FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Jan. 30, 2018 MEDIA CONTACT: Emily Dell Executive Director, ScreenCraft Writers Summit [email protected] John Rhodes ScreenCraft Co-Founder [email protected] The Atlanta Film Festival and ScreenCraft Announce Expanded Panelists & Sponsors for The ScreenCraft Writers Summit 2018 Los Angeles, CA & Atlanta, GA - The 2018 ScreenCraft Writers Summit, in partnership with ​ the Atlanta Film Society, is excited to announce new panelists and sponsors! To take place at the 2018 Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF), the conference will take place in Atlanta, Georgia, the entertainment industry’s busiest city for film and television production, outpacing Los Angeles in 2017, production home for films such as Baby Driver, Avengers and Black Panther, and ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ television shows such as Stranger Things, and of course FX’s Atlanta. ​ ​ ​ ​ The ScreenCraft Writers Summit runs from Friday, April 13th to Monday, April 16th, 2018. Newly confirmed speakers include: Geoffrey Fletcher (Oscar-winner, Precious), Diana Ossana ​ ​ (Oscar-winner, Brokeback Mountain), Eric Heisserer (Oscar-Nominee, Arrival), Doug Jung (Star ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Trek Beyond, Banshee), Malcolm Spellman (Empire), Keya Khayatian (Senior Literary Agent at ​ ​ ​ UTA, clients wrote Stick It, Dallas Buyers Club, Brokeback Mountain, Serendipity, etc), Eric ​ ​ Fineman (Producer, Spiderman: Homecoming, Miracles From Heaven) Cate Adams (Vice ​ ​ ​ ​ President, Warner Brothers Pictures, The Nice Guys, Inherent Vice, Midnight Special), Mika ​ ​ Pryce, (Universal Pictures’ Get Out, Darkest Hour), JJ Klein (VP Scripted Originals, FX Network, ​ ​ Atlanta, American Crime Story: Versace), Hannah Ozer, (Literary Manager at Kaplan/Perrone), ​ ​ ​ Tamara Chestna (Exec Producer, The Art of More on Crackle), Michael Lucker (Lilo & Stitch 2, ​ ​ ​ 101 Dalmatians II, Vampire in Brooklyn), Jacob Krueger (The Matthew Shepard Story, founder ​ ​ ​ and Instructor Write Your Screenplay) and more. Events and Programming at the Writers Summit will include: screenwriting panels, keynote talks, educational workshops, live table reads, small-group mentorship, a closing mimosa brunch, a live pitch competition and evening parties. All panels, workshops and happy hours are open to attendees with Basic and Student Badges. Participants with Elite badges will attend the Industry Lunch, a catered lunch with the VIP Panelists, as well as the Mentor Sit-Downs, short small-group meetings intended to simulate a Hollywood “General Meeting”. The pitch competition, open to all Summit attendees, will hold its finalist’s pitch event during happy hour on Sunday April 15th, where the top writers will pitch live to agents, producers and A-list screenwriters. Social hours and shared evening galas will bring Summit writers together with filmmakers and over 25,000 film enthusiasts and industry professionals attending the Atlanta Film Festival. Panels and Workshops topics will include: Writing the Television Pilot, A Television Showrunner panel presented by the Writers Guild Foundation, A Panel on What it Means to be a Diverse Executive, How to Take a Meeting, How to Secure and Work With an Agent/Manager, Producing Independent Film and returning attendee favorite The Failure Panel. The “Creator” track focuses on giving writers the tools to make their work come alive through short films, digital content and more. This track will also include the “Georgia Producers & Writers Connect” event, intended to foster relationships between writers and filmmakers in the Atlanta area and promote local development. There will also be programming dedicated to diversity on-screen and faith-based content, topics of great interest for Atlanta artists and beyond. Confirmed sponsors of the 2018 ScreenCraft Writers Summit include: The Writers Guild Foundation, Final Draft, and Big Picture Casting. The ScreenCraft Writers Summit will be a unique opportunity for writers outside of Los Angeles to learn from the best in Hollywood, in a small-scale environment where meaningful, long-term partnerships can be forged. The best of film and television are coming to Atlanta in April to share stories and insight over Southern hospitality - join us! WEBSITE LINK PARTNERS: ScreenCraft is a boutique consultancy, education and talent discovery platform for ​ screenwriters worldwide. ScreenCraft's education and media partners include The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Huffington Post, IndieWire, Variety and more. Building on ScreenCraft’s legacy of screenwriting excellence and educational events