Film & TV editor by day, indie filmmaker by night. Two time Saturn Award winner. Credits include: DC's Legends of Tomorrow, The Flash, Beavis & Butthead, and Pretty Little Liars.

Caitlin Russell has been producing and assistant directing in the film industry for nearly a decade. She and Lauren write and perform sketch comedy together as the duo "Lauren & Caitlin"

Chris Wilson is an alumni of the Second City Mainstage in Toronto and a current cast member of This Hour Has 22 Minutes. He is one half of comedy duo Peter N' Chris who wrote and produced Eat My Shorts past film "Grocery Store Action Movie" as well as the award winning short "Alaska".

Clare McConnell is alumni of the Second City Mainstage in Toronto. Clare can be seen regularly on CBC's Murdoch Mysteries as well as the Star Trek and the the television series "Slasher".

Colin Walker is head of production at the Toronto-based production company, Merchant.

Colin Walker is head of production at the Toronto-based production company, Merchant.

Emily is an award-winning producer who began her career in locations working on projects such as Gotham, Fosse/Verdon, and The King of Staten Island, to name a few, before turning her attention to producing independent films. She is also currently on the New York board of the Junior Hollywood Radio & Television Society.

Evan Dubinsky most recently produced the coming of age comedy "I Like Movies" which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022.

Honora Talbott is an award-winning writer and director whose heart lies in comedy and complicated women. Her previous shorts have played at Tribeca, AFI Fest, Austin Film Fest, been an NBCUniversal Short Film Finalist, and were licensed by NBC News and Gunpowder & Sky’s DUST. Most recently she's developed television shows with Lena Dunham's Good Thing Going, New Form Entertainment and Minnie Driver's Huge Fan Productions. She’s currently a fellow in the MTV First Time Directors Initiative.

Chris W. Smith and Jack De Sena (aka Chris & Jack) have been friends for ages and use their natural chemistry to make high-quality, high-concept silliness. In 2016, they came together to create their Youtube channel, aptly titled "Chris & Jack", which has served as a shared platform to write, produce, direct, edit, and star-in their own stuff.

Joe Lycett is a British comedian, presenter, artist and filmmaker. His short films have been shown at the Flatpack Film Festival in Birmingham, the British Shorts Festival in Berlin, the Bolton International Film Festival, Over The Fence and A World Of Dark Comedy Film Festival in Perth, and more.

John F. Beach is a filmmaker and actor based in Los Angeles, and "They Grow Up So Fast" is his solo-directing debut. He co-directed the international award-winning short film, "The Accomplice", also starring opposite Evan Peters. He also created and stars in the award winning web series "Holloway Heights". You might remember him as 'The Shusher' in "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia".

A director, writer, performer, and producer known for his versatile, comedic storytelling. Jono forayed his training at Second City, The Upright Citizens Brigade, and Humber College into a career directing commercials and short films, earning approving nods from festivals like Cannes (where he won a Bronze Lion and a Young Director Award), Dances with Films, ImaginNATIVE, and the Academy Award qualifying ANIMATOR festival in Poznań. His film, Modern Classic, won Best First Feature at the 2017 Canadian Film Festival and Season 2 of his award-winning animated web series, Night Drives, has been making waves in festivals worldwide.

Kate Chamuris is a creative producer based in Los Angeles, CA. Her producing experience includes the shorts THE BREAKTHROUGH (dir. Daniel Sinclair, SXSW '23). BLOCKS (dir. Bridget Moloney, Sundance '20). MILLER & SON (dir. Asher Jelinsky, Oscar Shortlist for Live Action Short '20, winner Gold Student Academy Award '19, winner student BAFTA live action short award '19). BALLOON (dir. Jeremy Merrifield, winner Grand Prix HollyShorts '19). NUEVO RICO (dir. Kristian Mercado, winner Best Animated Short SXSW '21). Kate also works as a VFX coordinator. Shows include Lucasfilm's THE MANDALORIAN, THE BOOK OF BOBA FETT, ASHOKA and MAX's THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES.

Named one of Variety's "10 Producers to Watch" in 2023, Valerie Steinberg is a producer based in LA, whose credits include EP of Riley Keough's directorial debut “War Pony” (Cannes ’22, Caméra D’Or winner), and EP of A24's “The Inspection” (Golden Globe nominee). She is lead producer of “Karmalink”, a Cambodian sci-fi feature that opened Venice Critics’ Week ’21. She is EP of Disney’s “Bite Size Halloween” series on Hulu, and her award-winning short film credits include “The Breakthrough” (SXSW), “Hair Wolf” (Sundance), “Fry Day” (SXSW/Tribeca), and “Blocks” (Sundance/SXSW). Valerie graduated from Yale University with degrees in Philosophy and Chinese.

