Search Results

< Back Marina Quintero marinaqwrites@gmail.com IMDB Marina is a Mexican-American comedy writer, born and raised in Pasadena. She was staffed on the Disney Channel's JUST ROLL WITH IT. She is a graduate of the 2019/2020 ABC Writers Program and has a background in stand up and theatre. She began her career as an actress and quickly realized she didn’t want to adhere to the stereotypical roles the industry set for her. Wanting to change the narrative for other underrepresented women, she decided she'd write for them. When Marina’s not in the writers room, she keeps busy raising her two year old daughter and telling jokes on stage about raising her two year old daughter. Her friends call her Mari and her mom calls her everyday. She answers to both. Honors & Awards Semifinalist, UCLA Extension Television Pilot Writing Competition- INSIDE OUT - 2016 WGA Female, BIPOC, Latinx, Multi-Ethnic, 40+ PARTY GIRL Half hour comedy - SINGLE DRUNK FEMALE meets THE MINDY PROJECT Giana, a party-loving beer sales rep in her 30s, must face her chaotic lifestyle when she becomes a godmother and confronts the possibility of never having children. THE CENTER Half hour comedy - ABBOTT ELEMENTARY meets COMMUNITY When 28 year old aspiring actress Lils gets served for unpaid school loans, she decides to participate in a loan forgiveness program at the community center that, for better or worse, raised her. SOAP MONEY Half hour dramedy - THIS FOOL meets ATYPICAL When a smooth-talking ex-con is released from prison after a seven year stint, he must play the role of “nanny” to his autistic nephew in order to appease his no-nonsense sister, as he begins his road to redemption. Character-driven, Female-centric, BIPOC-centric, Romantic, Coming-of-Age, Dark, Silly, Snarky Female, BIPOC, Latinx, Multi-Ethnic, 40+ unrepped

< Back Linda Dillon Moya (Sweigart) Manager: Sandra Avila, Inclusion Management - www.inclusionmgmt.com https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm2130265/credits Raised on the border of El Paso, Texas, and Juárez, Mexico, Linda studied at an all-girl Catholic school. She was a tomboy until she was sent to modeling school to become a beauty queen. Linda spent her childhood perfecting her English and Spanish skills to please her mother, who taught ESL. She learned to shoot guns from her father, a Green Beret, who had severe PTSD. In high school, Linda discovered that her father was actually her stepfather. This precipitated Linda’s rebellious period. She dated the son of a notorious drug lord until her mother packed her off to study in Spain. Linda has worked in diverse fields: an archeological field-tech, a financial planner, and an instructor at Homeland Security, where she taught TSA Agents to find bombs. These experiences led to a passion for storytelling that landed her an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA. When her mother died unexpectedly, her mom’s so-called best friend seduced her stepfather, dumped him at a retirement home, and pillaged the family estate. Heartbroken, Linda took a two-year pilgrimage around the world where she was courted by an Indian Prince, consulted Cambodian fortune tellers, and was hospitalized in Myanmar for a spider bite. Luckily, she lives to tell the tale. WGA Associate Member Female, BIPOC, Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, Multi-Ethnic BORDER SAINTS (Supernatural Crime Drama - SUPERNATURAL meets BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER) An ambitious FBI agent must embrace her ancestral powers to take down the men who murdered her father, but as family secrets unravel, she learns nothing is as it appears. BURNOUTS (Drama - WHITE LOTUS meets THE RESORT) An aggrieved woman stranded in a foreign country finds love and a sense of purpose in the most unexpected place -- Siem Reap, Cambodia. We follow her life and struggles as she works to reinvent herself. WHITE SANDS (Sci-fi/Drama - in the vein of X-FILES) FBI agents Dr. David Carmichael and Lexie Stone investigate a murder found on sacred Native American land. Stumped, they enlist a crew of archeological misfits and a Hopi Shaman to investigate the crime and other strange occurrences across the United States. Character-driven, Female-centric, BIPOC-centric, Crime, Procedural, Fantasy, International, Magical Realism Female, BIPOC, Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, Multi-Ethnic repped

