Featured Presentations

Friday, April 25 | 6:00pm – 9:00pm

SCREENING:

Dark Winds Screening/Q&A with Billy Luther

Screening Description

Friday will kick-off the conference with a screening of an episode of AMC’s Dark Winds followed by a discussion with writer/director Billy Luther moderated by Bill True. We will delve into his extraordinary career and discuss the craft and business of screenwriting followed by a Q&A

Billy Luther (Navajo, Hopi and Laguna Pueblo) is the writer/director of the award-winning feature film Frybread Face and Me, executive produced by Taika Waititi, and distributed by Ava DuVernay’s company, Array, for Netflix. The film was selected as part of SXSW 2023’s Narrative Spotlight and TIFF 2023’s Discovery and New Wave Selects. His feature documentary, Miss Navajo, premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and aired nationally on PBS’ Independent Lens that same year. His second documentary feature, Grab, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was screened at over 80 film festivals around the world. His short documentary film, Red Lake, had its world premiere at the 2016 LA Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary Short at the 2016 International Documentary Association Awards. In 2018, he launched his web series alter-NATIVE for PBS’ IndieLens StoryCast. He is currently a writer and director for the AMC series Dark Winds, which also streams on Netflix He is repped by CAA

Bill True’s debut feature, Runaway, was hailed by critics as “Brilliant” and “Hitchcockian” as it premiered to universal accolades at Tribeca and Toronto. It went on to screen worldwide at Avignon, Woodstock, Vail, Palm Springs, and other top festivals. Bill took the top prize at the Austin Film Festival for his work on Runaway, which was subsequently released by eOne Films.

 

Currently, Bill is working with Hallmark’s TV division to develop a TV series pilot he co-wrote. In May, his elevated holiday romance feature, Holiday Hearts, begins production in New Mexico. He was also recently tapped to write the feature adaptation of the acclaimed YA novel, Whale Talk.

 

Bill has also developed feature and television projects with The Film Collective, NBA Entertainment, Warner Horizon Television, Veritas Entertainment, More/Medavoy Productions, eOne Television, and more.

 

In addition to his work in Hollywood, Bill is Head of Dramatic Writing at the esteemed Scottsdale School of Film+Theatre. From 2015 to 2024, Bill also served as Department Chair for SSFT. Under Bill’s leadership, SSFT was named one of industry-leading entertainment publication Variety’s “Top Film Schools in North America” in 2023 and 2024, and was also named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “30 Best Film Schools in the US and Canada in 2024.”

Saturday, April 26 | 8:00am – 5:00pm

Discovering & Building YOUR Unique Screenwriting Career

Seminar Description

No two screenwriting careers are made the same. While many writers are eager to break into any area or genre of screenwriting in the name of building a screenwriting career, it’s those writers who understand the screenwriting career they want and are best suited for both in sensibility and geographically. With that in mind, this talk will explore the variety of paths available for screenwriters building careers in today’s complex industry space with the hopes of identifying the specific path that works best for you.

Lee Jessup is a career coach for screenwriters, specializing in guiding emerging and professional scribes toward long-standing and prolific screenwriting careers in both TV and feature writing, as well as a Business of Screenwriting Professor. Lee has provided consulting services to NBC International, the Universal Writers Program, the Final Draft Big Break Contest and Inevitable Foundation, and is an adjunct professor with the David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts. Her one-on-one coaching clients include everyone from showrunners and studio writers to contest winners, TV writing fellows as well as writers just starting out. She is the author of the best selling books Breaking In: Tales From the Screenwriting Trenches and Getting It Write: An Insider’s Guide to a Screenwriting Career

BREAKOUT SESSION:

From Novel to Screenplay

Class Description

Writers write, right? Whether it be prose, novel, short story, plays or screenplays…a writer writes. But how does one transform that novel to the big screen? Is there a magical formula? Is there some special thing you have to do or do you just take the words on the page of your novel and plop them onto the page and call it a day?

Join Bob Saenz (screenwriter, actor and author) as he sets the record straight on transforming your novel to a script. While it is true that writers write…novel writing and screenwriting are two different art forms with two different sets of rules.

The topics of the day include:

• Comparative Length

• Voice / The difference of POV

• Remember a Screenplay is only what can be seen and heard.

• It’s NOT the same as writing a Novel AT ALL.

• What to save, what to combine, what to get rid of.

