Sheryl J. Anderson  While Sheryl arrived in Hollywood with all intentions of being a feature writer (script optioned, but never made), she became a television studio executive, then a half-hour writer (including Parker Lewis Can't Lose and Dave's World), and is now an hour writer (including Charmed), currently in development.  She and her husband, Mark Parrott, just completed their first novel, Killer Heels, a mystery to be published next spring by St. Martin's Press.

Brian Avery  An accomplished actor, singer and producer, Brian Avery co-starred on Broadway in the production of How Green Was My Valley, followed by a contract with Universal Studios.  He starred as Katherine Ross's jilted bridegroom, "Carl," in The Graduate and was featured in Woody Allen's Sleeper. Currently executive producer along with partner Bob Yari on The Devil and Daniel Webster starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, he is also executive producing the remake of Where the Red Fern Grows with Ned Beatty.  Brian serves in the Executive Committee of the Student Academy Awards, the Documentary committees, the Foreign Language committees and as a judge for the Nicholl Fellowship Screenwriting Competition.

Ron Austin, is a veteran writer and producer in the Hollywood industry with over one hundred primetime television credits, including the original productions of Mission Impossible, Charlie's Angels, Matlock, and The Father Dowling Mysteries.  He has also produced feature-length documentaries, most recently The Hidden Gift: War and Faith in Sudan.  He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the Directors Guild, and has served on the Writers Guild of America's board of directors.  Ron has authored numerous articles on film and culture, was a founding member of Catholics in Media and Open Call, has been active in the City of Angels Film Festival and Act One: Writing for Hollywood, and serves on the editorial board of Image Quarterly: A Journal of Art and Religion.  The Writers Guild has honored him twice with their highest awards for service to writers and the Hollywood community.

Dean Batali  Dean is Co-Executive Producer of FOX's That 70's Show.  He wrote for the initial two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (WB), and served as co-producer on ABC's recent remake of Fantasy Island.  He was also a staff writer on NBC's Hope and Gloria, and has written for Duckman, Bruno the Kid, Mickey's Campfire Tales, and Nickelodeon's The Adventures of Pete and Pete.

Terry Botwick is Partner/CEO of Thunderpoint Studios, a new feature film and finance production company.  A forward thinking executive with an eclectic resume of broad-ranging success within the entertainment industry:  CEO/founder of Spongelab, Senior Vice President for CBS Entertainment, overseeing all primetime series programming as well as that network’s special events.  During his tenure he also developed three successful television series: “Kids Say The Darndest Things with Bill Cosby”, “Candid Camera” and the hit drama series, “Martial Law.” Mr. Botwick served on the board of the Miss Universe Pageant business, which he purchased on behalf of CBS in partnership with Donald Trump.  Prior to joining CBS, Terry was in an exclusive consulting relationship to a joint venture between Microsoft and Liberty Media for the creation of new digital channels.  Before that he was President of the worldwide television distribution and production company for the Hearst Corporation. Terry was also part of the senior management team of the Family Channel. 
 

Doug Cummings has a BA in Media Arts from the University of Arizona.  He has facilitated a variety of websites dealing with film, spirituality, and culture since 1998.  His latest ventures include Filmjourney.org (a personal blog and film discussion site), MastersofCinema.org (an information site for art films and worldwide DVD releases), and Robert-Bresson.com (a site devoted to the legendary French filmmaker).  He has spoken at a variety of conferences and published articles in Beyond magazine and SensesofCinema.com.

Jed Dannenbaum is a non-fiction film writer, producer and director, and holds the position of Senior Lecturer at the USC School of Cinema-Television, teaching film production.  He recently co-authored the book Creative Filmmaking From the Inside Out: Five Keys to the Art of Making Inspired Movies and Television (Simon & Schuster, 2003).  Jed received a Ph.D. in American history from the University of California, Davis, and his historical documentaries have been broadcast on PBS.  His behind-the-scenes “making of” programs have appeared frequently on HBO and Showtime, and have been distributed on video and DVD. His scores of interviews include such prominent figures as Julian Bond, Tom Brokaw, Jimmy Carter, Sean Connery, Robert De Niro, Milos Forman, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Steve Martin, Anthony Minghella, Paul Newman, Nick Nolte, Rob Reiner, Steven Spielberg, Jessica Tandy, Twyla Tharp, Robin Williams, Bruce Willis, and Andrew Young.

Scott Derrickson has a B.A. in Humanities and a B. A. in Communications from Biola University, and an M.A. in Film Production from USC.  He was the co-writer of Urban Legends and the co-writer/director of Hellraiser: Inferno.  He is currently working on films for Disney, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and Firm Films.

Kathleen Dowdey produces cable and network television programs.  She began her career writing and directing independent features, then specialized in long-form programming for Public Television and Turner Broadcasting.  She currently produces extensively for the History Channel, the Learning Channel, A&E, HGTV and most recently for the Paramount/NBC series, Life Moments.