Katie Goodman is an award-winning musical comic, actress, director, writer, author, and speaker. As the creator and headliner of “Broad Comedy,” a satirical musical show, she has raised over $2,000,000 for progressive causes. Her solo show, The Mid-Life Crisis Tour, has played Off-Broadway (Time Out New York Critic’s Pick for Best Cabaret), and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where her show was in the top 5% of ticket sales. Katie was seen on Showtime's The Green Room with Paul Provenza, and Katie and her husband Soren were nominated for a MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant for their extensive work in theatre.

Kim is a Chinese- and Filipino-American writer, director, and one of MovieMaker Magazine's 25 Screenwriters to Watch in 2023. Her breezy, lighthearted comedy is the sugary coating that makes sticky subjects like race and identity politics go down easy. Her screenwriting has placed at the Academy Nicholl Fellowship, ScreenCraft Fellowship, PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, and Austin Film Festival. She trained in improv and sketch comedy at UCB and The PIT, and she's spent countless nights playing make-believe in basements across New York City.

Lauren Andrews is a Toronto based writer/director and actor. She graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University's Film Studies program in 2016. She works in the film industry both on the production side as a producer and assistant director as well as writing & performing in various comedic shorts. Bird Hostage is her first narrative short feature as a director.

Niall has been working professionally in the film and television industry for more than 14 years. That includes producing for 3 years at the CBC on a number of shows such as Dragons Den and Family Feud Canada. Niall also shot and edited multiple development projects for a variety of production companies, many of which have since been greenlit. This summer, he is directing Moosehead Lager’s upcoming digital campaign, as well as Source For Sport digital campaign with the advertising agency Conflict Creates.

Thea Lux is a true multi-hyphenated artist creatively raised by Chicago living in Los Angeles. Both an actor and a writer, Thea gravitates towards producing her own work—from film to stage—and rallying others for a cause or collaborative project. Graduating with a documentary film degree from Columbia College Chicago gave her the opportunity to work with Academy Award-winning filmmakers and continue on to work in the digital media space creating humorous content for brands.

Tiger is a writer / director from Hong Kong.

He first gained recognition at age 19 with his award-winning short, WUHAN DRIVER, which caught the attention of EP Jonathan Sanger (VANILLA SKY, ELEPHANT MAN). His subsequent short film, DEATH & RAMEN, features comedian Bobby Lee and actor Matt Jones from BREAKING BAD.

Tiger graduated from NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study, where he studied philosophy and read a lot of Russian literature. He is also a student of acclaimed filmmakers like Ruben Ostlund (TRIANGLE OF SADNESS, THE SQUARE), and Lucrecia Martel (LA CIÉNEGA), and is an alumnus of the 2022 Short to Feature Lab led by Jim Cummings (THUNDER ROAD).

Inspired by Hong Kong cinema, his films fuse Eastern and Western sensibilities, and blend the absurd with the serious.

He is currently based in New York, where he is developing his first feature adaptation for DEATH & RAMEN.

Whitley Watson is a writer, director and comedian. Originally from outside Atlanta, GA she began performing comedy and making short films in Brooklyn, NY. Her shorts have been featured in Vulture and on the NoBudge streaming platform. She has appeared in videos for Adult Swim and Eternal Family. She also produces some of the most ambitious immersive comedy shows in NYC (DISSASOCIAL, SHEEP NO MORE, CLUB VIDEO).

Cathryn is a writer and comedian based in Toronto. Some of Cathryn’s writing credits include Late Bloomer, Run The Burbs, and Son Of A Critch, to name a few. Other credentials include Netflix/Banff Diversity of voices, Finalists in Screencrafts pilot competition, WGC/Bell media diverse screenwriters alumni, and more. As a Comedian she has performed at top comedy festivals such as JFL42 & JFLZoo fest, to name a few. She also co-produces The Darjeelings of Comedy, celebrating South Asian female comedy across Canada.

Daniel is a writer and director from Toronto. He co-created and directed the CBC digital comedy series The Ninth as well as developed & directed the digital comedy series Cam_Girlfriend. Daniel has also directed programming airing on CBC, A+E Networks, FYI, HGTV, MTV, Much Music, and BET. Daniel recently directed Cam_Girlfriend Season 2, and the musical comedy Less Than Kosher. Daniel got his start writing and directing music videos, where he won an iHeartRadio MMVA for Rock Video of The Year, as well as a JUNO nomination for Video of The Year, and multiple MMVA nominations.

