STORYTELLERS
Whether he was writing scripts for an offbeat independent comedy or a big-budgeted animated film, Michael Arndt always created timeless stories and multidimensional characters that stayed with viewers long after they have left theaters.
A pre-eminent force in television entertainment, Paris Barclay has directed nearly 200 episodes of television and was active as a Director/Producer for series including: STATION 19, PITCH, SONS OF ANARCHY, IN TREATMENT, COLD CASE, CITY OF ANGELS and NYPD BLUE.
Noah Ballard is an accomplished literary agent with extensive experience in the publishing industry. Currently serving as Literary Agent/IP Team Lead at Verve Talent & Literary Agency since January 2021, Noah oversees the IP Team, focusing on publishing, audio, and media rights related to book-to-screen adaptations.
Joe Barton is a BAFTA winning Writer and Executive Producer of television projects including the BAFTA Cymru awarded thriller, THE LAZARUS PROJECT, HALF BAD: THE BASTARD SON AND THE DEVIL HIMSELF, AMADEUS and three-time BAFTA nominated and winning GIRI/HAJI.
Emmy, WGA, and PGA award nominated creator, showrunner, writer, and executive producer Monica Beletsky has become known in the entertainment industry through the dynamic characters and projects she has helped bring to life.
David Beaubaire has spent 25 years as a creative executive inside the studio system, developing and overseeing more than 50 movies, including major blockbusters and Academy Award-nominated films.
David Boxerbaum is a prominent literary agent and partner at Verve, representing top tier writers, directors, Showrunners across all genres. While he has earned his reputation as the very best at selling original material, specs, IP etc.
Craig Brewer is renowned for his gritty, music-driven storytelling, beginning with his breakout hit Hustle & Flow, which was produced and financed by his late mentor, John Singleton.
Aline Brosh McKenna wrote The Devil Wears Prada, 27 Dresses, Morning Glory, We Bought a Zoo and Cruella, and co-created Crazy Ex-Girlfriend with Rachel Bloom.
Candace Bushnell is a writer and producer known for Sex and the City and its feature film adaptations.
GURINDER CHADHA is one of the U.K.’s most proven and respected filmmakers with an illustrious body of work over 30 years. Her award-winning films as a Writer, Director and Producer have earned over $300 million at the international box office.
Jay Chandrasekhar is a director, writer, actor, and co-founder of Broken Lizard, the comedy troupe he formed with four friends at Colgate University in the early ’90s.
Matt Charman is a playwright and screenwriter whose first play, A NIGHT AT THE DOGS, won the 2004 Verity Bargate Award and premiered at Soho Theatre.
Diablo Cody is the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno. She started out in Minneapolis as a writer and Arts Editor for the local independent weekly.
Lee Daniels is an Academy Award® nominated filmmaker whose work is trademarked by authenticity and candor. Daniels’ most recent film THE DELIVERANCE debuted on Netflix on August 30th and quickly became the #1 Top Movie on Netflix in the U.S. and remained on the top ten list over three weeks after releasing.
Charmaine DeGraté is an Emmy-nominated writer, producer, and creator whose work spans some of television’s most iconic franchises and critically acclaimed dramas.
Alexander Dinelaris is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter, playwright and producer who works across film, theatre and musical theatre. He shared the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for BIRDMAN OR (THE UNEXPECTED VIRTUE OF IGNORANCE) with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone and Armando Bo, along with the Golden Globe and the Critics’ Choice Award.
SAM ESMAIL is an award-winning writer, director and producer known for his bold visual style and masterful command of psychological storytelling. Upcoming, Esmail brings his signature tension to PANIC CAREFULLY, a paranoid thriller from Warner Bros.
Alison Flierl is a writer and actor known for BoJack Horseman, School of Rock and Random Tropical Paradise.
Geoffrey Fletcher is an Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director. He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE, directed by Lee Daniels and presented by executive producers Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry.
