CLASS 24-25

Screenwriters

Feature Films

DeniseDeegan

Denise Deegan

PROJECT TITLE

THOUGHT I KNEW YOU

A guilt-ridden crime novelist follows clues left behind by her dead twin which implicate her therapist in manipulating her to take her own life.

Denisee is an Irish novelist and PAGE Award-winning screenwriter who tackles issues of loss and injustice through a prism of light and humour.

Her comedy short about homelessness, THE INNKEEPER, is picking up awards/ honourable mentions on the festival circuit including the Canberra Short Film Festival, This is England Film Festival, SCHLiNGEL, Aesthetica, Foyle and Woods Hole.

Denise writes on Ireland’s longest-running continuing drama, FAIR CITY, and has two TV series and two features in development with a range of Irish, UK and Finnish companies. Her latest script, a psychological thriller, is a Academy Nicholl Fellowship Quarterfinalist and Final Draft Big Break Semi-finalist. She is a grateful recipient of Screen Ireland Development Funding for three projects.

Denise is an active participant in the European Writers Desk run by Creative Europe Desk, Hamburg. She was selected as one of nine European writers for the groundbreaking Words Across Europe, programme and is now developing an exciting TV project with two writers from that programme.

Denise is a member of the Writers Guild of Ireland and Women in Film and Television and is represented by MacFarlane Chard, London.

_D5A0196

Grant Rosenmeyer

PROJECT TITLE

LOVE TAP

A struggling thirty-something’s life spirals out of control after a late-night parking mishap with a person living in their car outside his apartment building.

GRANT ROSENMEYER got his start at eight years old on Broadway in Macbeth opposite Kelsey Grammer and Ty Burrell, and in the long-running musical phenomenon Les Miserables before making his film debut in Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums opposite Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Gene Hackman. He also led the cast of FOX’s comedy series Oliver Beene from producer Steve Levitan, which co-starred David Cross, Maggie Grace, Andy Lawrence, and AJ Michalka. Grant was a fan-favorite as “Jason” in The CW’s hit series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend opposite Rachel Bloom, and has appeared in various other hit series including Monk, Blue Bloods, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Grant appeared alongside George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Jodie Foster’s thriller Money Monster, and led the hilarious comedy Temps opposite Lindsey Shaw, and 2018 heist comedy Chasing the Blues opposite Jon Lovitz. Rosenmeyer produces via his banner Florida Hill Entertainment. In 2019, he produced and starred alongside Oscar-winning actress Gabourey Sidibe, Hayden Szeto, Ravi Patel, and Janeane Garofalo in The Black List’s first feature Come As You Are, a road trip dramedy based on the real-life experience of Asta Philpot that world premiered at SXSW Film Festival. The Secret Art of Human Flight is Florida Hill’s second feature, and made its world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival. The dark comedy stars Rosenmeyer alongside Oscar-nominated actor Paul Raci, Lucy DeVito, Maggie Grace, and Sendhil Ramamurthy, and released theatrically in North America in July 2024. It will continue a global roll-out throughout the fall, and into 2025. Rosenmeyer is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a BFA in Film and TV Production.

Jonathan Socrates – Head Shot (BW) 1M7A1122 copy CROPPED

Jonathan Socrates

PROJECT TITLE

ON THE TRAIL

An unemployed arts journalist from Britain tries to revive his career by investigating a Greek neo-Nazi party, only to discover that nobody is willing to speak out.

Jonathan Socrates is a Jersey-born writer based in London.
His feature film, TRESPASSERS, will be shot next year. It stars Vanessa Paradis and Laetitia Casta, and it is directed by Vanessa Filho. It is a British-French co-production.
TRESPASSERS is inspired by the true story of the French surrealist artists Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore – stepsisters and lovers with one another – who carry out a daring campaign of artistic resistance during the Nazi occupation of Jersey.
Jonathan worked as a journalist for over ten years, specializing in arts and culture, and his work has appeared in the Sunday Times and New Statesman amongst many other publications.
He was the only foreign journalist to secure an interview with the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn after its leader banned party members from speaking to foreign reporters. He achieved this through a farcical process of trial and error, eventually resorting to going undercover.
As a screenwriter, his interest lies in the convergence of art and politics.
In 2021 he was selected to be a member of the BFI NETWORK x BAFTA Crew.