Heather Mariko is a Toronto-based comedian and writer who has performed, written, and studied comedy since 2014. Her unique brand of strikingly sincere self-deprecation and commentary engages audiences as a biracial queer comedian. Since cutting her teeth at The Second City Toronto, she has produced and hosted some of Toronto’s longest running comedy showcases, performed in Festivals and comedy stages across Canada, appeared on comedy series and collaborative albums, and continues to hone her screenwriting craft. In early 2023 she recorded her debut stand-up comedy album with Comedy Records, ayce, which is set to release in June 2023. She recently worked on the writing team at Canada's Drag Race.

Marileina Pearson is a screenwriter, filmmaker and costumer with over 8 years experience in the Toronto film industry. She is currently an MFA student at Toronto Metropolitan University in the Scriptwriting and Story Design program. When she's not in her backyard writing and chilling hard, you can find her crunching numbers and sourcing buttons for costume departments on TV shows such as What We Do in the Shadows, GenV and Station 11 while wishing she was on set dressing hunky stuntmen. She wants to cage fight Quentin Tarantino, and she's pretty sure she'd win.

Michelle Forrester is a Canadian comic and writer born in Montreal who has performed as an opener all over the country. She is currently completing her MFA in Screenwriting and Story Design at Toronto Metropolitan University with a background in Intermedia Studies and graphic design.

In 2022, she recorded with JFL on Montreal Originals Album "Heavy Petting Zoo" and was featured on OFF-JFL's "Best of the Fest" and ZooFest's Discovery Series. She is a regular at Montreal's 3rd Floor Comedy Club and at the Boustan's across the street. In 2023, she created, produced and executed the Sud-Ouest GiggleFest, a local comedy festival celebrating Montreal's independent English scene which featured over 30 independent shows and live podcasts, and saw over 500 attendees over the course of four days.

Todd Van Allen is a comedian who has performed in clubs and theatres around the world including Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia. He has performed at #JFL42, the Edinburgh Festival and the Melbourne Comedy Festival. His albums “Really?” and “Butterflies” can be heard on SiriusXM. Van Allen hosted 23 seasons of the “Comedy Above the Pub” podcast and now hosts “Okay, So Here’s One!” A Podcast Celebrating Street Jokes”. He is also the host of the celebrated stand-up/roast comedy show “Write Em Up!”. He has appeared on “The Beaverton” and as a voice actor has lent his voice to commercials and audio books. Both his wife and his dog are happy for him at this moment.

Alannah Brittany is a Vancouver based comedian, actor and producer. As a fast rising stand up comic, Alannah has been featured on the JFL Originals album, New Wave of Comedy on CBC Gem, and Apple TV. She produces and hosts the hit show ‘Vancouver Special’ which has been featured at JFL Vancouver. She has written and produced several series including the award winning ‘My Grade 8 Diary’.

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Cher knew from an early age that her life was not going to be cookie cutter. Cher left Texas in the early 2000's to follow her dreams of becoming a fashion designer. Although fashion remained a passion for Cher, her engaging personality and quippy sense of comedic timing lead to a friend's encouragement to pursue standup comedy. Cher's stand up has been featured in Caroline's Breakout Artist Series (2021) and World Series of Comedy.

Luisa is a Colombian-born film professional, diversity advocate, and filmmaker whose work focuses on supporting underrepresented voices. She is currently the Manager: Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging at ACTRA Toronto where she oversees ongoing work to tackle anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination in the industry.

Prior to ACTRA, Luisa was at WarnerMedia where she launched the AccessFestivals program to provide filmmakers access to film festivals. She has also worked at TIFF, where she launched the Amplify Voices Award in 2020 to highlight Canadian and international BIPOC filmmakers. Most recently, at ACTRA Toronto she launched the Permit Access Fund to help lower barriers for performers from historically underrepresented communities.

As a creator, Luisa’s short film Forbidden Tikka Masala won several awards internationally, was shown across Canada as part of TIFF’s Film Circuit and was licensed by TIFF, CBC, and Air Canada.

Maximilian Spinelli is an NYC-based comedian, actor, writer and all-around peach of a human being. He was a comedian commentator on the BuzzFeed News show “Did You See This?” for three years and was named a “Breakout Headliner” by Broadway Comedy Club in 2020. Max performed as part of the New York Comedy Festival two years in a row as well as the Connecticut Comedy Festival, Rogue Island Comedy Festival, and StandUp NBC. He previously wrote and starred in “Marvel-less”, a pilot released in 2020 that won Best Web Series at the New York Film Awards, Best TV Pilot at Festigious Los Angeles, Best Longer Comedy Short at the London-Worldwide Comedy Short Film Festival, and was a finalist at several other festivals. If that's not enough, catch the unsolved mysteries podcast he co-hosts, We Were Had.

