Bios
CAMILLA AHLGREN (SWEDEN)
Camilla Ahlgren is a writer and script editor. She is currently headwriter for Netflix’s first Swedish original series, Quicksand. She has worked as headwriter, writer and script editor on all four seasons of The Bridge. She has written series such as as Sandhamn Murders, Marcella and Mother Goose. She has been script editor for such programmes as Springtide, The Real Humans, Beck and Millennium. Camilla lives in the countryside, outside Ystad, in the south of Sweden.
MOHAMED MOTASEM ALI (EGYPT)
Mohamed Motasem Ali is an Egyptian screenwriter and producer with over ten years of experience in scripted episodic television. He began his career in film with the comedy H Daboor (2008) then joined the writers room of the TV show The University (2009). Afterwards, he was head writer for the show Premiere (2010). He later joined Sony Pictures Arabia as a Development Producer from 2011-2013 and worked on adapting the international formats Everybody Loves Raymond and Ugly Betty. In 2016, he graduated with distinction from Royal Holloway, University of London, MA in Producing Film and Television. His thesis was titled Politics, Programs, And the Digital Revolution: How Has Egypt’s Broadcast Television Industry Developed And Adjusted In The Face of Digital Revolution. Motasem currently occupies the position of Development Executive at Beelink Productions.
SEBASTIAN ANDRAE (GERMANY)
Sebastian Andrae, born 1968 in Hamburg, has been a member of the board of the Writer's Guild of Germany since 2007 and executive board since 2015. As a screenwriter, he is best known for six seasons of his children's series on ARD: Tiere bis unters Dach (Animals up to the Roof), which won First prize of the professional jury at the Chicago Film Festival in 2011, and his current sitcom for RTL: Magda Macht das Schon (Magda Will Fix It), which was nominated for this year's Rose d'Or Award and won the German TV Award for Best Comedy. (Photo © Oliver Reetz)
OLIVER BERBEN (GERMANY)
Oliver Berben, born in Munich in 1971, studied Electronic Engineering and Aerospace Engineering, Astronautics and Space Technology at the Berlin Technical University. He founded MOOVIE – the art of entertainment GmbH in 1996, which has been a subsidiary of Constantin Film AG since 1999. In January 2009, Oliver also assumed the position of Managing Director of Constantin Film Produktion GmbH in the production division and has been on the Constantin Film AG managing board since 2017. All in all, Oliver Berben has produced more than 150 films for television and cinema and won many awards. These include the Grimme Award, the Bernd Burgemeister Television Award, the Bambi, the Golden Camera, the German Television Award, and the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. Internationally, he won the Silver World Medal at the New York Festival in 2014, and was awarded a special screening as part of the Pyongyang International Film Festival. In 2016, he received both the Gold World Medal and Silver World Medal at the New York Festival.
MARTA BETOLDI (ARGENTINA)
Marta Betoldi is an actress, screenwriter, playwright and runs, together with Fernando Castets, a script school in Buenos Aires. She studied Literature at the University of Buenos Aires and has written several theater plays, including Contracciones, which received awards in Argentina, France, England and Spain. Marta is a creator of television series, among which are Socias, Ciega a citas, Solamente vos, Esperanza mía and Las Estrellas. She is also the writer of the first Netflix Original in Argentina: Edha, and was an advisor in Chile and Shanghai on the adaptation of Ciega a citas. She has received several national awards for her work as screenwriter (Argentores, Martín Fierro, Clarín) as well as international honours (Kid’s Choice Awards, Rose de Or and two International Emmy nominations).
CAJETAN BOY (KENYA)
Cajetan Boy is a producer, writer, director and editor who has been in the industry for over 15 years. He is a Products Development Leader at Etcetera Productions Limited, chair of the Kenya Scriptwriters Guild, board member of the Oscar's Selection Committee of Kenya, Screenwriting Mentor for Maisha Film Lab, and coordinator for Cajetan's Online Screenplay Writing Class.
WILBIRG BRAININ-DONNENBERG (AUSTRIA)
Wilbirg Brainin-Donnenberg is the director of drehbuchFORUM Wien (Screenwriters Forum Vienna), CEO of the Screenwriters Association of Austria, film curator, publicist, and one of the Chairwomen of FC GLORIA Women's Film Network. She has studied psychology and sociology in Vienna, Paris and Salzburg. Wilbirg graduated from the Friedl Kubelka School for Independent Films, has worked for the Austrian independent film distributor sixpackfilm, and curated numerous film programs for film festivals in Austria and abroad. From 2010 to 2013, she headed the Diagonale Film Industry Meeting. She is part of the FIDLAB selection committee in Marseille and mentor for Ex-Oriente. In 2008, she initiated the screenwriters award Female Scientists in Film, and in 2016, the on-going award If she can see it, she can be it – Female figures beyond clichés. She is based in Vienna, Austria.
KATHRYN BURNETT (NEW ZEALAND)
Kathryn Burnett is an award-winning screenwriter, playwright and script development consultant with numerous screen credits. Most recently she was involved in the development and writing of new TVNZ black comedy Fresh Eggs and the children’s Sci-fi drama series The Cul de Sac. She was the creator of The Cult and also a writer on the award-winning children's series Amazing Extraordinary Friends. She currently has two prime-time TV dramas and three feature films in development, one of which, Shelved, is being produced by Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Narnia).
