Professionals from FIlm, TV, Publishing & More

Attending Screenwriter’s World East in New York City is your chance to meet and learn from professionals in every aspect of the entertainment industry. Our panels, sessions, and workshops are hosted by leading experts that can help you improve your craft, find and agent, and sell it to the people who make movies and television shows. You’ll receive real feedback from successful screenwriters, agents, execs, actors, filmmakers and more.

Courtney Andrialis [More Info]
Producer
MTV
Courtney is an NYC based independent producer. She recently wrapped Nicole Gomez Fisher’s feature comedy Sleeping with the Fishes, starring Gina Rodriguez (Sundance darling of 2012 for Filly Brown), Ana Ortiz, Steven Strait, Priscilla Lopez and Tibor Feldman, which is currently in post-production and will be on the 2013 film festival circuit.
She is presently a Producer on MTV's new scripted series Blogger Girls, and has a number of other feature films in development with Ted Hope, Ed Pressman and Sundial Pictures. Before becoming an indie producer in 2012, Courtney served as the Head of Development & Production at PalmStar from 2008-2011. Prior to that, she was a Creative Executive at HDNet Films, where she worked on over 20 films including Zoe Cassavetes’ Broken English, Brian DePalma’s Iraq drama Redacted, and Alex Gibney’s documentaryGonzo: The Life & Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. Courtney began her career in 2003 as Executive Assistant to the late Bingham Ray, who was then President of United Artists.
 
Session:
Panel: Pitch Perfect - An Insider's Guide to Successful Pitching
 
Steven Arvanites [More Info]
Founder
NYCScreenwriter.org
As founder of NYCscreenwriter.org, Steven Arvanites heads the largest free screenwriting organization in New York City. He has taught at the Writers Store, Unicorn Writers Conference, Northwest Screenwriters Guild in Seattle, Atlanta Writers Club, San Francisco Film Society and as a visiting professor at Hollins University in their M.F.A. screenwriting program.
He graduated from Fordham University (B.A.) and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
 
Steven is a three-time semi-finalist at Nicholl Fellowship Screenwriting Awards, and his work has won or placed in 27 other national and international screenwriting competitions. His first feature, I Killed You ‘Cause I Had To, won Best Feature Horror/Thriller at the Dark River Film Festival and the Indie Film Gathering. His script Cadaver won the Terror Film Festival and the Eerie Horror Film Fest screenplay competitions. Helium Man (2010), a short film co-written by Mr. Arvanites, was an official selection of D.C. Short Film Fest, the Beverly Hills Short Film Fest, Atlanta Film Festival, and Fort Lauderdale International Film Fest. A native New Yorker, Steven resides in Hell's Kitchen. No pets, some roaches.
 
 
Session:
Panel: Decoding The Spec Screenplay Market
 
Richard Botto [More Info]
CEO
Stage 32
Richard Botto is the CEO of Stage 32, a social media website for film, television, and theater creatives boasting over 100,000 members from more than 180 countries.
 
He is also a screenwriter, producer, and actor.  His latest script, The End Game, is currently in pre-production. Botto was a producer on Sam Levinson's first film, Another Happy Day (Ellen Barkin, Demi Moore, Thomas Hayden Church), which premiered—and won the screenwriting award—at Sundance.  Prior to starting Stage 32, Botto was the founder and editor of RAZOR magazine, a national men's lifestyle magazine which had a readership of 1.5M at its peak.
 
 
Session:
Panel: The New Hollywood - Inroads for Innovative Writers
 
 
Jeanne Bowerman [More Info]
Scriptmag.com Community Leader and Editor
F+W Media, Inc.
Jeanne Bowerman is the Editor and Online Community Manager for ScriptMag.com.
She also has a regular column on the site Balls of Steel. When she isn’t sharing her war stories in her column, she teaches screenwriting webinars for the Writers Store. A graduate of Cornell University, she’s written several spec scripts, including an Expo Screenplay Competition Finalist script—the adaption of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Slavery by Another Name, with its author, Douglas A. Blackmon. Jeanne is one of the founders of ScriptChat, a Twitter screenwriting chat, where screenwriters come together to learn. She is also the president of Impasse Productions, LLC.  
 
