AURORA ADVISORS 2010

SYD FIELD

Acclaimed as the “guru of all screenwriters” by CNN, and “the most sought after screenwriting teacher in the world,” by the Hollywood Reporter, Syd Field is the internationally celebrated author of six books on screenwriting. His classic Screenplay, considered “the Bible” of the film industry, and The Screenwriter’s Workbook are now in their 40th printing, published in 26 languages and used in more than 400 colleges and universities across the country. His book The Screenwriter’s Problem Solver has become an integral part of the Final Draft software program. He is a faculty member at the prestigious Masters of Professional Writing program at University of Southern California and has taught at USC, UCLA, AFI, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Yale, Columbia, among others and has conducted screenwriting workshops all over the world. He has led The Art of Storytelling Workshops for: the Disney Studios, 20th Century Fox, Landmark Education, and The Nike Corporation and conducted Catalyst Workshops for the scientists of JPL, NASA, the National Science Foundation, and the National Academy of Engineers.

A screenplay consultant for 20th Century Fox, Touchstone Pictures, TriStar Pictures and Universal Studios, he has worked intimately with several prominent filmmakers such as: Judd Apatow, (40 year old Virgin, Knocked Up), Alfonso Cuaron (Harry Potter: The Prisoner of Azkaban, Y Tu Mama Tambien,), Gary Marshall (Princess Diaries), Luis Mandoki (When a Man Loves a Woman, White Palace), Laura Esquivel (Like Water for Chocolate), Roland Joffe (The Mission, City of Joy), James L. Brooks (Broadcast News, As Good As It Gets), Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher; 3 time winner of Palm D’Or, at Cannes,), Tony Kaye (American History X, Black Water Transit) and Rakeysh Mehra (Rang De Besanti) nominated for Best Foreign Film, 2206 BAFTA awards. He has just completed the screenplay Pauch Karav – 5 for Rakeysh Mehra for 2010 production, and was a script consultant on the feature My Name is Khan, for Karan Johar, for 2010 release.

By special invitation of the Ministries of Culture, Field has taught screenwriting workshops in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Brussels, Berlin, Cairo, Frankfurt, Genoa, London, Madrid, Mexico City, Munich, Oslo, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich, and Johannesburg, South Africa. He has conducted workshops for the Canadian Film Industry in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton, was the keynote speaker at the International Film Festivals in Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Oslo, Norway, and Warsaw, Poland as well as being the President of the International Film Jury at the 1998 Flanders International Film Festival, Ghent, Belgium. Field was the first inductee into the prestigious Screenwriting Hall of Fame of the American Screenwriting Association in 2001 and is the recipient of the 2006 Final Draft Hall of Fame Award.

“If I were writing screenplays...I would carry Syd Field around in my back pocket wherever I went.”

Steven Bochco, Writer/Producer/Director “Hill Street Blues”, “LA Law”, “NYPD”

CHRISTINE VACHON

Christine Vachon is an American movie producer who, along with partner Pamela Koffler, runs NYC based indie icon Killer Films.

Christine produced Todd Haynes' controversial first feature, POISON, which was awarded the Grand Jury prize at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival. Since then, she has gone on to produce some of the most acclaimed American independent films including Far From Heaven, Boys Don't Cry, One Hour Photo, Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Happiness, Velvet Goldmine, Safe, I Shot Andy Warhol, Go Fish, Swoon and I’m Not There. She also executive produced the Emmy award winning program This American Life for Showtime.

In addition to producing, Christine is also the author of two books: A Killer Life (Simon and Schuster, 2006); and Shooting To Kill (Avon, 1998). Both books were Los Angeles Times bestsellers.