If you have written a novel, wanted to write a novel, or thought about writing novels and ever wondered how to turn that 250-page book into a screenplay, you will not want to miss this class

Bob Saenz is a screenwriter, author, and actor living in Nashville Tennessee, with 19 produced films. His film works include “Extracurricular Activities”, “Church People”, “Help for the Holidays”, “Rescuing Madison”, “The Right Girl”, “The Christmas Yule Blog”, the award winning “The Farmer and the Belle”, and “A Christmas Star”. He regularly does rewrites, adaptations, and polishes on film and TV projects for Producers and Production Companies. He speaks and teaches at Film Festivals and Writer’s Conferences across the country and is also the author of the popular screenwriting book, That’s Not the Way It Works: a non-nonsense guide to the craft and business of screenwriting. Acting roles: six seasons on “Nash Bridges”, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Jack”, David Fincher’s “Zodiac”, and “Unleashed”, among dozens of others.

BREAKOUT SESSION:

The Antagonist’s Journey

Class Description

A hero can’t rise without an equally strong, complex antagonist to rise against. And to craft a strong “bad guy”, you have to know the key elements of memorable antagonists. Using examples of Hollywood’s greatest villains, we will go over the pathology of antagonists, how to take popular villain archetypes to the next level, how to create relatable motivations, powerful backstories, and follow the Antagonist’s Journey beat sheet to make your bad guys oh so good!

Danny Manus is a former development exec, a screenwriter, and has run No BullScript Consulting since 2009. He’s the author of “No B.S. for Screenwriters: Advice from the Executive Perspective” and has consulted on produced projects including Strangerlands starring Nicole Kidman, King of Killers starring Frank Grillo, I, Frankenstein starring Aaron Eckhart, Satanic Panic starring Rebecca Romijn, You Don’t Belong Here starring Shane West, and In-Lawfully Yours starring Marilu Henner. His clients have been produced, sold, optioned, signed, staffed, won fellowships, and have won or been finalists or semifinalists in every major contest. Danny was a Consulting Producer on the TV Pilot Millennial Rules and was the Director of Development for Clifford Werber Productions (Sydney White, Just Add Water), Sandstorm Films (The Covenant, Prom Night), and Eclectic Pictures (Lovelace), which combined had four #1 films at the box office. He’s taken thousands of pitches, appeared on numerous podcasts, and has been a speaker at dozens of events across the country. You can follow him on X and Threads @DannyManus.

WORKSHOP:

Crafting a Superior Logline

Workshop Description

Join WME Story Editor Chris Lockhart for this interactive workshop where he will  teach you the crucial elements of that short but vital summary of a script – the logline. Competition is greater than ever in the film industry, and your logline might be the only way to attract the attention of someone in a position to buy your script. Learn the differences between a premise and a logline, how to communicate the central conflict, identify a hook, and much more.  At the end of the workshop, students will break into groups and create their own loglines for a popular movie. These will be discussed and critiqued by Chris.

Christopher Lockhart is Hollywood’s foremost story professional.  He is an executive,  filmmaker, and educator with over 30 years of industry experience. As Story Editor at WME, the world’s largest diversified talent agency, Chris curates film and TV projects for A-list actors such as Denzel Washington. He has read over 60,000 screenplays in his career.

 

Chris got his start at International Creative Management (ICM), where he worked as script consultant to legendary talent agent Ed Limato, who represented industry giants such as Mel Gibson, Richard Gere, Michelle Pfeiffer, Liam Neeson, and Robert Downey, Jr.   Chris later moved to the venerable William Morris Agency, which merged with Endeavor to form WME.

 

Chris branched off into film producing with the cult horror hit The Collector and its sequel The Collection, which opened in the top ten American box-office.   He wrote and produced the award winning documentary Most Valuable Players, which was acquired by Oprah Winfrey for her network.  He is currently in pre-production on Crooked Creek, a neo-noir thriller.

As an educator, Chris has lectured around the world on the craft and business of screenwriting.  He spoke about storytelling to visual effects artists at the FMX in Stuttgart, Germany; spent a week in Sierre, Switzerland mentoring international writers for Dreamago; visited the Caribbean, where he met with island filmmakers as a guest of FilmTT (Trinidad and Tobago Film Commission); and recently traveled to South Africa to consult with screenwriters. Chris is an adjunct professor at National University’s Professional Screenwriting Program and has taught at LA Valley College and UCLA. His writing workshop The Inside Pitch was filmed for Los Angeles television and earned him an Emmy Award nomination.   He was the AFMX 2023 recipient of the Robert and Sibylle Redford Award. Chris graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts with an MFA in dramatic writing.

