Xavier Burgin is an Emmy-nominated writer/director from USC Cinema. He's a staff writer onStarz s wrestling drama, Heels. He's written for the WWE, CryptTV, Amazon Studios, The Discovery Channel, and Paramount. He directed AMC Network's Horror Noire, Adult Swim's Juneteenth Holiday Special, and the BET+ series, Giants. Xavier is the dubbing director for Netflix's sumo sports drama, Sanctuary. X...
What happens when a gym teacher has a great idea for a movie? This is how Richard Giarraffa found his inspiration and began pursuing a new passion for writing character-driven screenplays. After earning several quarter-finalist honors and nominations for his work, Richard had the privilege of attending Jessica Hinds' Meditative Screenwriting Master Class. Recently, Richard's most highly-regarde...
Rachel is a Filipina-American, award-winning filmmaker/writer/actor, passionate about telling stories that truly matter. She is additionally an enthusiastic, queer, outspoken advocate for mental health education and destigmatization. Notably, she won a student Emmy at the 2013 College Television Awards, for her web series, The Sub Club. Her short films, Maple s Tree and Bicultural, were officia...
Paige VanTassell loves to write stories that can make an audience laugh so hard they cry, then emotionally affect them so hard they cry. Really, she just wants to make people cry. Paige is currently achieving that goal (she hopes) as a writer and co-producer on the Emmy award-winning animated series, The Dragon Prince. Paige s independent scripts have been recognized by notable festivals and co...
MEG SWERTLOW is a dance floor queen, native Angeleno (yes, they exist) and Gryfinndor (even though she could totally be a Slytherin... she just chooses not to be). She's also a badass screenwriter and director determined to use her energetic personality to be a strong female force in Hollywood. The daughter of two entertainment journalists, Meg has been obsessed with movies and television since...
Lisa is a feature writer focusing on horrors and thrillers with supernatural and psychological themes. A lifelong interest in the paranormal began after growing up in a haunted house in the Midwest. She received a BFA in painting which, of course, helped her become an extremely interesting cocktail waitress for many years. Richly developed characters are a trademark of her scripts, as well as d...
Kevin Bachar is an EMMY award-winning producer, director, cinematographer and WGA writer. He specializes in wildlife documentaries. Yes, he s the idiot in the water filming sharks for SharkWeek. In 2017 Kevin made the transition into fiction. His screenplay “Blood Relative” was featured on The Blacklist website and was released by LIONSGATE as “The Inhabitant” starring Dermot Mulroney (My Best ...
Jordan Trippeer is a produced writer whose eclectic mind, adventurous childhood and preference for The X-Files over Sesame Street while growing up set the course for her creative future. Raised by a nomadic family that lived frugally to afford to travel, Jordan was fortunate enough to enjoy incredible adventures growing up. She s luged into volcano calderas in New Zealand, pulled dinosaur verte...
Johnny is an Irish born Silicon Valley coder turned TV cop turned grounded scifi screenwriter. Four years ago, his mother's sudden death, while he was 10,000 miles away on a movie set, ignited his screenwriting journey. Johnny mines his day job working in cutting-edge technology, his acting, and his life experience as the son of a wheelchair mother, to create grounded scifi stories led by richl...
Jeremy writes about big ideas, and about how those big ideas impact individuals when they come crashing down to earth. That usually means creature features or sci-fi pieces that allow Jeremy to indulge his sense of drama or childlike wonder, while still keeping the stories grounded in something familiar. As The Black List said, “Like all good speculative fiction, [Jeremy s writing] uses its hei...
I'm a born and raised Floridian turned writer-comedian, of course. I get a kick out of telling oddball, hard-to-believe, and sometimes hard-to-hear stories. At the core of all of my scripts are nuanced, imperfect female-identifying protagonists. A little bit about me: I grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida thinking it was the best place on Earth only to realize later in life, Earth is pretty big...
