MEET THE FINALISTS part 3

Last week, the Screenwriters Colony selection committee announced the ten finalists for the three remaining slots at this year's colony. In advance of next week's announcement of the invitees, we'll be posting mini-bios of the finalists this week.

Here is the final post:

Sasha Sagan (MINISTRY OF DATING) has worked as a television producer,
documentarian, film editor and screenwriter in New York and London. In
2010 She produced and co-wrote the short film, BASTARD, with Kirsten
Dunst. The film was screened at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival and the
International Critics Week award ceremony at the Cannes International
Film festival. She graduated from NYU with a BA in Dramatic Literature
and a minor in Cinema Studies.

Katherine Nolfi (THE WORLD OF MEN), a graduate from NYU's Tisch School
of the Arts for film, has worked on many award winning screenplays.
Her debut, UPSTATE, premiered in competition at the 2012 LA Film
Festival and was selected by LA Weekly as one of the "Best of the
Fest". Her short, UNLIMITED, was an official selection of SXSW in
2009, and MOUTH BABIES was an official selection of the 2011 Slamdance
Film Festival, Florida Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival and the
CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival.

Nichalas Clift Bateman (THE WITHERING WINDS) finished his first
feature, THE CIRCUS ANIMALS, in early 2012. As the owner of Painted
Stage Pictures, his commercial work includes clients Goodwood NY,
Stillpointe Theatre Initiative, Ricky Powell, 191 Unlimited, Friend
Roulette, and Thinking Giant Design. He has been featured on
karmaloop.tv and at the SXSW Film Festival. As a writer, Nicholas’
work has been performed in Baltimore, Chicago, and New York. As an
undergraduate,, Nicholas was awarded the National and International
Championship for Dramatic Interpretation for his one-man show about
Montgomery Clift.

Joshua Zeman (COLLIDER) has been creating independent films for over
10 years. His directorial debut, the horror documentary CROPSEY,
premiered at NYC’s IFC Center and was a critic’s pick with The Wall
Street Journal, The New York Times, Variety, and Roger Ebert. It has
been called “one of the year's best documentaries" and "one of the
scariest films of the year". He recently executive produced CEREMONY,
starring Uma Thurman and directedby Max Winkler. The film premiered at
the 2010 Toronto Film Festival and wasreleased by Magnolia Pictures.

MEET THE FINALISTS part 2

Last week, the Screenwriters Colony selection committee announced the ten finalists for the three remaining slots at this year's colony. In advance of next week's announcement of the invitees, we'll be posting mini-bios of the finalists this week.

Here is the second of three posts:


Silka Luisa (ARCANA) has a long history of working film, starting with
development at Killer Films, Panamax Films, and Sony Pictures
Television. With an M.F.A. in Film from Columbia University among many
awards, Silka was selected as one four fellows for the IFP-Marcie
Bloom Fellowship in Film, a mentorship program led by Dylan Leiner and
Marcie Bloom of Sony Pictures Classics. Her most recent screenplay,
CACIQUE, placed in the Nicholl Fellowship and RED CLOVER was funded by
the McNamara Creative Arts Grant.

Christopher Radcliff (THE STRANGE ONES) earned his MFA in Film from
Columbia University where he received the Ezra Litwak Award for
Distinction in Screenwriting. THE STRANGE ONES has screened at
numerous film festivals around the world, including Sundance, SXSW,
Rotterdam, and Clermont-Ferrand, among others. In addition, it has
received over 20 awards, including several Oscar-qualifying wins, and
has been sold for television and DVD distribution in several
countries.

James Cohen (PRO-JOYCE), a graduate of Vanderbilt University, began
his career in New York as the assistant film editor on features by Sam
Mendes, Alan Parker, and James Ivory. He started in screenwriting when
British director Nicholas Hytner asked him to pen a page-long joke for
the film Center Stage. Since then, he has written a number of feature
screenplays. His 33-minute fictional audio comedy, THE LACY STUDY – an
official selection of the ThirdCoast International Audio Festival –
premiered at WNYC’s The Greene Space in 2009 and aired on NPR shortly
thereafter. Most recently, James wrote a TV spot directed by Eastbound
& Down creator Jody Hill.

MEET THE FINALISTS part 1

Last week, the Screenwriters Colony selection committee announced the ten finalists for the three remaining slots at this year's colony. In advance of next week's announcement of the invitees, we'll be posting mini-bios of the finalists this week.

Here is the first of three posts:

Raven Burnett (PLEASE DON'T FEED THE HUMANS) began his career as a
playwright at the legendary Idiom Theater in the Pacific Northwest.
After he moved to New York to pursue an MFA in screenwriting at
Columbia University, he has continued to write screenplays, earning
awards from The Harvardwood Screenwriting Competition and The 2012
Columbia Film Festival.

Russell Harbaugh (LOVE AFTER LOVE) went on from earning his MFA in
film directing from Columbia University to see his thesis short,
ROLLING ON THE FLOOR LAUGHING, at festivals worldwide, including the
2012 Sundance Film Festival, New Directors/New Films, BAMcinemaFesta,
Milano, and Warsaw. Russell assisted director Eric Mendelsohn on the
2010 film 3 BACKYARDS for which Mendelsohn won a Best Director Award
at that year's Sundance.

Joseph Clay (THE ARRESTED) knows drama, having grown up with eight
siblings. After earning a degree in English literature, Clay left a
job as a commercial editor to shoot a feature film and later attended
Columbia University's MFA film program. Joseph writes "family stories"
(not to be confused with family-friendly stories) that explore the
dynamic relationships and interesting conflicts found within the walls
of the home.