Asher Jelinsky is an award-winning writer/director best known for their short film MILLER & SON (2019), which won the gold medal Student Academy Award, the BAFTA Student Film Award, and the gold Cannes Lions Young Director Award. Their short films have screened at over 70 festivals worldwide, and they are currently developing several features. Asher earned an MFA in Directing from the AFI Conservatory and is an active BAFTA member. They teach screenwriting and directing at Sundance Collab and Temple University, and have presented on short filmmaking through programs including the Big Apple Film Festival panel series and the inaugural Screenwriting Sprint cohort.

Tamika Guishard is an extraordinary filmmaker, a first-generation American born of Kittitian heritage in East New York, Brooklyn, with the mind of a storyteller, heart of a teacher, and soul of a dancer, Tamika is a NYU Graduate Film, and recognized by Oscar-qualifying festivals and Hollywood Foreign Press for her narrative shorts as well as featured at Harvard University and SXSWedu for her pedagogical video expertise, Tamika is a force and beyond, and one of the coolest folks I ever had the pleasure of coming across. From Athena FF Writers Lab co-alum, NYSCA winner, Ken Burns associate, her academic achievement, creative brilliance, and accolades and accomplishments go on and on.

Craig Williams is a screenwriter and producer at Red Wall Productions, created with long-time collaborator and wife, Rosalyn Coleman Williams (they met at Sundance!), creating over 50 features, web series, documentaries, and shorts. Craig has staffed on the hit TV show "TERROR LAKE DRIVE" on ALLBLK on AMC, is a Warner Brothers Discovery TV Writer’s Program alum, and his feature “Black Boys Don't Sew” starred Academy Award Winner Viola Davis. Craig has elevated productions across the industry, while helping empower others to create their own work.

Brianna Holt (WGAE Women’s Salon) is a multi-hyphenate journalist, writer, and director whose short film, HAPPY ENOUGH (A QUEER SHORT FILM) will screen at our lab, and whose feature script, BLUEPRINT was a Cannes Film Festival Awardee. Holt’s debut novel, “In Our Shoes” (Penguin Random House) has been read in book clubs and included in college curricula, her scripted podcast, "POSSESSION (Audible) was nominated for an Ambie, and Holt was named a Dazed 100 honoree. Holt is also an assistant adjunct professor at Columbia’s School of Journalism and is a proud mentor to emerging writers.

The incomparable Sasha Stewart (WGAE Women’s Salon) is a television writer whose accolades include a Writers Guild Award as staff writer on DYING FOR SEX, and THE NIGHTLY SHOW WITH LARRY WILMORE. Alongside her dramedy writing, Sasha, also civically minded, wrote for the documentary, AMEND THE FIGHT FOR AMERICA, and is deeply involved in organizing at the Writers Guild, from strike leader, to Women’s Salon Co-Chair, to activities committee, now moving into leadership positions.

Oriana Schwindt (WGAE Women’s Salon) and collaborative partner/husband Stephen Parkhurst started off their relationship making shorts together, then spent their wedding funds making horror feature, SIGHT UNSEEN (available on VOD). They writer/filmmaker team are currently packaging their next project, THE TAXIDERMIST and are excited to speak about their journey into horror. Oriana is the WGAE’s fun/fearless Women’s Salon co-chair, and a Warner Bros TV Writers Workshop alum.

Brilliantly funny, deadpan writer, Alex Weir (WGAE Women’s Salon) started her film journey working behind the scenes on big productions like BATTLESHIP, THE AVENGERS, and MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. But with higher aspirations, Weir adapted an amazing dramedy feature, NORTH OF NORMAL, based on the novel of the same name. Weir will be screening COOL ME DOWN, her directorial debut, an original sci-fi/dramedy contained short and masterclass in timing and tone matching her other works with incredible performances and outside the box writing, proving you can do a lot in one apartment.

Shukree Hassan Tilghman is a phenomenal American TV writer who began his writing career on the USA drama series SATISFACTION, the CW’S The VAMPIRE DIARIES, then was a writer/producer on THIS IS US, earning an Emmy Nomination for Best Drama Series. He was a Writer/Co-Executive Producer of the TNT drama series ANIMAL KINGDOM, and Executive Producer of the MGM+ series EMPEROR OF OCEAN PARK, and recently Co-Executive Produced Peacock’s BEL AIR. Shukree received a B.F.A. in Film and Television from NYU and an M.F.A. in Screenwriting from Columbia. He has written pilots for NBC, ABC, HBO, HULU, HBO MAX, and APPLE TV.

After writing and directing her incredible short, AS NIGHT FALLS, Sabrina Dhawan‍ penned the outstanding feature, MONSOON WEDDING (directed by Mira Nair), which won a Golden Lion at Venice and was nominated for a Golden Globe and BAFTA. Other works include COSMOPOLITAN (PBS), KAMINEY, ISHQIYA, and MONSOON WEDDING (the musical). Dhawan has written for 20th C Fox, HBO, Netflix, Disney, Fox Searchlight, ABC, and Killer Films. She is a professor of screenwriting at NYU and as well as the US, has taught in India, Uganda, Tanzania, Singapore, and Qatar, and is currently in development for a new project, CHARDI KALA.