< Back Nelson Downend ndownend@gmail.com http://www.nelsondownend.com Coverfly Nelson Downend is an award-winning screenwriter, director and lighting designer based in New York City. His work explores emotional and psychological trauma and the power of the human connection in the aftermath. Informed by his experience as a lighting designer, Nelson’s work often employs a grounded surrealism that enhances the visual storytelling. Nelson's character driven projects include dark dramas, psychological thrillers, mysteries, and dramatic comedies which have won or advanced to the later rounds in various screenwriting programs and contests including Table Read My Screenplay, the Austin Film Festival, the Page International Screenwriting Awards, ISA, Stowe Story Labs, Roadmap Writers, ScreenCraft and Final Draft’s Big Break. He currently has several projects on Coverfly’s Red List. Most recently, Nelson worked as a screenwriter on multiple TV projects being developed by Little River Entertainment. Nelson's films have screened at various film festivals, including The New York Shorts International Film Festival, New York CineFest, the Garden State Film Festival, the Lighthouse International Film Festival and the Richmond International Film Festival. Nelson received his MFA in TV Writing from Stony Brook University and holds a BFA in Lighting Design from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Honors & Awards Table Read My Screenplay (Hollywood) - Grand Prize Winner – Rock Bottom – 2024 Austin Film Festival - Finalist – Rock Bottom – 2024 Cinequest – Finalist - The Divinity Cycle - 2023 non-WGA Male, 40+ THE DIVINITY CYCLE One-Hour Drama - Psychological Thriller A disillusioned Catholic Priest is drawn into a grisly homicide investigation after one of his parishioners confesses to multiple murders. VITALS One-Hour Drama - Mystery Recovering addict Nieve is obsessed with a new museum installation by seminal light artist Henry Saint-James. But when Saint-James’ assistant is found dead, and he shows up on Nieve's doorstep asking for help, Nieve soon begins to worry she may be harboring a murderer. ROCK BOTTOM Feature - Dark Dramatic Comedy Following a chance encounter while throwing up in the same public bathroom, a fifty-five year old alcoholic and a twenty-four year old bulimic form an unlikely bond as they attempt to address their unresolved trauma, mend fences with estranged family and slowly head down the path toward recovery. Character-driven, Crime, Thriller, Psychological, Limited Series, Dark Male, 40+ unrepped

< Back Alexa Oona Schulz alexaschulz@mac.com http://alexa-schulz.com Alexa Oona grew up in Hamburg, Germany, with the handed-down responsibility for the Holocaust, but more specifically with a Nazi grandfather who after the war worked for the church as a deacon in youth exchange programs with teenagers from Africa and the Arab world – her mother calls him a hypocrite; Alexa Oona calls him a complex character. A Los Angeles resident since 2007, Alexa Oona writes in English and German and is fluent in Spanish. She is passionate about crime (writing crime that is) – but has also been paid for dramedy writing - which proves that even Germans can be funny! Alexa Oona's produced writing credits include TV court show episodes and a prime-time feature for ZDF (Germany) as well as numerous documentaries (e.g. for ARTE) that she directed. In 2006, her award-winning documentary début WEEKEND WARRIORS, a humorous film that follows the lives of four German players of American-style football in Berlin, was theatrically released in Germany by one of the largest multiplex chains. non-WGA Female, Over 40 ANDIE FROM GERMANY (Short-form Serialized Series - Dark Comedy) A failing but success-obsessed German actress gets more than she expected after stealing a dead Hollywood starlet’s identity; now she has to successfully nail her lines and a criminal scheme. AMERICAN CRIME: MEXICO CITY (Hourlong Procedural Series Pilot - Police Drama ) When a PTSD-afflicted Special Agent is paired with a carefree FBI linguist to solve American crimes in Mexico City, she is thrust into solving the mysterious case of a deadly sound attack while struggling to navigate cultural differences. Character-driven, Female-centric, Crime, Historical/Alternative History, International Female, Over 40 unrepped

