CHRISTINE VACHON
Producer, Co-Founder - Killer Films, Artistic Director - MFA in Film

Christine Vachon is an Independent Spirit Award and Gotham Award winner who co-founded powerhouse Killer Films with partner Pamela Koffler in 1995. Over three decades, they have produced more than 100 films, including some of the most celebrated and important American independent features: KIDS, I SHOT ANDY WARHOL, HAPPINESS, BOYS DON’T CRY, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, FAR FROM HEAVEN, ONE HOUR PHOTO, STILL ALICE, CAROL, BEATRIZ AT DINNER, and DARK WATERS. In television, Vachon executive-produced the Emmy and Golden Globe-awarded miniseries MILDRED PIERCE for HBO as well as the Emmy Award-winning limited series HALSTON for Netflix. Recent releases include Todd Haynes' MAY DECEMBER (Netflix), starring Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore, and Celine Song's PAST LIVES (A24), which marks her first Oscar nomination in the Best Picture category.

MAGDALENE BRANDEIS
Executive Director - Programs in Film and Television, Associate Professor

Magdalene Brandeis is a producer, novelist, and the Executive Director of the MFA Programs in Film and Television Writing at Stony Brook University. She initiated the Stony Brook Manhattan Center in Creative Writing & Literature in 2010 and launched the well-attended reading series "Ink on Shrinks" with former fiction editor of The New Yorker and Executive Editor-in-Chief of Random House, author Daniel Menaker. She also developed Stony Brook's 20/20/20 with seed monies from Dorothy Lichtenstein, the MFA in FLM with Christine Vachon of Killer Films, and the MFA in Television Writing with Alan Kingsberg.  Getting her start in development at Hollywood Pictures and Caravan Pictures, Brandeis also translated and adapted French films and produced television series and pilots for ABC, AMC, Bravo, and MTV. She also served as the Executive Director of The Bridge Program, a social justice centered non-profit, and as a juror for The March on Washington Film Festival during the Obama Administration. She holds a BA from Antioch University Los Angeles, and an MFA in Writing and Literature from Stony Brook. Her short stories have been published in The East Hampton Star, The Southampton Review, and Lit Angels.

ALAN KINGSBERG
Director, MFA in Television Writing

Alan Kingsberg received his MFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts where his film Minors won an Academy Award as the top student film in the US.  His work in television includes writing the ACE Award winning documentary Buy Me That for HBO, and writing and producing the BAFTA nominated animated series Cubix for FOX.   Kingsberg has also written for Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and Kids classics like Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Shining Time Station and Doug.  He was a showrunner on five animated series for Fox, The CW and Cartoon Network, including the hits Cubix, Pokemon Chronicles and Winx Club.  He has written or produced over 250 half-hours of television for major broadcast and cable networks and has written feature films for DISNEY and UNIVERSAL PICTURES.  He is currently writing on a new Netflix Original animated series.

Kingsberg originated the popular Television Writing curriculum at Columbia University’s Graduate Film School where he taught for 17 years.  He has launched Television Writing programs in Sao Paulo and Prague and was a visiting professor at Sarah Lawrence College.   Kingsberg’s students have won numerous awards including multiple first place prizes at the Austin Film Festival, The TV Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Made In NY Fellowship, a Humanitas Award, an HBO Fellowship and a Fox Writers Intensive Prize, all with scripts written in his workshops. After graduating, his students have gone on to write and produce on  shows such as 30 Rock, Mr. Robot, Narcos, The Deuce, Stranger Things, Kimmy Schmidt, Mozart in the Jungle, Orphan Black, Quantico, The Sinner, Inside Amy Schumer, Smash, New Girl, Odd Mom Out, The Originals, Vegas, Weeds and Californication.

JULIE SHEEHAN
Associate Provost, Lichtenstein Center

JENNIE ALLEN
Associate Director, MFA in Film

Jennie Allen is a screenwriter whose work includes the microbudget feature Failing Better Now and the upcoming film 111, written with director Mauro Mueller. Produced by C-Films with Auguste Content and Fidelio Films, 111 is slated for distribution by SquareOne and Elevation Pictures.

Her films have been recognized by the Adrienne Shelly Foundation and supported through artist grants from the Brooklyn Arts Council and the Greene County Council on the Arts. Her short films have screened and won awards at festivals worldwide and have been distributed by Shorts International.

