Writing With Direction

Abigail Bloom and Laura Huie are the VPs of Community & Marketing for Off The Page, an inclusive community for female-identifying and non-binary screenwriters. They are a Los Angeles-based writer/director duo who’ve been inseparable since they were cast as conjoined twins in a hilariously awful high school play. Over a decade later, their bond as best friends fuels their high-concept, female-led projects brimming with irreverent humor and rooted in female friendship.

Colette Sartor’s linked short story collection ONCE REMOVED won the Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction, the National Indie Excellence Juror’s Choice Award, and the National Indie Excellence Short Stories Award, among other awards. Her work has appeared in KENYON REVIEW ONLINE, CARVE, SLICE, THE RUMPUS, PRAIRIE SCHOONER, COLORADO REVIEW, and elsewhere. She is an alumna of Ragdale, Wildacres Residency Program, the Community of Writers, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and Tin House Summer Workshops. In addition, she has taught writing for 25 years and is the Executive Director of the CineStory Foundation, a nonprofit mentoring organization for emerging screenwriters.

Elizabeth Kaiden co-founded The Writers Lab with Nitza Wilon in 2015 and is a founding Partner, with Nitza, of Women in the Script Trade (WIST), where she works individually with exceptional women screenwriters. WIST also ran script-development labs in NY and LA for the Athena Film Festival 2016-2020. Elizabeth previously served as Head of Development at Tangerine Entertainment, an independent production company that produces films directed by women, and has mentored at Stowe Story Labs. A former theater and film critic and graduate of Princeton and the Yale School of Drama, she lives in New York with her family.

Writer/Director Jen Harrington’s (DGA/WGA) most recent scripts, HELL’S BELLES (Hollywood Reporter), and THE END OF LIZ AS WE KNOW IT (Hollywood Reporter), were sold to Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures, respectively, with Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar attached to produce.  Previously, she wrote and directed the horror feature SHOOK, acquired by the streamer Shudder and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal as a “guilty pleasure.”  Her first feature, HOUSEKEEPING, was released by Lionsgate and After Dark Films.  In the documentary world, she was co-executive producer and a director for the doc-series DEAR… for Apple TV+(Variety) and RJ Cutler and has edited several award-winning documentary features and countless television shows.

Lisanne Sartor is an award-winning writer/director whose short films have screened at festivals worldwide. She began her career as a TV and film assistant director before earning an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA. Her work has been produced at Lifetime and developed with multiple production companies. She holds a BA from Yale and has taught screenwriting at UCLA, AFI, Stephens, and Disney. She serves as Board President and Creative Director of Mentorship of the CineStory Foundation, a nonprofit mentoring organization for emerging screenwriters. Her superpowers include sarcasm and metaphorical juggling.

Nitza Wilon co-founded The Writers Lab with Elizabeth Kaiden in 2015 and is a founding partner of Women in the Script Trade (WIST) with Elizabeth. WIST ran the script-development labs for the Athena Film Festival (NY and LA) and co-produces The Writers Lab with NYWIFT, and provides individual support for exceptional women screenwriters. Prior to committing to script development for women, Nitza was an actor, journalist, and magazine and book editor. She earned her BA from the Annenberg School of Communications at UPenn. She lives in New York City with her family.

Tara Anaïse is a biracial writer/director, a Sundance Feature Film Program Fellow, and an Emmy nominee. Recent work includes writing and directing on the season finale of Shudder’s Queer for Fear (from EP Bryan Fuller), a docuseries about the history of horror told through a queer lens, and producing all four episodes of the series. Queer for Fear was nominated for a 2023 Emmy for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, a 2023 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Documentary, and the winner of two 2023 Dorian Awards for Best TV Documentary and Best LGBTQ Documentary. Anaïse’s début feature, Dark Mountain, was released by Gravitas Ventures. Anaïse also wrote and story produced on Dear… for Apple TV+ (nominated for a 2022 IDA doc award) and ran the story department on Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult for STARZ. She holds an MFA in film production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives and works in Los Angeles.