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In this Executive Hour we speak with screenwriter Lorien McKenna! Lorien is a former Pixar Story Manager who worked on such features as Oscar-winning UP, Oscar-winning BRAVE, Oscar-winning INSIDE OUT, and THE GOOD DINOSAUR. She also served as a producer for Paramount Animation where she oversaw development for WONDER PARK. Lorien, along with Oscar-nominated writer Meg LeFauve, sold their romantic comedy anthology, THIS THING CALLED LOVE to Hulu with Dan Lin producing; as well as a half hour sitcom, POOG to NBC and WBTV. Lorien also wrote HOW TO SET A FIRE AND WHY, based on the book of the same name by Jesse Ball, for Straight Up Films. Previously, she served as the Co-EP for Hulu's CURIOUS GEORGE series, and has developed projects for Disney Jr., Funko, and Netflix. She is the co-host of the podcast The Screenwriting Life with fellow screenwriter Meg LeFauve. During the webcast, Lorien discusses her unusual career trajectory, working in the "Brain Turst" on Oscar-Winning animated films at Pixar, battling "Imposter Syndrome", tackling adaptations, writing for television vs. features, how hard it is to take notes even as an established writer, and much more! Make sure to listen to Lorien and Meg on The Screenwriting Life and join their podcast group on Facebook! You can also send all your screenwriting-related questions to thescreenwritinglife@gmail.com and they might just answer them on the series! Full Bio »
In this Executive Hour we speak with screenwriter Lorien McKenna! Lorien is a former Pixar Story Manager who worked on such features as Oscar-winning UP, Oscar-winning BRAVE, Oscar-winning INSIDE OUT, and THE GOOD DINOSAUR. She also served as a producer for Paramount Animation where she oversaw development for WONDER PARK.
Lorien, along with Oscar-nominated writer Meg LeFauve, sold their romantic comedy anthology, THIS THING CALLED LOVE to Hulu with Dan Lin producing; as well as a half hour sitcom, POOG to NBC and WBTV. Lorien also wrote HOW TO SET A FIRE AND WHY, based on the book of the same name by Jesse Ball, for Straight Up Films. Previously, she served as the Co-EP for Hulu's CURIOUS GEORGE series, and has developed projects for Disney Jr., Funko, and Netflix.
She is the co-host of the podcast The Screenwriting Life with fellow screenwriter Meg LeFauve.
During the webcast, Lorien discusses her unusual career trajectory, working in the "Brain Turst" on Oscar-Winning animated films at Pixar, battling "Imposter Syndrome", tackling adaptations, writing for television vs. features, how hard it is to take notes even as an established writer, and much more!
The Executive Hour
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"This is a wonderful discussion - thank you." - Stephen P.
"This whole chat has been so human. What heart food!!!" - Sarah G.B.
"This was amazing, I loved hearing the reality of being a writer." - Ryan H.
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!
Christian Sander is The Director of Development for Pensé Productions - we have a fun hour long conversation with Christian about the craft and business.
We’re back in the Writers’ Room for the Executive Hour with special guest Krista Sipp, Manager and Producer at Heroes and Villains Entertainment! She is dedicated to finding unique voices focusing on diversity and inclusion. Prior to Heroes and Villains, Krista was with Circle of Confusion, New Wave Entertainment, and Authentic Talent & Literary Management and will share her background & experience, give advice, and answer YOUR questions!
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.
We're back in the Writers' Room with for the Executive Hour Webcast with TV writer Mike Gauyo who has most notably written on Netflix’s hit series GINNY & GEORGIA. Originally born in Haiti, Mike broke into Hollywood as a production assistant on reality shows like AMERICAN IDOL and SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE? until being discovered by Issa Rae who staffed him as a writer on her fiction podcast FRUIT.Mike entered the world of TV writers’ rooms serving as a writers’ assistant on the TNT show CLAWS and wrote on HBO’s comedy hit INSECURE with Issa Rae. Mike also founded The Black Boy Writes Mentorship Initiative, a mentorship program for Black men and women who are looking to break into TV writing. Mike’s varied background in TV writing has allowed him to experience many different writers’ rooms and has given him a keen sense on how to best write and perform in these settings. He is very generous with his knowledge and insights, and during this webcast he offered fantastic insights into working in a Netflix writers' room!
We're back in the Writers' Room for The Executive Hour Webcast with Alexandra “Ali” Shields. Ali is currently the Executive Liaison at Stage32. Prior to Stage 32, Ali was a Creative Executive in Scripted Development and Executive Producer at Citizen Skull Productions, during which time she oversaw a slate of approximately 30 productions in various stages of development. She was responsible for identifying promising writers and projects to cultivate, creating pitch materials that would make the project stand out in the market, and packaging those projects with the talent necessary to move forward.