IMG_0126ds

Lara Celenza

PROJECT TITLE

MALANOCTEM

A girl with no memories, afflicted by a rare blood disorder, visits a medieval castle with her friends to create a Halloween vlog. The centuries-old horror lurking in Malanoctem awakens the darkest secrets of her mind and the monsters hidden among the people she loves.

Italian-born director-writer now residing in Berlin, Lara Celenza holds a BA in Modern Languages from the University of Bologna and an MPhil in Russian Studies from the University of Cambridge. After completing professional training in directing at the Raindance Film School, she founded Kalifilm Productions in 2010 to create award-winning, thought-provoking audiovisual art, including her debut feature “Lost in the City” (2022). Currently, Lara is working on a startup concept to help people change their lives through the power of storytelling, while honing her screenwriting skills and managing multiple projects in various stages of development.

Madeleine

Madeleine Parry

PROJECT TITLE

ELEFTHERIA

A widowed, immigrant grandmother, Roula, spends her time cooking, cleaning and worrying. When a 6-year-old from the neighbouring primary-school drops into her back garden from a tree, Roula’s attempts to help the girl awaken her own inner-child. Re-evaluating her life, Roula is confronted by deep, conflicting emotion over sacrificing her needs for others, and this new-found honesty reshapes her relationship with her daughter Maria, her son George, and herself.

Madeleine Parry began writing and directing with a short documentary, Murder Mouth (2011), which followed her exploring killing her own food for the first time. She has since written, directed and/or produced across twelve commissioned projects including as director of the Emmy and Peabody-award winning Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018) for Netflix, the feature music documentary about The Angels (2022) which opened in over 90 cinemas across Australia and the award-winning and the critically acclaimed Maddie Parry documentary series which out-rated the competition on free-to-air national TV. Her work has focussed on balancing heavy themes with humour and insight. In 2018 Madeleine began writing fiction and in 2020 she was awarded the Lottie Lyell Award for her first narrative feature and in 2021 was selected for the inaugural Film Lab: New Voices feature screenwriting lab. Recently, Madeleine was selected as a participant of Screen Australia’s 2023 Enterprise People cohort to undertake a placement with the company of an Oscar-winning writer/director in Los Angeles and received Screen Australia Premium funding to develop and write the first episode of a sci-fi series. She is also writing a feature film inspired by her Greek grandmother, entitled Ελευθερία.

CLASS 24-25

Screenwriters

TV Pilot Drama

Ali Vingiano | Personal Brand

Ali Vingiano

PROJECT TITLE

LIQUID GOLD

An American woman teams up with her Italian cousin to launch an international, mafia-adjacent olive oil scam.

Ali Vingiano is a WGA Award-nominated TV writer, filmmaker, and actor based in Los Angeles. She’s written for Apple TV+’s THE MORNING SHOW, produced for Comedy Central, and stars in THE END OF US, an indie feature that premiered at SXSW. Her online film & video work has over 1 billion views, has received widespread press, and has played in festivals worldwide.

Aspa Kalliani

Aspa Kalliani

PROJECT TITLE

THE NET

During a very troubled era, where war and hunger are leaving their marks upon Europe, five women will try to use their psychic abilities four counter espionage and a pan-European resistance.