 
Session:
Breaking into TV from NY
 
 
Loren-Paul Caplin [More Info]
Professor
Columbia University
FILM: The Lucky Ones (feature film; Writer/Director), Tribeca Film Festival 2003, DVD release 2007; History of the World in 8 Minutes (Writer/Director), New Directors/New Films Festival, MoMA, NYC; Lost Angels (Original Story), Orion Pictures; Battle in the Erogenous Zone, (Co-Wrote and Co-Produced) Showtime; The Forbidden Zone (Music Producer), Samuel Goldwyn; written film scripts for: Paramount, Columbia, TriStar and numerous independents.
THEATER/PLAYWRIGHT: The Presidents (co-playwright with Ron Nessen), PBS, U.S. National Tour (2002-2003); Sunday's Child and Men in the Kitchen (playwright), Long Wharf Theater, CT; A Subject of Childhood (playwright), W.P.A. Theater, NYC; City Muzik (Book, Music, Lyrics) Huntington Theater, Boston; Gangs (Book, Music, Lyrics), produced by David Merrick and Joe Roth. Numerous poems published including in The Paris Review and Rolling Stone.  Mr. Caplin teaches screenwriting at Columbia University, The Department of Dramatic Writing at Tisch/NYU, and was among the core faculty that created the curriculum for the Screenwriting Certificate at the New School.  He blogs about religion and culture for The Huffington Post and lives in NYC.  www.lorenpaulcaplin.con ; www.newyorkscriptconsultants.com 
 
Session:
The Hero's Journey Meets the Screenwriter's Journey
 
Timothy Cooper [More Info]
Screenwriter/Director
Tip Your Waitress Productions
Timothy Cooper is a New York City-based screenwriter and director.  He wrote and directed the web sitcom Concierge: The Series (http://ConciergeTheSeries.com), starring comedians from Saturday Night Live, 30 Rock, Last Comic Standing, the Onion News Network, CollegeHumor, and Upright Citizens Brigade.
The series was nominated for the first-ever WGA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Writing Original New Media.
 
Timothy's debut political comedy video, “Transparency,” was featured on the front pages of YouTube Comedy and Slate magazine. He also directed two shows that played at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City: the improvised play Sunny-Side Up, and Farebeater: Improv in a Cab, starring cast members from The League, Conan, and more.
 
His first feature-writing credit, Away From Here, starring Nick Stahl, Alicia Witt, and Ray Wise, is set for release in 2013. Timothy recently wrote and directed the digital sitcom pilot We Are Criminal Masterminds, a nationwide top-five finalist in the Samsung Second Screen Storytellers Competition at the 2012 New York Television Festival. He is currently developing a network pilot and several features.
 
 
Session:
Panel: Decoding The Spec Screenplay Market
 
 
Eric Faber [More Info]
Faber Talent LLC
The son of an Obie and Drama Desk award-winning actor, Mr. Faber began as a child actor, making his Broadway debut at age five and performing off-Broadway, in commercials, television and film.
After receiving his college degree in Theater, Mr. Faber found his calling working on behalf of talent while assisting in the theatrical department at Agency for the Performing Arts in Los Angeles. In New York City, he worked as a Manager at JMM and Sullivan Talent Group, and then as a union-franchised agent in the on-camera commercial and hosting divisions of Atlas Talent Agency and Independent Artists Agency before opening his own company in 2011.
 
Session:
Panel: Pitch Perfect - An Insider's Guide to Successful Pitching
Pitch Slam Session #2
 
Mollie Fermaglich [More Info]
Humor Writer
Humorist Mollie Fermaglich has written for television, film, radio, newspapers, and magazines.  Her satirical articles have appeared in such publications as The New York Times, Mademoiselle, The Village Voice, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, London Times, King Features Syndicate, Penthouse, Working Woman, Woman’s Day and several other magazines and newspapers.
She is the author of three books and her television credits include work for CBS, Hallmark Entertainment, Disney, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Sesame Workshop, Animal Planet  and other production companies.  She has worked as a script doctor for Paramount Films and Hart Break Films and her screenplay, “It’s Only Me,” was purchased by Catalyst Entertainment and Jane Startz Productions.
 
