzantium was released in 2012.

His latest film is Greta, starring Isabel Huppert and Chloe Grace Moretz.

PANEL SESSIONS:

A Conversation with Neil Jordan

Penny currently serves as showrunner and executive producer of the HBO comedy series Insecure starring Issa Rae. Based on the award-winning web series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, the series follows the friendship of two modern day African-American women navigating their way through the tricky professional and personal terrain of Los Angeles. The show, which debuted to rave reviews from critics and quickly became a fan favorite, is currently airing it’s fourth season.

In addition to his work behind the camera, Penny also serves as host of the truTV lifestyle series Upscale with Prentice Penny. The series, which premiered on March 21^st, marks an exciting new chapter in Penny’s career, moving him in front of the camera. Known for his trendsetting and fearless fashion choices, Penny has built his career working primarily behind the camera until this point. The show, which he co-created and serves as executive producer on, follows Penny as he  takes viewers on a journey to demystify what it means to live an upscale life, exploring a variety of topics ranging from food and wine to travel and fashion. From buying a better bottle of wine to getting a custom-made suit for less than some off-the-rack options, the show is aimed at brings viewers ways to live a more elevated lifestyle in unlocking a world that often feels unattainable.

Previously, Penny served as a co-executive producer on the Golden Globe-winning freshman season of Fox’s comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine and returned as a consulting producer in Season 2. He also worked on ABC’s critically-acclaimed sitcom Happy Endings as a supervising producer and writer and garnered two NAACP Award nominations for the show in the “Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series” category. During this time, he simultaneously produced the pilot for FOX’s Breaking In starring Christian Slater.

Penny also created, executive produced, and ran his first series, the NAACP Award-winning show The Hustle. Billed as the first scripted hip-hop dramedy, The Hustle was Fuse Network’s landmark show with guest stars including Jadakiss, Freddie Gibbs, and DJ Skee among others.

Penny’s additional producing credits include the hit ABC show Scrubs and FOX’s comedy Do Not Disturb starring Jerry O’Connell. Prior to this, Penny worked as a substitute teacher and tutor at a foster home for two years before his first break in 2004 when he became a Writer’s Guild Trainee on the award-winning UPN show Girlfriends. He continued to work his way up to Executive Story Editor throughout the show’s final four seasons.

Penny, a native Angeleno, attended USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, majoring in “Writing for Screen and Television.” Upon graduation, he wrote and directed his first independent feature film YOU SAY TOMATO before beginning his successful career in television.

Penny currently resides in Los Angeles.

PANEL SESSIONS:

The Creative Career: Practical Tips for Starting Out presented by the Writers Guild of America West

Producer

Pixar Animation Studios

Kori Rae joined Pixar Animation Studios in June 1993 as a producer in the studio’s Commercials Division, producing several award-winning commercials. She was part of the dynamic and entrepreneurial team that helped shape and build Pixar in the studio it is today. 

Kori Rae was the producer of Pixar’s fourteenth feature film, Monsters University. Released in the summer of 2013, Monsters University grossed over $738.9 million worldwide at the box office, and received the 2013 “Hollywood Animation Award” from the Hollywood Film Awards. Rae most recently produced Onward, which was released on March 6, 2020. 

With a background in education and coaching, Rae finds producing similar.  The role of managing a continually changing story and a large creative team in a deadline-driven atmosphere is quite a lot like coaching a team to a championship. 

After the success of Toy Story, Rae moved forward as animation manager on Pixar’s second feature film A Bug’s Life.  She then worked as animation manager for the Golden Globe® winner, Toy Story 2 and continued on as associate producer for Monsters, Inc. and the Academy Award®-winning feature, The Incredibles. Rae also contributed her producing talents to Up as pre-production producer, and worked as producer on the first group of Pixar’s Cars Toons. 

Born and raised in Bergen County, New Jersey, Rae moved to Florida in high school and went on to earn a degree from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.  She currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.  

PANEL SESSIONS:

On Writing Pixar’s Onward

In 2009 Swicord received an Oscar nomination for her contribution to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a project Swicord originated and worked on for more than a decade. Her original feature script The Promise, set during the Armenian genocide, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival 2016, with Terry George co-writing & directing, starring Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac.

