Jeff Kennedy

Story Analyst for Tradition Pictures

A native of New York who cut his teeth on three different continents, Jeff moved to Scotland at 18 to study film and literature at Glasgow University before moving to Hong Kong in 2011. There, Jeff directed his feature-length debut, "The Last Act," premiering at the Hong Kong FILMART before being picked up for distribution by Indieflix and AmazonPrime. Moving to Los Angeles in 2018, he became the Development Executive of Tradition Pictures, overseeing the creative development of all film & TV projects and working closely with Tradition's writing talent. In 2021, he became an independent consultant, working with writers, directors & producers while continuing to read and consult for Tradition and Roadmap Writers.

Peter Hanrahan

Story Analyst for UTA

Peter Hanrahan currently works as a Story Analyst for UTA. He received his MFA in Playwriting from Rutgers University and BA in English from Washington University in St. Louis (Phi Beta Kappa). His play "Prize Inside" was published in The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2007 (S&K), and his screenplay "The Lowlands" has actors John Leguizamo and Alfred Molina and director Alfredo de Villa attached. He writes for Script Magazine and serves on the Advisory Board of ScriptHop. He currently lives with his wife and two daughters in Saint Louis, Missouri, where he facilitates the Scriptwriting Program at Webster University.

Adam Faberman

Screenwriter - Big Bang Theory

Before graduating from the University of Maryland with a bachelor's degree in American Studies, Adam Faberman was a college intern on the first season of "The Drew Carey Show." He worked his way up to writers' assistant and got the opportunity to write a few scripts. From there, Adam worked on several multi-cam sitcoms until landing a script coordinator job during the first season of "The Big Bang Theory." Halfway through the ninth season, he was promoted to the writing staff. He was there for the 12-year run. After Big Bang, he wrote on "Call Me Kat" starring Mayim Bialik.

Helen Truong

Story Analyst for Sony Pictures

Currently a reader at Sony Pictures, Helen has previously read at Amazon, Participant Media, UTA, Paradigm, Escape Artists, and other production companies. A writer herself, she has a strong belief in trying to serve the writer's vision, while utilizing her knowledge of the industry to inform any notes.

Heloise Wilson

Script Consultant for Netflix and Lionsgate

Heloise is a script consultant for Netflix. She also reads for Lionsgate, Signature Entertainment, and Koch Media, as well as many other production companies. She's a writer and actress, and she holds an MFA in playwriting from Brooklyn College. She loves discovering new voices. She's keen to champion bold and insightful stories. Her favorite genres are female-driven dramedies with a societal lens and psychological thrillers. Her goal is to help you crack open your story and get closer to the message you want to convey. Heloise is multilingual and also reads in French, Italian, and Spanish.

John Shepherd

Producer

John is a producer with Flying Rhino Productions. In 2020, John was Co-Executive Producer of the blockbuster "1917," which was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and grossed $385 million worldwide. As Vice President at New Republic Pictures, John also oversaw development of the Oscar-winning Elton John biopic "Rocketman." Prior to this, John ran development at Cross Creek Pictures where he supervised Academy Award-winners "Black Swan" and "Hacksaw Ridge" and Golden Globe Best Picture nominees "Rush" and "The Ides of March." John was also involved with box-office hits "The Woman in Black," "Everest," and "Black Mass, all of which grossed more than $100 million at the worldwide box-office.

As a screenwriter, John was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for his work on the Emmy Award-winning Showtime series ""Nurse Jackie." John has extensively lectured on screenwriting at USC, UCLA, AFI, Art Center College of Design and the NC School of the Arts.

Charles Zucker

Story Analyst for Roserock Films at Warner Brothers Studios

Having graduated from UW Madison with a B.A. degree in Communications, Charles is currently a reader for Roserock Films at Warner Brothers Studios. Before college, he gained experience working summers as a stunt driving instructor at Willow Springs Raceway, which proved invaluable in steering through convoluted second acts. Since graduating, Charles has done editing and PA work for various short films. He loves working in and writing comedy, but submarine movies ("Das Boot," "Wolf's Call," "Run Silent, Run Deep") are his favorite movies to watch.

Jim Herzfeld

Screenwriter - Meet The Parents

Jim Herzfeld graduated from UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television (TFT) and his earliest TV credit – on the ground-breaking "It's Garry Shandling's Show" -- was followed by 10 years of writing and producing episodes on dozens of sitcom staffs, including the Fox TV classic "Married... With Children."

Herzfeld's earliest feature film work was a writing credit on the cult comedy "Tapeheads" in 1988. His most successful work was writing the screenplay for the 2000 film "Meet the Parents" as well as writing the story and screenplay for its 2004 sequel "Meet the Fockers." To date, both films remain two of the 20 Highest Grossing Comedies ever.

