Screenwriter Sessions

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For announcements related to the fifth edition of Screenwriter Sessions, check back this coming Winter!

The Nantucket Film Festival® in partnership with Almanack Screenwriters designed this exciting initiative in response to the pandemic and our everchanging world, to provide unique experiences to emerging screenwriters of all backgrounds. The pilot program was titled Screenwriters Sessions LIVE and featured Charlie Kaufman, Nancy Meyers, Gregory Nava, Stella Meghie, and Leslie Dixon. They each provided a guest lecture and a wonderfully personal Q&A that our participants loved. Last year, the successful program brought the following preeminent guest speakers: Sian Heder (CODA), Ken Burns (THE US AND THE HOLOCAUST), Lulu Wang (THE FAREWELL), Destin Daniel Cretton (SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS), and Patty Jenkins (WONDER WOMAN) provided the participants with a hone their new ideas for a screenplay. These online and LIVE – not pre-recorded – sessions will provide one-of-a-kind intimate conversations and guidance from some of the best screenwriters working today, plus interactive writing workshops with a community of peers.

Each year 25 to 35 emerging screenwriters participated in the series and a third of the slots were given in scholarships to screenwriters from underrepresented communities who were nominated by partner organizations including the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, The Blackhouse, and WGA East.

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Our Mission

To celebrate the vast diversity of human experience through the art of screenwriting and storytelling.

Contact

info@nantucketfilmfestival.org

Box Office & General Information: (646) 480-1900

228 Park Ave S #83799 New York, NY 10003 (mail only)

Upcoming Dates

September 2024
Film & Screenplay Submissions Open

February 2025
Screenwriter Sessions 2025 Begins

Wednesday, June 25-30, 2025
30th Annual Nantucket Film Festival

CARTER STEWART

Carter Stewart is executive vice president for programs. He works closely with the Foundation’s president, board, and staff to shape the Foundation’s funding priorities and programmatic direction. Prior to joining the Foundation, Mr. Stewart served as a managing director of the venture philanthropy Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation (DRK) where he played a lead role in sourcing new investments and grantees—primarily early-stage, justice-oriented organizations—and then worked closely with those organizations on strategy, scaling, organizational capacity building, and leadership development.

In addition to his philanthropic work, Mr. Stewart held academic positions at the Ohio State University in law and public policy. Specifically, from 2018 to 2021, Mr. Stewart taught “Lawyers as Leaders” at the Moritz College of Law, and he was the lead investigator and co-author of a research evaluation of the City of Columbus, Ohio’s response to the 2020 summer protests. In the latter role, he worked under the auspices of the Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs to interview protestors and police officers, analyze public data on policing, and make recommendations for policy changes based upon the input of an expert advisory council.

From 2009 to 2016, Mr. Stewart served as the presidentially-appointed United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio where he emphasized deterrence, crime prevention, and alternatives to incarceration. He created the district’s first community outreach position and established a community leadership group geared towards building trust and improving communication between the public and law enforcement. Mr. Stewart also served on the attorney general’s advisory committee and chaired a group of US attorneys who examined racial inequities in the federal criminal justice system.

Mr. Stewart previously worked as an assistant US attorney in San Jose, CA, and he was a litigator at Vorys, Sater, Seymour, and Pease LLP in Columbus, OH, and Bingham McCutchen LLP in San Francisco, CA. Prior to law school, Mr. Stewart taught history at Friends Seminary High School in Manhattan and was a New York City Urban Fellow. Mr. Stewart received a JD degree from Harvard Law School, holds an MA in education policy from Columbia University, and a BA in political science from Stanford University. Mr. Stewart has served on the boards of several arts-related organizations, including the Contemporary American Theater Company and the Joyce Foundation. He currently is a trustee for the Marshall Project, Nantucket Film Festival, Nantucket Historical Association, and the Atlantic Foundation. In a prior life, Mr. Stewart acted in various community theater productions in the SF Bay Area and St. Croix, USVI.

