Screenwriter Sessions 2021
In 2021, a community of peers joined an exceptionally talented Guest Screenwriters to discuss the inspiration and craft behind the art of feature screenwriting. Explore our inaugural Session which featured Charlie Kaufman, Nancy Meyers, Greg Nava, Stella Meghie, and Leslie Dixon.
Learn more about the 2021 guest speakers below.
Nancy Meyers - April 8th
NANCY MEYERS (Writer / Director / Producer) is a trailblazing filmmaker who, as a first-rate writer, director and producer, has created a body of work focusing on the female experience with her exceptionally literate and sophisticated comedies. Tapping into the very heart of modern relationships, she chronicles women and men, at work and in love, in a singular fashion that makes each film instantly recognizable as a Nancy Meyers movie. NFF 2012 Screenwriters Tribute Honoree.
Stella Meghie – April 15th
STELLA MEGHIE (Writer / Director) is quietly defying Hollywood convention, one film at a time, with three feature films, and two in development. Meghie is one of a tiny few black women filmmakers with a similar resume, working at the studio level. NFF 2012 Tony Cox Feature Screenplay Competition Winner. 2012 Screenwriter Colony Fellow.
Gregory Nava – April 20th
GREGORY NAVA (Writer/Director/Producer) is an Academy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated filmmaker best known for a number of groundbreaking films focused on the Latinx experience. In 1981, Nava along with a small band of filmmakers founded Film Independent, with the purpose of elevating the voices of un-told stories that were not being told by studios or our mainstream media.
Leslie Dixon – April 22nd
LESLIE DIXON (Writer / Producer) for more than thirty years, has been writing some of the seminal comedies of our time and imagining into existence iconic characters who have been brought to cinematic life by the greatest comedians. Dixon in more recent years has also kept audiences on the edge of their seats with smart and suspenseful screenplays, and adapted cult classics for a new audience, making her a truly versatile creator. NFF 2019 Screenwriters Tribute Honoree.
Charlie Kaufman – April 29th
CHARLIE KAUFMAN (Writer / Director / Producer) is a multi-award-winning filmmaker known for his offbeat films and ambitious narrative style. His body of work which includes films that range from black comedy to thrillers separates Kaufman as one of our deepest and most imaginative thinkers/writers about the self. NFF 2004 Screenwriters Tribute Honoree.
Hosted by Kaitlin Fontana
KAITLIN FONTANA is an Emmy-nominated writer and director. Her feature film script, GIRLFRIEND ON MARS, was on the 2019 Black List and her directorial debut, FRANCHESCA, was a Sundance Film Festival selection. Kaitlin lives in Los Angeles, CA, and was born in Fernie, BC, Canada.
Fontana’s credits include hosting the Writers Guild of America, East podcast, On Screenwriting. Her writing has won prestigious honors including the inaugural WGA/Made in New York Writers Room Fellowship, NYTVF 2018 Development Deal with Audible, 2018 WriteHer List Honoree, NFF 2017 Showtime Tony Cox Episodic Comedy Screenplay Award which included a spot in the Episodic Comedy Screenwriters Colony, and 2017 Bitch List Honoree.