Milla Bell-Hart is an action writer who folds progressive content into accessible, commercial genre spaces. Milla hails from small-town Maine, graduated Wesleyan University, and got her start in LA working in grip and electrical departments. She was most recently a Co-EP on Apple’s live action untitled Godzilla series. She’s staffed on NBC’s The Night Shift, Amazon’s dark thriller Absentia, Netflix’s fantasy epic Diablo , Amazon’s dystopian actioner, Lazarus, Apple’s murder mystery Truth Be Told, and Apple’s crime caper Bad Monkey. She’s currently developing a true crime hourlong with Bill Lawrence’s Doozer Productions, Warner Brothers, and Annie Murphy. She’s set up a demolition derby pilot Female Driven at the CW and a Coast Guard pilot at Fox. In the feature space, Milla rewrote surf epic Rio Pro for Netflix and Makeready. Prior to that, she polished Star Thrower’s dystopian motorcycle feature Godspeed. Her favorite movie is Die Hard, her favorite person is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and her least favorite flavor rhymes with her name: vanilla.

Constance M. Burge, a seasoned film and television writer/producer, is the creator of the long-running television series Charmed as well as the television series Savannah. Credits also include the award-winning Ally McBeal and The Fosters in addition to writing and producing fourteen other television series.  Currently teaches a Masters Class in “Television Pilot Writing” to graduate students at the UCLA film and television school, her alma mater, where she holds both a BA in Theatre as well as an MFA in Playwriting, in  addition to teaching as the same class at The University of Georgia, where her parents met and fell in love.  She resides in Malibu, California, and enjoys spending time with her son, a rising senior at UCSB.  Go Gauchos!

Sal Calleros is a television writer and producer. He is best known for his work on The Good Doctor (2018-2020), Snowfall (2017-2018), Colony (2016), and Sneaky Pete (2015-2018). Sal is a Los Angeles native who started out as a graffiti artist in high school and college. He graduated from the ABC Writing Fellowship in 2006 but his first true writing job was for the Domestic Violence Clinic in the San Fernando Courthouse, drafting restraining orders to prevent harassment, molestation and abuse. He also worked three years as a Family Law paralegal, and as a court interpreter. Sal transitioned into entertainment, working at FX as a research analyst and then as a Media Planner at a Hispanic marketing agency. Sal’s young family, which includes his frugal German-¬Irish wife and three children, continually provides for an entertaining and challenging familial culture clash that fuels his creativity.

Cindy Caponera is a veteran comedy writer, performer and producer who began her career in theater at the famed Second City Mainstage as well as The National Touring Company. Other notable theater credits include Eugene O’Neil’s Before Breakfast/Hughie at the Royal George Theater, and Maria Irene Fornes’ Mud at the Chicago Actors’ Project. An accomplished monologist, her first solo show Against the Grain debuted in Chicago to rave reviews, followed by the critically-acclaimed, The Debutante Ball, which was produced for Oxygen Network’s Life Out Loud series. Cookies and Booze, her third solo show, has been seen at the HBO Workshop Stage and the Comedy Central Stage in Los Angeles.

For over twenty years Cindy has been writing and producing television.  Some of her credits include: Saturday Night Live, Nurse Jackie, Shameless, and I’m Dying Up Here.   She recently served as an Executive Producer and writer on At Home with Amy Sedaris for truTV. Cindy enjoys a diverse career in comedy and drama and has developed shows for almost all networks including; HBO, FOX, Showtime, ABC and CBS. Some of her television acting credits include; Curb Your Enthusiasm, That 70’s Show, SNL, Sherri, Burning Love, Exit 57 and At Home with Amy Sedaris.  Cindy recently published her first collection of essays entitled I Triggered Her Bully… tiny memoirs.

Bryan Cogman is a screenwriter, producer, and once and future actor. He spent ten years and eight seasons working on HBO’s hit fantasy series Game of Thrones, finishing up its run as Co-Executive Producer and penning eleven episodes of the series. For his work as a producer on the show, Bryan received four Emmy Awards. He is currently a Consulting Producer on Amazon’s upcoming series The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and has written the screenplay for Disney’s upcoming remake of The Sword in the Stone. Currently, Bryan is a writer and producer with eOne, developing a number of original series for the studio, including a contemporary reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s classic film Yojimbo. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School with a degree in Acting and lives with his family in Los Angeles.

Eliza Jiménez Cossio is an actress and writer from California. She has written on This Fool (Hulu), Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max), One Day At A Time (Netflix/Pop TV), and Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (HBO). After graduating from UC Berkeley, she moved to New York to intern at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where she worked her way up to digital writer and the on-air Senior Latina Correspondent. Her Sex and the City/Sopranos crossover script went viral on Twitter and was featured in NY Magazine/Vulture, AV Club, and Slate Magazine. She wrote, co-directed, and acted in the award winning short film La Bruja as well as her latest short film We Should Get Dinner!, which premiered at SXSW 2022.

Jane Espenson is a television writer and producer. She began her TV adventure by selling story ideas to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Next, the ABC|Disney Writers Fellowship helped her move into the world of sitcoms, where she wrote for Dinosaurs and Ellen, among other series. A transition to the hour drama format led to the work for which she is best known, writing for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, The O.C., Gilmore Girls, Battlestar Galactica, Game of Thrones and Once Upon a Time, among other series.  She also writes comic books, short stories, and has edited several books of essays. She currently writing for two series: Joss Whedon’s The Nevers, for HBO, and Foundation, based on the Asimov books, for Apple. She has the best jobs in the universe.