Unanimously regarded as one of Britain’s finest directors, Stephen Frears has always embraced a wide variety of styles, themes and genres. He worked almost exclusively for the small screen in the first 15 years of his career, with programs such as One Fine Day by Alan Bennett and Three Men In A Boat by Tom Stoppard.
Three-time Emmy-winning creator, writer, star, and executive producer of the global Netflix phenomenon BABY REINDEER, Richard Gadd, adapted the series from his Olivier Award-winning one-man show.
Craig Gering is an Executive and Motion Picture Agent at leading entertainment and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Scott Glassgold is a producer at 12:01 Films whose credits include Prospect, Tarot and Hurricane Season.
Gavin Glendinning is Head of Production and Development at Qwerty Films. He joined in 2015 on Florence Foster Jenkins and was an associate producer on Golda, starring Helen Mirren.
Jeff Goldsmith is a cinephile, journalist and host of The Q&A with Jeff Goldsmith podcast in iTunes and publisher of Backstory magazine. Previously he served as the Editor-In-Chief of Creative Screenwriting.
Dan Goor is a writer and producer known for Parks and Recreation, Killing It and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Tony Grisoni tells urgent tales of the weird. He moves between film, series, art & protest — always with mischief & humanity. His recent work includes 2073, a visionary collaboration with director Asif Kapadia exploring today’s interrelated threats of right-wing populism, techno-authoritarianism, and climate collapse.
DAVID GUGGENHEIM’s career started with the sale of the Denzel Washington/Ryan Reynolds starring movie SAFEHOUSE and he never stopped working after that.
Megan Halpern is a writer and producer working across film, television and audio, with a focus on championing original voices and emerging storytellers.
John Hoffman is an eight-time Emmy nominee and the co-creator and showrunner of Hulu’s ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING, starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez. He is our StorySocial guest in New York on December 2, 2026.
Soo Hugh served as showrunner, creator, and executive producer behind the drama series PACHINKO which premiered on Apple TV+ in 2022 to critical acclaim.
Jon Hurwitz is a writer and producer known for Cobra Kai, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and Obliterated.
Cord Jefferson is a writer and producer known for American Fiction, The Good Place and Watchmen.
Lee Jessup is a career coach for screenwriters, specializing in guiding emerging and professional scribes toward long-standing and prolific screenwriting careers in both TV and feature writing, as well as a Business of Screenwriting Professor with the David Lynch Grad Program for Cinematic Arts.
Danya Jimenez and Hannah McMechan met as college freshmen and have been best friends, roommates and writing partners ever since.
Marta Kauffman created Friends with David Crane, which earned 63 Emmy nominations and won Outstanding Comedy Series in 2002, and co-created Grace and Frankie.
A Golden Globe Award and Emmy Award-nominated writing team, Robert and Michelle King have been creative collaborators for more than 25 years and married for over 35 years.
Adam Kolbrenner is the founder and President of Lit Entertainment Group – a Beverly Hills, CA- based literary management and feature film and television production company.
Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw are the creators and showrunners of the FX series “Adults,” a Best of 2025 pick from The Atlantic, Vulture, Marie Claire, Decider and TV Guide.
Tony Kushner’s plays include A Bright Room Called Day, Angels in America, Slavs!, Homebody/Kabul, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism With A Key To The Scriptures, and the musical Caroline, or Change with composer Jeanine Tesori.
Academy Award® Winner SPIKE LEE’s iconic body of storytelling has made an indelible mark on filmmaking and television. He recently released his latest joint Highest 2 Lowest, his fifth film with Denzel Washington via A24.
Warren Leight is a writer and showrunner who is currently helming Law & Order: Special Victims Unit during its historic 21st season. Previously, he developed new projects for Sony’s television division and was showrunner and Executive Producer of the NBC drama, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2011 – 2016 (Imagen, NAACP and PRISM Awards).
