Our Writers
Adrian Bobb
based in Toronto
SCI-FI
DRAMA
COMEDY
THRILLER
ADULT ANIMATION
Adrian is a visual storyteller. He has been drawing and writing about robots, aliens, and monsters, for about as long as he can remember. Adrian is a Toronto filmmaker who has written, produced, and directed short films such as The Carrier, wrote and produced the full-length feature entitled Redshift and a short proof-of-concept short film entitled EXT.
ALESSANDRO GUARINO
based in Toronto
HORROR
DRAMA
NOIR
THRILLER
SURREALISM
Alessandro passed his free time watching movies to break out from the Italian provincial, small- minded reality he was growing in. His stories brood in the darkness, bursting from stygian corners of society, twisting around his flawed characters to create provoking experiences and images that remain with the audience long after the last scene. His horror feature “METASTASIS” is currently being developed by Travis Stevens from Snowfort Pictures in LA, California.
amy fox
based in Vancouver, B.C. (US/Canadian Dual Citizen)
COMEDY
SCI-FI
THRILLER
CURRENT EVENTS
Pleasantly punchy and delightfully team-oriented, this writer/producer/actor became one of the first out transgender TV showrunners on the sitcom “The Switch,” kicking off a decade-long partnership with lead writer, Wren Handman. Amy’s sense of visual storytelling combines with joy in human flaws, and love of wit, to make beautifully offbeat media - comics, audioplays, opinion pieces and a lot of ads. She is knee-deep in EDI, works as a naval reservist, and has twice run for city council as a supervillain. She’d never have done half of this cool stuff if she wasn’t on the autism spectrum.
ANIL KAMAL
based in Toronto
DRAMA
COMEDY
YA
KIDS
If you’ve ever thought to yourself, hmmm, I wonder what the queer version of Kumail Nanjiani spliced with Mindy Kaling would look like, then congrats, you found Anil! Curious about a gay twist to The Big Sick? Call Anil. Looking for a rainbow infused nod to The Mindy Project? Seriously, CALL ANIL!
ANTHONY FILANGERI
based in Toronto
THRILLER
COMEDY
DRAMA
HORROR
With a writing style that can be described as unpredictable, sometimes funny, and most times uncomfortable (if not a little twisted). He draws his point-of-view from growing up queer in a small town. Anthony has credit for writing the web series, FAK YAASS, which was the #1 viewed show on OutTvGO in association with Amazon Prime.
ALEJANDRO álvarez cadilla
based in Montreal
COMEDY
DRAMA
Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Alejandro Álvarez Cadilla studied script writing with Oscar-nominee PedroLoeb. His first short film "Le Trac" was personally selected by Edward James Olmos for the Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival. His second short film "Deep Sleep" won Best International Short Film at the London Independent Film Festival and had 33 official festival selections all over the world. His first feature documentary "Disportrait", a co-production with ZDF/Arte and the Tribeca Film Institute, won the Golden Prague Grand Prix TV Award and was nominated for a Robert Award in Denmark. Other works include the mockumentary series “Off Kilter” on CBC Gem as well as numerous documentary shorts for CBC Short Docs and CBC Arts. Alejandro’s first one-hour drama "Secondary Needs" was recently optioned by Counterfeit Pictures.
AREN x. TULCHINSKY
based in Vancouver
DRAMA
COMEDY
Aren is a born story teller. An out and proud transman and a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, he is a screenwriter, television writer, novelist and video editor. In grade school, he was the kid writing stories in class when he was supposed to be solving math problems. Aren has six feature screenplays in development, including I Shot the Sheriff, to be directed by acclaimed director, Clement Virgo. Aren was on the story team of The Guard (Global), and Robson Arms (CTV). His short film Ms Thing has screened in over 50 film festivals internationally and won Audience Choice Award at QueerFruits Australia. He is the author of the award-winning novel, The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky.