Allen earned her MFA in Film from Columbia University, where she received the Lewis Cole Award for Excellence in Screenwriting. Her work ranges from drama to dark comedy and often dives into death, dying, loss, addiction, colonialism, the resilience (and destruction) of the natural world, and other lighthearted aspects of modern life. She is currently working on the psychological horror film Naturalized.

ETHAN T. BERLIN
Television Writing Faculty

Ethan T. Berlin is an Emmy Award nominated comedy writer and performer who has written for many of today's top comedy voices. His credits include Da' Ali G Show (HBO), Totally Biased With W. Kamau Bell (FX), Billy on the Street (Fuse), Super Jail (Adult Swim), Lopez Tonight (TBS), Crank Yankers (Comedy Central), and Talk Show With Spike Feresten (Fox). He has sold pilots to IFC, MTV, and Cartoon Network.

He co-created, executive produced, performed, and wrote on IFC's fake game show, Bunk. Ethan has performed on most of the shows he's written for and is a graduate of the Peoples' Improv Theatre. He teaches comedy writing classes at New York University and the Peoples' Improv Theatre. His debut children’s picture book, The Hugely-Wugely Spider, will be published in 2018 by FSG. 

PERRY BLACKSHEAR
Film Faculty

Perry Blackshear is a tenure-track professor at Stony Brook University, where he has been teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in writing, directing, and feature film production for eight years. He is a filmmaker from North Carolina and a graduate of NYU Graduate Film School.

His debut feature film, THEY LOOK LIKE PEOPLE, garnered the Jury Award at the 2015 Slamdance Film Festival and has since claimed six international best feature awards. The film was acquired by Sundance International and later released on Netflix in the US. His second feature, the supernatural mystery THE SIREN, was released in the US in 2019 by Dark Sky Films and MPI Media. His third film, WHEN I CONSUME YOU, premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival and was acquired by Yellow Veil and 1091.

Perry has edited three award-winning feature films, including CHARLIEBIRD by Libby Ewing (Best Narrative Feature, Tribeca 2025), KARAOKE GIRL by Visra Vichit-Vadakan (Rotterdam, Criterion Collection), and DAYS OF GREY by Ani Simon-Kennedy (Reykjavik), as well as several award-winning shorts, including DAUGHTERS by Chloé Zhao (Clermont-Ferrand).

Perry's original television series, POSSESSION, was recently sold to Netflix, with Executive Producer Mike Flanagan (Midnight Mass) on board. He is currently attached to two feature scripts, including MINDFUL by Emmy, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild Award winner Les Bohem through Lady Spitfire and Architect. His original television pilot THE HALLOW is currently being developed in partnership with Aggregate.

He is represented by CAA and lives in Connecticut with his wife and baby daughter.

SCOTT BURKHARDT
Television Writing Faculty

Scott Burkhardt is a graduate of Columbia University’s School of the Arts where he received an MFA in Film. He was a Dean's Scholar at Columbia and received support for his work from New Line Cinema, the Milos Forman Foundation, The Caucus Foundation, and the Carole and Robert Daly Foundation. His thesis film, The Assastant, won multiple awards at the Columbia University Film Festival and went on to be nominated for a Student Academy Award. The film aired on PBS and Hulu for five years.

His latest short film, Girls Are Strong Here, won multiple screenplay awards and production funding from the Sun Valley Film Festival. It went on to play film festivals around the world and won the 2021 Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short @ IFF Boston and won the 2022 Humanitas Prize for Best Short Film. His next short film, We Buy Houses, is currently in post production and scheduled to hit the festival circuit in 2023.

He has written for television (NBC’s Smash) and developed projects for NBC Universal, CBS Studios and Flower Films. He is currently working on various writing/directing projects in addition to teaching screenwriting and television writing.