< Back Lisa Jeanne Rosenberg thewholestory@comcast.net 415-407-2573 Lisa Rosenberg is an AFI Screenwriting graduate and a narrative screenwriter focused on dramas, coming-of-age, and political thrillers. CURE, a thriller, was a Semifinalist for the 2023 New York Women in Film & Television Writers’ Lab and Second Round in the 2022, 2021, and 2020 Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competitions. A PLACE CALLED HOME, a political drama, was a 2024 Quarterfinalist in the ScreenCraft True Story & Public Domain Competition and previously an Independent Film Week selection. GRAFT, a period coming-of-age, won a 2023 Puffin Foundation grant for development as a stage play and was Second Round in the 2022 Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition. CRAWL SPACE, a psychological drama adapted from the novel by Edie Meidav, was a 2015 Finalist for the New York Women in Film & Television Writers' Lab. Recent contracts include script consulting and editing on THE CALLBACK short by writer/director Kara Herold; writing CLIPPED WINGS (working title), a dramatic feature for Front Row Productions; co-writing the treatment for THE MAYA MOVIE, a documentary feature for Redhouse Productions; and writing A PRAYER, a script for a short for actor Anthony Aguilar Gallagher. Earlier projects she has written for have earned an Emmy, a Codie, an Action for Children's Television Award, and a nomination for a Peabody Award. Honors & Awards Semifinalist, NYWIFT Writers’ Lab – CURE – 2023 Second Round, Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition – CURE – 2022 Second Round, Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition – GRAFT – 2022 non-WGA Female, Middle Eastern, Multi-Ethnic, 55+ CURE (Political Thriller) When a gifted Nigerian medical student invents a malaria vaccine derived from sea life, he must challenge a powerful drug company bent on co-opting his work and patenting the creatures from which the vaccine would be made. GRAFT (Coming-of-Age) In 1903, a nineteen-year-old street girl, impersonator, and thief gains an unexpected chance to recreate herself on the stage, which may enable her to transform who she can be in real life. CRAWL SPACE (Psychological Thriller) When an unrepentant war criminal secretly returns home, desperate to clear his name, he meets a troubled drifter whose story mirrors his own, forcing him to run again to finally face what he has become. Character-driven, Medical, Crime, Thriller, Psychological, Historical/Alternative History, Coming-of-Age, International Female, Middle Eastern, Multi-Ethnic, 55+ unrepped

< Back Tracy Charlton tkcharlton@gmail.com Tracy grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. After working in the film industry for several years, she moved to New York City where she got her master's degree in journalism from Columbia University. Her screenplay RAISED UP, which was one of the winners of the Meryl Streep funded Writers Lab, was based on a story she did in journalism school. Her background as a journalist informs her work as screenwriter in terms of both the intense research she does for every project, but also in her interest in a wide variety of stories. Her original screenplay THE BUILDING was made into a movie that aired in Canada. And she did an uncredited rewrite on LEONIE, which starred Emily Mortimer and aired in the U.S. and Japan. She currently lives in Marin County with her son and a dog named Pickles. Honors & Awards WeScreenplay Short Script Lab - Winner - THE EARTH ANSWERS -- 2024 Austin Film Festival - Second Rounder - CHASING SHAKESPEARE and NANO -- 2024 Writers Lab sponsored by Meryl Streep - Winner - RAISED UP -- 2015 Non-WGA Female, Over 50 BIG LIFE (Feature/rom-com - MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING meets SILICON VALLEY ) When a professional tennis player and a San Francisco tech nerd fall in love, they must negotiate their dueling ambitions and her eccentric Romanian family in order to find happiness. CHASING SHAKESPEARE (Feature; YA Action-Adventure) When a teenage girl's father disappears amid accusations that he stole one of the Shakespeare's First Folios, she must find him and retrieve the Folio by solving a series of Shakespeare-themed clues he left behind. THE EARTH ANSWERS (Short; thriller) When a young man gets a tattoo from a mysterious tattoo artist his life takes a turn for the worse. Character-driven, Female-centric, YA, Action, Romantic Comedy Female, Over 50 unrepped

