Speakers

Jason Alexander is an actor, director, producer, writer, singer, and comedian. He is best known for his role as George Costanza on Seinfeld, appearing from 1989-98.

David Shore is Creator of HOUSE, Doubt, and more in the works at Shore Z Productions with an overall deal at Sony Studios. From camper with a line in “Meatballs” to lawyer to writer/producer/showruner.

Deborah Pratt is a true visionary showrunner and 5x Emmy nominee and Golden Globe nominee and Co-Executive Producer & Head Writer of Quantum Leap & EP of The Net.

Cynthia Gibb is an actress and former model who has starred in film and on television.

Anthony McCarten is an internationally acclaimed writer & producer, known for The Theory of Everything, Death of a Superhero, Via Satellite & The English Harem. Anthony is also a fiction writer, playwright, and poet.

David Madden is President of Fox Television Studios, which develops and produces programming for US broadcast and cable networks, and international broadcasters.

Jim Pasternak, director of Certifiably Jonathan, directed the comedy feature, One Hell of a Guy. His short films, In a Train Station and The Wayfarer, were featured at the Whitney Museum in NYC.

Valerie Landsburg is an actress, television and film director, screenwriter, and singer-songwriter.

Charlie Rubin is a television comedy writer, producer, and humorist. He has written for National Lampoon, The Carol Burnett Show, In Living Color, The Jon Stewart Show, Saturday Night Live, Seinfeld, and Law & Order:.

Susan Shapiro, an award-winning journalism professor, has written for The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Newsweek, The Nation, Salon and Psychology Today.

Hollywood Literary Retreat Seminar: How to Compose Film Music with Curt Sobel, Joe LoDuca, Terence Blanchard, Bruce Broughton, Ken Hertz, and Joel Roman

Hollywood Literary Retreat Seminar: How to Compose Film Music with Curt Sobel, Joe LoDuca, Terence Blanchard, Bruce Broughton, Ken Hertz, and Robin Burgess

Ken Hertz is a Senior Partner in the Los Angeles law firm of Hertz Lichtenstein & Young LLP. Ken and his partners specialize in representing talent and new media companies in the sports and entertainment industries.

Bruce Broughton is a film, video game, and telsion soundtrack composer who has composed several highly acclaimed soundtracks over his extensive career, including American music classics such as Homeward Bound.

Terence Blanchard is a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, arranger, and film score composer.

Joseph LoDuca is a television and film score composer best known for his work writing television scores.

Curt Sobel is a composer. In 1992 he won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for the song “Why Do I Lie?” from the HBO movie Cast a Deadly Spell.

Adam Belanoff is a producer and writer, known for Major Crimes, The Closer, Cosby, and Murphy Brown.

In a career spanning over fifteen years in the entertainment business, prominent Latina producer Carolyn Caldera has truly made a name for herself.

Scott Rosenfelt is one of Hollywood’s most successful independent producers. On the strength of such films as Smoke Signals, Home Alone, Mystic Pizza, and Teen Wolf, Scott has garnered international acclaim.

Hollywood Literary Retreat Seminar: How to Write for Multi-Media Entertainment with Jon Samsel, Carl Bressler, and Scott Rosenfelt

Jon Samsel is a seasoned marketing strategist known for his ability to fuse storytelling, data analytics and design into winning strategies that help companies acquire & retain customers,

Carmen Agra Deedy is an internationally known, award winning author of children’s literature, storyteller and radio contributor.

Often called the ‘Dean of American Storytelling,’ she is today considered one of the world’s foremost storytellers – widely respected as both a master and scholar of the ageless art.

An award-winning, internationally known performer and recording artist, playwright and teacher of her craft, Milbre Burch is a storyteller in every sense of the word.

Judith Black is a professional storyteller, who has toured internationally, telling stories to a wide ranging audience in the United States, Europe, and the Near East.

“Storyteller David Novak is an on-stage wizard, spinning his tales with wild creativity, intelligence, and wit.” Rapid River Magazine. Highly prized for his ability to use his voice, facial expressions & body.

Jay O’Callahan is a prominent storyteller for people of all ages. He has performed at numerous national and international storytelling festivals, in theaters worldwide, and on the radio.

