Our Members

Author of Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 Ways To Make It Great, William M. Akers is a WGA Lifetime Member and has had three feature films produced from his screenplays. He has written for studios, independent producers, and the major television networks. Akers teaches screenwriting in the Motion Pictures Program at Belmont University and gives writing workshops around the world, including London, Beijing, and Paris. He speaks French and was a Jeopardy! contestant. He didn’t win. View Full Bio

Pilar Alessandra is the director of the writing program On the Page®  host of the popular On the Page Podcast and author of “The Coffee Break Screenwriter.” Pilar started her career as Senior Story Analyst at DreamWorks and, in 2001, opened the On the Page Writers’ Studio in Los Angeles. Her students and clients are working writers and producers who have written for Homeland, The 100, Dear White People, Grey’s Anatomy, Silicon Valley, The Chi and more. View Full Bio

Jennifer Dornbush is a screenwriter, author, speaker, consultant, and forensic science specialist. She has been teaching and script consulting since 1997 and regularly leads seminars and workshops on screenwriting basics, writing for Hollywood, crime fiction, forensics, death investigation, and the creative life. View Full Bio

Pamela Douglas has been honored with the Humanitas Prize and awards including Emmys, Writers Guild, and American Women in Radio and Television. Her book Writing the TV Drama Series is considered the authoritative source internationally, and the 4th Edition is coming in 2018. Her other book The Future of Television: Your Guide to Creating TV in the New World was published in 2015. She is also a Professor at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. View Full Bio

Eric Edson has written seventeen feature screenplays on assignment for such companies as Sony, Warner Brothers, Disney, 20th Fox, Lifetime, CBS, and TNT. Eric is a tenured Professor of Screenwriting, and Emeritus Director of the renowned MFA in Screenwriting Program at California State University, Northridge. His bestselling book “THE STORY SOLUTION: 23 Actions All Great Heroes Must Take” is also a #1 Bestseller in three categories on China Amazon. Now in partnership with FINAL DRAFT®, Eric’s powerful new paradigm for screen story structure, “Hero Goal Sequencing®”, is included in the new FINAL DRAFT 10. View Full Bio

Chad Gervich is a television producer, bestselling author, and award-winning playwright. He has written, produced, and developed shows for nearly every network and studio in Hollywood. He has written three books, including“Small Screen, Big Picture: A Writers Guide to the TV Business” and “How To Manage Your Agent: A Writers Guide to Hollywood Representation.” Chad has taught at workshops and universities around the globe, including UCLA, Drexel, Cal State Fullerton, the Warner Bros. Writers Workshop, the FOX Writers Initiative, and the Singapore Media Academy. View Full Bio

Richard Hatem has a B.A in Film Production from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema and Television. He has written screenplays including “Under Siege 2: Dark Territory” and “The Mothman Prophecies.” He co-created the ABC/Touchstone television series “Miracles” as well as the ABC series “The Gates”. He has written and produced episodes of the CW’s “Supernatural” and “The Secret Circle”. He also executive produced the 2006 Sci-Fi Channel mini-series event “The Lost Room.”  View Full Bio

Writer and speaker Traci Tyne Hilton teaches indie publishing and marketing at conferences and writers groups around the country. Learn more about her cozy mystery series and her publishing classes at www.tracihilton.com. View Full Bio

For years, Steve Kaplan has been the industry’s most sought-after expert on comedy. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other top universities Steve created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan’s Punch Line Theatre. Steve has consulted with Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Aardman Animation, HBO and others, and has taught his seminar in LA, New York, London, Paris, Kiev, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. He's the author of The Hidden Tools Of Comedy and The Comic Hero's Journey (published by Michael Wiese Productions). View Full Bio

Carole Kirschner is the Director of the Writers Guild of America’s Showrunner Training Program and the CBS Diversity Writers Mentoring Program, as well as an author and international speaker. In her role as an entertainment career coach she helps aspiring writers, producers, directors and executives navigate Hollywood as they bust through barriers, break in and move up in the business. Her book, Hollywood Game Plan: How to Land a Job in Film, TV and Digital Entertainment is published by Michael Wiese Publishing. View full bio

Dara Marks, Ph.D. is a leading international script consultant, seminar leader, and author of one of the top selling books on creative writing, Inside Story: The Power of the Transformational Arc. She has specialized in the analysis of the modern screenplay for the past three decades, and Creative Screenwriting Magazine consistently rated her one of the top script consultants in Hollywood. Currently, Dara leads seminars world-wide and is an adjunct professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara. View Full Bio

David Misch has been a comic folksinger, stand-up comedian and screenwriter. He’s written, created and/or produced programs for all the major networks and many of the major (and minor) cable outlets, including the multiple-Emmy-nominated “Mork & Mindy,” the Emmy-losing “Duckman,” the Emmy-ignored “Police Squad!,” the Emmy-engorged “Saturday Night Live,” and the Emmy-ineligible “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” View Full Bio

Dr. Linda Seger created and defined the occupation of ‘script consultant’ in 1981 when she began her business, based on her doctoral dissertation. Linda is a well-known screenwriting & story coach, screenplay consultant, copyright expert witness, international speaker and author. She has written 15 books; nine on screenwriting and six on spiritual topics. Linda will receive the Louis T. Benezet Award, from her Alma Mater, Colorado College in October of 2017. View Full Bio

Mark W. Travis is regarded by Hollywood and independent film professionals internationally as the world’s leading teacher and consultant on the art and craft of film directing and storytelling. Winner of over 30 directorial awards and affectionately called “the director’s director,” Mark is always in high demand on film projects worldwide. View Full Bio

Best-selling author and award-winning filmmaker, Alan Watt founded L.A. WRITERS’ LAB in 2002 as a place for writers to learn the process of marrying the wildness of their imagination to the rigor of story structure. His 90-DAY NOVEL and 90-DAY SCREENPLAY telecourse workshops attract writers from around the world. Many of his students have gone on to become successful screenwriters, showrunners, bestselling authors, and more relaxed human beings. View Full Bio

Kathie Fong Yoneda is an entertainment consultant specializing in development and marketing of live action and animated film, television, literary, and web projects. A former exec at Disney, Touchstone, Island Pictures, and Disney TV Animation, she has taught workshops worldwide. Her clientele includes several award-winning writers and she is the author of The Script-Selling Game. Kathie serves on the board of directors for Imago (French production company) and The LAWEBFEST. View Full Bio