2018 TSL Summit Interviews

Poet, screenwriter, educator, and performer Fatimah Asghar is a Pakistani, Kashmiri, Muslim American writer. Fatimah Asghar is the author of the poetry collection If They Should Come for Us (One World/Random House, forthcoming 2018) and the chapbook After (Yes Yes Books, 2015).

She is also the writer and co-creator of the Emmy-nominated BROWN GIRLS, a web series that highlights friendships between women of color. Her work has been featured on news outlets such as PBS, NPR, Time, Teen Vogue, Huffington Post, and others.

In 2011 she created a spoken word poetry group in Bosnia and Herzegovina called REFLEKS while serving a Fulbright fellowship, where she studied theater in post-genocidal countries.

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Larry serves as Co-Founder and Executive Director of NewFilmmakers Los Angeles (NFMLA), an organization committed to highlighting emerging filmmakers worldwide. He’s a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA) and a Faculty Member at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI).

Additionally, Larry is the President of Production at SXM, a full-service creative agency and branded entertainment studio/production company that plans and delivers branded entertainment across all digital platforms. They specialize in helping brands fuse entertainment, advertising and technology to reach new customers. SXM has produced digital series, branded entertainment and commercials for some of the world’s leading brands, networks and studios, including: Disney, NBC, CBS, VEVO, Dailymotion, MTV, DEFY Media, Comedy Central, Verizon go90, Amazon, Complex Media, IKEA, Mountain Dew, Samsung, Coca-Cola, Verizon and Smuckers. SXM has worked with Directors such as James Franco and Joseph Gordon Levitt.

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Elgin James is co-creator of MAYANS M.C for Fox’s FX network, alongside legendary screenwriter and showrunner, Kurt Sutter. Both are producing and James is credited with writing the pilot.

His directorial debut, LITTLE BIRDS, starring Juno Temple and Leslie Mann, premiered in competition at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. A few months later James began serving a prison sentence for a past gang-related charge of federal extortion. LITTLE BIRDS was released in 2012 by Millennium Entertainment and the film won a National Board of Review award.

On the film side, James is slated to direct A MILLION LITTLE PIECES for John Wells and Brad Pitt’s Plan B Entertainment and is developing a film on the troubled life of actress Jean Seberg for Electric City entertainment, adapted from the biography BREATHLESS. James is repped by WME.

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Hannah Macpherson was born in Albuquerque New Mexico and studied Film Production at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.  She attended the UCLA Professional Program in Writing for Television in 2014. She created, wrote and directed the edgy teen thriller series T@GGED for AwesomenessTV.  She just delivered season 3, and seasons 1 and 2 are available on Hulu.

She is currently rewriting a feature called THE MERCILESS for Lionsgate with Alloy Entertainment producing; she is attached to direct. She also wrote and directed SICKHOUSE, the first-ever, made-for-mobile, vertically-shot feature film. Hannah is repped by CAA and Madhouse Entertainment.

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Britta Lundin is a TV writer, novelist, and comic book writer. She writes on the show RIVERDALE on the CW. Her young adult novel SHIP IT, about fanfiction, Comic-Con, and wanting more from the TV shows you love is out now from Freeform Books. Originally from the Pacific Northwest, she now lives with her wife and their lime tree in Los Angeles.

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After graduating from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Doug Jung’s first feature was CONFIDENCE starring Ed Burns and Dustin Hoffman.  He’s written extensively for television as well as film, including HBO’s BIG LOVE and BANSHEE and as co-creator of TNT’s DARK BLUE. STAR TREK BEYOND, co-written with Simon Pegg, was his 2nd project with JJ Abrams and Bad Robot and continues with the soon to be released GOD PARTICLE. He recently completed production on the pilot SCALPED, based on the acclaimed DC/Vertigo graphic novel.  His projects in TV and Film have included scripts for Martin Scorcese, Michael Mann and David Fincher.

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Prime Universe Films, Inc. was established in 2005 by Adrian Askarieh with a vision to develop and produce high concept feature films based on established video game and comic book IP, while keeping an eye out for fresh, original material with appeal to growing global audiences.

Prior to forming Prime Universe, Adrian served as an Associate Attorney at Kleinberg & Lerner, LLP, a Century City-based law firm specializing in the area of IP rights. The firm represents personalities and companies involved in the entertainment, tech, and multimedia industries.

Garnering a reputation as a producer with a keen eye for both branded and emerging IP, Adrian was instrumental in setting up Eidos Interactive’s multi-million selling video game HITMAN at 20th Century Fox. Opening Thanksgiving weekend 2007, HITMAN went on to gross $100 million dollars worldwide on a production budget of $26 million. The sequel HITMAN: AGENT 47 followed in 2015, also released by Fox. Hitman is currently in priority development at Fox 21 as a cable TV series with HULU onboard as the network, with Adrian serving as Executive Producer.

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WENDY CALHOUN is a writer and executive producer with an overall deal at Warner Bros. Television Studios where she’s currently developing two new broadcast series. She has developed pilots with Netflix, FX, 20th TV Studios, and ABC Signature. Her past credits include Co-Executive Producing and writing the historic first season of Fox’s megahit series EMPIRE. In addition, she’s written and produced for ABC’s STATION 19, NASHVILLE, and REVENGE, and FX’s JUSTIFIED. Calhoun wrote and directed the virtual reality short, LEFT BEHIND, sponsored by Google, and honored as “Best in VR” at Digital Hollywood. She served as the Narrative Consultant for Electronic Arts’ BATTLEFIELD HARDLINE video game. Calhoun received a 2010 Peabody Award for JUSTIFIED.  Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Calhoun studied film and television at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

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Darrien Michele Gipson is the Executive Director of SAGindie. An M.F.A. recipient from the Peter Stark Producers Program at the University of Southern California, Darrien was formerly the Vice President of Production for DEF Pictures. As Executive Director of SAGindie, Darrien leads a team that is responsible for independent filmmaker outreach and specializes in teaching low budget production focusing on the process for hiring professional actors via SAG-AFTRA’s low budget contracts.

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Sandra E Varona is a Los Angeles-based Film, Music Video & New Media producer with over 11 years of experience in the industry.

In 2008, Sandra received the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant, which gives a promising filmmaker a full Panavision camera package. Varona utilized the 16mm Panavision package to produce her first music video, “Bailando”.

Since then she has conquered music video production via her own company, Varona Productions, having produced over 30 music videos for artists such as El Roockie, Kinky, Vaughn Anthony, Grammy Nominated artist Eric Roberson and rap artist Waka Flocka.

In October 2010, Varona began her participation in Film Independent’s Project: Involve as one of only 33 filmmakers selected for a year-long mentorship program. A year later, she served as the Unit Production Manager for the most anticipated Sundance feature film, Filly Brown, starring Gina Rodriguez, Lou Diamond Phillips, Edward J. Olmos and Jenni Rivera.

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