Aspa Kalliani is a writer, theater director, and psychotherapist. She studied sociology, theater, screenwriting, psychotherapy, and holds a Master’s degree in Communication from Boston University. She has written and directed a number of award winning plays in Greek theatres. She is also known as a writer for TV Series and a commercial film. Currently she works as a psychotherapist, a script consultant and a screenwriter.  Her latest script with working title “The Net”, combines  all the different fields she has explored and derives from her faith that “All of us are born with psychic abilities. Some neurodivergent people, though, are born with such psychic abilities that can open up a whole new future.»

daniel brierley

Daniel Brierley

PROJECT TITLE

THE GIRL IN THE PICTURE

A British con artist convinces a wealthy Greek family she is their long-lost daughter – but grows suspicious about why the family accepted her and sets out to find out the truth about the lost girl.

Writer for Television and Film

Daniel graduated with an MA in screenwriting from the National Film and Television School and has since written plays including Turning Barley, The Hobo Code (Soho Theatre), Daytrippers (Theatre Royal East) and Farmyard Rules (Bush Theatre).
Previous projects include writing/directing a BBC short starring Olivia Williams (Rushmore) as a giant panda and My Face in Space, nominated for Best British Short at Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2012.
He won the BAFTA Rocliffe New Comedy award in 2014 and was one of 15 writers, producers and directors selected for the BFI NET.WORK talent scheme run at the LFF.
Along with director Tom Jobbins, he was selected for the Aardman and BFI feature film development scheme.

In 2019, his script ‘Trigger Point’ was commissioned by ITV as a six-part series, with Vicky McClure attached to play the lead.

Trigger Point was TX in Jan 2022 and was the second most watched drama of 2022 with an average viewing figure of 9m per episode. It won the National Television Award for Best New Drama and has been aired worldwide on BBC/HBO/PEACOCK/Canal+ amongst others.
He’s currently writing an adaptation of ‘the Second Stranger’ for Studio Lambert/BBC as well as original projects for Expanded Media, Company Pictures and Hattrick Mercurio.

faya

Farah Chaya

PROJECT TITLE

REPLICA

Samy, a dominant old Lebanese leader, is on the verge of losing his power when he meets Karim, a 10-year-old boy who claims to be the reincarnation of his father, the famous politician Mansour Nader.

Farah Chaya is a Lebanese director and screenwriter with a BA in Directing (USJ – IESAV, Beirut, 2011). She works as a director, creative director, scriptwriter and editor with several production houses in Lebanon and the Arab world.
Her short films have been selected for international festivals (Lebanese Film Festival Canada, Interfilm Berlin, Festival du Film Libanais in France, Kino-Cabaret de Trouville, Rencontres sous la tente in Morocco, Lebanese Film Festival in Sydney, Docudays in Beirut, Al Jazeera International Documentary Film Festival, Lebanus in Montreal, La Corrida in Toulouse). Her professional career began with directing and editing documentaries. In 2017, she worked at the BBC as an editor. From 2018 to 2020, she was a consultant and script-writer at Cedars Art, Lebanon. She co-wrote the series “The Path”, in 2018 and was a consultant on a number of series produced by Cedars Art. Her project REPLICA was developed at the Groupe-Ouest writing residency in France in 2021/22 and received a writing grant (FAIA-COCO-i) from the CNC in October 2023.

1

Rachel Flowerday

PROJECT TITLE

COMING HOME

When Sally’s sister Meg dies suddenly, childless couple Sally and Stuart get the family they’ve been desperately hoping for – in the toughest way possible.

Rachel is co-creator and lead writer on the hit CBBC adaptation of Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers, now commissioned for its seventh series, and Emmy-, Rockie- and Canadian Screen Award-nominated in 2023. Rachel is also the co-creator of, and longstanding writer on, the global hit BBC1 mystery series Father Brown, now shooting its eleventh series and 135thepisode, and sold to 230+ territories worldwide. With a background in writing for BBC1’s flagship continuing dramas, including as a core writer on EastEnders and Casualty, Rachel’s solo original work includes development for UK broadcasters ITV and UKTV.