Mollie has had comedy pilots in development for Hallmark Entertainment and Nickelodeon. She currently completed a new book of satirical essays slated to be published in Winter 2014, just completed a satirical parody zeroing in on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s attempts at playing Big Brother with his soda ban, “How The Grinch Banned Soda,”and is currently working on both a novel and a new screenplay.  Her first book,  “Mollie’s Rules for the Socially Inept,” has been updated and was re-released in Spring 2012 as an e-book.  She is also the author of the satirical blog, molliesrulesforyou.com.  She has appeared as a guest on many television and radio programs and spent a year as an on-air humorist for WPLJ, with Jim Kerr and the Morning Crew.
 
Ms. Fermaglich is a fulltime faculty member of New York University’s prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, where she teaches comedy writing, children’s television writing and screenwriting in the Undergraduate Film and Television Department.
 
 
Session:
A Screenwriter's Guide to Representation
 
 
Billy Frolick [More Info]
Screenwriter
Billy Frolick is a graduate of NYU film school. His journalism has appeared in The New Yorker, Salon.com, Movieline, Premiere, and The Los Angeles Times.
His book What I Really Want to Do is Direct tracked seven film school graduates over three years, and was called essential reading by Publisher’s Weekly and the definitive by Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh.
 
Frolick's directing debut, It Is What It Is, starred Jonathan Silverman and screened at several global festivals, including the 2003 New York International Film & Video Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Best Picture, as well as prizes for Best Screenplay and Best Directorial Debut. He is the co-writer of DreamWorks Animation’s MADAGASCAR, voiced by Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Jada Pinkett Smith and David Schwimmer. He is currently writing a new feature version of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book for India’s DQ Entertainment, and his fifth full-length book parody, Downtrodden Abbey, will be published in July by St. Martin's Press.
 
 
Session:
Diagnosing Dialogue
 
D.B. Gilles [More Info]
Writer
New York University
D.B. Gilles teaches screenwriting, television writing and comedy writing in The Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television at New York University’s, Tisch School of the Arts.
He also taught in The Dramatic Writing Department at NYU, the Graduate Film Department at Columbia and The Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU.

He is the author of The Screenwriter Within, 2nd Edition: New Strategies To Finish Your Screenplay & Get A Deal!, You’re Funny! Turn Your Sense of Humor Into A Lucrative New Career, The Portable Film School and the forthcoming Writers Rehab: A 12-Step Program For Writers Who Can't Get Their Acts Together. He is the author of two novels: I Hate My Book Club and Colder Than Death. He is also a script consultant and writing coach. Contact D.B. Gilles directly at: dbgillescript@gmail.com

Sessions:
 
Jenny Halper [More Info]
Development Executive
Maven Picture
Jenny Halper is development executive at Maven Pictures, Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray’s production company, and has worked in that capacity on films including The Kids are All Right, The Whistleblower, Bernie, and the forthcoming Girl Most Likely, Filth, and Black Nativity. In addition, their vast development slate includes adaptations of Colum McCann’s Dancer, Steve Martin’s Object of Beauty with Amy Adams set to star, Marisa Marchetto’s Cancer Vixen with Cate

Blanchett, Wentworth Miller’s adaptation of With a Friend Like Harry, and several TV series. A founding member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists, she is the former film editor of Spare Change News and has written about film for the Boston Phoenix, Women on Film, New England Film, Nylon Magazine, and others. She is a 2009 graduate of Emerson College’s Masters program, where she received an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Internship Grant.