Franklin Leonard is an entrepreneur, cultural commentator, and occasional film and television producer. He is the founder and CEO of the Black List, a company dedicated to identifying and supporting remarkable screenwriting and fiction through its annual survey of Hollywood’s most liked screenplays and its online marketplace for screenplays, television pilots, theatrical plays, and novels.
Thomas Lennon is an actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer best known as Lieutenant Jim Dangle on Comedy Central’s Reno 911! and as a founding cast member of MTV’s The State.
Kenneth Lonergan is the writer-director of You Can Count on Me and Manchester by the Sea, and the playwright behind This Is Our Youth, The Waverly Gallery and Lobby Hero.
Cynthia López is the Chief Executive Officer of New York Women in Film & Television, an award-winning media strategist, and former Commissioner of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, where she implemented strategies to support film and TV production throughout the five boroughs.
Phil Lord and Chris Miller are the Academy Award-winning duo behind some of today’s most successful and inventive films and series, including the Spider-Verse and Lego Movie franchises, The Mitchells vs. The Machines, 21 & 22 Jump Street, Cocaine Bear, Strays, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, The Afterparty, and Clone High.
Harry Marks is an author, critic, film historian, and classic film host born and raised in New Jersey. He provides fact-filled intros for classic films on the Mometu streaming app, discusses Old Hollywood history on his TikTok channel—Let’s All Go to the Lobby—and reviews all kinds of films, both new and old, to hopefully broaden the cinematic horizons of younger viewers.
Kailey Marsh is a Brooklyn-based literary manager and producer focused on identifying and championing distinctive voices in film, television, and emerging media.
Born in Newcastle Upon Tyne in the North of England, Neil Marshall has been working successfully in both feature films and television since his feature debut ‘Dog Soldiers’ in 2001.
Stephanie McFarlane’s television credits include FBI, Heels and Legacies. She has moderated Storytelling360 panels in Los Angeles and New York.
Queenie Miller (Have I Got News For You, QI) is a development producer at the UK’s leading independent television production company, Hat Trick Productions (Derry Girls, Father Ted).
Maria Miles is the founder of an entertainment law practice in New York, covering film, television, literary publishing and new media for independent producers, directors, writers and talent.
Jenna Milly is a writer and executive producer known for The Fabulous Four (starring Bette Midler and Susan Sarandon) and Golden Arm (100% on Rotten Tomatoes).
Joy C. Mitchell is an international TV drama writer best known for her work writing and producing season one of the award-winning Netflix drama series BRIDGERTON.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, LaToya Morgan is a graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory where she received an MFA in Screenwriting. She’s an alumna of several prestigious fellowships including the Warner Bros.
Graham Moore is a writer and producer known for The Imitation Game, The Outfit and The Holdout.
Helena Murphy is Head of Development at Hartswood Films, the company behind Sherlock, Dracula and Coupling. Named one of Broadcast’s Hot Shots in 2019, she joined Hartswood in 2016 after roles at Sony Pictures Television, Holby City and BBC Edinburgh Festivals.
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber are Oscar and Emmy nominated screenwriter/producers. Since breaking out in 2009 with their original screenplay (500) Days of Summer — nominated for Best Picture – Comedy at the 2010 Golden Globe Awards and winner of the Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay — Neustadter and Weber have written multiple projects across many genres.
Andin Ngwa is a development executive at Firebird Pictures, currently in production as script executive on BBC One’s WAHALA.
Brett Niethamer is a screenwriter with a Master’s degree in Creative Writing (Screenwriting) specializing in comedy, animation, genre storytelling, and character-driven narratives.
Kate Oh is a development executive at Monkeypaw Productions whose credits include Him and Imago.
Mary Pender is an agent in the Literary Media Department at WME, based in the agency’s New York office, where she represents authors and other intellectual property for adaptation to film, television, stage and podcasts, and works with writers who want to move into screenwriting and producing.