Themis Gyrtis Headshot

Themis Gyrtis

PROJECT TITLE

VIRAL

A successful 30-year-old influencer wakes up to a sunny day in a dreamlike Athens, full of picturesque landscapes, delicious-looking dishes ready to be photographed and… absolutely no humans. Or so he thinks…

Born and raised in Athens and currently based in Lisbon, Themis Gyrtis began his career in the Greek film industry in 2007 as an assistant director, working primarily on feature films until 2015. In 2017, he landed his first job as a screenwriter on Greece’s longest-running sitcom “Min Arhizeis Ti Mourmoura” for the Alpha TV network. After 230 episodes and an imminent writer’s block, he decided to move on to his next project. He created and wrote “On All Fours”, a provocative modern dramedy about disability. The series was produced and distributed by the ANT1 TV network. In April 2023, “On All Fours” was presented at MipTV in Cannes and it was the only non-English-language series selected to be showcased at “The Wit’s Fresh TV Fiction” presentation.

MENTORS

Mirela Nastase (1)

Mirela Nastase

ZDF Studios Director Drama

Mirela Nastase had joined ZDF Studios as Director Drama in 2016. She is responsible for the sale and acquisition of drama programs to customers in French-speaking and Central Eastern European territories.

She holds a degree in Theater History and Theater Management from the National School of Theater and Film, U.N.A.T.C in Bucharest, Romania, furthermore a B.A. in Cinema and Contemporary Literature and M.A.s in Audiovisual Studies and Cinema History as well as Audiovisual Production and Multimedia from the University of Lyon, France. Mirela Nastase first worked in production companies such as OnStage Productions and La Vie est Belle Films Associés, France. In October 2011 she joined the sales team of the Munich-based Tandem Communications, later on being a Sales Manager at STUDIOCANAL TV, Munich, Germany / London, UK.

Marc

Marc Lorber

Executive Producer at The Art of Co Production. Former SVP of Int’l coproductions at Lionsgate

Residing in London as a dual US/UK citizen, Marc Lober works with diverse media enterprises with mandates to build or simply improve upon their local/regional if not also international: content creation/development and physical productions, acquisitions, and/or co-production capabilities.

As one of the most experienced international multi-genre creative content and programming executives, and an Emmy and International Emmy-nominated and Bafta-Award winning Executive Producer; skilled in conception, acquisition, development, sales, strategic partnerships and co-productions, direct physical production and management/financial oversight, of both scripted and unscripted projects; formats and originals.

Scott-Myers

Scott Myers

Associate Professor, Screenwriting, DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts, Chicago, Illinois

Scott Myers has written over thirty movie and TV projects at almost every major Hollywood studio and broadcast network. His screenwriting credits include K-9, Alaska, and Trojan War. Since 2008, Scott has hosted GoIntoTheStory.com, the official screenwriting blog of the Black List and named Best of the Best Scriptwriting Website by Writer’s Digest. Author of The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling (Palgrave Macmillan), Scott is currently an Associate Professor of screenwriting at DePaul University.

0

Carlo Dusi

Managing Director - Endor Productions / Executive Producer, Vienna Blood

Carlo Dusi joined London-based Endor Productions (A Seven.One Studios company) as Executive Producer and Strategy Director in May 2021, and was promoted to Managing Director in January 2022.

In his role, Carlo is responsible for the continued development of the company’s global strategy as well as the expansion and conversion of a growing development slate. Current productions include Neil Gaiman’s Anansi Boys for Amazon Studios and Season 4 of hit period crime drama Vienna Blood for ORF, ZDF, BBC and PBS, both due for delivery in the summer of 2024.

From June 2018 Carlo led Red Arrow Studios International’s scripted business, and executive produced the first two seasons of Global/Peacock/NBCU show Departure as well as the first two seasons of Endor’s Vienna Blood. From 2012 to 2018, Carlo was Head of Business and Commercial Affairs for Ridley Scott’s production banner Scott Free Films in the UK, where he executive produced several feature films as well as global TV hit Taboo starring Tom Hardy.

