Guests

Screenwriting

Steven de Souza

Steven E. de Souza's motion picture credits include the genre-setting action films Die Hard and 48 HRS, as well as such hits as Commando, The Running Man, Ricochet, Die Hard 2, and The Flintstones. His most recent projects have been Possessed, which he also directed, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, and the suspense anthology Unknown Sender, which premieres in April on www.Strike.TV, the Writers Guild of America's site for original programming fromÊHollywood filmmakers.

Upcoming are the futuristic thriller Isobar for producer Dean Devlin; the martial arts epic Return of the Ninja, and Gotta Catch Santa, with William Shatner voicing an animated action-adventure Claus.

Off-screen, Mr. de Souza is the architect of the current critically-acclaimed "re-boot" of Will Eisner's classic comic, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, for Devils Due Publishing. Mr. de Souza's byline has also appeared in The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times, and in Premiere, Buzz, Crawdaddy, and Fade-In magazines. He is a two-time nominee for the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best Mystery Screenplay, and a recipient of the Imagen Foundation's Norman Lear Award for Lifetime Achievement in Writing.

Karl Iglesias

Karl Iglesias is a screenwriter who teaches at UCLA Extension's Writer's Program and Writers University. He is the best-selling author of The 101 Habits of Highly Successful Screenwriters and Writing for Emotional Impact. He also writes the regular column on the craft for Creative Screenwriting magazine. As a script consultant passionate about great storytelling, he specializes in the reader's emotional response to the written page.

Timothy J. Sexton

Timothy J. Sexton was born in St. Louis, where he majored in English at Colorado College. He later took time to travel and worked as a copywriter, journalist and translator. After living in Mexico City for four years, he relocated to Los Angeles to become a screenwriter. For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story was his first filmed screenplay, followed by the teleplay of the HBO movie Boycott (co-written with Herman Daniel Farrell).

Sexton received a 2003 Emmy Award nomination for Live From Baghdad, and was nominated for an Adapted Screenplay Academy Award in 2007 for his work with Alfonso Cuaron on Children of Men.

Directing

Eric Zala

Eric Zala was born in Panorama City, California in July, 1970. He was raised in Ocean Springs, a small town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Starting in 1982, Eric and friends Chris Strompolos and Jayson Lamb recreated Raiders of the Lost Ark scene-for-scene, eventually premiering the film to receptive hometown crowd in the summer of 1989. At age 18, Eric moved to Manhattan, attending NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, majoring in Film and Television production, and minoring in Religious Studies. He graduated with honors in 1992 and moved to Los Angeles and began working in quality assurance for the video game industry.

The resurfacing of Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation convinced Eric to turn back to making movies. He has reteamed with Chris Strompolos to form a production company, Rolling Boulder Films.

Acting

Marc Durso

Marc Durso is a graduate of the Burt Reynolds Institute, where he studied with Tony Award winners and Broadway stars Julie Harris, Leonard Frye, Tom Troupe, Alan Arkin, Jerry Herman and Charles Nelson Reilly. He has directed/associate directed NY and LA premieres starring Tony Award winners Uta Hagen and Fritz Weaver as well as for legendary Master Teacher, Sanford Meisner. Marc assisted Impresario James A. Doolittle in presenting the Baryshnikov, Kirov, Joffrey, American Ballet Theatre and Radio City Rockettes dance companies at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles developing budgets for multi-million dollar productions. He also wrote for a CBS animated series, Cadillacs & Dinosaurs under head writer (and fellow guest) Steven de Souza.

Marc teaches private workshops throughout the United States and Europe. His students are working SAG, AFTRA and AEA members with film and TV starring and co-starring roles, national tours and commercials to their credit.

John Jackson

John began his career in film as an actor in Los Angeles. Working under the name John Durbin, he appeared in a combination of over one hundred films, television movies, series television and plays. Returning to the Midwest in the 1990s, John met film maker Alexander Payne. The two have worked together on four films, Sideways, About Schmidt, Election, and Citizen Ruth. As his interest in acting diminished, his work in casting grew. Current casting projects include feature films: The Objective with writer/director Daniel Myrick (Blair Witch Project) and Shoe At Your Foot with French film maker Jennifer Devoldere. Most recently, John completed casting feature films entitled Expired, American Zombie, The Host, Humboldt County and Otis. The latter two projects both make their world premiere this year at South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. He is currently working on the independent feature film, Tennis With Jesus.

