Co-Presented by the CFC 

Pen Densham is an award-winning triple-hyphenate: a writer, producer & director. He is co-founder of Trilogy Entertainment Group in Los Angeles and Canada (a company whose works have currently grossed more than $1 billion dollars worldwide). He worked with Marshall McLuhan, founded the twice Oscar-nominated Toronto based company Insight Productions with John Watson, and was mentored to Hollywood by Norman Jewison. He writes and directs both TV and features and is responsible for reviving THE OUTER LIMITS and THE TWILIGHT ZONE for television, feature films such as ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, LARGER THAN LIFE starring Bill Murray, HOUDINI for TNT, and many others. His personal favorite is MOLL FLANDERS, a feature that he wrote and directed, starring Robin Wright and Morgan Freeman. Pen also teaches an annual MFA course at USC Film School that caused him to write his insider’s book on screenwriting, RIDING THE ALLIGATOR: Strategies for a Career in Screenplay Writing (And Not Getting Eaten)”, sharing his chapters with his students as he discovered their needs and goals. Published by MWP, the book has been hailed by Hollywood talent like Ron Howard, Paul Haggis, Norman Jewison, Robin Wright, Morgan Freeman, and by academics at top film schools like USC, UCLA, AFI, CFC and beyond.

Leonard Dick is an Emmy-award winning writer and producer who has written for several groundbreaking series including LOST, HOUSE, and THE GOOD WIFE.  The Toronto native won both an Emmy for Outstanding Drama and a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama as part of the producing and writing team of LOST.  He went on to serve as a writer and producer on HOUSE and was nominated for a WGA Award for Best Episodic Drama for an episode he co-wrote.  Leonard’s eclectic writing career began in comedy, most notably on Fox’s long-running sketch-comedy MAD TV and animated cult hit THE OBLONGS.  Leonard has also written pilots for Fox, The WB (now the CW), and ABC.  A Harvard MBA, Leonard began his entertainment industry career as a summer intern at Cineplex Odeon and a business planning executive at Walt Disney Studios.  He is currently a Co-Executive Producer and writer on THE GOOD WIFE in its second season on CBS.

Joe Gazzam Shortly after arriving in Hollywood, Joe went on to sell his first three original screenplays titled SCARED STRAIGHT, CRYPTOZOO and STRAIGHT & NARROW to New Line, Alcon, and New Regency respectively. He then completed an assignment to write the film version of the hit TV show 21 JUMP STREET for Original Films and Sony studios.  He recently completed a screenplay for the remake of the cult classic BARBARELLA and is currently finishing ANUBIS TAPESTRY, an assignment for Fox Animation.  He’s also made his foray into television, selling his original show DEPUTIZED to the Sci-fi Network.

Butch Hartman is an Emmy Award nominated writer/producer best known as the creator and executive producer of THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS - one of the longest running series on Nickelodeon at nine seasons and more than 120 episodes. The FAIRLY ODDPARENTS has been nominated in numerous categories at the annual Annie Awards (the animation world’s equivalent to the Oscars). His career has spanned two decades, and includes creating the animated hit series DANNY PHANTOM and his latest project, T.U.F.F. PUPPY for Nickelodeon. He worked for Amblin Television before joining Hanna-Barbera , and his other writing credits include JOHNNY BRAVO and DEXTER’S LABORATORY.

Robert Nelson Jacobs is an Academy Award nominated writer whose screenplay credits include CHOCOLAT, THE SHIPPING NEWS, THE WATER HORSE, and EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES. Jacobs began his career as a writer of short stories that were published in little, prestigious magazines that generated little, prestigious income. Robert’s love of movies brought him to California, where it took a number of years for his work to finally start paying the rent. Robert received an Oscar nomination for best-adapted screenplay for CHOCOLAT.

