Blake is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of a dozen novels, most recently, DARK MATTER, RECURSION, and UPGRADE, for which he is also writing the movie for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners.His international bestselling WAYWARD PINES trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX and his novel, RECURSION, is currentl…

Halina Reijn is a writer, director, and actress known for her debut feature INSTINCT and the Gen-Z horror-comedy BODIES BODIES BODIES (A24), which earned her a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Director.Her latest film, BABYGIRL (A24), set to release on December 25th, premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival to widespread acclaim.…

J.D. Payne & Patrick McKay have been writing together for nearly 25 years, collaborating on over 20 screenplays, including STAR TREK BEYOND for J.J. Abrams, JUNGLE CRUISE for Disney, and their 2017 Blacklist script ESCAPE.In season two of their show, THE RINGS OF POWER, Sauron has returned. Cast out by Galadriel, without army or ally, the rising Da…

James Mangold is an Oscar-nominated writer-director known for film like GIRL INTERRUPTED, WALK THE LINE, LOGAN, COP LAND, and FORD V FERRARI — the latter earning a Best Picture Oscar nomination.Most recently, Mangold directed A COMPLETE UNKNOWN, where at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, a young Bob Dylan shook up his act on the folk music scene b…

Jon Spaihts is a screenwriter known for his work in the sci-fi and fantasy genres. He gained visibility with his script for PROMETHEUS, a prequel to the Alien series directed by Ridley Scott. Spaihts also co-wrote DOCTOR STRANGE, introducing Marvel audiences to the mystical side of the MCU, and contributed to the screenplay for DUNE, Denis Villeneu…

Jack Huston has established himself as a versatile talent in film, television, and theater, excelling both in front of and behind the camera. He’s been in shows and films like BEN-HUR, BOARDWALK EMPIRE, and AMERICAN HUSTLE. His directorial debut, DAY OF THE FIGHT, which he also wrote and co-produced, stars Michael Pitt, Ron Perlman, Steve Buscemi, …

As Head of Innovation and Creativity at Disney, Duncan and his team helped Imagineering, Lucasfilm, Marvel, Pixar, and Disney Parks to innovate, creating magical new storylines and experiences.He now brings his extensive Disney expertise to audiences around the world using a unique approach to Design Thinking, helping people capture unlikely connec…

Laura Eason is a producer, screenwriter, and playwright. She most recently served as showrunner and executive producer of the new STARZ drama series THREE WOMEN. Her writing and producing credits for TV include the Showtime drama THE LOUDEST VOICE and four seasons of Netflix's five-time Emmy-nominated best drama series HOUSE OF CARDS. Her latest wo…

Colin Jeffrey is the Chief Creative Officer of Doner and Co-Founder of Wolfgang. Under his leadership, Doner was named an Ad Age A-List Standout Agency in 2023. At Wolfgang, Colin has created acclaimed campaigns for brands like Adidas, Panda Express, and NBCUniversal. Recognized as one of the most creative minds in advertising, Colin has appeared o…

Michael Costigan is a film and television producer based in Los Angeles. He is a partner at Aggregate Films, a production company he founded with Jason Bateman which creates film, television, documentary, and unscripted programming across all platforms. In this interview, we talk about the development process of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, challenges and o…

Sean McBride is the Chief Creative Officer of Arnold Worldwide, a globally recognized creative agency. He is the creative guru behind our favorite progressive commercials starring Flo and Dr. Rick.Sean’s work has been repeatedly recognized by every major advertising award show there is, including Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Communication Arts, Clio, Ne…

Mark Sanderson is a screenwriter, author, script consultant, and lecturer. His career spans sketch comedy, writing for MTV, and over two dozen screenwriting assignments, including 17 produced films with worldwide distribution.Mark’s films have premiered on networks like Lifetime, SyFy, Fox, and HBO Canada, and stream on platforms like Tubi, Amazon,…

Joshua Zetumer serves as the showrunner, executive producer, and head writer of FX’s SAY NOTHING, an adaptation of the New York Times best-selling and National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-Fiction winning book SAY NOTHING: A TRUE STORY OF MURDER AND MEMORY IN NORTHERN IRELAND by Patrick Radden Keefe. Zetumer has also written on a number of glo…

Ellie leads the creative team at GLOW, working with high-profile entertainment clients such as Warner Brothers, HBO Max, Paramount+, Showtime, NBA, The Roku Channel, and more. She's also worked as Global Creative Manager at Netflix working on original projects including documentaries, unscripted, comedy, and kids and family content.She created camp…

"We wrote spec scripts. We sat in a Borders bookstore with an out-of-date agent directory and wrote query letters," says Alison Schapker, remembering her earliest days trying to break into television. "It couldn't have been more cold calling than what we were doing."Alison Schapker is a television writer and producer who has worked on genre-definin…

Douglas Vigliotti is the author of four books, including ARISTOTLE FOR NOVELISTS and TOM COLLINS: A ‘SLIGHTLY CROOKED’ NOVEL.In his latest book, ARISTOTLE FOR NOVELISTS, Douglas Vigliotti shows you exactly how to write a novel using the tried-and-true principles that have been used since antiquity to tell great stories. These timeless principles ar…

Dallas Jenkins is the creator, producer, director, and writer of the international hit series THE CHOSEN. He launched his career producing the independent feature HOMETOWN LEGEND at the age of 25 and shepherded it to distribution by Warner Brothers. In the nearly 20 years since then, he has directed and produced over a dozen feature and short films…

Dean Devlin has produced and co-written some of the most successful feature films of all time: INDEPENDENCE DAY, STARGATE, and GODZILLA which collectively grossed more than 1.4 billion dollars worldwide.Jonathan Glassner is a seasoned television writer, producer, and director best known for his work on science fiction and drama series. He is widely…

“I was really into THE BATMAN,” says Zobel. “So much so that I had reached out to him after I'd seen it. I had happened to have been on an email chain with him from years prior about another kind of movie thing, and so I had his email and I just reached out.”Craig Zobel is a director, producer, and screenwriter best known for directing episodes of …

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo stars in the Netflix series THE LINCOLN LAWYER. He will next be seen starring as the title character in PEDRO PARAMO, the directorial debut of Rodrigo Prieto based on the iconic book by Juan Rulfo, and was recently cast in a lead role in JURASSIC WORLD 4 opposite Scarlett Johansson.In THE LINCOLN LAWYER, Manuel plays lawyer Mick…

Ted Humphrey is an accomplished writer, producer, director, and showrunner. He’s earned acclaim for his work as a producer on the CBS hit show THE GOOD WIFE in which he was honored with multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild nominations for Best Drama Series. For his episode “Boom,” he received a Writers Guild nomination for Best Episodic D…

“We are an underdog culture. We love the underdog story. And I think with wrestling, and certainly what we tried to do with HEELS was that,” says Martin.“Regional wrestling, that's like about the lowest level of showbiz you can get and people are doing it truly because they love it because it means something to them because maybe they are not speci…

Jac Schaeffer is an accomplished screenwriter best known for her groundbreaking work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She served as the head writer and executive producer for WANDAVISION, Marvel's first TV series on Disney+, starring Elizabeth Olsen andPaul Bettany.Schaeffer's background includes THE HUSTLE which starred Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wi…

In 2021 Mary Neely and Kareem Rahma met at a Brooklyn comedy show. A week later they found themselves crammed at a downtown restaurant, elbows tucked and leaning forward, deep in discussion about an age-old argument: are men only nice to women who they want to have sex with? A settlement was never reached. Not long after, Kareem posted a still of M…