Swicord made her feature-directing debut with Sony Classic’s The Jane Austen Book Club, produced by Julie Lynn and John Calley, for which Swicord also wrote the screenplay adaptation.

Swicord is currently a Governor for the Writers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, and chairs the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship. She mentors for the Sundance Screenwriting lab, and often co-leads Film Independent’s Writers Lab. In 2015 she helped create and launch the inaugural Hedgebrook Screenwriting Workshop for women writers, which will take place again in October of this year.  Swicord is married to writer-director Nicholas Kazan; they have two daughters, actor-writer Zoe Kazan and actor-writer Maya Kazan.

PANEL SESSIONS:

Creating Compelling Characters

Paul and Eric wrote and executive produced The Finest Hours – a true story about the U.S. Coast Guard’s most successful maritime rescue. Based on the book by Casey Sherman and Michael Tougias, the project was released by Disney winter 2016 with Chris Pine and Casey Afleck starring and Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) directing. Paul and Eric also co-wrote and executive produced the award winning film Patriot’s Day, a true story based on the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombings. The film was directed by Peter Berg, released in 2016 and starred Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Kevin Bacon, J.K. Simmons and Michelle Monaghan and is one of only 49 films to receive an A+ Cinemascore. Paul and Eric co-adapted the GQ Article: My Father and Me: A Spy Story. The true life drama is set up at Fox with Ben Stiller attached to direct and Langley Park and Red Hour producing. Paul and Eric wrote the action drama Kelly, the true story about Grace Kelly’s father Jack Kelly who went from pauper to world champion rower. The film is set up at Flashlight Films with Allyn Stewart producing. Paul and Eric wrote the family drama Bullet – set in the world of greyhound racing. The project is now being produced by Arclight Films with Jeffrey Walker directing and slated for fall production. For Paramount and Jerry Bruckeimer, Paul and Eric wrote and will be executive producing Churchill’s Secret Warriors – an action drama based on the book by Damien Lewis. It is the the true story of how Churchill’s first-ever secret agents “licensed to kill” set Europe ablaze, changed the course of the war, and gave birth to modern Black Ops. For Legendary, Paul and Eric created and cowrote the one hour drama CHAIN, about the production and control of the world’s most valuable commodity: food. The series is out to buyers with Paul Executive Producing.

Paul and Eric wrote and Paul produced The Outpost for Millennium Films, a true story based on the best selling book by CNN’s Jake Tapper. The film was directed by Rod Lurie, stars Scott Eastwood, Orlando Bloom and Caleb Landry Jones, was released in 2020, received rave reviews and was the number one film of the summer on all platforms. Paul and Eric were recently hired by Imperative to adapt Neal Bascomb’s book Faster, the true story of Jewish driver Rene Dreyfus and his win over the Nazi’s in the 1936 Grand Prix.

Paul and Eric wrote and Paul is producing along with Jordan Gertner, the action-drama 13 Angels, based on the real life case of Logan Clarke, a private eye hired to repo 13 Harley Davidsons from the Hell’s Angels in 1972. The script is out to directors. Paul cowrote and is producing along with Ian Bryce (Saving Private Ryan), The Remarkable Alfie Hinds, a true story about the famous prison escape artist. Farren Blackburn is attached to direct.

Paul wrote and is producing along with Vincent Newman and Endeavor Content, The Painter, a suspense thriller based on the best selling book by Peter Heller. Michael Roskam (The Drop) is attached to direct and the project is out to cast. Paul also cowrote and is executive producing Fearless, a true story about Jamie Vardy’s and Leicester City Football Club’s unlikely climb to top of the English Premier League. The project is financed by Sky Media with Simon Egan and Gareth Ellis-Unwin (The King’s Speech) producing and Nima Nourizadeh (Project X) directing. Paul co-wrote and is attached to direct and produce the thriller Depravity, originally written by renowned book author, Dennis Lehane (Mystic River, Shutter Island). The project is financed by Arclight Films, and will star Emma Roberts.

Paul is an active member of the DGA, WGA and SAG.

Paul carries both U.S. and British citizenship.

Paul is repped by Michael Prevett and Ashley Berns at Circle of Confusion.

Paul’s attorney is George Davis at Nelson/Davis.

PANEL SESSIONS:

Script-to-Screen: The Outpost

PANEL SESSIONS:

Writers Room Dynamics