MARJORIE DAVID (USA)
Marjorie David started her career as a novelist and an academic, but fell in love with film and television, fled graduate school and ended up writing the film Maria’s Lovers for Andrei Konchalovsky in the early ‘80s. This was followed by Konchalovsky’s Shy People, after which she started working in television. In that medium, she has written and ultimately also produced shows in a number of genres, from her first job, a freelance teleplay in the last year of Hill Street Blues to, most recently, as an Executive Producer on the Sci Fi/Fantasy show Shadowhunters and a co-Executive producer of NBC’s Taken. In between, she has run the gamut of staff positions on such shows as Chicago Hope, Millennium, 90210, Wildfire and Life. She has just completed a screenplay of Azar Nafisi’s best-selling memoir, Reading Lolita In Tehran, for director Eran Riklis. Marjorie is Vice President of Writers Guild of America West; a member of the WGAW PAC board; and co-chair of the WGAW committee on sexual harassment. She also teaches a seminar on writing the TV pilot at AFI.
JENNIFER DAVIDSON (IRELAND)
Writing for Ireland’s national soap opera, Fair City, Jennifer is an experienced screenwriter with a background in documentary production and development. Having spent ten years working for a number of Ireland’s top independent production companies, securing commissions for a wide range of programmes, her years spent encouraging other people to have their stories told on screen informs her work as a TV writer. This year she was a recipient of a Writing Mentorship Award for writers from the West of Ireland, and in 2016 she was awarded Film Mayo’s inaugural Tyrone Guthrie Bursary. A member of the board of the Writers Guild of Ireland, Jennifer also sits on its Equality Action Committee.
TERESA DE ROSENDO (SPAIN)
Teresa de Rosendo began her screenwriting career in 2003. She has worked mainly on long-running prime time procedural series. She released her first feature film in 2015, Sweet Home, a horror movie exported to the US, Germany, Japan, Turkey and South Korea. Currently, she is working on the first season of a Netflix show. She also co-wrote the book Objetivo (Target): Writers’ Room, comparing the way writers’ work is organized in the US and in Spain, and is co-writing a second book of interviews along with Josep Gatell.
MICHEL DUCHESNE (QUEBEC, CANADA)
Michel Duchesne is a screenwriter and university teacher in Montréal. His first novel, l’Écrivain Public, based on his previous work among illiterates, created awareness that one out of two adults in Quebec has problems reading/writing correctly. Now a web series, The Public Writer (on tv5.ca) won national awards as well as a Human Rights Award at Bilbao web fest. Season 2 is in competition this fall at webfests around the globe. Michel also wrote/directed many documentaries and cultural shows, as well the satirical Politically Direct for french Much Music during 1995 Quebec’s referendum. He is currently developing a dramedy, B&B, his “tales of the city” about his partner’s bed & breakfast and eclectic clientele. His 2nd novel, La Costa des Seuls, was recently released.
JACKLINE EMALI (KENYA)
Jackline Emali is the Secretary of the Kenya Scriptwriters Guild and heads its workshop committee. She is an experienced screenwriter and producer with a demonstrated history of working in the development, writing and production of feature and short films, several TV series, documentary and radio projects. Jackline is also a script writing trainer with several organisations and has sat on various key forums as a writivist where she emphasizes the importance of learning the craft of storytelling without fear or limitations by policies, regulations or gender.
JOSEP GATELL (SPAIN)
Josep Gatell is a screenwriter who has been working for TV series and feature films since 2005. Among his works are a prime-time sitcom, and the buddy-comedy Es por tu bien which was the fourth biggest grossing movie in 2017 in Spain. Besides his writing career, Josep is a visiting professor for the Master’s Degree in Screenwriting program at the University of Navarre, Vice-President of the Writers Guild ALMA, and co-author, with Teresa de Rosendo, of the book Objetivo (Target): Writers’ Room, about writers’ working methods in the American TV industry.
DAVID A. GOODMAN (USA)
WGAW President David A. Goodman has been writing professionally since 1988, when he was hired as a staff writer on The Golden Girls. Since then, he has written for over twenty television series, including Wings, Dream On, Star Trek: Enterprise, Dads and Futurama. He has also served as showrunner/executive producer on American Dad, and Allen Gregory starring Jonah Hill. But his best-known work is on Family Guy, where he was head writer and executive producer for over a hundred episodes. He currently is a showrunner/executive producer of The Orville on Fox, starring Seth MacFarlane. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Writers Guild of America West since 2006, was elected Vice President in 2015, and President in 2017. A graduate of the University of Chicago, he lives in Pacific Palisades, California with his wife and two children.
DENIS GOULETTE (FRANCE)
After obtaining a Masters’ degree in Intellectual Property, Denis Goulette worked for 15 years for two major audiovisual groups in France (Telfrance and Tetra Media studio), helping them to become major players in the sector in all genres (fiction, animation, documentary, magazine, live performance). During the same period, and an additional 10 years, he was involved in trade union issues as Secretary-General of the Audiovisual Promotion Association. Denis Goulette has been the General Manager of the French Guild of Screenwriters since January 2017.