FELIX SANCHEZ

Felix Sanchez is the Chairman and Co-founder of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts (NHFA), a veteran media and communications expert, who consults regularly on Latino programming and content. NHFA was launched in 1997 by then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. NHFA co-founders include: Jimmy Smits, Sonia Braga, Esai Morales and Merel Julia. NHFA ambassadors include: Melissa Barrera (Starz’s VIDA) and Ryan Guzman (Fox’s 9-1-1). Felix has created a number of impactful programs focused on creating diverse content and a new generation of diverse content creators. He launched the NHFA scholarship program with eight esteemed universities: NYU, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Northwestern, USC, UCLA and UT Austin; created the PitchNY program with Governor Cuomo’s Office of Motion Pictures and Television, NBCUniversal and industry leaders to cultivate the talent of higher ed students throughout New York. Developed PitchDC – a content pitch program–made possible through a community grant from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Latino Affairs. Created PitchLA with VIACOMCBS to connected development executives at CBS, Showtime and C.W. with NHFA’s Artists. Collaborated with Connecticut Public Television & Radio to develop PitchCT and The State of Latinos in Media 2020, which aired last May.

As a response to COVID 19, Felix created InformGente, a web talk series aimed at bringing current and relevant information to the Latino community on topics like the pandemic, floods, wildfires, earthquakes and other natural disasters. InformaGente, was created in association with Gov. Newsom’s Office of Emergency Services and LULAC, the League of United Latin American Citizens. Felix also launched: “Coctelitos con Rita Moreno and then-Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Joaquín Castro, D-TX;” along with a program highlighting emerging high school talent in a homage to the play: “In the Heights.”

Felix, as NHFA Chairman, led the fight to desegregate the honors and awards programs of major cultural and entertainment institutions. His work resulted in major administrative and personnel changes at the Kennedy Center, and yielded new Latino honorees for Kennedy Center Honors, along with the induction of 22 new Latino members into the Association of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (Oscars). He was also the force behind convincing NBC’s Saturday Night Live to hire Melissa Villaseñor, the first Latina cast member ever in the show’s then-47-year history.

Felix Sanchez was a legislative assistant to then-U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, D-TX, with principal responsibilities for issues arising from the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Felix has been an advisor to numerous Democratic presidential and corporate campaigns. Felix served as the first National Deputy Campaign manager to the Paul Simon for President campaign. Felix went on to work on the Dukakis/Bentsen campaign as the head of the inaugural Hispanic Outreach office and originated the first Latino celebrity engagement/outreach campaign effort. Felix duplicated this role in the Clinton 1992, 1996 and Gore 2000 campaigns. Felix created a signature Florida campaign event with former President Clinton, then-Presidential Candidate Obama and former TV POTUS Jimmy Smits (The West Wing). Felix’s work on behalf of NHFA has been honored by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP), (Advocacy Award), and the Government of Mexico (Ohtlí Award its highest national honor presented to Mexican American and Latino philanthropy leaders).

Felix serves on a number of advisory boards: the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Latino Jewish Leadership Council; the Kennedy Center Latino Advisory Board, the El Rey Network’s Diversity Council (Robert Rodriguez’s streaming platform); the Creative Thread Foundation and Storytelling Unbound. He also advises the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Congressional Multicultural Media Caucus; and the Congressional Caucus for Advancement of Studio, Talent (CAST) on diversity and inclusion issues in the entertainment industry. Felix is a CNN opinions contributor. Felix has a B.A. in Child Psychology and an M.A. in Curriculum & Instruction from The University of Texas at Austin; Felix also holds a J.D. in International Law from the University of Houston Law Center. Felix’s daughter, Isabella is a 2018 sum cum laude graduate of Boston University and his son Philippe is a 2020 West Point graduate, currently stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska.