NIAV CONTY
Faculty - Directing, Cinematography

Niav Conty is a director, cinematographer, editor and screenwriter. She is the co-founder of Broken Yolk Productions, which produces ultra-indie films, music, and multimedia projects. Small Time, her 2020 feature shot over 5 years in rural Pennsylvania, won awards for Best Feature and Best Director many times over. The film is executive produced by Oren Moverman and is available to watch on Amazon. It stars a young child and a kitten; clearly she likes a challenge. She is currently releasing her newest feature, Person Woman Man Camera TV, about an interracial couple’s relationship disintegrating during the 2020 pandemic. Niav has worked closely with Joseph Strick and Chantal Ackerman, and is a Princess Grace Award winner.  She enjoys playing in the murky depths of human nature.

LENNY CROOKS
Film Faculty

Lenny Crooks is currently a New York based consultant advising European producers on transatlantic co-production opportunities and working with Killer Films on its development slate. Lenny's recent investments included Lynne Ramsay's WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, Paddy Considine's TYRANNOSAUR and Ben Wheatley's KILL LIST.  Crooks is the former head of the UK Film Council’s New Cinema Fund, where he backed Cannes Special Jury Prize winner  Fish Tank and  Bright Star. Crooks also ran the Glasgow Film Fund and the Glasgow Film Office. As director of the Glasgow Film Office, Crooks has supported the city's transformation into an internationally recognized creative hub and has also managed a successful public/private investment fund. 

With 20 years of experience in the film industry, he has supported some of the UK's most exciting filmmakers including Gaby Dellal's  On a Clear Day, Peter Mullan's  The Magdalene Sisters, Ken Loach's  My Name is Joe, Lynne Ramsay's  Morvern Callar, and David Mackenzie's  Young Adam. Crooks has a strong reputation for supporting filmmakers and his instinct has taken him from backing Andrew and Kevin Macdonald and John Hodge whose  Shallow Grave became a spectacular international film debut for director Danny Boyle, to Gilles Mackinnon with  Small Faces, writer Paul Laverty with Ken Loach's  Carla's Song, Peter Mullan with  Orphans, and Saul Metzstein and Jack Lothian with  Late Night Shopping.  He also supported the co-production partnership between Gillian Berrie's Glasgow-based Sigma Films and Peter Aalbeck Jensen's and Lars Von Trier's Danish production house, Zentropa Films and bankrolled the Advance Party slate which led to the production of Andrea Arnold's  Red Road, winner of the Prix du Jury at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. He leads students through script development to completed feature length script, leads script revision workshops and introduces first year students to the award winning Advance Party teaching method.

STEPHEN GATES
TV Writing Visiting Faculty
Stephen Gates, NYU TSOA’92 MFA, began his film career as 2 ^nd asst. & 1 ^st asst. cameraman and member of IATSE Local 600 in New York.  Upon moving to Los Angeles,  Stephen worked in the Story Dept. at Arnold Kopelson Prods writing script coverage.  He started his representation career as an assistant to a motion picture literary agent at ICM.  As part of a 5 year career as a Motion Picture Lit. agent, Stephen worked at the Susan Smith Agency and Writers & Artists Agency.  As a Literary Manager, Stephen ran Evolution Entertainment’s Lit Dept. for 16 years and then co-founded his own management company Ellipsis Entertainment Group.

BRYAN GOLUBOFF
TV Writing Visiting Faculty 

Bryan is a native New Yorker and graduate of N.Y.U.’s Tisch School of the Arts. His credits include the screenplay for THE BASKETBALL DIARIES starring Leonardo DiCaprio, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the “ALEX” arc on the first season of HBO’s IN TREATMENT, for which he won a WGA Award for Best Writing on a New Series, and writer/producer duties on FX’s critically acclaimed boxing drama LIGHTS OUT. Other TV credits include LAW AND ORDER: SVU (NAACP IMAGE AWARD for his episode "PERSONAL FOULS"), SMASH, BLUE BLOODS and THE AFFAIR (Golden Globe Award for Best Drama). He was also a writer on HBO’s SOMETHING THE LORD MADE (Emmy and Peabody Awards), K-PAX and ABOVE THE RIM, among other films.  Bryan wrote and directed the feature BEWARE THE GONZO, which starred Ezra Miller, Zoe Kravitz, Campbell Scott and Amy Sedaris. Most recently, Bryan was a writer/producer with David E. Kelley and Dennis Lehane on the past two seasons of the Audience Network drama series MR. MERCEDES, based on the Stephen King book trilogy, starring Brendan Gleeson, Harry Treadaway and Mary Louise Parker. Bryan is currently creating a new drama series, MANHATTAN EXPRESS, for Hulu.