< Back Nerris Nassiri nerrisnassiri@gmail.com Nerris is a first-generation writer/director committed to crafting bold, original musical films that celebrate his Latino and Asian heritage. Beyond writing, Nerris was the director and host of the Aputure YouTube channel, which, after surpassing 200,000 subscribers, earned the YouTube Creator Award for education in filmmaking. His short films have screened at numerous festivals, and his commercial collaborations with Disney, Cirque du Soleil, The Hype House, and The Mighty have amassed over 750 million views. A UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television graduate, Nerris was the founding president of the university's chapter of Delta Kappa Alpha, the nation’s premiere cinematic arts fraternity. He has been awarded fellowships with The Disruptors, the Minorities in Film Branded Lab, a bespoke fellowship with The Black List, and is a Theatre Now Musical Writing Lab Fellow. Beyond filmmaking, Nerris has lived many lives—piloting airplanes, serving as the photographer for the Mayor of L.A., and performing stand-up at The Comedy Store (where he once opened for John Mayer). Driven by a vision to push the boundaries of musical storytelling, Nerris is redefining the coming-of-age genre with films that spotlight women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ protagonists overcoming adversity. See more of his work at www.nerrisnassiri.com. Honors & Awards Winner, Black List Musical Film Fellowship - NO TE OLVIDES Finalist, Austin Film Festival - THE TEACHER Semifinalist, 1497 Lab - KEY CHANGE non-WGA BIPOC, Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, Middle Eastern, Asian, Multi-Ethnic, Disabled NO TE OLVIDES (Latinx Family Musical — MAMMA MIA! meets THE FAREWELL ) When a timid closeted Chicana takes her rambunctious dying grandmother back to their ancestral Mexican village, they both get more than they bargained for when they each start unusual romances that will reveal long-held secrets. KEY CHANGE (Family Dramedy — TICK TICK BOOM meets INSTRUCTIONS NOT INCLUDED ) While preparing for the biggest moment of his career, an overly ambitious and immature music manager is forced to choose between his dreams and his family, when the sudden death of his estranged father leads to the adoption of a sister he never knew he had. THE TEACHER (Coming-of-age Family Drama — THE BREADWINNER meets THE FAREWELL ) To escape her impending arranged marriage, a brilliant Muslim teenager assumes a false identity as a teacher to obtain an American visa and escape the morning of her wedding. Character-driven, Female-centric, BIPOC-centric, Queer, Romantic, Coming-of-Age, YA BIPOC, Latinx, Indigenous/Native American, Middle Eastern, Asian, Multi-Ethnic, Disabled unrepped

< Back David Ngo doubleohthreeproductions@yahoo.com https://davidngofilm.wordpress.com David Ngo is an engaging screenwriter with a multifaceted writing background. Recently, he was under contract to write animated feature screenplays at DreamWorks Animation and Illumination Entertainment as a cohort of the inaugural Universal Animation Writing Program. With prior experiences in copywriting and script reading, David is a communications specialist with expertise in creative consultation, content programming, and podcasts. As a filmmaker, David directed THE QUEEN FROM VIRGINIA, an award-winning feature documentary chronicling his aunt’s journey from war refugee to beauty queen as she competed in a national pageant for women over 60. David is also an honoree of NBC Writers on the Verge, Project:Involve, and the Visual Communications Armed with a Camera fellowship. His screenwriting has earned him a Top 75 distinction from The Tracking Board and a CAPE New Writers Award. David has worked for several media companies including Netflix, NBCUniversal, HBO, and Disney+. Outside of writing, David serves as an Asian American Studies lecturer at Cal State Fullerton and hosts the cathartic podcast series Best Story I Never Told. Honors & Awards Universal Animation Writing Program - 2021 Hollywood Reporter Article Top 75, Tracking Board Feature Competition - BOY BANDS TO MEN - 2018 non-WGA Male, BIPOC, Asian, Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander NOT SCHOOL FOR SCHOOL (1/2 Hour Comedy - THE WONDER YEARS meets FRESH OFF THE BOAT) When California’s Prop 187 bans undocumented children from public schools, a free-spirited middle schooler and her uptight brother handle the threat of deportation in opposing ways. BOY BANDS TO MEN (Feature Comedy - PITCH PERFECT meets POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING) A washed-up R&B heartthrob attempts to manage his estranged son for an audition for the first K-pop boy band comprised of only non-Koreans for the hope of a substantial commission. Character-driven, BIPOC-centric, Coming-of-Age, YA, Animation, Satire Male, BIPOC, Asian, Southeast Asian/Pacific Islander unrepped