David Fazekas

David Fazekas was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1966. He attended Adrian College in Adrian, Michigan and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration and Minor in Economics. Shortly after college he entered the Peace Corps and served two years as a volunteer in Escuintla, Guatemala, Central America in the small business program.

After leaving the Peace Corps, he was employed by Screen Actors Guild as a Business Representative in Miami, Florida. In May of 2000, David moved to Orlando to accept the position of Central Florida Representative and shortly thereafter was promoted to Central Florida Executive. In September of 2002, he was promoted to South Region Executive.

In his current position, he is responsible for enforcement and interpretation of all Guild collective bargaining agreements within the Region, enforcement of its Agency Regulations, supervision of Business Representatives, processing of signatory documents, meeting with producers, coordination of member activities, performance of set checks, attending film festivals and conducting Low Budget workshops for filmmakers.

Lauren Cohan

Due to filming commitments, Lauren Cohan is no longer able to attend the Sunscreen Film Festival.

LaTanya Potts

LaTanya began casting in 1998, while maintaining her ER position at King Drew Medical Center. As relationships developed, she moved into commercial casting. She went on to cast independent features with a variety of actors; from Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac to Louis Gossett Jr. and Samuel Jackson.

Her television credits include, Moesha and The Steve Harvey Show. Film credits include associate casting of the Weinstein’s feature film Soul Men. LaTanya is currently casting the Untitled Jeff Franklin Project. Additionally LaTanya has worked for Paramount, CBS, FOX and Warner Brothers.

Distribution

Jamie Fleming

Jamie Fleming has spent more than 20 years in the Entertainment Industry including management positions with Disney and Universal Studios in their Motion Picture, Consumer Products, and Studio Divisions. During his tenure with Disney, Jamie was responsible for the national campaigns to promote the release of 16 films and controlled the marketing finances for 23 film releases. While at Universal in Hollywood, Jamie was responsible for the Studio's marketing including Universal's new studio in Orlando, Florida.

Jamie co-founded Filmline International which handled the film and video acquisitions for nine International distribution companies. Currently, Jamie works with John N. Flynn at Hollywood Classics / InFrame, a motion picture distribution sales agency where Jamie primarily focuses on acquiring new films and film financing.

John N. Flynn

John N. Flynn is a partner in Hollywood Classics, which offers exclusive rights to distributors around the world for selected new releases and classic films from the major Hollywood studios. Hollywood Classics and its "sister" label InFrame also handle independent films from its offices in London and Los Angeles.

He was previously an executive at MGM/UA where he began marketing first-run theatrical motion pictures in 1983. He later moved to MGM/UA's international department, responsible for coordination of international publicity with United International Pictures, London (UIP). He also served as Director of International Special Markets where he marketed and licensed MGM/UA's selected new pictures and the classic film libraries of MGM, UA and Warner Bros.

Marty Poole

Marty has worked in the film business since 1991 with a diverse resume that includes writer, director, producer, and distribution executive. He has been employed by a variety of established film production/distribution companies in both sales and acquisitions. His extensive resume includes employment at Media Film International, United International Film Corp., G.E.L Entertainment, American World Pictures and Artist View Entertainment.

As a screenwriter Marty has had four scripts produced as feature films. Echo Bridge Entertainment recently acquired his most recent film, The Headhunter, the true-life story of David E. Stanley, the stepbrother of Elvis Presley. Marty's other credits as a writer, director or producer include Reptilian Diamond Run, Ground Rules and Standing Still starring James Van Der Beek, Mena Survari, and Oscar nominee Amy Adams.

Marty is currently Director of Acquisitions and Licensing at York Entertainment, whose mandate is to acquire and distribute 60 to 70 feature films a year.