0

Kurban Kassam

Executive Producer, Pulse Films

In Film, Kurban has produced a range of features including Sally Potter’s THE PARTY with an all-star cast including Kristin Scott Thomas, Timothy Spall and Cillian Murphy. The film premiered at Berlinale 2017. He co-produced A range of BAFTA nominated and A-list festival award winners including ON THE MORNING YOU WAKE (TO THE END OF THE WORLD), THE PASS and BRAKES. Before joining Pulse Films, Kurban was managing director of Mews Films, a joint venture between Archery Pictures and Elysian Film Group running a slate of comedy features primarily aimed for the UK market.

He is now a senior Executive Producer at Pulse Films, where he previously worked on Sundance award winners including WHO IS DAYANI CRISTAL? And 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH. He also produced the world’s first interactive feature film LATE SHIFT, which won a Welsh BAFTA in 2018.

In Television, Kurban produced BAFTA and Royal Television Society music drama JUNGLE for Amazon Studios and worked with Turbine Studios developing projects including SMALL AXE by Steve McQueen.

He graduated from the National Film and Television School, where he won the Christie Award for outstanding contribution, and has produced multiple award winning short films. Before working in film and television, Kurban had a career in theatre and finance, and completed a Philosophy degree from Nottingham University. He is a member of the ACE Producers board, an alumni of Inside Pictures and Film London’s Breaking the Glass Ceiling programme.

Ludo Smolski Colour

Ludo Smolski

Development Consultant & Story Editor

Ludo is a development consultant and story editor based in London, currently working on several feature, documentary and TV drama projects with producers Helen Simmons and Lee Magiday among others. He has worked on a range of independent features including: Jon S Baird’s FILTH, Bruce Goodison’s LEAVE TO REMAIN, Prano Bailey-Bond’s CENSOR, Colum Eastwood’s BAD MEDICINE and Sam Firth’s THE WOLF SUIT.

Ludo is also a script consultant for several talent labs including Biennale Cinema College in Venice, Film Lab Jamaica and Series Mania in Lille. He is a visiting tutor at the National Film & Television School (UK).

Julien Leroux

Julien Leroux

CEO & Founder of Paper Entertainment

Julien Leroux was born in Paris France in 1980. After completing a double master of European business and management, he started his career in 2004 working for TV France International, the association of French TV international distributors, then joined France Televisions as sales manager. In December 2005 he joined AB International Distribution (now Mediawan Rights) as SVP of Sales and Acquisitions working on shows such as Mafiosa, Desperate Parents or Dragon Ball. In 2011 he joined Newen Group and actively participated in its international expansion and sale to TF1 Group in 2015. He ran the international distribution arm of Newen until 2017 working on international hit series such as Spiral, Witnesses or Versailles before moving to London to launch the UK activities of the group

In May 2018 he joined Canadian TV studio Cineflix to lead their scripted activities across production, financing and distribution launching hit shows such as CBC’s Coroner, TV3 Russia’s An Ordinary Woman and Scandi political drama The Minister. In June 2020 it was announced Apple was acquiring the first season of TEHRAN a new Israeli spy drama series co-written by Moshe Zonder (Fauda) which Julien Leroux executive produced. The series launched in late June in Israel to record breaking ratings and later
in September worldwide on AppleTV+ and quickly became one of their most watched series. In January 2021 Julien Leroux announced the launch of London based new production company Paper Entertainment which focuses on “exciting, thrilling, crazy and emotional stories” from all over the world in addition of producing the next seasons of TEHRAN for Apple.

Rose Bosch (1)

Rose Bosch

Film director/ producer / CEO Renaissance Images, co-Founder Legende

Rose bosch started in the industry by writing a biopic on Christopher Columbus « on spec ». The film, independently produced by a joint venture By both Wesley Scott’s and Legende ( Bosxh/Goldman) companies , was released in 1992 for the 500 th anniversary of the discovery of America. Bosch continued to develop Legende along wit her associated Alzin Goldman, producing about 40 films, essentially features. One of her last films was « The Round Up » a WWII biopic with Jean Reno and Melanie Laurent. describing the deportation of 15,000 Jews in 42. The film was a surprised hit, topping Shindler’s List in France, and earning Bosch with an Officer of Arts and Letters. Prior to this, Bosch was a senior writer and reporter for the French Newsmagazine Le Point for ten years. She recently founded Renaissance Images. She is based in Paris.