PIA GRADVALL (SWEDEN)
Pia Gradvall graduated from the screen writing program at Dramatiska Institutet 1999. Her exam short film Major and Minor Miracles was nominated for an Academy Award/Oscar in 2000. Her TV series The Crownprincess, based on Danish writer Hanne Vibeke Holst’s bestselling novel, was nominated for an Emmy in 2008. Recent work includes for the stage at Stockholm’s Stadsteater. She is Chair of the Writers Guild of Sweden.
CHRISTIAN GRECE (FRANCE)
Christian Grece joined the Department for Market Information at the European Audiovisual Observatory in March 2013. His main fields of expertise are the economics of the online media sector (especially video on-demand and online advertising) and the European TV market. Christian drafts economic reports and analyses for DG Connect at the European Commission covering European and International on-demand audiovisual service providers. He also reports on the development of the online media sector for the European Audiovisual Observatory, and participates in various conferences related to the media sector several times each year.
JACOB GROLL (AUSTRIA)
Jacob Groll is dedicated to storytelling and working collaboratively. He is equipped with an unshakeable belief in the combination of well-trained craft and thoughtful artistic integrity to be able to draw huge numbers. (Okay, at least decent numbers, can't beat soccer or GoT...) Born, raised and based in Vienna. Educated in New York, Los Angeles and Denmark. Works include the creation of the mystery series Janus (AT) and long-time writer for the procedural Vienna Crime Squad (D/AT). He is a Board Member of the Austrian Screenwriters Association.
ALEX HARIDI (SWEDEN)
Alex Haridi is a screenwriter and novelist, who started his career at the age of 18 when he was hired as a staff writer for a soap opera. He has since worked on series such as Real Humans, Anno 1790 and, most recently, Quicksand. He was headwriter and co-creator of the political thriller series Blue Eyes, about the rise of the extreme right in Swedish politics which, aside from being a critical and ratings success, holds the record for most complaints filed to the Swedish Broadcasting Commission. He has also written YA novels, feature films and radio drama.
DENNIS HEATON (CANADA)
Dennis Heaton is an award‐winning writer, producer and director living in Vancouver, Canada. He has worked in a variety of genres and formats, from animation to live action, web series to feature film, and half hour comedy to one hour drama. Heaton is currently executive producing and showrunning The Order, a new young adult horror series he created for Netflix. Selected credits include the TV series Ghost Wars (SYFY/Netflix), Motive (CTV/NBCU/ABC) Call Me Fitz (HBO Canada/Audience Network), The Listener (CTV/NBC), JPod (CBC), Blood Ties (LIFETIME/SPACE), the feature Fido (LIONSGATE), and the web series My Pal Satan.
METTE HEENO (DENMARK)
Mette Heeno graduated from the National Film School of Denmark in 2001 and has since worked as a scriptwriter and executive producer for both television and cinema. She has written 11 feature films and a lot of television, from sitcom to drama. In 2009, she created Park Road for TV2/Denmark (22 episodes) and in 2016, the TV-series Splitting up Together also for TV2/Denmark. Splitting up Together premiered at the Berlin Film festival, has been sold to numerous countries and for remakes worldwide. She is currently developing a new TV-series for SVT/Sweden.
PETER HENNING (GERMANY)
Peter Henning is a German writer-director, Member of the Board of the German Screenwriters Guild and Professor for Screenwriting at the Film University Babelsberg “Konrad Wolf”. After completing his M.A. in Media Studies, he studied at the dffb (Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin). He worked as DOP for Tanja Stöcklins Der blaue Ritter and others. Together with Claudia Prietzel, Peter wrote and/or directed feature films such as the prizewinning WDR-Production Schande, Tatort – Sheherazade, and Kuppke and has been nominated several times fort the Adolf-Grimme-Preis. His work includes video art, directing theater productions such as Who´s afraid of Virginia Woolf and developing the virtual reality project 180° - Feature-Film, Die Reise der Imagonauten. Peter is also developing the transmedia project Die Ankunft in cooperation with Radio Bremen and Filmunversität Babelberg. His latest work is a libretto for an opera, co-written with Claudia Prietzel, which they will bring to the stage next summer.
OLIVIA HETREED (UK)
Olivia Hetreed is the multi-award winning screenwriter of Girl with a Pearl Earring and Wuthering Heights. Recent international films include Finding Altamira, starring Antonio Banderas, and Bosnia’s first animated feature, Birds Like Us, directed by Faruk Sabanovič. She was co-writer on Mohamed al-Daradji’s The Journey, about a female suicide bomber, the first Iraqi-made film to screen in Iraq in 27 years. She develops her own and other writers’ film projects through Sympathetic Ink, her company with producer Andy Paterson, and has a number of TV series in development with UK and US broadcasters. Olivia is President of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, which represents over 2,000 professional writers in the UK. She is a very experienced international mentor of new writing talent. Previously she was a Film Editor, working in drama and documentary.
LISA HOLDSWORTH (UK)
Lisa won her first UK TV commission in 2001 on Fat Friends. She was shortlisted for a Best New Writer BAFTA for her episode. She then joined the writing team of the long-running soap, Emmerdale, for three years before heading off to write for the BBC’s New Tricks, winning the Royal Television Society’s Yorkshire Best Writer award for one of her episodes. Since then, she has written for Waterloo Road, Robin Hood, Midsomer Murders, Ackley Bridge and Call The Midwife. For theatre, she wrote Rugby Songs for Slung Low Theatre Company. She has also written short theatre pieces for JB Shorts, Leeds Pub Theatre and Slung Low Shorts, which she also produces.