Zak Penn’s career began as a screenwriter when he sold his first script, LAST ACTION HERO, at the age of twenty-three. Since then, Penn has become known for his work on numerous films based on Marvel comics, including X-MEN 2 and X-MEN: THE LAST STAND, ELEKTRA, THE INCREDIBLE HULK and THE AVENGERS.
Clyde Phillips is the Executive Producer and original Showrunner of Paramount+’s DEXTER franchise, including the current hit DEXTER: RESURRECTION, and was Showrunner for the last three seasons of NURSE JACKIE. He is our StorySocial guest in New York on November 4, 2026.
Christina Pickworth runs Imagine Talent, a boutique agency representing writers and directors, and founded and hosts the writers’ group for Women in Film and Television UK.
John Quaintance has written extensively in television and film for over 20 years, most recently as the creator and showrunner of the critically acclaimed series GOOD COP / BAD COP starring Leighton Meester, Luke Cook, and Clancy Brown.
Edward Ricourt is a screenwriter whose credits include Now You See Me, Now You See Me 2 and Raising Dion.
Katie Robbins is the creator of Good American Family, with credits including Sunny and The Affair.
Eric Robinson is a Partner at The Gotham Group in Los Angeles. He is currently in post production on the feature film Deliver Me From Nowhere, the forthcoming Bruce Springsteen biopic directed by Scott Cooper and starring Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong.
Zoe Ross is a literary agent at United Agents, where she has worked for nearly 17 years.
Eric Roth is an American screenwriter. He won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Forrest Gump (1994). He also co-wrote the screenplay for Michael Mann’s The Insider (1999), the Steven Spielberg film Munich (2005), and David Fincher’s film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), all of which were nominated for Oscars.
Joe Russo just sold the spec he co-wrote, PORTRAIT OF GOD, to Universal Pictures, which he is producing alongside Jordan Peele and Sam Raimi.
Meredith Scardino is a four-time Emmy-winning writer and showrunner who has written on Reggie Dinkins, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Colbert Report, and created the critically acclaimed series Girls5eva.
Hayden Schlossberg is a writer and producer known for Cobra Kai and the Harold & Kumar films.
John Patrick Shanley’s plays include Prodigal Son, Outside Mullingar (Tony nomination), Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, Savage in Limbo, Italian-American Reconciliation, Welcome to the Moon, Four Dogs and a Bone, Dirty Story, Defiance, Beggars in the House of Plenty, and Brooklyn Laundry.
Arran Shargall is a producer and emerging screenwriter with over ten years of experience in television development and production. In 2025, he graduated from the Channel 4 New Writers’ Scheme.
Thea Sharrock is a British theatre, film, and television director. At 24, Thea became the youngest Artistic Director in British theatre when she ran the Southwark Playhouse, having received the JMK Trust award, which recognises young theatre directors, in the same year.
Kevin Smith is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film Clerks (1994), which he wrote, directed, co-produced, and acted in as the character Silent Bob of stoner duo Jay and Silent Bob.
A writer who happily dabbles in many genres, it was as a freshman at Occidental College that screenwriter Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith began pursuing her first love, poetry.
Jason Solomons is a former film critic turned independent producer. He is currently in pre-production on his first feature, A Waiter in Paris, an adaptation of Edward Chisholm’s bestselling memoir starring Leo Woodall and Clémence Poésy and directed by Peter Hoar.
Celine Song is an Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and filmmaker whose signature blend of emotional depth, intelligence, and humor has established her as an essential voice in today’s entertainment landscape.
NIA VARDALOS is the only woman to have solo-written an original film franchise. Vardalos wrote and starred in the number one romantic comedy of all time, MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING and its two sequels (directed the third.)
James Watkins is an English filmmaker. He is best known for horror films such as Eden Lake (2008), The Woman in Black (2012), and Speak No Evil (2024).
K.J. Yossman is International Correspondent at Variety, based out of London, where she covers international film and TV markets (and occasionally music).