Topics covered will be writing for short films, writing for website interactivity, screenwriting for video games, and screenwriting within the horror genre. followed by a Q&A period.
Panelists include:
Joan Stein Schimke was nominated for an Academy Award® for her short film “One Day Crossing.” The film, shot in Hungary, won several other awards including the Student Academy Award® Gold Medal, the Director's Guild of America (DGA) Best Woman Student Filmmaker, and Best Director, National Board of Review. Other directing credits include “Law and Order” and the award winning short film "Solidarity." Joan is an Assistant Professor at Adelphi University and is currently developing several film projects.
Terrence Ross is a published novelist (BITTER GRACES, Avon Books) turned into an award winning filmmaker (Humillados Y Ofendidos; Appetite). In addition to being a full time professor at Adelphi University, he has taught screenwriting at NYU for 20 years. He has just completed an interactive web site at www.murderedtheweb.com, which houses video profiles of five famous murderers who passed through the notorious 9th Precinct in Manhattan. He has a special interest in single author movies.
Stevan Mena is a well-established filmmaker who made his mark in the horror genre. His first full-length feature, "Malevolence", was shot on 35mm for under $200,000. Stevan’s film won several awards including Best Feature at the Long Island International Film Expo in 2003. In addition, the film also won Best Feature at the New York Horror Film Festival. The results have made his work a cult classic. His prequel to “Malevolence,” “Bereavement,” also won best feature film at last year’s LIIFE and will receive theatrical distribution this March. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1496042/
JT Petty is a writer and director of movies, books, and video games. He shot his first film, SOFT FOR DIGGING, at the age of twenty for $6,000. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and garnered numerous awards at festivals around the world. His latest films include THE BURROWERS from Lionsgate Films and S&MAN (Sandman) from Magnolia. JT is best known in the videogame world as one of the creators of the SPLINTER CELL franchise. His most recent work was on the game HOMEFRONT, written in collaboration with John Millius. He lives in Brooklyn, NY. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0678786/
Sande Chen is a writer and game designer whose game credits span 10 years in the industry. Her credits include 1999 Independent Games Festival winner Terminus and the PC RPG of the Year, The Witcher, for which she was nominated for a 2007 Writers Guild Award in Videogame Writing. She is the co-author of Serious Games: Games That Educate, Train, and Inform and a contributor to Writing for Video Game Genres, Professional Techniques for Video Game Writing, and Secrets of the Game Business. In 2006, she was profiled as one of the game industry's top 100 most influential women. She also has a Grammy nomination.