ALFRED HOLIGHAUS (GERMANY)
Alfred Holighaus is President of Spitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft (SPIO) e.V. He was born in 1959 in Dillenburg (Hessen) and has been the director of the Deutsche Filmakademie e.V. from 2010 to 2015. Prior to this, he worked as a senior editor at the city magazine, TIP, dramatic advisor, producer and distribution director at Senator Film and as a curator for the German programme at the Berlinale. Holighaus has been, and is, a member of several film funding boards and the board of trustees for the Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film e.a. In recent years, as an independent writer and producer, he has made three international documentary films, including Merle Haggard: Learning to live with myself.
LEORA KAMENETZKY (ISRAEL)
Leora Kamenetzky develops high-end drama for local and international audiences. She created and wrote the second season of the hit Israeli drama series False Flag, and was a script editor and writer on the highly successful series Fauda, which received worldwide attention and was on the 2017 top 10 list of the New York Times. Leora also wrote and directed several award-winning teen drama series. She is the former Chair of the Scriptwriters Guild of Israel (SGI).
MACIEJ KARPINSKI (POLAND)
Maciej Karpinski is a leading screenwriter in Poland and the author of An Imperfect Reflection – a book on screenwriting. He has written screenplays for 17 feature films and worked with such acclaimed directors like Andrzej Wajda (Nastassya, The Ring with the Crowned Eagle), Agnieszka Holland (Solitary Woman) and Volker Schlondorf (Strike). His films have won a number of national and international awards, including Prix Europa for The Miracle of Purim. He is the President of Polish Screenwriters Guild, Board Member of FSE, and a member of the European Film Academy.
DAVID KAVANAGH (IRELAND)
David Kavanagh is Executive Officer of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe and CEO of the Writers Guild of Ireland. He has worked as Film Officer of the Arts Council of Ireland, Chief Executive of the Irish Film Institute and General Secretary of the European Script Fund. He was a Board Member of the Light House Cinema Exhibition and Distribution Company. He is a member of the Irish Film and Television Academy and the European Film Academy.
GLORIA CALDERÓN KELLETT (USA)
Gloria Calderón Kellett is the Executive Producer and co-showrunner of One Day at a Time, currently streaming on Netflix. Before that she wrote and produced on such shows as CW’s iZombie, ABC’s Mixology, Lifetime’s Devious Maids and CBS’s Rules of Engagement and How I Met Your Mother, for which she won an Alma Award for Outstanding Script. Gloria graduated from Loyola Marymount University and was awarded a Kennedy Center/ACTF Award for her first play, Plane Strangers, which also went on to win the Del Rey Players Playwriting Award and the LMU Playwright of the Year Award. Gloria has a Masters’ degree in Theatre from the University of London. She is a founding member of the sketch-comedy group And Donkey Makes Five, and she has written and performed stand-up comedy at The Improv and The Comedy Store. Her book, Accessories, has been translated into Italian and is published by Small Fish Studios in the U.S. and Cassini Press in Italy. As an actress, she has appeared on stage in London, Madrid, New York and all over Los Angeles. On-screen TV credits include: How I Met Your Mother, Angie Tribeca and Trophy Wife.
CHRISTOPHER KEYSER (USA)
Christopher Keyser began his career as a political speechwriter, writing for the head of the Democratic National Committee, Paul Kirk, among others. He served as chief speechwriter for Governor Bruce Babbitt’s presidential campaign in 1988. Starting his screenwriting career in 1988, Keyser’s credits include Benefit of the Doubt for Miramax and the Independent film Highland Park. He is currently writing a remake of Witness for the Prosecution for 21st Century Fox. In television, he wrote for many years with Amy Lippman. In 1994, they created the drama series, Party of Five, which ran for six years on Fox and won, among other honors, the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series, as well the Humanitas Prize. Keyser and Lippman went on to create such shows as Time of Your Life and Significant Others. Their series, Lone Star, premiered on Fox in 2010. Keyser was the show runner for the last season of Tyrant on FX. In 2017, he executive produced and was co-showrunner, with Billy Ray, of the Amazon series, The Last Tycoon. This season, he is producing, along with Marc Webb, a new as-yet-untitled series for Netflix that will premiere in 2019. Along with Amy Lippman, he is also producing a new version of Party of Five for Freeform. Keyser is a past President of the Writers Guild of America West.
JUSTIN KIM (SOUTH KOREA)
Justin Kim began his film career as a prominent fund manager for financing Korean film production costs. While in that position, he wrote a script about two young men, one Korean and one Japanese, who, in 1944, were captured at Normandy beach by US soldiers and held as German prisoners of war. This was made into a film called My Way and was released in 2011. He worked 3 more years as a fund manager before turning to writing full-time in 2014. Justin was elected President of the Screenwriters’ Guild of Korea in 2018.
PIETER BART KORTHUIS (THE NETHERLANDS)
Pieter Bart Korthuis (1971) is a Dutch screenwriter and director. He is the creator of the hit Dutch series Penoza, that was remade in five different countries, such as the United States (Red Widow) and Sweden (Gåsmamman). His last series, Fightersheart, about the world of kickboxing, won the Dutch TV award for best series and best screenplay. His screenplay for the television movie The Strongest Man in Holland won the Prix D' Europe for best television drama and was nominated for an International Emmy Award. Korthuis is also chairman of the Dutch Screenwriters Guild and lives in Amsterdam.
