October 2024 in Arezzo
Rachael Meyers
Rachael Meyers is an award-winning director, writer and producer. The recipient of 15 awards internationally, she has tackled a wide range of genres from high concept to character-driven content. Her directorial debut, the action-packed western comedy Highway 15, garnered awards at festivals across the country, including Best Direction. Most notably, Zoe + Ari, a short LGBTQ+ romantic dramedy which Meyers directed and produced, screened in 30+ festivals, won 4 awards, received 5 more nominations, and made a special appearance at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival as part of the Cannes Court Métrage. Most recently, her screenplays The Mirage and Cherry Pie were recognized, respectively, as Quarterfinalist in the Emerging Screenwriters Comedy Competition and Semifinalist in the WeScreenplay Feature Lab. Meyers is currently in development on several projects, including The Shift, the first of a three-film sci-fi adventure franchise. Directing seemed a natural offshoot from her work as an actress. Meyers is known for her recurring role as Josie on Tina Fey's Emmy-nominated comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. A six-foot-two former collegiate athlete, her credits include Fresh Off the Boat, Dog with a Blog, Champions, Veronica Mars, All Rise and The Set Up. Meyers’ career has also spanned the stage, including starring as Red Casey in the world premiere of Brynn Thayer’s Let Me In opposite Jorge Garcia, a performance for which she received a nomination for Best Performer in a Play in the 2023 BroadwayWorld Awards. Her performances have drawn critical praise ranging from "the ultimate stage mother from hell" (BroadwayWorld) to “dorky/sexy humanity” (BroadwayWorld) to "a towering beacon of goodness" (StageSceneLA).
Lovinder Gill
Lovinder Gill is an Award-Winning filmmaker and an International Best-Selling Author for his book “Scriptcake Secrets: The Top Ten Mistakes Novice Screenwriters Make and How to Fix Them.” His screenwriting podcast Scriptcake was chosen as one of “The 25 Best Screenwriting Podcasts for Screenwriters to Learn From.” by IndustrialScripts.com. He’s taught screenwriting and film production for over twenty years at schools like his alma mater, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts School of Filmmaking, Drexel University, Glendale Community College (AZ), Winston-Salem State University and East Carolina University. He’s written, produced, and directed three feature films. His most recent film, Seclusion will be released in 2025. He has written five produced feature film screenplays including Lost Stallions: The Journey Home starring Hollywood Legend Mickey Rooney and Ball & Chain starring Kal Penn. Lovinder has also written, produced, and directed documentaries all over the world including in Nepal on Mt. Everest, India, Guatemala, Bolivia, Canada, and Mexico.
Gilda Porcari
Gilda Hauser Porcari’s dad was a German Jew who barely escaped the Nazis in 1939, and came to America, married her mother – an avowed atheist – then became a born-again Christian. This cemented her complicated start to life... not to mention her relationship with God, her parents, and her whole crazy chaotic family. Making fun of her homelife as a way to hide her pain led her to her former career as a stand-up comic in the 90’s... and later to writing. And, never knowing where she fit in, her stories make up worlds of outsiders that don’t belong together either – like porn stars and preachers, strippers and hockey moms. Gilda just won the Screencraft Comedy Competition 2024 Mentorship Award, and will be mentored by Writer/Producers Rebecca Angelo and Lauren Schuker Blum (they wrote Dumb Money and Orange is the New Black). Gilda is a Michigan grad, has attended UCLA writing classes, and has studied extensively with story consultant Jen Grisanti and Roadmap Writers, where she was recently accepted to their Top Tier program. She also won the Chicago Screenplay awards, and was a semi-finalist at the Austin Film Festival and Page awards. She is also a Second City alum and the voice behind many iconic voiceovers in the 2000’s. On the home front, she’s a slacker wife to an Italian IP attorney, who provides her with a treasure trove of endless writing material, not to mention frequent trips to Italy and their vacation home in the Canadian Rockies. And she’s still an avowed atheist. Agnostic at least.
Tricia Lee
Tricia Lee is an accomplished AAPI female filmmaker whose ability to blend heart-warming and heart-breaking stories with uplifting humor has earned her recognition on the Black List x3: 2020 (GOOD CHANCE), 2021 (IDOL) and 2023 (AMERICAN DREAMS). As a fellow of the SONY Diverse TV Writers Program, Tricia creates from a Canadian perspective, exploring themes of belonging, voicelessness, and shared humanity through the lens of the American Dream. Her feature script, GOOD CHANCE has received numerous accolades, including being a top 50 finalist in The Academy Nicholl Fellowship, winning the grand prize in Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Screenplay Competition, a top 14 finalist Universal Studios Writers Program, on the CAPE List, being selected for the prestigious Producers Guild of America Power of Diversity Master Workshop and The Writers Lab (supported by Meryl Streep & Nicole Kidman).A CDDP Commercial Director finalist, Tricia's impressive directing credits include working with top talent such as Eva Longoria (DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES), Simu Liu (Marvel's SHANG-CHI), Ingrid Rogers (BOSCH), and Rachel Hilson (THIS IS US). Lee has directed 3 award-winning features including BLOOD HUNTERS, which sold to Hulu and was presented in Cannes by Frontieres and SILENT RETREAT, which was theatrically released across Canada and sold to NBC Universal’s Chiller Network and Shudder. She wrote an episode of TALES FROM THE VOID, based on Reddit /nosleep on ScreamboxTV. She has written a pilot for and will be a showrunner of the animated anthology A BANQUET FOR HUNGRY GHOSTS produced by 108 Media.
Isabelle Bourduas
After obtaining her MFA in Film Production from The American Film Institute, Isabelle spent five years producing independent feature films in Los Angeles. She returned to Montreal to produce live television for Just For Laughs. Shortly after, she became Head of Production for Cineflix where she supervised numerous international documentary series such as Dogs with Jobs, Mayday, and Huge Moves for Discovery and the BBC. She also worked with Galafilms, where she created and developed the series The Beat for Rogers that ran for 4 seasons, until Cineflix asked her to return to set up a co-production unit. With the distribution wing of Cineflix International, she established relationships with independent producers in the UK, Australia, and the US, feeding the company’s distribution pipeline through co-pros and acquisitions. After 7 years, she joined Zone3 to start an English production division. There, she created, financed, and executive produced more than 400 hours of programming. She ran Just for Laugh’s TV division during the pandemic and that killed her love for the corporate world altogether. Isabelle Anouk set up Wonderland Pictures two years ago, she’s is creating content to make the world a tiny bit better. She has since written a feature film Try a Little Tinderness, a dark comedy about her unlikely friendship with a street-smart refugee from Nigeria and their seduction scam to save 47 families from poverty. Legacy, is a procedural drama that Isabelle Anouk has created following the survival of her father’s horrible succession. The World Needs Chelsea Graves is an adventure comedy thriller about a badass teenage girl that she has optioned and making as a co-pro with the UK.
Sarah E. Sinclair
A nomad based in Alaska and Hawaii, Sarah E. Sinclair spent fifteen years traveling the world and working as a novelist under two different pen names before she got into screenwriting. She's passionate about thought-provoking entertainment that centers women's perspectives - whether that's adapting a romance novel into a soapy medical drama for Tristar TV or challenging our view of women in history. Her scripts have placed at PAGE, Nicholl, and Cinestory, and appeared on the Black List, but her favorite claim to fame is that she lost on Jeopardy!
Gaia Bonsignore
With experience as both a film director, as well as a dedicated higher education professor, I am committed to mentoring the next generation. My background in professional filmmaking and academia provides a blend of practical expertise and educational insight.