Tanya Tillett (1)

Tanya Tillett

Agent

After starting her career in film and tv production and development Tanya worked at Knight Hall Agency where she started to build a client list of award winning original and diverse voices writing in film, tv, stage and audio. Tanya now works at the Agency where she continues with her passion for facilitating creatives to tell bold stories that both create change and entertain!

Raffaella Bonivento

Raffaella Bonivento

Executive producer and strategic content freelance advisor

Executive producer and strategic content freelance advisor, based in Italy, with a unique mix of creative, business and human approach, who enjoys boosting European production companies, professionals and Institutions to think out-of-the-box, or just find creative sustainable ways for their step ahead. Loves exploring harmony in complexity and encouraging new voices to begin collaborative creative processes and creative incubation.

Eric_Pack_Headshot

Erik Pack

SVP, Global Sales & Co-production at Boat Rocker Studios

A multifaceted media executive, Erik Pack has an industry-wide reputation for achievements in content creation, development, and distribution. he currently serves as SVP of Global Sales & Co-Production at Boat Rocker. In this role, he leads the day-to-day international strategy for Boat Rocker’s premium scripted and documentary content, across the UK and EMEA, as well as developing and sourcing new scripted projects in the regions for co-production.
Erik’s proven business acumen at top media firms like Gaumont Television, Hallmark Entertainment, Power, and New Line Television, along with his deep roots in the creative community, is why he us both a valued media executive as well as a respected creator of content.
Erik has unrivalled experience working with content platforms and broadcasters all over the world, working on critically acclaimed content on both sides of the Atlantic.

Katie O Connell

Katie O’Connell Marsh

Executive Producer

Boasting more than two decades of industry expertise, Katie O’Connell Marsh stands out as a trailblazing chief executive within the global television sphere. A true entrepreneur, she has played a pivotal role in establishing various television studios, such as Platform One Media and Gaumont Television, from the ground up. As CEO, she meticulously designed models for producing, selling, and globally distributing independent television content, earning recognition in Variety’s Women’s Impact Report and The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 100 Power Women in Entertainment. Katie is a seasoned chief executive and a prolific television producer having executive produced, packaged, developed and/or sold numerous award-winning and critically acclaimed global series including “Narcos,” “Invasion,” “Hannibal,” “Palm Royale,” “arrested development,” and “30 Rock.” She is currently overseeing a slate of film and television projects. As Executive Producer, she has recently been nominated for an Emmy for “Palm Royale” which garnered 11 nominations, including Best Comedy Series.

Kristinn Thordarso

Kristinn Thordarson

SVP of production - Truenorth

Kristinn Thordarson, an alumnus of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles with a focus on producing and script development, began his career as a script editor with various studios in Los Angeles before transitioning to independent production as a Producer. Since then, Mr. Thordarson has produced numerous feature films and TV series. His most recent credits include “The Darkness” a six-part crime series produced for CBS/Paramount, “Margarete I,” a feature film produced for SF Studios, “Trom” a six-part crime series produced for Viaplay and “The Valhalla Murders” a critically acclaimed TV series co-produced by Netflix and globally released on their platform in March 2020. Currently serving as Senior Vice President at Truenorth in Iceland, Mr. Thordarson is involved in several projects under development for both feature films and TV shows.

Hector Cabello Reyes

Hector Cabello Reyes

Director, Screenwriter & Showrunner

Born in Chile, scholarship in Chile, Australia, and France, working between France and Italy, Hector began with theatre, then TV and movies, and now working for both: directing, show running, and writing. This fall he celebrates 25 years making a living with writing.

Skip to content