Chris founded a Facebook group called The Inside Pitch, where he moderates 15,000+ creatives and offers daily advice and feedback on the Hollywood script maze.  He lives in Beverly Hills, CA and has a 15-year-old son.

The Five Elements of A Commercial Script That Will Attract A-List Talent

Seminar Description

Do you want to see your script on the big screen?

Do you want to write the kind of script that makes A-list actors want to attach themselves to? A script that agents and managers fight to represent and sell?

Then you need a commercial script.

WME executive Chris Lockhart has read thousands of scripts and has been tasked with finding the next hit project for talent like Denzel Washington, Michelle Pfeiffer, Liam Neeson, Robert Downey Jr., and many more.

In this presentation, Chris will show you the key elements he believes need to be in a script to know if it will grab the attention of executives and talent and how to utilize these elements correctly.

You’ll cover what a commercial script is, the concepts that sell, how to write this type of script, and how to bring your voice into the script so that it reads like an exciting and fresh piece of material that only you could have written. Chris will be using the script from Top Gun: Maverick as his main example to further dissect these critical elements.

BREAKOUT SESSION:

Scene Workshop

Seminar Description

The two-hour class will be part instructional and part workshop. Bob will discuss the elements that go into making a dynamic scene and then take those lessons and help students apply them as you work on scene from scratch. He will give you some prompts and you will create a scene. He and students will then read a few out loud and discuss what did and did not work. ked and what did not work.

Bob Saenz is a screenwriter, author, and actor living in Nashville Tennessee, with 19 produced films. His film works include “Extracurricular Activities”, “Church People”, “Help for the Holidays”, “Rescuing Madison”, “The Right Girl”, “The Christmas Yule Blog”, the award winning “The Farmer and the Belle”, and “A Christmas Star”. He regularly does rewrites, adaptations, and polishes on film and TV projects for Producers and Production Companies. He speaks and teaches at Film Festivals and Writer’s Conferences across the country and is also the author of the popular screenwriting book, That’s Not the Way It Works: a non-nonsense guide to the craft and business of screenwriting. Acting roles: six seasons on “Nash Bridges”, Francis Ford Coppola’s “Jack”, David Fincher’s “Zodiac”, and “Unleashed”, among dozens of others.

BREAKOUT SESSION:

Dramatic Structure for Storytellers

Class Description

From ancient folklore to the modern television series, a good story well-told has the power to captivate the hearts and imaginations of any audience. But how does a storyteller plot a compelling narrative from start to finish? In this interactive lecture, produced screenwriter, published novelist, and ASU professor Brian McAuley shares the lessons and tools that have served him as a professional writer across every medium and genre. By analyzing feature-length film structures, television season arcs and dramatic scene dynamics, you’ll walk away with the critical and creative skillset to tackle any tale.​​​

 Brian McAuley is a WGA screenwriter and published novelist whose work spans various storytelling mediums and genres. He penned the award-winning independent thriller Dismissed in addition to five other films that premiered on the Lifetime Network (Nanny Cam, The Perfect Daughter, Seduced, Twisted Sisters, Hush Little Baby). He sold his original series pitch Affliction to Syfy Network in a pilot development deal with Universal Studios and wrote an episode of the family sitcom Fuller House for Netflix and Warner Brothers. Brian’s debut novel Curse of the Reaper was named one of the Best Horror Books of 2022 by Esquire and is now in active development at a major Hollywood studio. The critical and commercial success of his 2023 holiday horror novella Candy Cain Kills led to a 2024 sequel Candy Cain Kills Again: The Second Slaying. His next novel Breathe In, Bleed Out sold to Poisoned Pen Press for a Fall 2025 release. Brian’s short fiction and non-fiction have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. He teaches as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Screenwriting at ASU’s Sidney Poitier New American Film School. Connect with him on social media @BrianMcWriter

ROUNDTABLE:

Tales from the Trenches

Roundtable Description

Join Danny Manus, Lee Jessup, and Chris Lockhart to hear how they got their start in the business, the ups and downs of working for Hollywood, and how you can chart your career in the entertainment business.  With advice on making connections and getting noticed, Tales from the Trenches will illuminate how you can get your foot in the door as well as obtain consistent work in one of the most difficult jobs in the industry.​​​

Sunday, April 27 | 9:00am – 3:00pm

Get Rep’d

Seminar Description

Manager Chris Deckard discusses how to get an agent and keep them. Kicking things off with an overview of the representation industry and its key players, Deckard will delve into what is an agent/manager; how to get rep’d; and the role a rep plays in developing a screenwriter’s career and getting them work.