Damian Kindler A seasoned television writer and producer with over 19 years of experience, Kindler created the pilot script for SANCTUARY approximately ten years ago, and put it away for safe keeping when he started writing for the Stargate franchise. In 2007, along with fellow STARGATE colleagues Amanda Tapping and Martin Wood, Kindler produced SANCTUARY, the first broadcast quality series to go direct to the Internet and then broadcast television. The first season of the groundbreaking series was so popular, it was picked up for second and third seasons in 2009 and 2010 -- and most recently a fourth 13-episode order. Sanctuary can currently be seen in over 180 countries around the world – headlined by SYFY Channel US. In 2008, Kindler sat on a panel at the prestigious Paley Centre for Media in New York to discuss the series’ original beginnings and cutting-edge technology. Prior to SANCTUARY, Kindler was Co-Executive Producer and Writer for STARGATE SG-1 and Creative Consultant and Writer for STARGATE ATLANTIS, two of the most popular science fiction TV series worldwide.

Franklin Leonard is a development executive and the creator of the Black List and co-creator of Blcklst.com, a yearly publication highlighting Hollywood’s most popular unproduced screenplays and its ongoing home on the web. Franklin was the director of development at Universal Pictures, and has held similar positions at the production companies of directors Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and former Paramount Pictures president John Goldwyn. He is currently the Vice President of Creative Affairs for Will Smith’s Production Company Overbrook Entertainment.

Kevin Shortt is a scriptwriter and story designer at Ubisoft Montreal where his writing credits include JAMES CAMERON’S AVATAR: THE GAME, FAR CRY 2, and LOST–THE VIDEO GAME. Prior to joining Ubisoft, Kevin was senior writer and associate creative director at Tribal DDB Canada where his work won numerous awards. During his tenure, Tribal won Digital Agency of the Year. Over the last 10 years, Kevin has written for many interactive projects ranging from online campaigns to episodic comedies to AAA video games. Kevin’s early experience has been writing and directing short films and working in television where his credits include SO WEIRD and THE NEW ADDAMS FAMILY. 

Christopher Vogler is one of Hollywood’s leading script consultants and is best known as the author of the popular screenwriters guide, THE WRITER'S JOURNEY: Mythic Structure for Writers.  Vogler began his career as a development executive in Hollywood where he worked in the development departments of Disney Studios (THE LION KING), Fox 2000 Pictures (FIGHT CLUB) and Warner Bros. His story techniques have attracted the attention of several top filmmakers who have brought him in to consult on their scripts - Darren Aronofsky (THE WRESTLER), Roland Emmerich (10,000 B.C.), and Will Smith (I AM LEGEND and HANCOCK). In addition he has also advised on several independent films including Helen Hunt’s directorial debut, THEN SHE FOUND ME. While working for Paramount Pictures he advised on THE SPIDERWICK CHRONICLES, THE SHOOTER and BEOWULF. He is President of the company Storytech Literary Consulting. For more about Christopher Vogler, please visit http://www.thewritersjourney.com/

Martin Wood is both Executive Producer and Director of the groundbreaking sci-fi Series SANCTUARY. Credited with directing more than 50 episodes of the long running science fiction series STARGATE SG-1, more than 30 episodes of its spin‐off series Stargate Atlantis, as well as the DVD movie STARGATE CONTINUUM Wood brings a level of expertise to the television genre of science fiction that is unmatched. In 2007, Martin along with his former STARGATE SG‐1/STARGATE ATLANTIS colleagues Damian Kindler and Amanda Tapping, launched SANCTUARY the first broadcast quality online series direct to the Internet. Within the first six months of being on the web, SANCTUARY received over 3.7 million views and downloads. After two very successful seasons on television, Wood is again behind the camera directing and executive producing Sanctuary. The groundbreaking series films almost entirely on green screen and uses the innovative RED camera.

Christine Zander is an American television writer and producer who started her career in 1987 working for Saturday Night Live in New York City. After seven seasons of live television she moved to California and after a year of freelance half-hours joined the writing staff of 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, starring John Lithgow, for the six seasons of it’s widely acclaimed award winning run. After that many half hour comedies followed including: GROUNDED FOR LIFE (Fox) LESS THAN PERFECT (ABC) SAMANTHA WHO (ABC) – She also was a Co-Exec producer/writer on Showtime’s dramedy, NURSE JACKIE for the first two seasons of it’s run. She currently is a Co-EP on RAISING HOPE (Fox) which has been picked up officially for a second season. Christine has also written and produced some half hour comedy pilots, among them: ABFAB(the American version) and a pilot for Patricia Heaton of EVERBODY LOVES RAYMOND fame.