PAMELA KOFFLER
Co-Founder - Killer Films, Visiting Faculty, Producer

Pamela Koffler is an award-winning producer who in 1995 co-founded New York-based indie powerhouse Killer Films with partner Christine Vachon.  Since founding Killer Films, she has gone on to produce some of the most celebrated American indie films including, Academy Award® winning films Far From Heaven, Boys Don't Cry, One Hour Photo, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Happiness,  I Shot Andy Warhol, Dirty Girl, Then She Found Me, and Savage Grace. In television, Koffler executive produced the Emmy® nominated TV movie Mrs. Harris in 2005 and the Golden Globe winning miniseries, Mildred Pierce for HBO. 

Most recently, Koffler produced two films with the award-winning directing team Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer:  "The Last of Robin Hood" starring Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon and Dakota Fanning, which premiered at the Toronto Festival in 2013 and was seen in theaters in September 2014. "Still Alice," starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin and Kristen Stewart, premiered at TIFF in 2014. Koffler also produced 2015's "Carol," directed by Todd Haynes, starring Cate Blanchette and Rooney Mara.

KAREN OFFITZER
Faculty, Writer

Karen Offitzer received her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, and an MA from NYU.  She is the Founder and former Program Director of the MFA in Creative Writing at National University, where she also served as director of Writing Across the Curriculum.  Her fiction and creative nonfiction have been published in several literary journals and magazines, and she has received grants and awards for her short documentary work, most notably for her short, I Am Not Who You Think I Am, exploring the effect of a year-long free humanities education program on the lives of those who were unhoused and working poor. She has held teaching positions at Loyola Marymount University and Antioch University, served as Assistant Professor at The Institute for Writing Studies at St. John’s University in Queens, NY, and currently lives in Brooklyn.

DAN PERLMAN
Television Writing Faculty

Dan Perlman is a comedian, writer, and director from New York City. He co-created, wrote, and starred in Showtime’s critically-acclaimed comedy series, Flatbush Misdemeanors. The series’ lauded two-season run holds a 100% Rating on Rotten Tomatoes, earning unanimous praise from outlets including The New York Times, Variety, Roger Ebert, TIME, and The Guardian. 

Dan made his directorial debut in the Flatbush episode, “boomerang,” which Vulture praised for its “masterful direction.” He wrote and directed the award-winning short films, Cramming and Practice Space. Most recently, Dan directed and starred in the documentary short Being Bublé.

Dan first co-created Flatbush as a zero-budget digital series, which became Oscar-qualified after winning Grand Jury Awards in its film festival run—laying the groundwork for the Showtime adaptation. Previously, Dan co-created and wrote the animated pilot That’s My Bus!, then ordered by FOX.

As a stand-up, Dan has been featured on Comedy Central, named one of the New Faces at the prestigious Montreal Just For Laughs Festival, worked as a regular at The Comedy Cellar in NYC, and headlined venues nationwide, including The Kennedy Center in DC. Dan’s debut album, Emergency Contact, is a staple on SiriusXM, where he’s also been a longtime regular guest on Bennington. His writing has also appeared in The New Yorker.

SIMONE PERO
Producer, Visiting Faculty

Emmy-nominated film producer, Simone Pero is the Founder and President of For Impact Productions, a social impact consultancy for artists and filmmakers, embracing projects that positively impact society, culture and humanity. 

Pero’s film producing portfolio includes the 2025 feature LILLY starring Patricia Clarkson and THE TALE starring Laura Dern, nominated for 25 awards, including two Emmys and a Golden Globe and distributed worldwide by HBO Films. Pero has also executive produced acclaimed documentaries VIVA VERDI! directed by Yvonne Russo and THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING featuring Geena Davis, Meryl Streep and Shonda Rhimes. VOW OF SILENCE: THE ASSASSINATION OF ANNIE MAE, the Disney Onyx award-winning documentary-series nominated for a ’25 Humanitas Prize, was associate produced by Pero. Among Pero’s upcoming projects includes the limited television series RUTH’S GHOSTS created by Jennifer Fox.

