WORKING LUNCH: REWRITES/WRITING EXERCISES w/ AC Cole
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
MENTOR ROUND TABLE(moderated by Team)
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Join our industry mentors, Mary Stuart Masterson (Actress/Stockade Works Founder), Kelly McKay (Dir), Tamika Guishard (Writer/Dir), Hollie Harper (Writer/Comedian), Billy Mernit (Former SONY Exec/UCLA Screenwriting Teacher) in discussing their industry experience, followed by a brief Q&A.
TABLE READS w/ MENTOR NOTES
2:00 PM - 3:30PM
Table Reads/Notes from Mentors (3 - 4 short scripts per day)
EXERCISE: PERSONAL BRANDING ONE SHEET - BIOS & LOGLINES w/ AC Cole
3:30PM - 4:30PM
How does your bio/personal brand tie into your work?
MENTORS
MARY STUART MASTERSON
(Actress/Stockade Works Founder)
Founder and Board President, Stockade Works and Upriver Studios, LLC. Partner, Official bio on the way.
KELLY MCKAY
(Director)
Kelly McKay (Femmes Fatales), an impressive “directress” in film, documentary, and in sports and branding spaces, has won more awards than can be listed here. McKay has crafted visually stunning work that tells authentically human stories in everything she touches. The Screenwriting Sprint is lucky to have a working professional of Kelly’s caliber in our In-Person Finalist Rounds, proving you don’t need to move to LA to be booked solid, and that no matter what format you work in, well crafted authentic stories resonate with audiences.
TAMIKA GUISHARD
(Writer/Director)
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 alum, NYSCA winner, Ken Burns associate, her academic and creative brilliance, accolades and accomplishments go on and on.
BILLY MERNIT
(Former SONY Exec/UCLA Screenwriting Teacher)
A story analyst at Universal Pictures for nearly 30 years, BILLY MERNIT has worked on such movies as Bridesmaids and Wicked. In screenwriting circles, he’s known as "the guru of rom-com" for his best-selling textbook, Writing the Romantic Comedy, and taught writing at UCLA Extension for decades. During some 50 years in the entertainment industry he’s written for television (NBC’s Santa Barbara), had his first novel published by Random House, and written songs recorded by Carly Simon and Judy Collins, among others.
HOLLIE HARPER
(Writer/Comedian)
Hollie Harper is a Brooklyn-based comedian, writer, and actor whose work blends sharp cultural satire with character-driven comedy. She wrote, co-created, and co-executive produced Hella Late! with Hollie Harper, BRIC TV’s first late-night variety show, where she also starred. Her performance earned a Best Actress nomination at the NYC Web Fest. As an actor, Hollie won Best Actress at the Act One One-Act Fest and received a BroadwayWorld Best Actress nomination for her performance in Melanie Goodreaux’s The Popes of Farragut Street. As a comedian and writer, Hollie was an NBC Stand Up semi-finalist, and her sold-out live comedy show F.D.K., co-created with Emily Flake, has been featured at the Knockouts Women’s Comedy Festival, the New York Comedy Festival, and the iO Comedy Festival in Chicago.