 
Session:
Panel: Decoding The Spec Screenplay Market
 
Timothy S. Hays [More Info]
Hays Media LLC
Company Credits:
* Merry Christmas, Baby
* Color Lines
* Severed Relations

Companies Tim Hays has collaborated with:
* Robert Halmi
* Nederlander Television and Entertainment
* A&E Networks
* Burt Reynolds Productions
 
 
Session:
 
Marilyn Horowitz [More Info]
Professor, Author, Producer, and Writing coach
New York University
Professor Marilyn Horowitz is an award-winning New York University professor, author, producer, and writing coach.
She is also a judge for the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship Program for film and media students, and the author of six books, including editions for college, high school, and middle school. She has written articles for Movie Maker and Script magazines, and her weekly newsletter reaches 18,000 readers and her 5,000+ Facebook friends.
 
Professor Horowitz has taught more than 100 classes, seminars, and workshops across the country for groups including the Writers Guild of America East, Philadelphia Writer’s Conference, Script DC, and Screenwriters World East. She is a frequent speaker and presenter at the Great American PitchFest and the Screenwriting Expo in Los Angeles.  Her production credits include the feature films And Then Came Love; Caleb’s Door; Found in Time; Nocturnal Agony; and The One.
 
 
Session:
Sell Your Screenplay in 30 Days
 
 
Charles Kipps [More Info]
Writer/Producer
Writer/producer Charles Kipps has won an Emmy, a Peabody, and an Edgar Award.  Among his television and film credits are projects featuring a host of previously established characters such as the 25th Anniversary episode of Columbo, the feature film adaptation of Fat Albert, and Exiled: A Law & Order Movie. Kipps is the author of two non-fiction books, Out of Focus and Cop Without A Badge, and a series of mystery novels, including Hell’s Kitchen Homicide and Crystal Death.
 
Sessions:
 
Susan Kouguell [More Info]
Award-winning Screenwriter/Filmmaker/Screenplay Doctor/Professor/Chairperson
Tufts University/Su-City Pictures LLC
Susan Kouguell is an award-winning screenwriter and filmmaker, and the author of Savvy Characters Sell Screenplays! and The Savvy Screenwriter.
Susan teaches screenwriting and film at Tufts University, and is a recipient of many grants and fellowships, including the MacDowell Colony, Jerome Foundation, New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Edward Albee Foundation. She worked with director Louis Malle on his film And the Pursuit of Happiness, was a story analyst and story editor for many studios, wrote voice-over narrations for (Harvey Weinstein) Miramax, and over a dozen feature assignments for independent companies.
 
 
Jacob Krueger [More Info]
Award Winning Screenwriter & Founder
Jacob Krueger Studio
The founder of Jacob Krueger Studio, Jacob has worked with all kinds of writers, from Academy and Tony Award Winners, to young writers picking up the pen for the first time. His writing includes The Matthew Shepard Story, for which he won the Writers Guild of America Paul Selvin Award and was nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Screenplay.
 
Session:
 
Christopher Kyle [More Info]
Screenwriter/Playwright
Christopher Kyle’s screenplay credits include Oliver Stone’s Alexander and two films directed by Kathryn Bigelow, K-19: The Widowmaker and The Weight of Water.
Serena, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence and directed by Susanne Bier, will be released in 2013. Christopher is also a playwright whose plays include Plunge, The Monogamist, The Safety Net, and Boca. He recently completed a new play, Dirt Archaeology, which was commissioned by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Christopher is a graduate of Indiana State University and the MFA program in playwriting at Columbia University.
 
 
William Pace [More Info]
Professor/Consultant
The New School
William Pace received a Masters of Fine Arts in Film Production from New York University's acclaimed Graduate Film & TV program where he wrote & directed "Echo Canyon," an award-winning short televised nationally on the USA Network.

Since receiving his MFA, William Pace has written four distributed independent feature films, three of which he co-produced. He’s also written three optioned screenplays and several produced episodes of animated TV shows.

His script CHARMING BILLY was a finalist for the Sundance Institute's prestigious Screenwriting Lab, and William went on to direct the feature film. CHARMING BILLY premiered at the AFI/Los Angeles International Film Festival where VARIETY proclaimed William displayed "notable cinematic and storytelling craft.” CHARMING BILLY was distributed by a division of Miramax and broadcast on the Independent Film Channel.