I am a multiple award-winning WGA writer. My scripts have won Slamdance, Creative Screenwriting Comedy Genre, Page Silver, and Creative World Awards--and have been finalist in Austin, Stowe Story Labs, and CineStory. I ve lived with Tourette s Syndrome since I was thirteen (before which, I thought zits were my biggest problem). Living with Tourette's has given me a unique perspective into margi...
Growing up in Brooklyn, NY, I've always had a witty mouth. I'm not quite sure if growing up in the Big Apple has anything to do with it, but my mother constantly told me my mouth was too smart for my own good. As a child of six--and the youngest girl, I always had to make my siblings laugh to get out of trouble. My sisters used to play "Casper" games with me, pretending I wasn't in the room, wh...
Danielle Nicki is a genre writer in television, features, and books who enjoys exploring the worlds and minds of flawed — and dare I say, unlikable — women of color protagonists. She feels completely at home writing thriller, horror, fantasy, action, and straight drama, and thrives when there is a bit of dark humor and a complicated family dynamic at its core. Danielle became a member of the WG...
Born in Los Angeles, raised in Atlanta, and educated in Boston, Desa has first-hand knowledge of America s vast and varied communities. She has worked in the television industry for over a decade, learning extensively from the creative minds behind The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul, and Westworld. Desa was a 2018 AFF Semifinalist (How to Be), as well as the 2020 Grand Prize Winner of Creative ...
Beth is a filmmaker, screenwriter and novelist. She directed her debut feature, YOU'RE KILLING ME, for Quiver Distribution in 2022. The film is a horror-thriller and dark satire about the class-conscious hellscape of American university admissions. It released theatrically and via streaming in April 2023. In her writing, Beth's consistently drawn to thriller, horror, and crime. Her stories almo...
As a writer, I like to use my stories to explore strong themes in unique, layered worlds. I love to create the texture of an environment, and center my stories around a single character who is the embodiment of a fundamental human desire or flaw. I tend to write with a dark wit and strong sense of irony, and I truly enjoy writing for an ensemble of diverse characters. Some series that match my ...
Aiko Hilkinger is an award-winning, queer, screenwriter of color from Colombia. Her fantasy animated pilots have placed in numerous contests, most notably she was a winner of the WeScreenplay TV Contest in 2022, and the Fast Track Fellowship Holiday and Animation category in 2020. They were also named one of Network ISA's 'Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch' in 2021. Hilkinger writes magical stories...
Michael Graf, Writer/Director: I got my first job in Hollywood because of an earthquake. I got my second job in Hollywood because of a klutz move at a salad bar. I m now a member of the DGA, a produced screenwriter, just made the short list for the Academy s Nicholl Fellowship, won top screenwriting honors in Paris, directed a Super Bowl commercial, won an Emmy, was named a “Top 25 Screenwriter...
Rowan loves to find the sweet spot where heart meets humor. His favorite characters to write are deeply flawed, yet deeply likable. He enjoys building stories that are socially relevant yet sexually irreverent (say that five times fast). He wants you to cry through his comedies and laugh through his dramas. He's also an ambitious little so-and-so. He dreams of staffing for a beloved tv show and...
Named one of the International Screenwriters Association s ‘Top 25 Screenwriters to Watch , Oliver Warren is an award-winning queer British-born writer-director with a rich heritage in storytelling and an obsession with humankind and her follies. Oliver s introduction to filmmaking began with a master s degree in Documentary Production, when his graduate film FAG HAGS (2001) was broadcast on IT...
Rachel S. Thomas-Medwid is an award-winning genre director, screenwriter, and producer who loves exploring the darker side of humanity and complex nature of people. Recently named the 2024 Female Filmmaker of the Year at Austin Revolution Film Festival, she is an ISA Top 25 Screenwriter to Watch and the Grand Prize Winner of the Emerging Screenwriters Shoot Your Short Contest. Her short films—T...