Mike Bramante is an NYC-based stand-up comedian, writer and actor. In 2021, he was selected as one of New York Comedy Festival's "Comics to Watch", the annual live stand-up showcase featuring the very best new comedians from around the country. He was also chosen as a Carolines on Broadway Breakout Artist in April 2022. Mike performs across the country as a headliner and a feature act. His writing has been published in comedy publications Points in Case and Medium's The Haven. Mike's first stand-up special, Championship Mode, is available on his YouTube Channel and his podcast Do Less can be found anywhere you listen.

Pete is an award-winning film/episodic producer and writer from Australia. His films have been selected for Australian Academy (AACTA), FIAPF and Oscar accredited film festivals; broadcast on television in Australia and Europe, and screened in many other film festivals around the world. Between 2015 and 2018, Pete’s animated documentary ‘CHIP’ won at the 2015 Australian Academy Awards (AACTAs) ‘Social Shorts’ and he received Screen Australia development and production funding for several projects. In 2019 Pete was selected for the Berlinale Talents program as part of the Berlin InternaƟonal Film Festival, and his film ‘Pilè’ won ‘best short’ at the 37th ATOM Awards. In 2021, Pete’s film ‘Risen’ won ‘Best Sci-fi’ at the Oscar-accredited LA Shorts Fest. In 2022 Pete had a busy year: ‘Risen’ was nominated for the ‘Best Short Film’ ATOM Award; comedy series ‘Romp’ was shortlisted for the prestigious Rose D’Or Award and named in the top 25 best web series in the world; Pete’s short script ‘Children of Laika’ was one of two winners in the ScreenCraft Short Screenplay Competition; and he was consulting producer on the AACTA nominated feature ‘Lonesome’.

A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, Rahul is an Indian-Canadian filmmaker who enjoys telling heartfelt and hopeful stories of underrepresented groups. His credits include writing on the half-hour show POTLUCK LADIES, writing on an animated kids show for PBS, and working in the script departments for DON'T EVEN (Crave), LATE BLOOMER (Crave), and STATION ELEVEN (Max). He was also a Director Shadow on RUN THE BURBS S2 (CBC). He is currently developing a sketch show, CHAI TEA, with Frantic Films, and writing a graphic novel for KidsCanPress.

Rahul's award-winning short film FORBIDDEN TIKKA MASALA was licensed by TIFF, CBC Gem, Air Canada, and Omeleto. Rahul is an alum of several development programs including the BIPOC Showrunner Bootcamp, the BIPOC Directors' Masterclass, the Reel Asian Pitch competition, Reelworld E20, WarnerMedia X BlackList Writer Pipeline, and the BiTS Horror Development Lab.

Rob Salerno is a Los Angeles-based screenwriter and playwright. His original pilot “Trivial” was a finalist in both the Screencraft and Cinequest script competitions.  He was nominated for two Dora Awards (Canada’s equivalent of the Tony Awards) for his one-man show, First Day Back. His other plays have been produced in more than thirty cities in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Rob was a writer on the CBS Diversity Showcase and was head writer and director of the monthly sketch comedy show Mike Pence's Big Queer Nightmare. He completed the sketch and improv programs at Upright Citizens Brigade Los Angeles and studied at Groundlings and Playhouse West. In 2018, Rob fulfilled a lifelong dream by competing and winning on the game show Jeopardy!

Tony is a queer Australian writer/director, living and working on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation (Sydney). Tony's films have screened on television and been selected at film festivals internationally, picking up awards and nominations; including a best film nomination at the 2022 ATOM Awards (‘Risen’) and best film wins at the Sydney Film Festival (‘Ephemeral’), 2019 ATOM Awards (‘Pilè’), Australian Independent Film Festival (‘Risen’), and Best Sci-Fi at the Oscar-accredited LA Shortsfest (‘Risen’). Tony's most recent TV pilot script, RISEN (based on the short film), was a Finalist Runner Up in the 2022 Australian Writers' Guild ‘John Hinde Award for Excellence in Science Fiction Writing’. The script was also an Austin Film Festival second rounder, a semifinalist in ScreenCraft's Sci-Fi & Fantasy Screenwriting competition, and on Coverfly's Red List "Top 20" Sci-Fi TV Series. In 2023, Tony was selected for Screen NSW and Australians in Film's "Hollywood Sessions", a development initiative aimed at fast tracking the careers of mid-career writers and directors in the compeƟƟve US film and television industry.