worldwide (Shanghai Film Festival, Nashville Writers Conference, Napa Valley Film Festival, Austin Film Festival, etc) and ATLFF’s prestige as a world-class film festival in America’s fastest-growing entertainment city, both partners are eager to shine a new spotlight on the art and craft of writing screenplays, literary works and new media and to celebrate the best of entertainment writing worldwide. ScreenCraft partners with film festivals and literary events to bring top-tier Hollywood insight and education to writers worldwide. Past partners include: the Nashville Film Festival, the Shanghai Film Festival, The Austin Film Festival, The Bahamas International Film Festival, The Calabash Literary Festival (in Jamaica), The Woods Hole Film Festival (in Cape Cod), The Annapolis Film Festival, The Santa Fe Film Festival, the Napa Valley Film Festival. Educational events have featured Andrea Berloff (STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON), Mark Bomback (WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES, INSURGENT) Jeb Stuart (DIE HARD), Chad & Carey Hayes (THE CONJURING 1 & 2), Bobby Moresco (Oscar-winner, CRASH, MILLION DOLLAR BABY), Rick Jaffa & Amanda Silver (JURASSIC WORLD, AVATAR), Max Borenstein (KONG: SKULL ISLAND, GODZILLA), James Gunn (Writer/Director, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 1 & 2) and many more. WEBSITE LINK The Atlanta Film Festival: Now in its fifth decade, the Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF)—one of ​ only two-dozen Academy Award® qualifying festivals in the U.S.—is the area’s preeminent celebration of cinema. Operated by the Atlanta Film Society, ATLFF is one of the largest and longest-running festival in the country, welcoming an audience of nearly 25,000 to discover hundreds of new independent, international, animated, documentary, and short films, selected from nearly 7,000 submissions from all over the world. Recent festival guests include William H. Macy, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Sherri Shepherd, Richard Chamberlain, Margaret Cho, Abigail Spencer, Drivin’ N Cryin’, Jeff Foxworthy, Jasmine Guy, Kara Hayward, Martin Henderson, Georgie Henley, Chris Lowell, Ludacris, Pras Michel, Julianne Nicholson, Tye Sheridan, Chris Tucker, Eddie Vedder and many others. The Atlanta Film Society is a membership-based 501(c)(3) arts non-profit with a mission to lead the community in creative and cultural discovery through the moving image. ATLFF presents a diverse slate of year-round offerings for film-lovers and filmmakers. By bringing audiences and filmmakers together, the Festival has the opportunity to broaden the perspective of both artists and moviegoers. WEBSITE LINK SPONSORS: The Writers Guild Foundation The Writers Guild Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to preserving and promoting the history and craft of writing for the screen. Along with operating the Shavelson-Webb Library and Archives, the Foundation hosts events featuring notable TV and film writers and runs programs connecting writers with underserved communities, from military veterans to youth. WEBSITE LINK ​ Final Draft, a Cast & Crew Company, has published Final Draft® software – the number-one ​ selling screenwriting application in the world – for 25 years. Final Draft automatically paginates and formats your script to industry standards, allowing writers to focus on what they do best – writing scripts. Used by such industry giants as J.J. Abrams, James Cameron and Aaron Sorkin, Final Draft software is the professional’s choice and the entertainment industry standard. In addition to its flagship software product, Final Draft offers the annual Big Break Contest – a screenwriting competition that launches careers, and awards over $80,000 in cash and prizes. Final Draft also offers the Reader® and Writer® apps for iPhone and iPad, making creativity truly portable. To learn more about Final Draft and its products and services, visit: www.finaldraft.com Big Picture Casting Jen Kelley and Rita Harrell launched Big Picture Casting in October, 2011. With over 28 years of industry experience and multifaceted backgrounds in casting, agenting and directing, BPC offers a fresh casting alternative. Big Picture Casting has cast principal talent for numerous feature films, television, commercial and new media projects. Recent film credits include: American Made (starring Tom Cruise), Hangman (starring Al Pacino), Vengeance (starring ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Nicholas Cage). The Script Lab Since 2010, The Script Lab has provided excellent screenwriting educational content via its popular website and social media channels. .