TARJA KYLMÅ (FINLAND)
Tarja Kylmå, screenwriter, lecturer and story consultant, is currently working on the Finnish-Chilean co-production Invisible Heroes, taking place during and after Pinochet’s military coup.
AMIT LEOR (ISRAEL)
Amit Leor is the writer of six feature films, among them Afula Express, which won five Israeli academy awards, No Exit, winner of Best Film at the Jerusalem Film Festival, and Café Tales, which he also directed. Amit has been the creator and screenwriter on 12 different television series, among them Merchak Negia, and a full-length television film A Trumpet in The Wadi. For both, he was awarded the Israeli Academy Award for best screenplay. He was script editor on eight different TV series, including The Eighties, which was recently chosen as Israel's most loved comedy ever in a national poll, currently created and wrote Punch, a television series which is being edited and due to premiere next January. Amit was the Head of the Drama Department for Channel 10 Israel from 2007 to 2008, winner of the 2003 Israeli Art of Film Award, screenwriting teacher in Bezalel fine arts academy, and Chairman of the Scriptwriters Guild of Israel from 2004-2005 and 2011-2018.
JANINE LORENTE (FRANCE)
Janine Lorente is a specialist in the management of intellectual property rights. Her work is focused on the defense and management of authors’ rights and the transformation of authors’ organizations. She has worked as Executive for International Relations in Los Angeles for the Directors Guild of America, Deputy CEO of the French CMO SACD, and Deputy CEO of Spanish Music CMO SGAE. She initiated and chaired the SAA. In May 2017, she established her own consulting firm: www.jlorenteconsulting.com.
KARIANNE LUND (NORWAY)
Karianne Lund (b. 1974) is a Norwegian screenwriter. She was the headwriter and creator of the drama series Occupied, produced for Yellowbird AS. She also created the TV-series AF1, a hip-hop musical for children produced by national public broadcaster NRK, for which she was awarded the Gullruten Award for most innovative new content. Gullruten is the Norwegian equivalent to the Emmys. Her latest series is a 24-episode Christmas story currently in pre-production at NRK. Karianne studied literature and media before being accepted into the screenwriting program at The Norwegian National Film School. She lives and writes in Oslo.
JENNY LUND MADSEN (DENMARK)
Jenny Lund Madsen studied screenwriting at UCLA and returned to Denmark in 2009, where she joined a writing team for a sketch-comedy show. Since then she has been involved in the writing of more than 50 episodes for different Danish TV-series such as Rita (TV2/Netflix), Follow the Money (DR), Mercur and Sjit Happens. She has worked as both episode writer and showrunner and has developed the series Op med halen that was re-made in Sweden. Jenny is currently developing various new series for, among others, DR and Nordisk Film.
STEVEN MOFFAT (UK)
Steven Moffat was lead writer and executive producer of Doctor Who (BBC) from 2009 to 2017, and he is co-creator, writer and executive producer of Sherlock (Hartswood/BBC). He began work on the much-loved teen drama series Press Gang (Richmond Films/CITV), of which he wrote all 43 episodes across five seasons. He went on to create and write three sitcoms: Coupling (Hartswood/BBC), Chalk and Joking Apart (Pola Jones/BBC). Other credits include his series Jekyll (Hartswood/BBC) and the feature film Tintin (Dreamworks). Among his many awards Steven has BAFTAs for his Doctor Who episode Blink in 2008 and Sherlock (His Last Vow) in 2012. He also received the BAFTA Special Award in 2012. Sherlock has won two EMMYs: Outstanding Writing for a Mini-Series in 2012 for His Last Vow, and Outstanding Television Movie in 2016 for The Abominable Bride. In 2015, he was awarded OBE for services to Drama. He is currently working on Dracula with Mark Gatiss for BBC1 and Netflix.
MAKGANWANA MOKGALONG (SOUTH AFRICA)
Makganwana Mokgalong is a screenwriter proficient in television drama and trained in children’s animation. Some of the local (South African) TV series that she’s written on include Mamello, Ikhaya, Keeping Score and Bedford Wives. She’s recently worked as a hired gun on her first feature uMelusi. She recently pitched her labour of love, a book-to-TV series adaptation of The Madams by Zukiswa Wanner, at the DISCOP Markets and Coproduction Forum in Johannesburg. Her pitch won her second place. Makganwana also attended Cannes International Film Festival that same year, as part of the South African delegation to gain exposure to international markets.
JANNIK TAI MOSHOLT (DENMARK)
Jannik Tai Mosholt graduated from the Danish film school in 2005. He is the writer of 8 features, mostly for children or young adults, and some TV, including Borgen, Follow the Money, and Rita. He is currently buried knee deep in The Rain for Netflix as co-creator, writer end executive producer.
BOGLÁRKA NAGY (ROMANIA)
Boglárka Nagy is a film professional with over 10 years of experience as a film critic, cinema manager, programmer and organizer of film events, currently based in Berlin as the Managing Director of The International Confederation of Art Cinemas (CICAE). Cinema has been at the heart of things for her, ever since she had the chance to be the Programming Manager of Elvire Popesco Cinema in Bucharest, the venue of the Institut Francais of Romania, that won the award for Best Programming in the Europa Cinemas network in 2017. Her manifold interests and love of languages led her to work with different international film festivals in Romania as a programmer and moderator, as well as a trainer for cinema management. She believes in film as an art form, education and culture.