atefeh khademolreza
based in Toronto
DRAMA
COMEDY
YA
KIDS
Atefeh Khademolreza is an award-winning writer and director born in Iran and living in Toronto, Canada with over fifteen years of experience making films internationally. She studied under the late maestro, Abbas Kiarostami before immigrating to Canada. Atefeh’s films have been screened at prestigious film festivals around the world, including the Berlin International Film Festival, Busan International Film Festival, and the Vienna International Film Festival. Atefeh is the 2021-2022 Filmmaker-in-Residence at the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF’21) Micki Moore Residency. She is also an alumnus of the Berlinale Talent Campus (2006), the Asian Film Academy (2008), the Serbia Interaction Film Camp (2006, 2016), and Reelworld E20 (2019). She also served as a jury member on multiple festivals including the Oscar-qualifying Tehran International Short Film Festival and TIFF’22’s Micki Moore Residency selection committee. Atefeh is driven to tell stories about women, immigration, and identity. Her work explores the experiences of disorientation and reorientation, both culturally and socially. Atefeh holds a Master’s Degree in Film Production from York University (2019) and she is a member of the Writers Guild of Canada and a member of the Iranian Short Film Association (ISFA).
chantal forde
based in Toronto
DRAMA
COMEDY
KIDS
UNSCRIPTED
Chantal Forde is a writer, stage director, and educator who is as passionate about creating multi-faceted and flawed characters, as she is about breathing life into bright and sweet family shows. She has never been able to sit still for very long and loves to explore every corner of her imagination. Her writing style spans from her interactive, digital, dystopian drama “The Complex”, to her upbeat Trini TYA musical “Boy Boy and the Magic Drum”. The one thing that never seems to change with Chantal is how often she starts a sentence with “Imagine if…”
DEBORAH CHANTSON
based in Vancouver
DRAMA
COMEDY
KIDS
ROMANCE
YA
Deborah is a Canadian-South African-Chinese-American writer whose specialties include preschool TV and interactive digital media, such as video games and TV-branded web content. She has gathered a wealth of storytelling fodder through seven relocations in 11 years, most recently from New Jersey to Vancouver.
GAVIN SEAL
based in Montreal
DRAMA
HOROR-COMEDY
ACTION
HOLIDAY
Gavin Seal is a filmmaker on a mission to connect people using the universal language of cinema. Some of his work as a writer/director includes the fiction films, Followers (Fantasia, Reelworld) and Case Claus'd (Montreal International Black Film Festival, CBC Short Film Faceoff); the documentary, Good Luck Have Fun (NSI, Just for Laughs); and as segment director for the International Emmy and Canadian Screen Award-nominated TV series, Interrupt this Program (CBC).
Gavin is an alumnus of the TIFF Filmmaker Lab, Netflix Diversity of Voices Pitch Program initiative, Berlinale Fiction Toolbox Programme at EFM, and Reelworld E20 Writers program. He’s currently working on multiple feature films and series, one of which is adapted from his own short film screenplay, Do Not Resuscitate, winner of a Writers Guild of Canada prize.
His producer credits include show-running hundreds of episodes of branded series from development through production to distribution for Barbie, Hot Wheels, CBC, Shopify, HALO and Fisher-Price, and films including, The Long Way Home, commissioned by Hot Docs and directed by Oscar-nominee Ariel Nasr and Aisha Jamal.
GORDON LOVERIN
based in Tlingit and Tahlan Nations, B.C.
DRAMA
An Indigenous media content creator from Tlingit and Tahltan Nations of Northwestern BC with almost 4 decades in the industry. Gordon is a successful documentary producer/director and has created several projects over the years. In 2020 he was chosen by Netflix to pitch his fictional series creation KANATA. In 2018 he placed in the top 25 for the Diversity of Voices Initiative at the Banff World Media Festival. In 2018, he received his narrative film Director Certification from Langara College's Film Arts program. In 2016, he co-wrote a short film script that placed in the top 10 at the Cannes Screenplay Contest. He's currently writing an Indigenous feature length screenplay which has an executive producer attached, and two TV series pilots. As an Indigenous media creator, he gravitates to telling stories that hold up the beauty and cultures of Indigenous peoples. "Our film arts should present our uniqueness to the world and not just focus on the effects of colonization. We are so much more than that."