Donald Davis is a storyteller, author and minister. Davis had a twenty-year career as a minister before he became a professional storyteller. He has recorded over 25 storytelling albums and written several books.

David S. Ward is a film director and screen writer. David is known for The Sting, Sleepless in Seattle, and Major League.

Christopher Vogler is a Hollywood development executive best known for his guide for screenwriters, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers.

Kevin Smokler is a writer, performer and public speaker based in San Francisco. He writes about culture and technology, tells stories onstage and likes people a lot.

Tom Schlesinger was the story consultant on the HBO documentaries “Prom Night in Mississippi” with Morgan Freeman and “A Small Act,” both premiering at Sundance.

Jacqueline Suskin operates a performance/poetry piece informally referred to as Poem Store: a project that consists of exchanging on demand poetry about any subject.

Steve Wilson is President of FastPencil/Courier. FastPencil powers publishing by enabling authors, publishers & enterprise customers to write, design, publish and sell books through their SaaS platform.

Ken Stern is a CFP, as well as President and Founder of Asset Planning Solutions, Inc. and Ken Stern & Associates. Mr. Stern also sits on the board for the QEM.

Lindsey Rudnickas is VP & Digital Marketing Manager at NetGalley, an innovative, easy-to-use online service and connection point for book publishers and professional readers.

Thom Kephart has worked within the independent publishing industry for over seven and a half years, initially working with CreateSpace to develop professional editorial offerings for authors.

Lynn Isenberg is an Author/Screenwriter & Literary Brand Manager. Her work includes the trilogy comedy novels “The Funeral Planner”

Bill George is an Estate Planning Attorney at Burkhalter Kessler Clement & George LLP. BKCG Law specializes in providing legal services for small to medium size businesses and high net worth individuals.

Jean-Luc DeFanti is co-founder of Hemisphere Capital Management which financed: WORLD WAR Z starring Brad Pitt, The Adventures of Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun, The Smurfs 2 & 3.

Frank Beddor is the producer of the hit movie “There’s Something about Mary” turned YA novelist and Transmedia Storyteller Extraordinaire, literary sleuth and world creator.

David Beebe is an Emmy Award winning Executive and Producer, – well respected for his collaborative approach and successful track record of building and leading digital content studios.

Jill Sobule belongs to a rare breed of artists. Her work is at once deeply personal and socially conscious, seriously funny and derisively tragic. Her songs cover a huge amount of ground.

Roger Lowenstein is a lawyer (Harvard ’68) and former professor of constitutional law. He is the founder and Executive Director of a social justice-themed charter school in Lincoln Heights.

John Woldenberg is a producer and actor, known for The Visitor (2007), Smart People (2008) and Silent Partner (2010).

Carl Bressler is a Media Advisor. Tech-Humanist Carl Bressler inherently understands the intersection of media and technology and consults businesses worldwide on growth.

SJ Hodges is an eleven time published writer who completed her MFA in Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She’s received a MacDowell Colony residency.

Stephen Nemeth is President of Rhino Films, Executive Producer, Artivist and Hollywood Literary Retreater! His credits include:Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.

Mike Menchel is President of Evolution Entertainment for film and television. Mike came on board as Evolution’s President in 2011. Prior to that, he spent more than 20 years as an agent.

Studio executive, Network executive, Media consultant, Producer and University Professor, Gerard Bocaccio has had a diverse career in film and television hat has spanned 25 years.

Robin Schwartz is President of Television of Brillstein Entertainment Partners, a Los Angeles production company. She oversees the development and production of television series.

Judy’s message of using humor as a transformational tool led to her being featured in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and CNN.

Michael Rossato-Bennett studied film at Temple University and studied lighting with family friend Vilmos Zigmond. In 1982 he shot Street Dance documentary on the emerging Break-Dance.

Named the most influential Rabbi in America by Newsweek Magazine and one of the 50 most influential Jews in the world by the Jerusalem Post, David Wolpe is the Rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, California.

Steve Parrott is President of Legacy.com. Founded in 1998, with over 40 million unique visitors per month, Legacy.com is an innovative media company that collaborates with more than 900 newspapers .