Jack Hafer and his production company Gummshoe Productions represent a vast experience in film & television financial management. As Vice President and General Manager of GMT Studios in Culver City, Hafer oversaw the operations of this state-of-the art film studio.  Mr. Hafer has also had much involvement with the music industry.  He was a partner and vice president of Refuge Music Group, a full-service music company.  As such, he was a key player in studio management, artist development and marketing.

Lisa Harper  Having served on InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff at UCLA for four years, Lisa currently works with all of the Greater LA chapters to move IVCF staff and students forward in their value and practice of ethnic reconciliation. She also works to develop artists that reach the souls of students of the current generation.  Lisa received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from the USC School of Theater and her BA in Theater Arts from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Her play, "An Push Da Wind Down", won the American College Theater Festival "Best New Play" award in 1996.  Lisa is originally from the NYC/Philadelphia/New Jersey area, but has lived in Los Angeles for the last 12 years and has come to call the City of Angeles "home".

Dan Hodge is a masters student in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Seminary, looking at the “Theology of Gangsta Rap in a Postmodern perspective.”  He also works with teens in Northwest Pasadena at the Neighborhood Urban Family Center.  He has worked both in the Hip-hop industry and with underground artists to bridge the chasm between blacks and whites through music. Dan was a gang member in California until the L.A. Riots, when he turned his life around and founded a non-profit youth ministry with four friends from church.

David Holmes - professor at Pepperdine
 

Laurie Hutzler teaches screenwriting in both the Master of Fine Arts and Professional Programs at the UCLA Film School.  Laurie also teaches regularly in Europe, lecturing at Women in Film and Television in London, the Lighthouse in Brighton and the Screenwriters Workshop in London.  She has given guest lectures on screenwriting in the MA Program at Middlesex University in North London and in the MA program at the London College of Printing.  She will teach Master Classes at the Sorbonne is Paris and in Cambridge this spring.  Laurie has an active consulting practice on all phases of script and character development including story structure, dialogue and character motivation, psychology and spiritual transformation.

Sunta Izzacupo was Senior Vice President of Movies and Miniseries for CBS Entertainment from 1989 to 2002, overseeing such projects as Joan of Arc and Lonesome Dove.

Todd Komarnicki is writer/director of the feature Resistance, premiering at our festival, as well as a novelist and playwright.  He is Producer of the upcoming holiday comedy Elf, starring Will Ferrell, and Executive Producer of The Flash television series, based on the popular comic book, for the WB.

Steve McEveety literally grew up in the entertainment industry.  As a boy, McEveety appeared on television episodes of Gunsmoke,My Three Sons and Star Trek and was influenced by his father’s success as a writer, director and producer for a legacy of family entertainment films, among them Son of Flubber, Mary Poppins and many others.  McEveety followed the same course as his father, with early work as an assistant director on Herbie Goes Bananas and Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend.  He then served as production manager for films like Mel Gibson’s Forever Young, Flatliners and The Trip to Bountiful.  He likewise produced several television productions, among them The Revenge of Al Capone and Right to Die.  In recent years, McEveety has served as executive producer for several Icon Production films, We Were Soldiers, Getting It Right, What Women Want, Payback, Anna Karenina, Immortal Beloved, The Man Without a Face and Braveheart.  He also served as producer for We Were Soldiers, One Eight Seven and Airborne, which he also wrote.  His latest project, The Passion will be released in Spring, 2004.

Thom Parham is a professor in the Radio/TV/Film Department of Biola University.  His writing credits include episodes of JAG.  He has a PhD in Communications from Regent University.

William D. Romanowski has been called “one of the foremost evangelical writers on popular culture.”  As Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College, he teaches courses in film, communication and culture studies.  He received B.A. (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) and M.A. (Youngstown State University) degrees in English and a Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University.  Romanowski is a contributing author of Dancing in the Dark: Youth, Popular Culture and the Electronic Media (Eerdmans, 1991) and co-author of Risky Business: Rock in Film (Transaction, 1991).  He has also written numerous other book chapters, journal essays, and popular articles.  Critics commended his book, Pop Culture Wars: Religion and the Role of Entertainment in American Life (InterVarsity, 1996), as "remarkably balanced" and "a stunning portrait of the interplay of religion and popular culture."  Romanowski's most recent book, Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture (Brazos Press, 2001) received the 2002 ECPA Gold Medallion Award (Christianity and Society) and has been praised as “a work of a passionate imagination and incisive intellect” and “a lively and much needed Christian perspective on the popular arts.”  A three-part videos series based on this book and produced by the Calvin Media Foundation has been applauded as “absolutely the best series now out to help you explore the dimensions of film and its communication power in our world today.”  This video series was a 2002 Aegis Award Winner (previous winners include NBC News, Warner Bros. Pay-TV, ESPN2 and the Discovery Channel).  Romanowski has also worked as a musical and dramatic performer and lectures regularly on subjects dealing with American culture and the entertainment industry.  The program at a rock festival in England referred to him as "an all-round brainy geezer and lovely with it."  He took that as a compliment.
 