VASANT NATH (INDIA)
Vasant Nath began his career in 2003 as an assistant director and progressed to working as a writing assistant and a director of short films. He assisted director Deepa Mehta on her Oscar nominated film Water, and his short film, Shanu Taxi, screened at some of the top short film festivals worldwide. Vasant has been a freelance screenwriter and director in Mumbai since 2010 and most recently was a part of the writing team behind Sacred Games, India’s first Netflix Original. He currently splits his time between writing feature films and episodic shows.
YVES NILLY (FRANCE)
Yves Nilly has written novels, librettos, dramas and screenplays for theatre, radio, television and cinema. He also worked as literary advisor at France Culture and speaker at the ENSATT Writing Department. Passionate activist for a fair remuneration of audiovisual and literary creators, Yves is a former Vice-President of the French Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers (SACD) and President of the arts association Beaumarchais-SACD since 2017. Beginning in 2011, he served as the President for Writers & Directors Worldwide before taking his current position of Vice-President. He is also consultant to the Panafrican Alliance of Screenwriters and Directors.
MARGRÉT ÖRNÓLFSDÓTTIR (ICELAND)
Margrét Örnólfsdóttir is a screenwriter and a musician. In the late 80’s she was a member of Iceland’s most renowned pop band, The Sugarcubes and her first screenplay was a musical feature called Regina, for which she also composed the score. For the past decade, Margrét has been busy writing TV-series in Iceland, including Fangar (Prisoners) and the second season of Trapped. Her mini-series The Flatey Enigma will air next month on the national broadcaster RÚV and she is currently writing the second season of Fangar. Margrét has been the chair of The Icelandic Dramatist Union since 2012.
CAROLIN OTTO (GERMANY)
Carolin has been a script writer and director since 1995. She studied directing and writing at the Munich Filmschool HFF and did a PHD Thesis at Weimar Bauhaus University on the Art of Writing Biopics (AMOR MUNDI: Hannah Arendt and Martin Heidegger). She was member of the board of VDD from 2007-2015, head of the script funding commission of the German Film Board from 2009-2013 and has been a member of the board of FSE since 2013. Carolin has worked as a scriptwriter on numerous projects such as Polizeiruf Um Kopf Und Kragen, Tatort The Finger, TV-Shows such as Lena Lorenz, München 7, and the TV-movies Vergessene Küsse, Bier Royal among others. She was writer, director and producer on the feature film Aphrodites Nacht (Aphrodite’s Night) and Der Weisse Rabe (The White Raven).
MAUREEN PARKER (CANADA)
Maureen Parker is the national Executive Director and CEO of the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC), an organization representing over 2,200 professional English-language screenwriters for all production in Canada. As the Guild’s chief negotiator, Ms. Parker leads the WGC’s industrial relations and collective bargaining initiatives. Through her strategic leadership and lobbying initiatives on matters such as broadcast regulation, copyright, and funding initiatives, Ms. Parker has proven instrumental in shaping the working environment for Canadian screenwriters by representing their interests at the federal and provincial government levels. Ms. Parker is also the Executive Director of the Canadian Screenwriters Collection Society (CSCS), and the publisher of Canadian Screenwriter magazine.
LOWELL PETERSON (USA)
Lowell Peterson has been executive director of the Writers Guild of America East since 2008. Peterson’s vision is a guild that can be the center of writers’ creative and professional lives, even as the distribution, financial and artistic models continue to change. As film, television, and SVOD employment has expanded, the Guild has increased its efforts to ensure that these skilled storytellers remain deeply engaged in the union's work. At the same time, Lowell has devoted resources and energy to campaigns to expand collective bargaining in previously non-union sectors such as digital news and nonfiction ("reality") TV.
JEREMY PIKSER (USA)
Jeremy Pikser is the co-writer of the film Bulworth, for which he won the L.A. Critics Award, as well as Oscar, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild nominations for best screenplay. His War Inc. premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008 and he also wrote The Lemon Sisters and worked on the script and production of Reds (1981). He has recently completed a screenplay co-written with Walter Bernstein about the collaboration of US Intelligence and Communist partisans in 1943 Italy and is about to begin a project with director Sebastian Cordero set in the Galapagos Islands. Jeremy also works as a script consultant for numerous film projects around the world. He has been Vice-President of the Writers Guild of America East for 8 years and teaches a screenwriting workshop at Johns Hopkins University where he is also Artistic Director of the Saul Zaentz Fund Baltimore Screenplay Lab.
GUILLAUME PRIEUR (FRANCE)
Guillaume Prieur is the Director of Institutional and European Affairs of SACD. He is in charge of relations with public and political authorities in France and Europe to defend the rights and remunerations of authors.