STEVE SAMUELS

Steve Samuels jointly is a commercial real estate developer on the East Coast and one of the founders of FilmNation Entertainment. With an unorthodox approach to both real estate and film, Samuels approaches every new project with a fresh eye and pushes his team to question the status quo: ultimately, achieving a new/better/more efficient solution. An active real estate developer since 1984, Samuels has redeveloped over fifty projects in seven states. He developed his idea of placemaking-revitalizing neighborhoods and communities and always doing the right thing by those communities—when he founded Samuels & Associates. His company is currently integrally involved in rebuilding the historic Fenway Park area into a thriving 24-hour mixed-use urban village. Taking a page from the strategy and risk involved in real estate development, Samuels launched Samuels Media in 2004 which produced and financed the critical and commercial success Michael Clayton starring George Clooney, as well as the Oscar®-nominated film In The Valley Of Elah starring Tommy Lee Jones, among many others. In 2008, he founded FilmNation Entertainment with veteran international film executive Glen Basner. FilmNation is a leading independent entertainment company focused on the sales representation of international film and television rights as well as the development, production, and financing of feature films. In its short history, FilmNation has secured an industry-leading slate of diverse, high-profile titles for international sales representation including: David Michôd’s The Rover starring Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson, a 2014 Cannes Film Festival Official Selection; Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups and an untitled project; Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Rachel McAdams; and The Imitation Game with Benedict Cumberbatch. Recently released sales titles include Jonathan Glazer’s Under The Skin starring Scarlett Johansson, an In Competition film at the 2013 Venice Film Festival and 2013 Toronto International Film Festival, as well as critically acclaimed films All Is Lost, starring Robert Redford and Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, both of which received rave reviews at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, including a Best Actor win for Bruce Dern. FilmNation’s production arm previously released Jeff Nichols’ Mud, one of the highest grossing independent films of 2013, starring Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon, and is in development on Denis Villeneuve’s Story of Your Life, The Rules of Inheritance starring Jennifer Lawrence, and The Good House starring Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, among others. In addition to Emerson College and Children’s Hospital Boston Boards, Samuels and his family have long been actively dedicated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Steve holds a bachelor’s degree in real estate & finance from Ohio State University. Samuels lives with his wife, and their three children in Brookline, Massachusetts.

DONICK CARY

Emmy-winning Writer, Producer, and Director Donick Cary got his start writing for Late Night with David Letterman. He continued writing for Dave at The Academy Awards and served as both Head Writer and “The Guy in the Bear Suit” on Late Show with David Letterman. After five years in late night, Cary moved to The Simpsons, where he served as a Co-Executive Producer for seasons seven through eleven, winning an Emmy and penning many memorable episodes including “D’oh-in in The Wind,” “In Marge We Trust,” (Mr. Sparkle) and “Hell Toupee” (Homer gets the hair transplants of a killer).

Cary has since served in the same capacity on New Girl, Silicon Valley, AP Bio, Bored to Death, Just Shoot Me, and Parks and Recreation where he also played the character Vern Palletta. Cary has produced pilots for and developed with: Brillstein Grey, Sony, Happy Madison, Conaco, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, FX, HBO, the WB, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central (where he was EP on The Naked Trucker and T-Bones show) and MTV where he had a hand in creating The Osbournes.
In 2004 Donick created the animated series Lil’ Bush for Ampd mobile cell phones. The show was quickly picked up by Comedy Central and became the first web series ever to move from the internet to television. Over it’s 16 years Sugarshack produced and aired hundreds of hours of animation for everyone from Fox’s “New Girl” to Netflix’s “Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics” to music videos for the likes of Moby and Yo La Tengo. In 2007, after a rash of teen suicides in his hometown of Nantucket Island, Donick founded Musack.org, a 501©3 charity that provides musical instruments and classes to under-served youth around the world. Donick also serves on the boards of The Nantucket Film Festival, The Nantucket Comedy Festival, and The Songbirds Foundation.

2020 brought the release of Cary’s feature directorial debut: “Have a Good Trip: Adventures in Psychedelics,” which was selected by SXSW and debuted on Netflix in May of that year, remaining in the top five for over a month. Currently, Cary is wrapping up the first season of “Welcome to Flatch” with Paul Feig and Jenny Bicks for Fox television and Executive Producing the animated show “Carol” with Dan Guterman for Netflix. Cary is also in production on a new documentary, “Hail to the Breadsticks!” a very personal look at team mascots, fatherhood, racism, and what it means to be Native American in America today.