Named by Cynopsis Media as a Top Woman in Media in Community Building, Pero is an active leader in the media and entertainment industry. She currently serves on the President’s Council of New York Women in Film & Television, and is a member of BAFTA the British Academy of Film and Television Arts North America, the Producers Guild of America, the Television Academy, and the Global Impact Producers Alliance. Pero is an undergraduate alumna of Stony Brook University and holds a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs and Policy from the University at Albany.

MICHAEL RAUCH
TV Writing Visiting Faculty

Michael Rauch has written, produced and directed numerous projects in both film and television, most recently finishing eight seasons of the hit USA Network original series Royal Pains. Rauch also created and executive produced the CBS series Love Monkey with Tom Cavanagh and Judy Greer, as well as the ABC Family series Beautiful People and the CW series Life is Wild. Rauch wrote and directed the independent feature In The Weeds for Miramax starring Ellen Pompeo, Bridget Moynahan, Molly Ringwald and Eric Bogosian.  He directed and produced the filmed version of Bogosian’s off-Broadway show for IFC, Wake Up and Smell the Coffee. Rauch is currently writing two new shows for CBS, The Fighting Thomases produced with Jennifer Lopez, and Dr. Death starring Alan Cumming. Rauch resides in New York City.

JACQUELYN REINGOLD
Television Writing Faculty

Jacquelyn Reingold is a TV writer, playwright, teacher, and advocate. In television, Jackie was a writer/Executive Producer for the critically acclaimed The Good Fight starring Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald; Executive Producers, Robert and Michelle King. Other TV writing includes Best of Both Worlds, a pilot for John Wells Productions; CBS’ East New York; Netflix’s Grace and Frankie, NBC’s Smash, CBS’ Brain Dead; NBC’s Law & Order CI; MTV’s Daria. Jackie wrote all the Mia episodes for Emmy nominated Gabriel Byrne and Hope Davis for HBO’s Peabody Award winning In Treatment.

JORDAN ROBERTS
Editor

Jordan Roberts has been editing professionally for almost a decade and has cut a wide range of projects, many of which have garnered critical acclaim. He was mentored by Todd Sandler, an  editor for JJ Abram's "Bad Robot Productions." One of his most recent projects was a web series entitled “Kelsey, “ which was named one of the top 25 series of 2013 by Indie Wire, and has amassed over 150,000 views since its premiere in late 2013. In addition to this he served as assistant and trailer editor for the feature film “Maybe Tomorrow,” which has played the festival circuit for several years and racked up multiple accolades. In addition to his feature and short work, Jordan has edited tribute reels and clip shows for names such as: Edward Burns, Todd Haynes, Jessica Lange, Akira Kurosawa, Paul Simon and Joe Berlinger. He has taught production and editing to students of all ages and strives to instill the value and importance of the process to his students.

KATHLEEN RUSSO
Producer, Consultant

Kathleen Russo is a producer of film, theater and radio. Currently she is Executive Director of HERE'S THE THING with Alec Baldwin for WNYC, a ntionally syndicated radio show and podcast. She is the Special projects Coordinator for SUNY Stony Brook, Southampton campus. Film credits include Executive producer for AND EVERYTHING IS GOING FINE and GRAY'S ANATOMY, both directed by academy award winning director Steven Soderbergh. Russo's theater credits include co-directing SPALDING GRAY: STORIES LEFT TO TELL (a play based on her husband's work) which ran for six months off broadway and toured across the country and the U.K. She is a key note speaker for suicide prevention conferences around the country. From 1990-2004, Kathleen was an artist manager at various agencies from Columbia Artists to Washington Square Films. She graduated from RIT with a BFA in Photo Illustration in 1986. She resides in Sag Harbor and is the mother of three children.

