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In this Executive Hour we speak with screenwriter Lorien McKenna! Lorien is a former Pixar Story Manager who worked on such features as Oscar-winning UP, Oscar-winning BRAVE, Oscar-winning INSIDE OUT, and THE GOOD DINOSAUR. She also served as a producer for Paramount Animation where she oversaw development for WONDER PARK. Lorien, along with Oscar-nominated writer Meg LeFauve, sold their romantic comedy anthology, THIS THING CALLED LOVE to Hulu with Dan Lin producing; as well as a half hour sitcom, POOG to NBC and WBTV. Lorien also wrote HOW TO SET A FIRE AND WHY, based on the book of the same name by Jesse Ball, for Straight Up Films. Previously, she served as the Co-EP for Hulu's CURIOUS GEORGE series, and has developed projects for Disney Jr., Funko, and Netflix. She is the co-host of the podcast The Screenwriting Life with fellow screenwriter Meg LeFauve. During the webcast, Lorien discusses her unusual career trajectory, working in the "Brain Turst" on Oscar-Winning animated films at Pixar, battling "Imposter Syndrome", tackling adaptations, writing for television vs. features, how hard it is to take notes even as an established writer, and much more! Make sure to listen to Lorien and Meg on The Screenwriting Life and join their podcast group on Facebook! You can also send all your screenwriting-related questions to thescreenwritinglife@gmail.com and they might just answer them on the series! Full Bio »
In this Executive Hour we speak with screenwriter Lorien McKenna! Lorien is a former Pixar Story Manager who worked on such features as Oscar-winning UP, Oscar-winning BRAVE, Oscar-winning INSIDE OUT, and THE GOOD DINOSAUR. She also served as a producer for Paramount Animation where she oversaw development for WONDER PARK.
Lorien, along with Oscar-nominated writer Meg LeFauve, sold their romantic comedy anthology, THIS THING CALLED LOVE to Hulu with Dan Lin producing; as well as a half hour sitcom, POOG to NBC and WBTV. Lorien also wrote HOW TO SET A FIRE AND WHY, based on the book of the same name by Jesse Ball, for Straight Up Films. Previously, she served as the Co-EP for Hulu's CURIOUS GEORGE series, and has developed projects for Disney Jr., Funko, and Netflix.
She is the co-host of the podcast The Screenwriting Life with fellow screenwriter Meg LeFauve.
During the webcast, Lorien discusses her unusual career trajectory, working in the "Brain Turst" on Oscar-Winning animated films at Pixar, battling "Imposter Syndrome", tackling adaptations, writing for television vs. features, how hard it is to take notes even as an established writer, and much more!
The Executive Hour
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"This is a wonderful discussion - thank you." - Stephen P.
"This whole chat has been so human. What heart food!!!" - Sarah G.B.
"This was amazing, I loved hearing the reality of being a writer." - Ryan H.
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Executive Hour Webcast with Aimee Rivera, VP of Motion Pictures Development at Skydance Media, which has released TOP GUN: MAVERICK, THE GREATEST BEER RUN EVER, THE ADAM PROJECT, SNAKE EYES, THE TOMORROW WAR, 6 UNDERGROUND and many more.
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Executive Hour Webcast with Netflix Script Analyst Michael Schulman! Michael Schulman is a Feature Story Analyst for Netflix as part of its Independent Original Film Division, and his job revolves around evaluating feature screenplay submissions and deciding which ones to pass up to the executives to consider. Prior to his role at Netflix, Michael spent nearly a decade in the story department at CAA where he found projects for CAA clients. Over his storied career, Michael also served as an agent at ICM’s Motion Picture Literary Department and held numerous studio creative executive positions at Orion, TriStar, and Disney where he worked to develop film and television projects with some of the top talent in the industry. Michael is very familiar with what it takes for a script to find its way to decisionmakers since this has been a key feature of his job for over a decade. This was a great conversation with Michael!
During this Executive Hour we welcome special guest AKEELAH AND THE BEE and BRIAN BANKS filmmaker Doug Atchison! AKEELAH AND THE BEE was released by Lionsgate and starred Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, and Keke Palmer. His script for AKEELAH has recently been adapted into a stage play which is being performed around the country. Doug wrote the screenplay for BRIAN BANKS, which was produced by previous Writers' Room guest Amy Baer, released in August of 2019, and for which Doug won the 2019 Humanitas Prize. The film was directed by Tom Shadyac and stars Greg Kinnear, Aldis Hodge, and Morgan Freeman.During this webcast Doug discusses writing AKEELAH, working as an independent writer/director, how he gets hired for screenwriting assignments, what most writers struggle with when writing a screenplay and how to approach writing a true story!
We're back in the Writers' Room for The Executive Hour Webcast with Mike Diaz. Mike Diaz is an accomplished Manager and Producer at Citizen Skull Management - where he represents Writers, Directors, and Producers. Previously, Mike was at ATN Entertainment a boutique management company founded in 2015 by Jennifer Aurianna Dare. Previously, Jennifer was at Bohemia Group, one of the top talent management companies in the industry, as Executive Vice-President. The goal of ATN Entertainment is to create and contribute to the success, livelihood and happiness of her clients, while servicing them with the highest level of integrity. Prior to that, Mike was at The Coronel Group, a boutique entertainment management company that takes a well-rounded approach to representing actors, writers and directors for the longevity of their clients' careers. The company manages both emerging talent as well as A-List Actors including Alan Tudyk (Disney Animated Films), Adan Gillen ("GAME OF THRONES"), and Robert Patrick (TERMINATOR Franchise). Mike focusses on project development for Coronel Group's Writers and Directors. Mike has a demonstrated history in development and talent management with several projects in in development across, TV, Film and the Podcast space. He began his career at Principato-Young and then moved to the Coronel Group in 2014.
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Executive Hour Webcast with Nathan Varni the Director, Current Programming, Disney-ABC Television Group. Nathan oversees all creative on ABC series including the hit Grey’s Anatomy and General Hospital. He as also worked on How to Get Away with Murder, The Conners, Grand Hotel, Once Upon A Time, Scandal, and The Middle. Mr. Varni oversees all creative and day-to-day management on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder, The Conners, Grand Hotel and long running daytime drama series, General Hospital. In past seasons, Mr. Varni served as the covering executive on Once Upon A Time, Scandal, The Middle, Greys Anatomy, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World and the revival of Roseanne. Mr. Varni joined ABC in November, 2006 as an assistant in comedy current programming and also spent time working as a coordinator in comedy development and current programming working on a vast number of both comedy and drama series including According to Jim, Samantha Who?, Better off Ted, Cougar Town, Castle, V, 666 Park Avenue and three seasons covering Happy Endings.
We're back in the Writers' Room for the Executive Hour Webcast with Special Guest Matt Ember - the Screenwriter behind GET SMART, FAILURE TO LAUNCH, and WAR WITH GRANDPA! Matt is a Screenwriter and Producer who has worked on over 20 feature films and television shows including "THE CONNERS" on ABC, THE WAR WITH GRANDPA with Robert Deniro, GET SMART with Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway, FAILURE TO LAUNCH with Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker and many more. This was an amazing conversation with Matt bringing his knowledge exclusively to the Writers' Room!