< Back Leah Simmons lsimmons.johnstone@gmail.com (605) 359-4627 Coverfly Leah is a genre writer from South Dakota specializing in horror and sci-fi that ranges from the deep exploration of humanity's darker nature to laugh out loud funny. Honors & Awards Omaha Film Festival - Feature Finalist - WEREWOLVES CAN SUCK IT! - 2024 Launch Pad Feature Script Contest - Top 100 - PRO LIFE - 2024 The Women's Lab - Quarterfinalist - GERMINATION - 2024 non-WGA Female, 40+ PRO LIFE Horror Feature - MISERY x RED STATE When a pregnant woman and her wife are caught in a snowstorm in rural South Dakota, an alt-right religious family takes them in for the night. Things turn deadly when the family decides to “rescue” their unborn child. WEREWOLVES CAN SUCK IT! Comedy Feature - DALE & TUCKER VERSUS EVIL x WOLFCOP Just like your dog, werewolves are terrified of vacuum cleaners. So when a pack of werewolves invades a rural town, it's up to the owner of a failing vacuum repair business and her stoner friend to save the day with their arsenal of Hoovers and a plucky Roomba. TANDEM Sci-fi Feature - INCEPTION x TOTAL RECALL Haunted by her husband's accidental death, a suicide prevention officer working for the world's largest virtual reality company discovers a glitch in the software traps and kill its users. Now, she must determine what is real in order to implement a patch before the algorithm destroys her. Character-driven, Female-centric, Queer, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Horror, Dark, Snarky Female, 40+ unrepped

< Back Rich Orstad richorstad@laughingo.com http://www.laughingo.com Coverfly The Black List Rich started writing his first story, the sci-fi thriller Lightmares, in his High School Creative Writing class, where his teacher commented he had a difficult choice to make; do the practical thing and become an Engineer or heed Robert Frost’s advice, take the road less travelled and become a writer. Well, after graduating college as a Mechanical Engineer and starting his career, the monkeys never stopped scratching at that story until it finally poured out of him nearly twenty years later, and he's been writing ever since. Since then, he has become a two-time winner and twelve-time finalist with two features in various stages of development. He won the Screencraft True Story Competition with his inspirational bio-pic ENDURANCE, currently in development with Noble Story Co, placed Silver in PAGE with his family feature RESCUE DOG, and is working with Redwoods Studios with his Austin After Dark Finalist horror-comedy NAMASTE ALIVE! Growing up, Rich consumed every Stephen King novel he wrote, was lucky enough to watch Star Wars when it first came out in theaters and had a dad that loved to tell stories about growing up on a farm in depression-era North Dakota. Which is why Rich loves telling stories across all genres because like a well-lived life, every story should pack an emotional punch. Rich is looking for the right representation, is open to OWA’s, and resides in Los Gatos, CA with his wife, Kim. non-WGA Male, 55+, Middle Eastern ENDURANCE (Feature, Family Drama) After losing his legs to an IED in 2012, an Afghanistan War veteran commits his life to completing the Boston Marathon one year after the 2013 bombings and to finish the most important race of his life…his commitment to faith and bringing hope to wounded veterans. Based on a true story. KEEPSAKES CHRISTMAS (Feature, Family Drama) When a social worker discovers that an elderly woman’s Christmas keepsakes have the power to magically transport them both back in time to the memory each holiday memento represents, she takes on the fight to save the senior’s home and her lifetime of precious holiday memories. NAMASTE ALIVE! (Feature, Horror Comedy) When a shy Cali girl says her mantra wrong during Hot Mindfulness Yoga Class and becomes possessed by the Hindu God of Destruction, her best friend must assemble a rag-tag team of friends, family, and mystics to save her life and prevent the end of humankind. Character-driven, Thriller, Sci-Fi, Horror, Magical Realism Male, 55+, Middle Eastern unrepped