DENIS RABAGLIA (SWITZERLAND)
Italian-Swiss director Denis Rabaglia has just returned to Locarno’s Piazza Grande for the third time with his black comedy Un nemico che ti vuole bene (My Beloved Enemy - 2018) starring legendary Diego Abatantuono, released on October 4 across Italy. This was after Azzurro (2000), a comedy drama about Italian immigration in Switzerland starring another iconic Italian actor Paolo Villaggio – 2001 Best Swiss Feature Film Award - and Marcello Marcello (2008), a romantic comedy with a Neapolitan touch. He also made 2 TV movies: Grossesse nerveuse (1993) starring Tom Novembre – 1994 Max Ophüls Prize in Germany – and Pas de panique (2006), starring Frédéric Diefenthal and Roland Giraud – 2007 Best Swiss TV Movie Award. He is the Head of Studies of Production Value – The European Scheduling and Budgeting Workshop and the Chairman of the Board of the Société Suisse des Auteurs (SSA), handling authors’ rights management.
VOLKER RIECK (GERMANY)
Volker Rieck is Managing Director of the content protection service provider FDS File Defense Service, which works for numerous rights owners. The company also prepares studies on piracy and supports law enforcement companies with the data it collects. FDS was founded in 2011 and is specialized in Notice & Takedown procedures, but also in the analysis of advertising on infringing sites and forensics of new phenomena such as unlicensed IPTV. Volker Rieck blogs regularly on Webschauder and from time to time on the US blog The Trichordist on various aspects of unregulated content distribution. His articles also appear on Tarnkappe.info.
HOWARD A. RODMAN (USA)
Howard A. Rodman wrote Savage Grace, with Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne, nominated for Best Screenplay at the 2009 Spirit Awards, and August, starring Josh Hartnett and David Bowie. He also wrote Joe Gould’s Secret, the opening night film of the Sundance Film Festival, based on the memoir by iconic New Yorker writer Joseph Mitchell. His novel, Destiny Express, set in the pre-War German filmmaking community, was published by Atheneum and was blurbed by Thomas Pynchon, who called it "daringly imagined, darkly romantic—a moral thriller." He is a professor of screenwriting at USC's School of Cinematic Arts; an artistic director of the Sundance Screenwriting Labs; a member of the National Film Preservation Board; and the past president of the Writers Guild of America West. Working with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles and USC, Rodman has conducted public conversations with writers Tom Wolfe, Walter Mosley, Ricky Jay, Geoff Dyer, Robert Polito, Lena Dunham, Spike Jonze, Vince Gilligan, Matthew Weiner, Paul Thomas Anderson, Jean-Claude Carrière, Robert Towne, John Sayles, Mark Z. Danielewski, John McWhorter, Jeannette Seaver, Joan Schenkar, and Lady Antonia Fraser. In 2013, in recognition of his contributions, he was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres [Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters] by the government of France. He was also the 2018 inductee to the Final Draft Screenwriters Hall of Fame.
MARIE ROUSSIN (FRANCE)
Marie Roussin studied film and TV-writing at the CEEA film school in France, and at UCLA in the United States. She has been writing for TV since 2006, working mostly on one-hour drama shows, progressing from staff writer (Un Village Français, Fais pas ci fais pas ça, Les Bleus) to head writer (Les Bracelets Rouges) and experiencing different kinds of writers rooms. She has worked on two international shows with international writing teams (Borgia with Tom Fontana and Ransom with Franck Spotnitz). She is currently developing a French show for a streaming platform.
FIONA SAMUEL (NEW ZEALAND)
Fiona Samuel is an award-winning writer and director for television, theatre and film and a NZ Arts Foundation Laureate for her original body of work. In the past decade, she has written and directed a trio of female-driven dramas for television: Bliss—The Beginning of Katherine Mansfield, revealing the scandalous beginnings of New Zealand’s most famous writer; Consent, the true story of a teenager who was raped by three policemen and took on a 25-year fight for justice; and Piece of My Heart. Fiona currently has three feature films in development.
JAMES SCHAMUS (USA)
James Schamus is an award-winning screenwriter (The Ice Storm), producer (Brokeback Mountain), and former CEO of Focus Features (Lost in Translation, Milk, The Pianist). His feature directorial debut, an adaptation of Philip Roth's Indignation, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival, and was released by Roadside Attractions. Schamus’ production company, Symbolic Exchange, has produced, among others, Kitty Green’s acclaimed feature documentary Casting JonBenet, and Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire’s A Prayer Before Dawn. Schamus is currently launching two television series, one set in Mexico and the other in Europe. He is also Professor of Professional Practice in Columbia University’s School of the Arts, where he teaches film history and theory.
BOB SCHNEIDER (USA)
Bob, along with his life and screenwriting partner, Peg Haller, managed to kill off their landlord in nearly every episode they scribbled for the syndicated TV show Monsters and then went on to pen the long-remembered Normal Life, a po-mo take on Bonnie and Clyde with the gauze over the lens removed. He is now in scribe recovery and his amends include serving as the Secretary-Treasurer of the WGAE and publishing his pensées in his column on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency titled My Own Personal Shock Corridor, in obvious homage to Sam Fuller, the master of Cine Primitif.
