Dr. Robert Banks is the City of Angels Film Festival’s Founding Chair.  He is the executive director of the De Pree Leadership Center in Pasadena, and the Director and Dean of the Macquarie Christian Studies Institute in Sydney, Australia.

Rev. Steven E. Berry is the Senior Minister of the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles, the oldest Protestant Church in the city.  He has an M.Div. from Yale University Divinity School and has produced radio and television programs for national and international distribution.   Dr. Berry is on the National Interfaith Cable Coalition, Inc. (NICC) representing the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches.  Dr. Berry founded the Lloyd C. Douglas Film Award and Seminar at First Congregational Church of Los Angeles.

John Furia is the Director of the Screenwriting Programs at the University of Southern California School of Cinema.  He is past president of the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Writers Guild Foundation.  His credits include the series Hotel and Kung Fu and the feature film The Singing Nun.

Ken Gire is a screenwriter and the author of 16 fiction and nonfiction books.  He has a Th.M. in Old Testament Literature and Exigesis from Dallas Theological Seminary and a BA in History from Texas Christian University.

Fay Kanin is an award-winning television and film writer and the former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.  Among her many memorable screenwriting credits ate Teacher's Pet, The Opposite Sex and Rhapsody.

Jim Krueger is a screenwriter and the author of the sci-fi comic book Earth X published by Marvel Comics.

Coleman Luck is a writer and executive producer whose television credits include: The Equalizer, Gabriel's Fire and The Burning Zone.  Currently he is co-writing an eighty million dollar musical/animated feature on the life of Jesus for Pat Robertson's production company.

Rabbi Susan Laemmle is the Dean of Religious Life at USC.  She holds several degrees in English Literature including a PH.d. from UCLA, an MA from Columbia and a B.A. from USC.  Her father, Kurt Laemmle was the co-founder with his brother of the Laemmle Theaters.

Edward J. Murray is president and CEO of the New York-based National Interfaith Cable Coalition (NICC). NICC is a consortium of 70 widely diverse U.S. faith groups with a mission to "make religious faith visible on television."  NICC is the founder of the Odyssey Network, which it currently owns in partnership with the Jim Henson Company, Hallmark Entertainment and Liberty Media.  Mr. Murray formerly headed the award-winning Oblate Media and Communication Company in St. Louis.

Sr. Rose Pacatte, fsp, is the founding Director of the Pauline Center for Media Studies in Boston.  She teaches media/film studies to adolescents, parents, teachers and clergy.  Sr. Rose has an M.A. in Education in Media Studies from the University of London, UK.  She is a founding member of Cine & Media (USA affiliate of O.C.I.C.), a member of the executive committee of Unda-USA, the national Catholic association for communicators, a member of the Religious Communications Council and the Catholic Press Association. 

David Rintels is the winner of numerous Emmies as well as the WGA's Paddy Chayevsky Award for his lifetime achievement as a television writer.  He has also served the screenwriting community as president of the WGA and is currently in production on the upcoming mini-series Nurmeberg.

Rev. Michael A. Russo is a Professor at St. Mary’s College in Moraga, CA where he teaches media/film history and criticism.  His doctoral degree from New York University is in American Cultural History; he was a 
1990/91Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University.  Over many years, he has been a consultant to CBS News for religious and political news broadcasts including network coverage of Pope John Paul II.