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During this Executive Hour we welcome special guest AKEELAH AND THE BEE and BRIAN BANKS filmmaker Doug Atchison! AKEELAH AND THE BEE was released by Lionsgate and starred Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, and Keke Palmer. AKEELAH was a commercial and critical success for which Doug was awarded the NAACP Image Award for Best Screenplay. His script for AKEELAH has recently been adapted into a stage play which is being performed around the country. Doug wrote the screenplay for BRIAN BANKS, which was produced by previous Writers' Room guest Amy Baer, released in August of 2019, and for which Doug won the 2019 Humanitas Prize. The film was directed by Tom Shadyac and stars Greg Kinnear, Aldis Hodge, and Morgan Freeman.Doug is currently set to direct his original screenplay, OUT SPOKEN, a love story set in the world of basketball and spoken word poetry. He is producing the film along with John Legend, Lou Pitt, and Laura Rister. He is currently writing the script COUNTERFEIT for Will Smith’s company Overbook. Full Bio »
During this Executive Hour we welcome special guest AKEELAH AND THE BEE and BRIAN BANKS filmmaker Doug Atchison! AKEELAH AND THE BEE was released by Lionsgate and starred Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, and Keke Palmer. His script for AKEELAH has recently been adapted into a stage play which is being performed around the country.
Doug wrote the screenplay for BRIAN BANKS, which was produced by previous Writers' Room guest Amy Baer, released in August of 2019, and for which Doug won the 2019 Humanitas Prize. The film was directed by Tom Shadyac and stars Greg Kinnear, Aldis Hodge, and Morgan Freeman.
During this webcast Doug discusses writing AKEELAH, working as an independent writer/director, how he gets hired for screenwriting assignments, what most writers struggle with when writing a screenplay and how to approach writing a true story!
The Executive Hour
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"Thanks, Doug! Sharing your career experience, creative process and approach to writing screenplays based on true stories has been so helpful!" - Martha C.
"Thanks Jason - great job moderating as usual!" - Erin N.
"Thank you, Doug, for sharing your knowledge with us." - Jill H.
"This has been great...Thanks, Doug!" - Martin R.
"Thank you Doug, Jason, and everyone!" - Pablo L.
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Executive Hour Webcast with Eric Hsiao at Perfect Storm Entertainment, the production company behind such films and series as F9: The Fast Saga, Star Trek Beyond, Space Jam: A New Legacy, and HBO Max’s Warrior, where he has collaborated on the development of projects set up at studios including Universal, Paramount, Sony, Netflix, and Participant. Additionally, Eric oversees Perfect Storm's producing partnership with the Beijing-based film studio CMC Pictures (The Meg).
We're excited to bring you another riveting Executive Hour with the Senior Vice President of Development at The Wolper Organization, Kevin Nicklaus! The Wolper Organization has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. which covers all divisions, including HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros. features, and more. Kevin has been integral to the early development and sales of "BATES MOTEL" for A&E, the 2016 Emmy-nominated "ROOTS" for History, STEPHEN KING'S SALEM'S LOT for TNT, THE MISTS OF AVALON for TNT, HELTER SKELTER for CBS, THE BAD SEED for Lifetime and more. The Wolper Organization has been responsible for over 500 films, which have won more than 150 awards, including two Oscars, 50 Emmys, seven Golden Globes, five Peabody’s. During the conversation we discussed developing "BATES MOTEL", how Kevin finds new material, what writers can be doing to break out in this market, and much more!
Devon got his start as a Development Exec at Ideate Entertainment before launching the management company, First Friday Entertainment, last year with Krista Sipp. We discuss what makes a writer stand out to reps, trends in film and TV, writer voice and standing out, & more, plus a live Q&A!
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Executive Hour Webcast with Television Director and Executive Producer Russell Fine. Russell Fine is a Television Director & Executive Producer whose previous credits include "AMERICAN GODS" for AMC, "BULL", "QUANTICO", "SLEEP HOLLOW", and "THE WIRE". His latest series is "JIGSAW" for Netflix.
We're back in the Writers' Room for The Executive Hour Webcast with Jason Roberts! Jason Roberts has been working for the past decade as a Producer (PGA) setting up and handling a multitude of Productions in both Film and Television. Jason has recently been consulting on projects with Disney+, Hulu, Twentieth Television, Universal Pictures, Paramount Paramount, Netflix, AGBO, Roth/Kirschenbaum Films, Village Roadshow, Legendary Television & Lionsgate amongst others. Previous to that, he has been a DGA Assistant Director on over 100 plus major motion pictures and series both domestically and internationally. Ranging from big budget productions such as: Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic World, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Transformers: The Last Knight and American Made to independent films such as: First They Killed My Father, Killing Zoe, Shrink, The Pool and No Good Deed.
Jason got his start with Evolution Entertainment, moved into Studio Development, and now independently producers and writes. We discuss what makes a project marketable, how to push your career forward industry trends, & more, plus a live Q&A!