DOROTHEE SCHÖN (GERMANY)
Dorothee Schön was born in 1961 in Bonn. She studied at the University of Television and Film in Munich, initially with a focus on documentary film. During her studies, she discovered her love of writing. Dorothee graduated with the screenplay Blauäugig, which was filmed by Reinhard Hauff in 1989. Since 1986, she has worked as a freelance scriptwriter and written over 35 feature film and television scripts, including 17 for the famous German series Tatort and two seasons of the historic TV series Charité (ARD & now on Netflix). She is currently working on a three-part TV Movie about the history of the Porsche family. She is developing this project not only as an author, but also as a creative producer. (Photo © Kay Gauditz)
ALICE SHEARMAN (NEW ZEALAND)
With over 19 years’ experience in the screen industry, Alice is the Executive Director of the New Zealand Writers Guild. Passionately advocating for and protecting the rights of New Zealand’s screenwriters working in local and international markets. Including over 9 years’ experience as a Literary and Talent Agent at one of New Zealand’s premier Management Agencies, developing creatives in their chosen paths. Alice was a founding member and Deputy Chairperson for the Agents Association of New Zealand and is currently serving on the Board of Film Auckland and is a member of three funding and government advisory panels across the screen sector.
ELENA SOAREZ (BRAZIL)
Elena Soarez is a Brazilian screenwriter and TV series creator. She has penned nine feature film scripts including Me You Them (Cannes Film Festival, 2000), House of Sand, (Sundance/NHK Award for Original Screenplay and nominee for Satellite Award Best Screenplay, 2006), Xingu (Panorama Berlin Festival, 2012), Father’s Chair (World Competition at Sundance Festival, 2012 and Best Film by Audience Choice at Rio International Film Festival, 2012). Elena is also the co-creator and writer of the HBO original series The Sons of Carnival (International Emmy Nominee, 2006), 13 Days Away From The Sun (Globo TV original series, 2018), and The Mechanism (Netflix original series).
ROBERT STAATS (GERMANY)
Robert Staats has been the joint CEO of VG WORT, the German CMO for authors and publishers of textual works, since 2009. He is a lawyer by profession, specializing in copyright law. After studying law in Bonn and Freiburg, he completed his legal training in Berlin. Between 1994 and 2008 he worked as a judge and civil servant. Robert is inter alia board member of the Society of Audiovisual Authors (SAA). He is the author of publications on copyright law as well as lecturing at the Humboldt University, Berlin.
ELLEN STUTZMAN (USA)
Ellen Stutzman is an Assistant Executive Director for the Writers Guild of America West. Ms. Stutzman currently oversees the Guild’s Legal Services, Agency, Contracts, and Research & Public Policy programs and serves as a Trustee of the Guild’s Health and Pension plans. With more than a decade of experience at the Guild, her work has included strategic research to support collective bargaining, organizing and contract enforcement as well as the development of a public policy agenda that advances the interest of writers, including support of an Open Internet, limits on media consolidation and pension and health protections. Ms. Stutzman holds a B.S. from Cornell University in Industrial and Labor Relations and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles.
ROBERT TAYLOR (ENGLAND)
Robert Taylor is an IP, Entertainment and Media Lawyer. Prior to qualifying as a lawyer, he was a professional scriptwriter, writing numerous episodes of ChuckleVision and the sitcom Out of Tune. He also worked in partnership with Rory Clark of Farcical Films, creating comedy shows and projects throughout the 90s. He was formerly Chair of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain during which time he established the Writers' Digital Payments Limited and the Writers' Foundation (UK). He is currently advising Monty & Co, an app based puppet TV series for pre-school kids. He is president of the Federation of Screenwriters in Europe.
ROBERT ALBERDINGK THIJM (THE NETHERLANDS)
After completion of his Master’s degree in law, Robert Alberdingk Thijm immediately started his career as a screenwriter. He has created and written several original drama series for children, such as The Daltons and Dunya and Desie, which have been broadcast in the Netherlands, the Nordic countries and Germany and were awarded many (international) prizes. For prime time television, he has written the series A’dam – e.v.a. – a mesmerizing love story that takes place in Amsterdam. A’dam – E.V.A. has won the French Prix de la Fiction at the La Rochelle Festival for Television Drama. A U.S. remake is currently in development. Next year, his movie De Belofte van Pisa will premier.
CAROLE TONGUE (UK)
Carole Tongue is a former Member of the European Parliament and Chair of the UK and the European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity. An expert in audiovisual policy, Ms.Tongue currently advises trade unions and rights holders in the creative industries. In 1996, the European Parliament adopted her Report on Public Service Broadcasting in the Multichannel Digital Age. She regularly speaks on broadcasting and film worldwide and is an author of articles and book chapters on European audiovisual policy, public service broadcasting, cultural policy and European affairs. Lincoln University awarded Carole an honorary doctorate for services to the public interest in broadcasting.
MICHAEL WINSHIP (USA)
Michael Winship is the immediate Past-President of the Writers Guild of America East and currently works as a senior editor and fellow at the progressive website Common Dreams. He was the Emmy Award-winning senior writer of the public television series Moyers & Company and its website, BillMoyers.com, and a former senior writing fellow at the public policy and advocacy group, Demos. A veteran television writer and producer, his credits include Bill Moyers Journal, NOVA, American Experience, Nature, Smithsonian World, Television: An Illustrated History, Square One TV, and 3-2-1 Contact, as well as made-for-TV movies and many arts, documentary, and public affairs specials. He has been nominated for several Writers Guild Awards for outstanding achievement in writing and has received it three times. As one of the leaders of the 2007-08 Writers Guild strike, he received the Sidney Hillman Foundation Officers Award.