SUMMER SHELTON
Producer, Visiting Faculty

SUMMER SHELTON is a filmmaker from North Carolina whose produced works include MAINE (Tribeca Film Festival) and KEEP THE CHANGE (Tribeca Film Festival Best Narrative Feature; FIPRESCI Critics’ Prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival). She was Executive Producer of PEOPLE PLACES THINGS (Sundance Film Festival), and Producer of ICARUS (short, New Directors/New Films) and LITTLE ACCIDENTS (Sundance Film Festival). She worked on the producing teams for acclaimed director Ramin Bahrani on his films GOODBYE SOLO (Venice Film Festival); PLASTIC BAG (short, Venice Film Festival), AT ANY PRICE (Venice Film Festival) and IF DREAMS WERE LIGHTING, RURAL HEALTH CRISIS (short, Telluride Film Festival). She has been the recipient of a Sundance Institute Creative Producing Fellowship, a Rotterdam Producing Fellowship, Film Independent Sloan Producing Fellowship and Cannes Producing Fellowship along with receiving the 2018 INDEPENDENT SPIRIT PRODUCERS AWARD. In 2023, her directorial debut YOU & I screened as an Official Selection of the Nashville Film Festival, New Orleans Film Festival, River Run International Film Festival and debuted internationally at the American Film Festival. The film was released by Slated Distribution and is available on streaming platforms.

SYDNEY SIDNER
Writer, Visiting Faculty

Syd co-wrote a pilot (reboot) of CHARMED for CBS. Her other works include the features TOUGH LOVE, GETTING BUDDHA BACK and the TV Pilots: BLISS CITY, TIOGA LAKE, ROUGE and MERIDIAN HILLS, which she sold to the CW, and INDISPOSED a short, produced by Warner Bros. for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA).

After receiving a BFA in acting from Carnegie-Mellon, she began directing plays at venues including Manhattan Class Company, Circle Rep, Lincoln Center, The National Theater of London, and Williamstown Theater Festival, where she was awarded the Boris Sagal Directing Fellowship. She was also awarded grants from The Drama League of New York,  Circle Rep Lab and New York Foundation for the Arts.

She went on to earn an MFA in screenwriting from Columbia Film School, where her first short film THE RITE was awarded ‘Best Film’ at the Columbia Film Festival and was selected as a finalist for best student film by The National Board of Review. 

STEWART THORNDIKE
Visiting Faculty

ADAM YAFFE
Television Writing Faculty

Adam Yaffe is a writer, director and editor in feature film, television and documentary. His work as a writer includes creating the Canal + animated drama series HARD APPLE and the mini-series VIA AMERICA for RAI television. His work as a director includes the feature BOOK OF DANNY and his narrative shorts have screened at Rotterdam and Edinburgh. His editing includes the upcoming feature documentary, CRACKED UP: THE DARRELL HAMMOND STORY, directed by Michelle Esrick. He received his MFA in filmmaking from Columbia University where he received the New Line Cinema Award for young filmmakers.

DEBORA CAHN

Debora Cahn is currently the showrunner and executive producer on Netflix’s political drama The Diplomat. Cahn is also known for her work writing for The West Wing, Homeland, Paterno, Grey's Anatomy, and Fosse/Verdon. She was part of the writing staff that won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series for The West Wing in 2003.

BASH DORAN

Bash Doran has written on a number of hit television series including Life After Life, Traitors (showrunner), The Looming Tower, Masters of Sex, Smash, and Boardwalk Empire. She also wrote the screenplay for the Netflix feature Outlaw King.

Bash has provided a number of one-on-one mentoring internships for Stony Brook MFA in TV Writing students. 

MARY HARRON

Mary Harron's most recent production is a television movie Anna Nicole Smith. Starring Agnes Bruckner, Martin Landau and Virginia Madsen, ANNA NICOLE  premiered on Lifetime in June 2013.  Her most recent feature film was THE MOTH DIARIES, starring Sarah Bolger and Lily Cole, which world premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2011 and had its North American premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.

In 2005 she directed THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE starring Gretchen Mol, Lili Taylor and Jared Harris. The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005 to critical acclaim. In 2000 she directed the internationally successful AMERICAN PSYCHO, which she adapted from Brett Easton Ellis’ notorious bestseller. For her work on this film, she was nominated for “Director of the Year” by the London Film Critics Circle.

Harron made her debut as a feature-film writer / director in 1996 with I SHOT ANDY WARHOL. The film won star Lili Taylor a Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival, and garnered an Independent Spirit Award nomination for best first feature film.  It was also chosen to open the “Un Certain Regard” section of the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. Harron has also directed episodes of many acclaimed television series including “Homicide,” “Oz,” “The L Word,”  “Six Feet Under” and “Big Love”.   