Prior to co-founding the management/production company Fictional Entity in early 2017, Chris Deckard spent over seven years working with and representing talent at the major agencies ICM Partners and WME. While at WME, Chris worked in the media rights department, selling books for series and film adaptations before moving into the talent department, where he worked closely with high level actors in film, television, and the then-emerging digital space. While at ICM Partners, he again worked with high level actors and worked closely with the packaging and sales department and the digital media group. For over a decade, Chris has worked closely with traditional and new media buyers to find and develop content for domestic and international audiences. In addition to helping cast and package numerous features and series, he has evaluated thousands of scripts for actors and directors. Chris graduated from Cornell University and earned his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School.

 

Chris helps his clients navigate the evolving entertainment landscape in the United States and abroad. He has negotiated deals for features, series, and podcasts in several international territories. His clients have been named to The Black List, The Hit List, The Young & Hungry List, The Blood List and been lauded by the PAGE Awards, the International Emmys, and The GLAAD Awards. Clients have also earned nominations and placements from The Heath Ledger Scholarship, The Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Awards, the AWG, ADG, SPA, and AACTA. Clients have written, directed, starred, and produced in numerous formats, including features, TV, virtual reality, and podcasts, independently and for companies like Netflix, Lucasfilm, NBCUniversal, Legendary, Marvel, Fremantle, SyFy, the CW, Warner Bros., Amazon, Blumhouse, Hulu, XYZ, The BBC, Comedy Central, the ABC Australia, Foxtel, TruTV, Super Deluxe, Hallmark, Lifetime, CBS, Facebook, E!, and MSNBC.

 

Several of Chris’ clients had films shoot in 2021, including one for Netflix, and another which sold to XYZ Films, both of which are slated for 2022 release. Within the past year, clients have sold series to Amazon, Netflix, eOne, and Hulu. Chris, along with his business partner, is also an Executive Producer on a scripted series project alongside two writing EPs from New Amsterdam which sold to Universal Television in 2021.

BREAKOUT SESSION:

Screenwriter –
Rep Relationship

Class Description

Manager Chris Deckard and screenwriter Chris Lamont (whom Deckard represents), have a sitdown chat about the representative – screenwriter relationship. Find out how they found each other, and how Deckard works with studios and producers to get Lamont’s work made and get Lamont paid. This is a special behind-the-scenes glimpse of how screenwriters and reps collaborate and build relationships.

Chris LaMont is an award-winning WGA screenwriter, who’s work with writing partner Joseph Russo has included the suspense-thriller The Au Pair Nightmare, and action-thriller Hard Kill starring Bruce Willis, noir-drama The Locksmith starring Ryan Phillipe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames, the horror-thriller film Soul Mates, and the Netflix-produced supernatural thriller The Inheritance. 

He was a national finalist of the Final Draft Big Break contest, named as one of the Top New Screenwriters in Hollywood, is a Three-Time Blood List Winner and is represented by The Gersh Agency and managed by Fictional Entity.

He is the founder of the Phoenix Film Festival, the Phoenix Film Society, IFP – Phoenix (Independent Filmmaker Project), the Arizona Student Film Festival, the Arizona College Film Festival and the International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival.

He is also a Film Professor at Arizona State University in the Sidney Poitier New American Film School and wrote Great Comedy Films: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Funny Movies. He still reads comic books but calls them “graphic novels” so he can be cool.

 

Chris Deckard Bio

Pitch Contest

Workshop Description

Special pitch contest. A pitch contest will be held on Sunday, April 27, 2025 at 9: 30 AM to 11:00. Writers will have the opportunity to pitch their script in front of the conference attendees on stage. Pitch fee is $20.00 Pitch length is limited to 5 minutes. A limit of 12 submissions will be accepted. The audience will vote for their favorite pitch via a rating ballot handed out at the beginning of the event. 

Simple vote ranking will determine 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners. In the event of a tie, both writers will be awarded the higher of the rankings—ex.: if tied for first, both share 1st place and will be listed as “Tied for 1st Place.” Winners will be announced and presented with awards on Sunday, April 27 at 3:45 PM. 1st Place winner will receive a trophy. Top three winners will receive a certificate along with a photo with the PSA President, which will be posted on the PSA site for a year. A link to winners’ professional website (if applicable) will also be posted on PSA’s website for the year to help promote winners.

To register for the contest, please complete the separate pitch registration form along with the NAME of your script and pay the additional fee when registering. Thanks and Good Luck!

Sponsors/Grants

In Memory of Hallie B. McCord and Michael L. Cockerton