Nate Matteson is a television and feature film producer. He cofounded and built the development and packaging incubator Super Frog Films in 2019 alongside longtime friend and collaborator Hiro Murai (Atlanta, “This Is America”). His credits under Super Frog as Executive Producer include the highly celebrated series The Bear (FX), Station Eleven (HBO Max), and The Choe Show (FX). All three series were nominated for Independent Spirit Awards in their first season with The Bear taking home the honor. Both The Bear and Station Eleven have been either recognized or awarded at The Emmys, the SAG Awards, the WGA Awards, the PGA Awards, and the Critic’s Choice Awards, amongst many others. The Bear was also FX’s most watched original series debut on Hulu. Super Frog has the new series Mr. and Mrs. Smith in production at Amazon, created by Donald Glover and starring Glover and Maya Erskine; as well as a first look deal and development slate at FX.

Holly Sorensen is a highly regarded television creator, showrunner, writer and producer. Sorensen is the creator and showrunner of the YouTube original scripted series Step Up: High Water, which was the subscription video service’s first ever big budget original scripted drama.  Previously, Sorensen was the creator and showrunner of ABC Family’s hit series Make It or Break It. The show, which focused on the lives of teen gymnast who strived to make it to the Olympic Games,garnered three Teen Choice Award nominations, including Choice TV Drama, and a Gracie Award nomination. The show ran for three seasons, after which Sorensen went on to create and showrun Freeform’s Recovery Road, about recovering teen addicts at a rehab facility. She has also developed projects for CBS Studios, Warner Brother Studios, ABC Studios, ABC and CW networks as well as Amazon. Prior to working in the television industry, Sorensen was a journalist for over ten years, both writing and editing for national magazines such as Premiere Magazine, InStyle, and O Magazine, among other publications. Additionally, she was the President of Production for the Indie film studio The Shooting Gallery, whose movies received several Sundance awards.

Cheri Steinkellner has earned four Emmy awards, two Golden Globes, a Writers Guild, People’s Choice, World Animation, and British Academy Award for writing and producing TV’s Cheers and creating Disney’s Teacher’s Pet; as well as receiving a Tony nomination for writing Broadway’s Sister Act the Musical with husband Bill. Cheri lectures worldwide and teaches writing for screens and stage at Stanford and at UCSB, where she and Bill were honored to receive the 2017 Inspiration Award.

John Strauss has been writing and producing television series and feature films, both live action and computer-animated, for over thirty years. John’s credits as a screenwriter include There’s Something About Mary, Santa Clause II, Santa Clause III, starring Tim Allen and Free Birds, a computer-animated feature, starring Owen Wilson and Woody Harrelson. Box office receipts of the aforementioned films total in excess of a billion dollars internationally.

On the television side, John has been an executive producer/showrunner on over ten different television series. His most recent credits include the Golden Globe winning series Mozart in the Jungle. He is currently serving as executive producer for Peabody Award nominee David Makes Man with Academy Award winner Tarell McCraney (Moonlight), for Warner Brothers Television and the OWN Network. He is currently writing two one-hour drama pilots for Warner Brothers Television, and a third one for Netflix. John is also adapting There’s Something About Mary as a Broadway musical.

A visionary filmmaker from Detroit, Michigan, Christine Swanson most recently directed the record-breaking, smash-hit film The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel, which was 2020’s Best TV Movie award recipient from the African American Film Critics Association and nominated for a Critics Choice Award for Best Movie Made for Television as well as five NAACP Image Award Nominations including Outstanding Directing. Her other celebrated movie credits include All About You, The Miki Howard Story, and For the Love of Ruth, for which she also earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture. Christine has directed numerous episodes of television including P-Valley, All American, All American Homecoming, Chicago PD, FBI, Roswell, New Mexico. Christine received her Master of Fine Arts degree in Film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and her Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame. She lives in Los Angeles with her studio executive husband Michael Swanson and their four amazing children.

The Carsey-Wolf Center sincerely thanks Rick Rosen for supporting the Storytelling for the Screen Program. Rick Rosen is a co-founder of Endeavor, now WME Agency. Rosen oversees the agency’s television division, in addition to his role in broadcast, sports broadcast, and golf divisions. He played a critical role in orchestrating Endeavor’s 2009 merger with the William Morris Agency, the largest talent agency merger in history.

Rosen works with comedic icon Conan O’Brien and represents the creators of many top television series such as Dick Wolf (Law & Order, Chicago, FBI Franchises), Howard Gordon (24, Homeland), Alex Gansa (Homeland), Linwood Boomer (Malcolm in the Middle), Hagai Levi (Scenes from a Marriage, Our Boys, In Treatment), and Sarah Treem (The Affair).

Rosen serves on the Board of Directors of the Los Angeles Leadership Academy and is Co-Chair of the Board of the Alliance for Children’s Rights. He also serves on the Peabody Awards Board of Advisors and is the Chairman of the Hall of Fame Committee of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. He is the former president of the Board of Directors of the Hollywood Radio & Television Society and was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2012.