Harron was born in Bracebridge, Ontario and studied at Oxford. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, writer/director John C. Walsh (“Ed’s Next Move”, “Pipe Dream”, "Don't Ask Don't Tell") and their two daughters.

COURTNEY KEMP

Courtney Kemp created the 2014 television series franchise Power Universe for the Starz network. She has written for The Good Wife, Beauty & the Beast. Courtney got her big break by becoming a staff writer for the Fox hit series The Bernie Mac Show.

ELLEN KURAS

Ellen Kuras, ASC (Director of Photography) is the first cinematographer to win the Best Dramatic Cinematography award at the Sundance Film Festival an unprecedented three times. She was first cited for her work on Ellen Bruno’s documentary Samsara (which also brought her the Eastman Kodak Best Documentary Cinematography Focus Award and the Student Academy Award). For Best Dramatic Cinematography, she was honored for her (black-and-white) work on Tom Kalin’s Swoon (which also brought her an Independent Spirit Award nomination), and for Rebecca Miller’s Angela and Personal Velocity: Three Portraits (which also brought her an Independent Spirit Award nomination).

Earlier in 2009, she was an Academy Award nominee in the Best Documentary Feature category, for The Betrayal ( Nerakhoon). The film is Ms. Kuras’ directorial debut, in collaboration with the film’s subject, Thavisouk Phrasavath. She also shot and produced the feature, which was a highly personal project that she had worked on for years.

Ms. Kuras has twice been nominated for an Emmy Award, for her work on Spike Lee’s 4 Little Girls and the documentary/miniseries A Century of Women. She has collaborated several more times with Spike Lee, including on his features Summer of Sam and Bamboozled, his telefilm A Huey P. Newton Story, and his documentary Jim Brown All American. She has reteamed with Rebecca Miller on The Ballad of Jack and Rose (starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Camilla Belle), and shot segments of Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee & Cigarettes. She was reunited with Tom Kalin on 30, a half-hour narrative film commissioned by Geoffrey Beene.

She shot Martin Scorsese’s documentary No Direction Home: Bob Dylan and was then a camera operator on the director’s concert film Shine a Light. She has been the cinematographer on several concert films, including Jonathan Demme’s Neil Young: Heart of Gold; Julian Schnabel’s Lou Reed’s Berlin; and Michel Gondry’s Dave Chappelle’s Block Party.

For the latter director, she was also the cinematographer on the award-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Be Kind Rewind. Ms. Kuras has additionally been the director of photography on such features as Ted Demme’s Blow, Mary Harron’s I Shot Andy Warhol, and Harold Ramis’ Analyze That. Her earlier films include Steve McLean’s Postcards from America, Jill Godmilow’s Roy Cohn/Jack Smith, Douglas Keeve’s Unzipped, Richard Wenk’s Just the Ticket, and Scott Silver’s The Mod Squad.

Her television credits include the original HBO feature If These Walls Could Talk, for which she was cinematographer on the segment directed by Nancy Savoca and starring Demi Moore.

DYLAN LEINER

Dylan Leiner is Sony Pictures Classics’ Executive Vice President, Acquisitions & Production. Involved with the acquisition and production of a broad range of films dating back to IN THE COMPANY OF MEN, RUN LOLA RUN, THE SPANISH PRISONER, POLLOCK, DOGTOWN AND Z-BOYS, THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE, CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, CACHE, FRIENDS WITH MONEY, THE LIVES OF OTHERS, FROZEN RIVER, THE WACKNESS, RACHEL GETTING MARRIED, I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG, THE CLASS, WALTZ WITH BASHIR, MOON, WHATEVER WORKS, COCO BEFORE BEFORE CHANEL, BROKEN EMBRACES, AN EDUCATION, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR, THE WHITE RIBBON, A PROPHET, THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES, GET LOW, ANIMAL KINGDOM, and recent Academy Award winning films INSIDE JOB and IN A BETTER WORLD. Dylan oversees Sony Pictures Classics’ physical and post production services. Dylan has been named by The Hollywood Reporter as a member of its 35 under 35 “Next Generation Group” and by Crain’s New York Business among its 40 executives under 40. Dylan attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut where he played on the Men’s Soccer Team for 4 years, and contributed to what remains Wesleyan’s best season ever in 1991, where the team went 15-1-1, won the ECAC Tournament and was ranked #1 in New England. Dylan is also Co-Founder of NYFEST, the New York Film & Entertainment Soccer Tournament.