More recently, in 2015 Jim's screenplay for "Meet the Parents" was selected by the Writer's Guild of America as one of the "101 Funniest Screenplays" of all time.

Herzfeld has also guest lectured at NYU, UCLA, and AFI and was a Finals Judge for the Austin Film Festival's Comedy Screenplay Competition.

Hilliard Guess

Screenwriter / Producer

Hilliard has written for The Russo Bros SYFY series "Deadly Class," "Ep'd Ticker" (Best Series 2021 World Int FF), and is currently producing Amazon's Alex Cross companion series: "Cross-Ace."

Hilliard has a knack for writing underdog stories in a murder-death-kill world. He grew up in one of the most dangerous places in America. Surrounded by former Black Panthers, Hilliard was a gay theater kid and an 80s Rudeboy.

Since 2009, he's produced over 30 TV pilots, Films, Shorts, POCs, Docs and made himself invaluable in development rooms — producing from script to screen.

Hilliard is the former DOD (now Prod) at Blue Monday Prods. He's known for diversity & inclusion and is dedicated to the WGAW Co-Chair Committee of Black Writers & Writers Ed and on the LGBTQ+, Latinx and Genre.

Hilliard was featured & on the cover of the book "The Top 100 Indie Writers in The World" and hosts Screenwriters' Rant Room & WGAW 3rd & Fairfax.

Twt X/IG: @HilliardGuess

James Chatterton

Story Analyst for HBO

James Chatterton is currently a story analyst for HBO. He provides coverage on scripts, books, plays, podcasts, completed films/TV, and anything else they can throw at him. Before that, he was a story analyst for Anonymous Content and Broad Green Pictures. James also runs the Above & Beyond Screenwriting Workshop in Culver City. It's one of the longest-running screenwriting workshops in the LA area. James took it over in 2016 and oversaw its growth from strictly in-person to online. As a screenwriter, he is an Austin Film Festival Second-Rounder, an Academy Nicholl Quarter-Finalist & Semi-Finalist, currently attached to a project set up at a major production company.

Alvaro Rodriguez

Producer

Born and raised along the South Texas border, Alvaro Rodriguez never felt constrained to genre or superficial categorization. He has always been drawn to stories of shapeshifters, of metamorphosis and revelation, and considers himself a smuggler. That led him from working with Robert Rodriguez on genre films like "Planet Terror" and "Machete," to co-creating the animated Netflix series "Seis Manos." He most recently served as a producer on the Netflix series "Florida Man" and as a supervising producer on Showtime/Amazon's "American Rust." He is currently developing projects in the animated space with IDW and Anima Studios and is attached as a showrunner to an animated series developed by Pedro Cristiani, director of "Deus Irae," from XYZ Films. He is developing adult live-action projects for film and television with Invention Studios/Abot Hameiri/Fremantle Media, Bender/Brown Productions, and is a co-executive producer on "Tu, Mio," an international feature shooting soon from Danish director Bille August.

David Hopwood

Producer

Hopwood has produced films such as "Den of Thieves," "Escape Plan," and "Immortals," as well as series such as "Power" for Starz. He currently co-runs a new production shingle, "A Group of Ferrets." Currently, he has projects in various stages of development and production with Lionsgate, UCP, Peacock, Macro, Tubi, and Starz. At Atmosphere Entertainment, he shepherded many films, including "The Spiderwick Chronicles," "Piranha 3D," "Letters to Juliet," "Cake," "Mr.Church," "300: Rise of an Empire," and ultimately rose to the title of President of Production and Development. He has a degree in Cinema/Television from USC and began his career in entertainment with Michael Ovitz's Artist Management Group. There, he worked for talent manager and producer Ellen Goldsmith-Vein (currently CEO of The Gotham Group).

Benjamin Thornton

Development Executive for Warner Bros Discovery

Benjamin Thornton is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and produced playwright. He has worked at DC Comics, Sony Pictures, Cartoon Network, and most recently as a Creative Development Executive for Warner Bros Discovery where he was across the global development of Scripted and Unscripted Formats.

Spencer Walken

VP Development at Lab Brew

Spencer Walken currently serves as a VP of Development at Lindsey Beer's Lab Brew, where he helps oversee their growing slate and services their first look feature deal at Paramount Pictures. He began his career at UTA, where he worked in the Motion Picture Talent Department for two and a half years. From there he went on to work at Imagine Entertainment where he was involved in the development of the Golden Globe and Academy Award nominated TICK, TICK…BOOM! directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and starring Andrew Garfield. He was also involved in the development of Lionsgate's THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME starring Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis as well as Ron Howard's HILLBILLY ELEGY starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close. From there he went on to Broken Road Productions where he worked on Netflix's SENIOR YEAR starring Rebel Wilson, PLAYING WITH FIRE starring John Cena and Keegan-Michael Key, the Universal Pictures drama ALL MY LIFE, and New Line Cinema's MORTAL KOMBAT based on the hit video game.