Read Mercer Schuchardt is assistant professor of media studies at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City.  He is the contributing editor on media and culture for Regeneration Quarterly magazine, founder of CLEAVE: The Counter Agency and the publisher of Metaphilm (www.metaphilm.com), a film interpretation website.  This year and next, Spence Publishing will release his first two books, Metaphilm: Seers of the Silver Screen and The Disappearance of Women: Technology, Pornography, and the Obsolescence of Gender.  He is on the editorial board of The New Pantagruel, and has been published in various books and magazines on the intersection of media and religion.  He is a doctoral candidate under Neil Postman at New York University's Media Ecology Program, where he is completing his dissertation on The Medieval Catholic Symbol System and Contemporary Corporate Iconography.  He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he and his wife Rachel homeschool their five children.

David Shepard has restored over 150 early cinema classics for DVD and video editions.  David taught cinema for thirty-four years at such institutions as USC (where he was also Director of the Louis B. Mayer Film & Television Study Center), UCLA (where he was honored in 1983 as "the outstanding teacher in performing and integrated arts"), Claremont Mens College, the University of Iowa, The Pennsylvania State University and California State University, Chico.  As Special Projects Officer of the Directors Guild of America for twelve years, David managed the cultural and educational life of the Guild, co-produced the Academy Award winning Precious Images  (1986) and several other films, founded and directed DGA's Workshop for Educators, and edited or co-authored more than a dozen  books, most recently Henry King: Director from Silents to 'Scope  (1995) . He remains active on the Guild's Special Projects Committee.  Earlier he produced documentaries for commercial and public television including the CBS/Post-Newsweek series American Documents and the PBS series Lowell Thomas Remembers, managed the theater and archive departments of The American Film Institute, and was Vice President of Blackhawk Films. He has been a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences since 1983, and for them, went as a volunteer to Calcutta in 1992-93 to evaluate the negatives of Satyajit RayÕs films and recommend procedures for restoring them. 
 

Jillan Spitzmiller has been making documentary films for 15 years, after being inspired at Dartmouth College by documentarians D.A. Pennebaker, Ricky Leacock and the Maysles Brothers.  She has followed in their footsteps making observational films with her husband, Hank Rogerson.  Together, their award winning work has received grants from the Sundance Institute and ITVS and has shown at festivals such as Sundance and SXSW.  They are currently in Post Production on the film, Shakespeare Behind Bars.  Their past work includes the Native American themed documentaries, Homeland and Bless Me with a Good Life and the Circle of Stories web site for ITVS and PBS.ORG.  Jilann has also directed and filmed two documentaries about fine artists working in France and Italy.  She is an adjunct professor of Film at the University of Redlands in California, and at Studio Art Centers International in Florence, Italy.

Barry Taylor  His music is featured in Agnieszka Holland's film The Third Miracle and Tim Bui's Green Dragon.  He is an international conference speaker, author and writes and performers his own music.  As an adjunct professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, Barry touches the lives of his students with a dramatic, thought provoking edge.  Teaching on Pop Culture, Cultural Change and Faith, Barry travels and speaks throughout the world.  Barry Taylor is a signpost; a visionary who speaks volumes on human experience and provokes thought and understanding for spirituality and current world views.  Whether in India, Russia, Africa, his home land England or any other locale, his vision stays the same - to open the door to God in a world hungry for spiritual answers.
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John Tinker started in television as a staff writer on St. Elsewhere in 1982.  He went on to co-executive producing jobs for L.A. Law, Home Fires, and The Road Home.  He wrote for the short-lived yet well-received Tattinger’s, and since then has been an executive producer on Chicago Hope, The Practice, Snoops, and HRT.  This fall he will executive produce CBS’s JAG spin-off, Navy CIS, starring Mark Harmon.

Mandy Updegraff moved to Los Angeles in 1998 to work as an intern with The Hollywood Urban Project.  She has continued to live in the HUP neighborhood and work with at risk youth.  Mandy Graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary in September with a degree in Marriage and Family Counseling.

Dr. Linda Mans Wagener is Associate Dean of the School of Psychology at Fuller University.  As Associate Professor of Psychology (Department of Clinical Psychology), she also teaches foundational courses in psychotherapy and clinical work with youth.  Dr. Wagener is committed to exploring the relationship of moral and spiritual development to adolescent well-being.   She edited the latest issue of "Theology, News and Notes" centered on Fantasy, Mythology and the Christian Imagination.

Paul Wolff, a unique figure in the Hollywood community who combined a long career in the Industry with a life of service and spiritual direction.  His many credits include: Executive Producer and Co-creator of Annie McQuire series with Mary Tyler Moore and Little House on the Praire with Michael Landon.  He is currently writing a sitcom and is on the faculty of USC School of Cinema and Television.