October 2022 in Arezzo
Donna Bellorado
Inspired by powerful women, I did whatever it took to work my way through graduate school and later break into screenwriting. A behavioral scientist with a post doc from Harvard, my career spanned the world of public policy from literacy to prison reform, youth and family development. Then I became a radio apprentice! My broadcast quality voice opened the door, but it was my feature storytelling that won a Peabody nomination, From Slavery to Reparations.
In my first screenwriting class I was struck by the fact that all characters were assumed to be white unless otherwise specified. I live in a multi-cultural world in a multi racial family. I am driven to tell universal stories with strong female protagonists, diverse characters including race, gender, LBGTQ+, and age; to show we all feel love, joy, dismay, desperation; that we have similar needs, desires, flaws, redemptive qualities.
My stories are an amalgam of characters I’ve met along my way.
I have written ten screenplays: eight features, a TV Pilot and a short. All have awards: a first prize thriller; numerous finalist positions across genres; a writing residency; a juried position in Squaw Valley screenwriting workshop; recommendations from Nicholls. A thirty second version of my short film, One Sound, received a MOBI award. Two scripts were optioned: SHOOT by Delroy Lindo/Ceiluna Productions and Details are Done by Jesse Williams/Foreword Productions.
Veronica Bechara
Veronica Bechara is an Australian filmmaker based in Sydney, Australia. Veronica began her career by studying at the University of Technology in Sydney, after gaining her degree in Bachelor of Communications (Media Arts and Production) she decided to venture into onset work in the industry.
Getting into the industry, Veronica has had an array of jobs, ranging from Runner to Producer. Veronica has worked for Warner Bros, Fremantle, Altura Learning, and Gearhouse Broadcast/Gravity Media.
She took up screenwriting as a way to put her daydreaming on paper as she soon realized she could turn this into a profession. Veronica is currently coming off working on a feature film, her plan is to find a literary agent to bring her writing to the screen.
Karen Matthews
I live in Australia have been screenwriting for 6 years, since my beautiful dog Star passed, I need to fill the huge gap.
I haven't had any training, but, I do really love the creative process. I love to walk, and discuss writing with like minded people.
Katee Forbis
Katee Forbis is a screenwriter from Memphis, Tennessee with a background in digital marketing, customer service and retail bakery management.
Keyanna Wigglesworth
Keyanna Wigglesworth is a screenwriter from South Jersey. Their feature script, Greener, was a quarterfinalist in ScreenCraft's 2021 Action & Adventure Screenplay Competition and a Second Rounder in their 2022 Film Fund Competition. In 2021 they were commissioned by Standing Bear Productions to write a feature film adaptation of a murder mystery novel. After leaving the project due to creative differences, Keyanna started working at Anonymous Content as a receptionist. Before finding their way to writing, Keyanna moved to Los Angeles in 2018 to pursue a career in creative development. They went on to hold creative assistant positions across United Talent Agency and Amazon Studios. That same year, they were chosen to participate in the seventh annual New York Film Festival Critics Academy. Their article on one of the films selected for that year's festival was later published in IndieWire. Prior to working in entertainment, Keyanna was an investment banking analyst at Citigroup based in New York City. She received a BA in Romance Languages & Literatures from Harvard.
Virginia Youngren
I’m a psychologist in Cambridge, Massachusetts with various teaching and clinical experience and a passion for writing. After being painfully scammed online some years ago, I became interested in fraud and crime, joined the Association of Certified Examiners as an Associate member, and became a student of forensic psychology with a particular interest in writing about the psychology of crime. I have screenwriting and film experience mostly with shorts and a few features. My favorite films are from Hitchcock and the Coen brothers; I Especially enjoy the writing of Patricia Highsmith as in “The Talented Mr. Ripley.”
Theresa Cardiello
Theresa Cardiello moved west from the flatlands to the mountains decades ago and has filled her Montana days with art of one form or another. She retired from a career as a mental health therapist, then took a break from teaching art classes and piano lessons during the Covid season, and took a dive into another art form - creative writing.
James Fitzmaurice
Jim Fitzmaurice is a retired professor of English at Northern Arizona University (emeritus) and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Sheffield. He has been writing screenplays for the last four years or so, mostly on biographical and historical topics. The subjects include Margaret Cavendish (17th century), Virginia Woolf (early 20th century), Raymond Carver and Kurt Vonnegut (1960s), and Barack Obama as an undergraduate (early 1980s). His current project, The Hobgoblin's Gennel, is a child and adult crossover in the manner of the Harry Potter films, but set in Sheffield in the UK.