Welcome to Day 2 of the annual Courier 12 Screenwriting Conference, the Midwest’s premier screenwriting event!
About this Event
DePaul Students, please make sure to select "DePaul Tickets" when registering and have your DePaul Student ID ready. The link to the zoom webinar will be sent to you via email before the event. You are encouraged to come with questions from watching for the guest speakers and/or moderators.
Non-DePaul Students, please be sure to select "General Admission" when registering. The link to the live YouTube page will be sent to you via email before the event, and you can type any questions you have into the chat.
2021 COURIER 12 AGENDA:
Saturday, February 6th:
11:00 A.M. - 12:00 P.M - BREAKING IN: Three successful DePaul SCA graduates discuss how they got their start in the industry with faculty Matt Quinn.
Since earning a BA in Digital Cinema from DePaul in 2015, JB Ballard has worked as an Office Production Assistant at Showtime on Shameless, and at ABC. Most recently, Ballard worked as a Writers’ Room Assistant at Marvel Studios on the upcoming Disney+ show Moon Knight.
After graduating from DePaul in 2012 with a BA in Digital Cinema, Sam Campos went on to build an impressive career in TV development, starting at Anonymous Content and landing at ABC. Today, she works as an Executive in Drama Development at ABC.
Roberto Larios graduated from DePaul in 2017 with an MFA in Screenwriting, which led him to development internships at Aperture Entertainment and Eclectic Pictures. Larios currently works as a TV Literary Agent at Verve Talent.
Matt Quinn is a screenwriter and film studio story analyst. He received a BA in Film and Video from Columbia College and an MFA in Screenwriting from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Matt has worked in feature development at DreamWorks Studios, DreamWorks Animation and as a reader for Ben Stiller's Red Hour Films. He currently serves as the co-chair of the screenwriting program at DePaul University and is developing a limited series adaptation of the cult novel Illuminatus!: The Eye in the Pyramid.
12:15 - 1:15 P.M - WE KNOW MORPH DIES: SECRET CODE WORDS, LINGO, AND SHORT-HAND IN THE WRITERS’ ROOM: TV writer Chris Cantwell talks with faculty Kat O’Brien.
Chris Cantwell is best known as the co-creator of the AMC series Halt and Catch Fire, a cerebral tech drama now streaming on Netflix. In addition to TV, Cantwell has written for a number of comic books including Doctor Doom, The Mask and Iron Man. Cantwell’s new TV series, Paper Girls, an adaptation of the comic book, is in pre-production, and is set to premiere on Amazon Prime.
Story editor, screenwriter and creative consultant, Kat O'Brien was named to the Young and Hungry List's Top 100 Screenwriters. She actively develops projects with some of Hollywood’s most respected companies, and internationally acclaimed filmmakers, for film, television, and the digital space. Katherine is an adjunct faculty at DePaul University and Columbia College Chicago, on the faculty at The Harold Ramis Film School at The Second City, and an educational consultant for the Doha Film Institute in Doha, Qatar.
1:30-2:30 P.M - WRITING MOVIES… WRITING TV… WRITING PARTNERS: Liz Hannah and Brian Millikin discuss the writing process with faculty Scott Myers.
Liz Hannah launched her screenwriting career with the script for Oscar-nominated film The Post (2017), starring Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks. The Post scored her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Screenplay and won her the Writers Guild of America West’s 2018 Paul Selvin Award. Since then, Hannah has written and produced a number of notable projects, including The Long Shot (2019), All The Bright Places (2020) and several episodes of Mindunter. Hannah is currently in pre-production for her new script, Lee, the true story of a Vogue cover model turned war correspondent, starring Kate Winslet.
Brian Millikin is best known for being a writer and producer on SyFy series Haven, a supernatural drama based on Stephen King novel The Colorado Kid. Since then, Millikin has worked on TV shows including Teen Wolf, Shadowhunters and Tell Me a Story.
Scott Myers has written thirty movie and TV projects, including K-9, Alaska, and Trojan War. From 2002-2010, Scott was an executive producer at Trailblazer Studios, overseeing original TV content development. Since 2008, Scott has hosted GoIntoTheStory.com, the official screenwriting blog of The Black List and named the “Best of the Best” Scriptwriting Website by Writers Digest. He has been commissioned by Palgrave Macmillan to write the book “The Protagonist’s Journey: Character Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling.” Scott is an assistant professor at the DePaul University School of Cinematic Arts.
BREAK
3:45 - 4:45 P.M. - ADAPTING ARRIVAL: Oscar- nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer discusses feature adaptation with Brad Riddell.
Since gaining widespread recognition for his Oscar-nominated screenplay Arrival (2016), a sci-fi thriller starring Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner, Eric Heisserer has become a well-known voice in the science fiction world. Some of Heisserer’s feature writing credits include Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Hours (2013), Bird Box (2018) and Bloodshot (2020). Heisserer is the Showrunner and Executive Producer of Shadow and Bone, an eight-part mini series adapting the bestselling fantasy novels by Leigh Bardugo, coming to Netflix this April.
Brad Riddell has written five produced feature films including American Pie: Band Camp (Eugene Levy), Crooked Arrows (Brandon Routh, Gil Birmingham), and films in the Road Trip (Danny Pudi, DJ Qualls) and Slap Shot (Leslie Nielsen) franchises. His award-winning short Ten More (David Pasquesi), and web series, Other People’s Children and Distant Learners, have screened in festivals around the world. Later Days, his first feature as a director, is in post. He is currently co-writing and co-producing the feature comedy Back to the Grind for Branded Pictures Entertainment and Tony Hawk.
5:00 - 6:00 P.M. - BREAKING BARRIERS: INCLUSIVE REPRESENTATION IN FILM & TV: Writer/director Sahar Jahani with faculty Fatou Samba.
Sahar Jahani is a first generation Iranian-American writer/director who earned an M.F.A. in Film and TV from Stephens College. Jahani worked in the writers room on the Golden Globe-winning Hulu/A24 series, Ramy, where she wrote her first TV episode (“Do The Ramadan”). In 2018, she wrote and directed Just One Night, an award-winning short that premiered at the LA Film Festival. Her original pilot, Uncovered, received the 2019 MACRO Episodic Lab Grant and is in development with 20th Television and Executive Producer, Eva Longoria. Most recently, she wrote on 13 Reasons Why and adapted the novel Ayesha At Last for Pascal Pictures.
6:15 - 7:15 P.M. - WRITING SUPERHEROES AND BEYOND: Screenwriter/producer/director Nicole Perlman appears in conversation with faculty Anna Hozian.
Best known for co-writing Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel and Pokemon Detective Pikachu, Nicole Perlman is a distinguished screenwriter, producer and director. Throughout her impressive career, Perlman has helped pave the way for female-led genre storytelling. In 2018, Perlman joined forces with fellow Marvel writers Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet to establish a production company called Known Universe, which focuses entirely on uplifting less heard voices in the superhero, fantasy and sci-fi film space. Known Universe has a full slate of upcoming projects to produce, including a Lord of the Flies reboot, with Luca Guadagnino attached to direct.
Anna Hozian’s script, Anchor Baby, chosen by New York Women in Film & TV Writer’s Lab, is currently under option with Lynmar Productions. Anna’s scripts have placed in numerous contests, including the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship, the Austin Film Festival, Page International Screenwriting Awards and The Black List’s Writers Lab. Her web series, Other People’s Children, has traveled to festivals around the world, winning awards including best series and best screenplay. She has adapted a novel for Kickstart Entertainment, and is currently in post-production on her short film, "The Pool."