Part
One: 10:00 am – 11:15 am
Producers Guide to
Getting It Done...from Script to Screen
This tantalizing conversation and presentation
will engage a panel of successful producers to share their journeys of making
great film/tv on various budgets and methods. Join us as each Producer
discloses the processes, tools, stories, and keys behind taking one of their
beloved projects from a script onto screens.
Part 2: 1:00 – 2:15 pm
Tackling the
Challenge of New Stories
Now the producers will imagine what they would
do today to take 3-4 of the Cinequest Screenplay & Teleplay finalist
scripts into screen reality. Screenwriters will pitch their unique ideas, and
producers will select a project and explain how they would strategize and work
to produce that story. From big budget studio projects to independently
produced lower budget projects, producers will showcase that there’s different
paths to success.
Panelists Include:
Katherine Waddell –
Producer, Actor
Katherine Waddell is a 29-year-old actress and
producer who grew up in São Paulo, Brazil, and has studied fine arts for over
18 years, spanning two continents. Her first producing credit came from her
role as Associate Producer on Six L.A. Love Stories, featuring Matthew Lillard,
Alicia Witt, and Carrie Preston. Her latest credits come as Co-Executive
Producer on Dinner in America starring Kyle Gallner and Emily Skeggs, from PSH
Creative and Ben Stiller's Red Hour Productions. Dinner in America was
officially selected to compete in the US Dramatic Competition at Sundance 2020.
She is also an executive producer on We Need To Do Something, a horror film
that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In addition, she recently signed
on to executive produce the film “The Inventor,” starring Marion
Cotillard, Stephen Fry, and Daisy Ridley. Now residing in Los Angeles, in 2020
Katherine started the production company First Bloom Films alongside writer and
director, Em Johnson, and they recently completed their company's first feature,
Balloon Animal, which has been accepted into over 14 film festivals and
recently secured distribution with Buffalo8.”
Tom Huang – Writer,
Director, Producer
Tom Huang is an award-winning Writer/Director. His last feature,
FIND ME, which he wrote and directed, won multiple festival awards including
Best Screenplay, Best Feature Film and Audience Awards. Outside Magazine named
it “the Indie Adventure Film we all need,” and the Hollywood Reporter called it
a “touching and quirky charmer.” The film was a critical and streaming hit,
achieving 100% on Rotten Tomatoes with critics, as well as making multiple
top-viewed lists on Amazon Prime, including Top Drama Movies, Top Comedy Movies
and Popular Movies.
Tom is a Warner Brothers Sitcom Workshop graduate and has also
been a staff writer for network TV sitcoms, including the critically lauded ABC
show SONS AND DAUGHTERS and STILL STANDING on CBS. He has also produced and
directed numerous commercials and promo campaigns for studios, networks and
corporations such as Fox, DirecTV, FX, NFL Network, hulu and many more.
Tom is a Film Independent Screenwriting Lab and Fast Track Fellow,
where he developed his current feature film, DEALING WITH DAD, which just started
its film festival run across the US and has already won three Best Feature Film
Awards, as well as two Audience Awards for Best Feature Film. Chicago Film
Critic Pamela Powell said the film “creates what feels like a simple story
but what is actually a rather complicated one complete with layers of humor
takes just the right cast and Huang has found them,“ while Character Media
called the film “…both funny and achingly poignant.” He is also
developing THE LOYAL BETRAYAL, a film noir feature set in the Manzanar Japanese
Internment Camp during World War II, and a sequel for FIND ME.
Larry Schapiro – Producer, Writer, Talent Manager
Larry Schapiro has been a writer, film/television producer and
talent manager for over twenty-five years. Larry has written several
screenplays under his pen name, Allen Lawrence, including “Bobby Z" for
Sony Pictures starring the late Paul Walker, Laurence Fishburne and Olivia
Wilde. He produced and co-directed the 2020 Cinequest opening night film, the
documentary: “You Go Now: The John Pinette Story". He has produced for
both feature films and television, including two one-hour specials for Comedy
Central and several feature films which include, PLAYING MONA LISA (Buena
Vista) as well as INSANITARIUM and ZOMBIE STRIPPERS! (Sony). He just recently
wrapped production on “One Fast Move” starring K.J. Apa, Eric Dane and Maia
Reficco. Larry is one of the founders and Co-President of the management firm
Luber/Roklin Entertainment.
Moderated by Barnaby
Dallas – Producer, Writer, Story Development
Barnaby Dallas has taught screenwriting and story
development for DreamWorks Animation for the past 14 years. He has taught
screenwriting at San Jose State University for 20 years where is also the
Director of Production for Film and Theatre. He currently has projects in
development for Nine Yards Entertainment.