MEG LEFAUVE

Meg LeFauve is an award winning producer whose films have been nominated for an Emmy, a Golden Globe, an IFP Spirit Award, and a Peabody. She heads her own production company, 1- Eyed Dog Productions, working on studio and independent films, including a film based on the life of Leni Riefenstahl, to be directed by Anand Tucker. As an executive, she was President of Egg Pictures, Jodie Foster's film company, where she worked on such films as Nell, Home For The Holidays, The Baby Dance, Waking The Dead and The Dangerous Lives Of Altar Boys. Most recently LeFauve began her own writing career and was chosen to participates in the Sundance Screenwriting Lab with her partner John Morgan, for their script The Cavanaughs which is gearing for production this fall. She also recently finished writing on staff for Marti Knoxon's new television show Gigantic.

LeFauve served as co-chair and taught in the Graduate Producers Program at UCLA's School of Film and Television. LeFauve was a also a mentor at the Sundance Creative Producing lab and ran FIND's screenwriting lab. LeFauve is currently a consultant to Screen New South Wales, and Film Victoria , was a mentor at Screen Australi'as IndieVision Lab, and is a returning participant at CineStory Script Sessions.

JOAN SAUERS

Originally from New York, Joan Sauers started her career as assistant to director Lindsay Anderson on In Celebration in London in 1974. She moved to Los Angeles in 1976 where she worked as a script reader for Barry Levinson and Francis Ford Coppola. In the early 80s in New York she was casting assistant to Sergio Leone, Tony Scott, Mike Nichols and Milos Forman before forming a production company in 1984 to make documentaries for PBS and the BBC.

Joan moved to Sydney in 1987 and became a script editor and writer/storyliner on the TV series Heartbreak High and The Ferals. She has edited many feature screenplays. She has had twelve books published in Australia and the US, and she has been a script workshop adviser and university lecturer in Australia, Europe and Africa. She has been a project manager at Screen Australia and drama consultant at the ABC. She is currently writing a TV series called Orchestra for the ABC which she is co-producing with Amanda Higgs.

SCOTT MEEK

Born Glasgow 1950, Scott joined the British Film Institute in 1972 as Deputy Manager of the National Film Theatre then as Feature Films Officer of the National Film Archive, responsible for selecting all film for the national collection. Co-author of BFI publications on Robert Aldrich and of Electric Shadows: 50 years of Chinese Cinema. In 1979 organized, with Tony Rayns, Electric Shadows a ground breaking retrospective of Chinese cinema which started in London and led to a rediscovery of Chinese film history worldwide. Wrote regularly on film for Time Out, The Independent, Sight and Sound, The Observer and was regular reviewer for BBC and Capitol Radio.

Joined Zenith Productions on its inception in 1984 as Script Editor then 1985 as Head of Development, becoming Head of Creative Affairs, Head of Production, and finally Chief Executive. Left Zenith in 1998. Developed, helped finance and was creative supervisor of all Zenith features and TV drama in this 14 year period (over 20 features). Zenith won awards from the Evening Standard and the British Film Institute for outstanding artistic achievement as a company.

Insignificance, Prick Up Your Ears, Patty Hearst, Simple Men,Velvet Goldmine, A Gathering of Old Men, The Reflecting Skin, Slam Dance and Henry Fool (which Scott developed but was not produced by Zenith) were all official selections at the Cannes Film Festival where Prick Up Your Ears, Henry Fool and Velvet Goldmine all won awards. The Hit, Sid and Nancy, Wish You Were Here and Amateur were all shown in the Quinzaine des Realisateurs. Trust and Walking and Talking were both selected for Sundance where Trust won the Best Screenplay Award. The Dead and Velvet Goldmine both had Academy Award nominations (Adapted Screenplay, Costume).

Founded Deep Indigo Productions with Nigel Stafford-Clark in 1999 which again won many awards for its television dramas. In 2005 left Deep Indigo to become Head of Drama for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, then Evaluation Manager of the Australian Film Finance Corporation. In 2009 became a senior creative consultant to Screen Australia. Scott served for many years on the Board of Scottish Screen where he was Chair of the Development Committee and was also Chair of the British Film Institute Production Board, acting on the Board of the BFI.