Rohit Shivdas

Story Analyst for Sundance Screenwriting Labs

Rohit Shivdas is a script reader for the Sundance Institute's Feature Film Development Track, evaluating screenplays for Sundance Screenwriting Labs. He has worked as a story analyst for Plan B Entertainment and Topic Studios, providing in-depth script coverage and development insights. Additionally, he has held roles at Hyde Park Entertainment, Zero Gravity Management, and 3Pas Studios, gaining experience across film and TV development. His expertise spans script analysis, market research, and creative development, with a strong focus on discovering compelling stories and fresh voices.

Rohit holds an MFA in Screenwriting from DePaul University and has contributed to major film festivals, including the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles. Passionate about storytelling across genres, he is particularly drawn to character-driven narratives and high-concept thrillers.

Lawrence H. Stern

Story Analyst for UTA

Lawrence Hughes Stern currently reads for UTA. He graduated from Brown University (BA in theater) and received his MFA in writing from UCLA's School of Film, Theater, and TV (Summa Cum Laude). He is currently represented as a screenwriter by his agent at Innovative Artists in Los Angeles. Lawrence has had five screenplays optioned and been hired for lots of indie writing/rewriting jobs. In addition, he has previously been a script analyst at ICM and worked in development for two different companies with production deals at Fox. With extensive experience in writing, acting, directing, and music (pianist/songwriter), Lawrence has won awards for his work in all mediums – including a Samuel Goldwyn Award, The Steve Lawrence/Eydie Gorme Musical Theater Scholarship, and several others.

Scott Foster

Producer

Scott Foster is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of ScriptHop. Former Director of the Story Department at United Talent Agency (UTA) where he managed literary submissions and edited the work of the agency's script analysts. He has read nearly 5,000 scripts at UTA, and while working for Endeavor (now WME), Handprint Entertainment, and LightFlash (Fox Searchlight). He's produced several films, including Sundance competition feature, "Adrift in Manhattan," and has several projects in the works, including one with director Alfredo De Villa (Cooper's Bar, AMC). He's contributed articles to MovieMaker Magazine and Script Magazine. A graduate of Columbia University's Film School with a Master's in Screenwriting, he brings his many years of experience in the film and television industry to help push ScriptHop forward as they create intelligent tools for streamlining the processes that optimize Hollywood's content development process.

Luke Genton

Script Analyst for UTA and STX Entertainment

Luke is currently a script analyst for both UTA and STX Entertainment. After growing up in Ohio and attending Full Sail University in Orlando, Luke Genton moved to LA to pursue screenwriting. He scripted "Snow Falls," released by Lionsgate on VOD in early 2023. Luke was also enlisted to rewrite "The Bell Keeper," a horror flick produced by Jeffrey Reddick ("Final Destination"). He wrote and executive-produced a home invasion film titled "Sorry Charlie," recently released as a Tubi original. Luke has a number of other screenplays in various stages of development. He's developed a strong understanding of storytelling while covering screenplays for various companies over the years.

Joseph Seldner

Producer

Joe Seldner has decades of high-level experience in film and television, both on the creative and business sides of the industry. A former Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, Joe was creative/development executive to Tom Hanks for four years and co-produced the hit HBO movie "61*" directed by Billy Crystal. He is currently working with producers and actors who have led such projects as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy (Rick Porras), "The Last Dance" series about Michael Jordan, (Mike Tollin) "Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song," (Jonathan Dana) and "The Edge of Tomorrow,"(Jason Hoffs). Joe has an MBA from Yale University and completed a yearlong fellowship at Stanford University in 2023. He is a huge sports fan and sports participant and climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in 2013.

Brian Gunn

Screenwriter - Brightburn

Brian has been a professional screenwriter since 1999, when he and his cousin/writing partner Mark wrote the MTV movie "2gether," a spoof about a fictional boy band. It spawned a concert tour, two top-40 albums, and a TV series created and executive produced by the Gunns.

Since that time, the Gunns have transitioned from television into film. The box-office hit "Journey 2: The Mysterious Island," starring Dwayne Johnson and Michael Caine, was their first widely released theatrical movie.

The Gunns wrote and executive produced the superhero horror movie "Brightburn," starring Elizabeth Banks, which has become a worldwide success and are currently working on a film project for Warner Bros. and a TV project for Amazon.