ASHLEY LYLE

Ashley Lyle is co-creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the hit Showtime series, Yellowjackets. 

Prior to Yellowjackets, Ashley served as co-executive producer on the AMC series Dispatches From Elsewhere with Jason Segel and wrote and produced for Netflix’s Narcos and Narcos: Mexico. She also wrote for three seasons on The CW’s The Originals. 

Ashley studied TV Writing with Alan Kingsberg. The script from that workshop won first prize at the Austin Film Festival.

MARTI NOXON

Marti Noxon created Sharp Objects, Girls Guide to Divorce and Unreal.  She has written and served as executive producer (or consulting producer) on critically acclaimed series including Code Black, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Brothers & Sisters, Mad Men, Angel, and Glee. 

JAMES SCHAMUS

James Schamus is an award-winning screenwriter (The Ice Storm) and producer (Brokeback Mountain), and is CEO of Focus Features, the motion picture production, financing, and worldwide distribution company whose films have included Moonrise Kingdom, Milk, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Pianist, Coraline, and The Place Beyond the Pines. He is alsoProfessor of Professional Practice in Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory.  He is the author of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Gertrud : The Moving Word, published by the University of Washington Press. He earned his BA, MA, and Ph.D. in English from U.C. Berkeley.

MICHAEL SIMMONDS

Michael Simmonds is a cinematographer with a long history of credits including Killer Films’ Deep Powder and At Any Price, The Civil War on Drugs, Project Nim, Plastic Bag, Goodbye Solo, Chop Shop, and Anna Nicole and at least four projects in post including The Last of Robin Hood.

JOHN SLOSS

John Sloss is the founder of Cinetic Media and a co-founder of FilmBuff. He is the founder of and a partner in the entertainment law firm Sloss Eckhouse LawCo LLP.  He co-founded Producers Distribution Agency, the theatrical distributor of  Exit Through the Gift Shop,  Senna,  The Way and  Brooklyn Castle.

Through Cinetic Media, Sloss has facilitated the sale and/or financing of well over 400 films including  Before Midnight, Prince Avalanche, Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry,  Safety Not Guaranteed,  Friends With Kids,  We Need to Talk About Kevin,  Red State,  The Kids Are All Right,  Precious, I’m Not There,  Napoleon Dynamite,  Little Miss Sunshine, and  Super Size Me.  Sloss has executive produced over 60 films including  Before Midnight,  Bernie, and the Academy Award®-winning  The Fog of War and  Boys Don’t Cry. His law clients include Killer Films, Richard Linklater, Kevin Smith, Bob Dylan, John Hamburg, Justin Lin, Jake Kasdan, the Isle of Man’s CinemaNX and Big Beach Films.

Prior to founding Sloss Law Office in 1993, Sloss was a partner at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster. Sloss received his J.D. and B.A. from the University of Michigan. He lives in New York with his daughter Loulou and son Henry.

DAN STEINMAN

Dan Steinman is an agent in the Film Finance Group of Creative Artists Agency (CAA), an entertainment and sports agency based in Los Angeles with offices in Nashville, New York City, London, and Beijing.  Steinman works in the New York office, where he specializes in packaging and arranging financing for motion picture projects and handling the sales of finished films.

Prior to joining CAA in 2007, Steinman was a partner in Sloss Law Office, a boutique entertainment law firm where he represented producers, financiers, writers and directors, and negotiated the sales of finished films.  Steinman began his career representing banks, private equity firms, entertainment conglomerates and other companies as a corporate lawyer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, in New York.

Among the many films in which Steinman has been involved are ZERO DARK THIRTY, KILLING THEM SOFTLY, THE IDES OF MARCH, THE WRESTLER, THE HURT LOCKER, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, and AN EDUCATION. Steinman holds BA and JD degrees from Harvard University.

LIZ TIGELAAR

Liz Tigelaar was the showrunner of Little Fires Everywhere and Tiny Beautiful Things. She was also a  writer and producer on Nashville and Stick It. She began her career as an assistant on Dawson's Creek.