< Back Lisa Kors lisamkors@gmail.com https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1131495/ A daughter of immigrants, Lisa Kors was raised near Yonkers, NY. Her love of storytelling was shaped by a dad who played handball with FBI guys and a social worker mom whose clients kept finding dead bodies on the job. (Yonkers was a big garbage mafia town back then, so maybe not so weird…?) By second grade, Lisa could tell a story that would scare the bejesus out of her friends. To this day, Lisa likes writing stories about good people making bad choices for excellent reasons. She is also an excellent parallel parker. Honors & Awards Coverfly Top 2% of Thriller/Horror TV Pilots - THE DRAGON OF HANDALE - 2022 Finalist, We Screenplay Diverse Voices Competition - THE DRAGON OF HANDALE - 2022 Finalist, ScreenCraft Horror Competition - THE DRAGON OF HANDALE - 2022 non-WGA Female, Non-binary THE DRAGON OF HANDALE TV, Drama Based on a popular British novel, The Dragon of Handale is a medieval whodunnit that follows a badass young widow who investigates a gruesome series of murders at the convent where bad nuns are sent to be punished. PRINCES' HOSPITAL TV, Drama (GREY'S ANATOMY x HOMELAND) Inspired by a real hospital in Saudi Arabia, PRINCES' HOSPITAL is a one-hour drama that follows the adventures of the extravagantly paid ex-pat doctors and nurses who treat only the 20,000 members of the royal family. Money, rules and secrets abound. FREAKY FURDAY Feature, Comedy Cat-astophe ensues when a pampered show dog and a scrappy feral cat switch bodies right before a high-stakes competition. Female-centric, Medical, Crime, Thriller, Procedural, Psychological, Horror, International Female, Non-binary unrepped

< Back Alec Moore alecmoore219@gmail.com Alec Moore has just written and co-produced his first feature to get made, a screwball romcom called "Advanced Chemistry," starring actors from hit shows on HBO and FOX, which premiered as an official selection of the Dances With Films festival, had a limited theatrical run, and just hit #3 on STARZ. It is 100% Fresh on the Rotten Tomatoes Popcornmeter. He has developed pilots and features with numerous production companies, including Intuition, Shaftesbury, The Fun Group and Monami. He has written for "Funny You Should Ask", produced by Byron Allen. Alec graduated from UCLA's MFA in Screenwriting program. He was a writer for the CBS Diversity Showcase, a Scriptapalooza finalist with his 30 Rock spec script, "Health Scare Plan," and a semi-finalist for Universal's Emerging Writers Fellowship with his feature script "The Ninth Life of Cat-Man." His short story "Optimistic Tom" was a selection of The New Short Fiction Series as part of its annual Emerging Voices Group Show. His web series "The Public Offender" would be very critically acclaimed if critics were aware of it. His mother will also be happy to tell you additional nice things about him. Alec is a Brooklyn native and a graduate of Haverford College, a school so prestigious that most people have never heard of it. He appreciates that you have read all the way to the end of his bio. Honors and Awards Dances With Films: LA Official Selection - Advanced Chemistry - 2024 #3 movie on STARZ - Advanced Chemistry - January 2025 non-WGA Male, Over 40 LEZ BE FRIENDS (comedy feature) Unable to bear the fact that his sister’s new fiancee doesn’t vibe with him the way her ex-girlfriends did, a codependent treehouse designer tries desperately to befriend the fiancee, jeopardizing his relationship with his own fiancee. EVIL TWIN (comedy feature and pilot) An OCD guy who struggles in life but is finally getting things to go his way has his life upended when his charming, suave twin who he’s always resented moves across the country and into his life, taking over his friends and winning the heart of his would-be girlfriend. And worse, people start getting murdered. THE NINTH LIFE OF CAT-MAN (animated pilot) When Cat-Man dies for the eighth time, he must retire from being a superhero and try to live a "normal" life. When living under his disapproving father's watchful eye proves intolerable, he ends up living in a halfway house with his sexy female super-villain arch-nemesis who killed him twice. Character-driven, BIPOC-centric, Queer, Animation, Silly, Sketch Male, Over 40 unrepped