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graham kent
based in Toronto
DRAMA
COMEDY
KIDS
THRILLER
YA
Graham Kent is a Toronto-based writer, creator, and (checks vitals) human being. Having branched from acting into writing, his on-screen work spans television, commercials, short and feature films, development on scripted projects, and VOD content for Bell Media. An alumnus of Humber College’s school of Comedy Writing and Performance, Graham sometimes makes with the ha-ha, focusing mainly on comedies and dramas. Graham was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome at the age of 8, which taught him to look beneath the surface differences that divide us and seek the similarities that make us all human beings; a theme common within his original works. He believes we have more in common than in contrast, that we do better in cooperation than competition, and he swears for normal reasons. Graham is a proud member of both the WGC and IATSE 411.
HOPE THOMPSON
based in Toronto
CRIME
PROCEDURALS
MYSTERY
NOIR
COMEDY
KIDS
Hope is an award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter, most recently picking up best feature screenplay at Toronto's Female Eye Film Festival, with co-writer Patricia Chica. As a writer, Hope is passionate about the crime and true crime genres. She has written extensively for Crime Hub, the top-rated true crime podcast, and for Whereabouts Unknown, the missing persons podcast. Her crime fiction has been published in anthologies, including in the Crime Writers of Canada’s 2022 collection, Cold Canadian Crime. She also writes in the kids’ space, with recent credits including Tulipop (Serious Kids) and The Fabulous Show (Wild Brain), and she wrote on two seasons of CBC’s Baroness Von Sketch Show. Hope has several projects in development.
Keenan duke
based in Los Angeles
DRAMA
COMEDY
ADULT ANIMATION
Keenan is a Los Angeles-based writer whose inspirations stem from his upbringing in the South. Growing up in and around a multitude of cultures has been the driving force of his perspective on the world, allowing him to tell stories through a unique lens. Keenan credits involvement in sports, from the age of five through college, for shaping the person he is today.
LEAH WALKER
based in Toronto
DRAMA
PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER
BODY HORROR
Leah’s childhood passion for reading, theatre and photography has led to a career as a writer/director. Drawn to stories that revolve around characters who struggle with loss, Leah’s favourite genre is family drama with a dash of body horror. With several short films under her belt, Leah moved into feature film with THE THIRD EYE and THE PRIVILEGED. Most recently, Leah has completed a trilogy of short films about grief. With an adaptation of a Canadian novel, soon to be a feature film, and a digital series about humour in death, Leah's looking forward to delving deeper into the dark side. Leah is also a longtime story editor committed to supporting a writer’s truest voice.
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LINDSAY LEE
based in Toronto
KIDS
YA
Lindsay is a writer, producer, and performer who specializes in practical filmmaking with puppets and model miniatures. Her recent credits Miikshi (TVOkids/Shaftesbury Kids) and Power Lines (in development with CBC Kids) feature quirky protagonists who don't always say the right things at the right times. A book-loving Chinese-Jamaican girl from Toronto, she loves to amplify the voices of misfit characters and give them a place to belong on screen.
LUCY BELGUM
based in Toronto
COMEDY
HORROR
ANIMATION
SCI-FI
FANTASY
ADVENTURE
HISTORICAL
Lucy Belgum is a Transgender writer and director in Toronto. They have a fond love of miniatures, escapism and nature. Her stories are infused with her experiences growing up as a military brat who moved around a lot, rarely settling into one place, while also not being at home in their own body regardless of where they were swept off to. She hopes to tell as many stories as she can that feature wonderful queer and trans characters while whisking them off into adventures across our world and many more. When not telling stories, Lucy is a sculptor and thanks to the support of OAC has built several miniature based sculptures over the last few years. It’s either that, cuddling their cats (Riffraff and Luna)
MELANEE MURRAY-HUNT
based in Calgary
DRAMA
COMEDY
SUSPENSE
SCI-FI
Melanee has been in front of and behind the camera since she was a kid. Her dramatic comedy short, Race Anonymous, about a recovering race-aholic who meets his brownskinned higher power, has won awards as has her gender bending solo stage show The ‘Hoodwink. Whether its dystopian drama or absurdist satire, she uses her diverse, off-kilter perspective for some satisfyingly out-of-the-box storytelling.