William has also adapted and directed the award-winning short, "A Relaxing Day," written by Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Theresa Rebeck, and has directed American legend Tony Bennett in a series of videos for Mr. Bennett's charity foundation, Exploring the Arts.

William teaches filmmaking and screenwriting at NYC’s The New School, where he serves as its Screenwriting Curriculum Advisor. He is also a private screenplay consultant who has worked with such writers as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Douglas Blackmon, Slamdance Screenwriting Competition winner Chad C. Kinkle and several screenwriters whose work have made the influential Black List.

And -- believe it or not -- he is listed in Warren Allen Smith's book CELEBRITIES IN HELL.
 
Sessions:
 
Jerome Perzigian [More Info]
Writer/Producer
Jerome Perzigian has been writing and producing scripted network and cable TV programs for over 25 years. He's run shows and worked at the highest level in virtually every half-hour genre.
In 2004, Jerome won an Emmy and has been nominated for two others. In 2010, Sony Pictures Television sent him to Moscow to supervise production of the Russian version of Married…with Children for one of the most widely watched networks in Russia, which continues to be a ratings hit.
 
Sessions:
 
 
Staton Rabin [More Info]
Screenplay Marketing Consultant, Script Analyst, and "Pitch" Coach
Staton Rabin is a screenplay marketing consultant, script analyst, and "pitch coach" for screenwriters at all levels of experience, and has many happy and successful clients.
She has been a script reader for Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, and a major film agency; has taught screenwriting for Cunard aboard the Queen Mary 2; and is a frequent guest lecturer at NYU. Staton's novel Betsy and the Emperor is in development as a movie with Al Pacino attached to star. Ms. Rabin is available for script reading/analysis and consultations and can be reached at Cutebunion@aol.com or via her website www.StatonRabin.com.
 
Session:
How to Get a Movie Star Excited About Your Script

 
Emily Sclar [More Info]
Judy Boals, Inc
Company Credits: Simpatico, T Bone N Weasel, Curse of the Starving Class (plays adapted for film) 
 
Session:
Panel: Pitch Perfect - An Insider's Guide to Successful Pitching
 
 
Stephen Susco [More Info]
Screenwriter
Screenwriting from the East Coast can be a challenge but it can be done—and done very successfully.
Join Stephen Susco as he discusses his career that spans over 40 scripts and pitches for the biggest names in Hollywood. Learn how he got his start as a working writer and how he maintains a successful career from 3,000 miles outside of L.A. and allowed him to work for a variety of acclaimed directors and producers, including Mike Nichols (The Graduate), Taylor Hackford (Ray), Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction), and Michael Bay (Transformers).
 
 
John Trigonis [More Info]
Writer/Filmmaker/Author
John T. Trigonis is a widely published writer, independent filmmaker, and author of Crowdfunding for Filmmakers: The Way to a Successful Film Campaign.
Trigonis launched a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo for his short film Cerise, successfully exceeding his fundraising goal in only 3 months, 70% of which came from people he had never met before. Cerise has screened at over a dozen film festivals across the country, was nominated for four awards, won an Award of Merit, and participated in the Court Métrage at the 2011 Cannes International Film Festival. John is currently working with Indiegogo as the company’s Vertical Manager for Film, Web & Video.
 
 
0Amy Wagner [More Info]
Agent
Abrams Artists Agency
Since 1977, Abrams Artists Agency has enjoyed a reputation as one of the nation's most respected and diversified talent and literary agencies.
With principal offices in New York City and Los Angeles, we represent clients in most areas of the entertainment industry including motion pictures, television, animation, theater, radio and television commercials, hosting and broadcasting, and all forms of narration.
 
Their Literary division represents writers and directors, with specialization in theater, motion pictures, and television.
 
Their Youth Division is one of the most highly-regarded in the industry, representing some of the top young talent in the entertainment community today.
 
 
Session:
Panel: Decoding The Spec Screenplay Market