SERIES SYNOPSIS
In this day and age, multi-hyphenates abound, and smart phones are pocket-sized production studios. Consequently, the world is an actor’s oyster: one can form their own iridescent opportunity!  Such possibility is thrilling, yet daunting. Where to begin? How do you devise crisp, unique storytelling that celebrates your talent, looks and sounds professional, and is produced for a song? Join us for a series of panel discussions focused on providing actors with a road map for penning, producing, and performing in a short film that is eligible for submission to the Foundation’s biannual showcase.

The fourth session will explore REWRITES & POLISHING YOUR SCRIPT.

PANELISTS

Diana Amsterdam
Ms. Amsterdam's work has been produced at American Stage Company, MCC, Abingdon Theater, IRT Theater in New York and commercially on the Hudson Stage in Los Angeles, and at numerous regional, Canadian and European theatres. Her plays have been favorably reviewed in the New York Times, Washington Post, LA Times and many others. Her current play, The Dodger, is optioned to Broadway producer Jim Kierstead (Kinky Boots, Waitress, Indecent) and her TV series based on that play is recently optioned to Bright+Valleywood Productions LA.

Amsterdam runs The Story Catcher™, a unique writing practice in which she pens works-for-hire for clients worldwide. Her for-hire screenplay Three-Minute Man is currently being produced by Miguel A. Ferrer. In November 2017, she was commissioned to write an original screenplay by famed Wyoming litigator Nick Carter. 

Amsterdam is a popular story and script consultant. She consulted on the award-winning short film Flush the John, (leapyear productions) and the soon-to-be-released short film Detained by Tajikistani filmmaker Khushnuda Sukarova (Singular DTV; Tokit) among many others. 

Amsterdam compiled and edited the forthcoming Later Chapters: The Best Monologues and Scenes for Actors over 50 (Applause Books) scheduled for publication April 2018.

Her work is published by Broadway Play Publishing, Playscripts, Samuel French and Smith and Krause. She is a winner of a New York State Council on the Arts grant, and, after winning the American BBC Radio Play Contest, was frequently commissioned to write BBC radio plays. Ms. Amsterdam's screenplay The Other Woman won first prize (shared) in New York Women in Film and Television's 25th Anniversary Screenplay contest.  Fast Girls won a Masque Award for Best Actress in a Comedy (Montreal’s equivalent of a Tony). dianaamsterdam.com

Caytha Jentis
Caytha Jentis is the creator, writer/director, and executive producer of the hit Amazon Series The Other ‘F’ Word. She is an award winning independent filmmaker who has written four features, produced three and directed two. Her features include Bad Parents starring Janeane Garofalo, Cheri Oteri, Christopher Titus, Michael Boatman and Kristen Johnston (Cinedigm), And Then Came Love starring Vanessa Williams and Eartha Kitt (Warner Bros), and The One starring Jon Prescott (TLA Releasing). A former literary agent, she has also has an extensive background in sales including a stint at the Bergen Record in internet ad sales.

Jentis was recently selected as one of Good Housekeeping Magazine's 50 over 50 and served on panels at the 2016 iRelaunch Conference in NYC and Conference for Women in Boston.  She has an MFA from UCLA in screenwriting and a BS in TV/film from Syracuse University.   She is a member of the Producers Guild, Writers Guild, Writers Guild and NYWIFT. www.theotherfwordseries.com

Susan Miller
Susan Miller is a two-time OBIE Award winner and Guggenheim Playwriting Fellow, known for her critically acclaimed one person show, My Left Breast, which premiered in Louisville’s Humana Festival and has been performed across the U.S, Canada, and France. She also received the coveted Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play, A Map of Doubt And Rescue. Her plays have been done at The Public Theatre, Second Stage, Naked Angels, New York Stage & Film, The Mark Taper Forum, The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Ojai Playwrights Conference, among others. Miller, who has written extensively for TV & Film, was a Consulting Producer/Writer on Showtime’s The L Word and ABC’s Thirtysomething. She and producing/writing partner Tina Cesa Ward won the first Writers Guild of America Award ever given for Original New Media for their hit Indie Web Series, Anyone But Me, which has over 50 million views worldwide. Miller, nominated for the WGA Award again in 2016, also created the branded webseries “Bestsellers.” Her latest play, 20th Century Blues, starring Polly Draper (Thirtysomething) is currently running Off Broadway through Jan. 28 at The Pershing Square Signature Theatre in New York. www.susanmillerplaywright.com

Lori Hammel - Moderator
Lori Hammel is a NYC-based actress and writer who has performed on Broadway and Off Broadway as well as in National Tours including: Mamma Mia, Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 and as Ethel Mertz in I Love Lucy Live. Film work includes playing a morning show host in the Coen brother's feature Burn After Reading; An Invisible Sign; She's Lost Control and playing the lead in Coney Island Queen (2014 Cannes Shorts Corner). TV includes Master of None (Season 2); The Following; 30 Rock; Difficult People and The Colbert Report. Lori played recurring political pundit Leslie Hillerman on the Onion News Network series, In The Know and is the creator and star of the series Margo Rose Reports. In national commercials Lori has been directed by David Steinberg, Oscar winning documentarian Errol Morris and Phil Morrison.

In 2015, Lori received an Excellence in Acting Award at the NY International Fringe Festival. She is the recipient of a Jeff Award, two Jeff nominations and two After Dark Awards. She is also the 2014 recipient of the SAG-AFTRA Joseph C. Riley Service Award.

Lori co-authored the critically acclaimed guidebook Minding the Edge – Strategies for a Fulfilling, Successful Career as an Actor and is a contributing writer for Acting for the Stage (2017 Focal Press).  www.lorihammel.com