MILAN SOMASUNDARAM
based in Toronto
DRAMA
COMEDY
Milan's creativity spawns from an understanding that lives can change abruptly and laughter and acceptance needs to be a key focus in everyone's lives. His writing explores the spirituality in the mundane and the comedy in the solemn. Milan's current project is a series called Namaste which won a place in the Reelworld E20 incubator.
Samuel kiehoon lee
based in Toronto
DRAMA
COMEDY
YA
KIDS
Lee's parents escaped North Korea as children and immigrated to Toronto. He rewarded their lifetime of hardship by pursuing a life in the arts as a filmmaker. After spending a decade in Seoul, Lee produced the feature film GYOPO (NNNN review from NOW magazine). A graduate of the CFC and York MFA film production, he's now collaborating with his Iranian filmmaker wife Atefeh Khademolreza.
sina sultani
based in Vancouver
DRAMA
COMEDY
THRILLER
SCI-FI
Sina was raised on science fiction with Persian music blasting in the background. That mix of Afghan-Canadian cultures formed the backbone of every project and has written a number of sci-fi, drama and comedy screenplays/pilots with Trans, Indigenous and Afro-Canadian artists, his unique blend of narratives has earned numerous awards at international competitions as a writer, director and producer.
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Stephen hunt
based in Calgary
DRAMA
COMEDY
THRILLER
Stephen comedic, coming-of-age solo show about being a white guy that the Public Theatre produced, which ended up scoring Steve and writing partner - and wife - Melanee an invite to Quincy Jones’ house in the hills of Brentwood, along with a development deal. Steve likes rom-coms, telling funny stories, sports, cooking and running road races slowly.
ty freedman
based in Boston
COMEDY
YA
KIDS
Ty Freedman is a writer, educator, and former circus clown. He always had an inkling that he experienced the world a bit differently… He received a late-in-life ASD diagnosis. He's spent over 15 years teaching pre-school teacher and performed in children’s theatre across the US. Ty created, wrote, and starred in his own kids' cooking show, Ty the Pie Guy. He plans to change the world by makings kids laugh for a living.
WAHID ibn reza
based in Los Angeles
FANTASY
COMEDY
YA
KIDS
Wahid Ibn Reza is an engineer turned award-winning filmmaker from Bangladesh-Canada
currently residing in Los Angeles. He has thoroughly disappointed his parents by leaving the
engineering field and pursuing the character as a screenwriter. Before moving to Canada he
wrote over 100 episodes of television and several tv films in Bangladesh. Wahid has a passion
for writing in fantasy, comedy, action and sci-fi genres. In North America, Wahid worked in
short films in various capacities as Executive Producer, Producer, Co-producer, Writer and
Director. His films Got screened at festivals such as Edmonton Film Festival, Montreal World
Film Festival, Whistler Film Festival, Toronto’s Inside Out LGBT Film Festival, Vancouver Queer
Film Festival, International Student Film Festival Pisek at Czek Republic, LA Diversity Film
Festival, Surrey International Film Festival, Golden Egg Film Festival in LA and Student Art
Festival in Florida. He was the winner of Best Student Film award at FFM-Montreal 2015 and
Edmonton Film Festival 2015 for short film Terrorist as the Producer. He was the winner of Best
of Festival Award in overall Student Production at SIFF 2014 for short What am I doing here.
Wahid’s pitch-contest-winning animated short film The Paranoid Cat got screened at the
Cinequest Film Festival in 2016 at San Jose. His animated short Surviving 71 is currently in
production. He is also an optioned writer for the Oscar-winning organization, National Film
Board of Canada (NFB), producing an animated short about the climate crisis. Wahid has been
working in vfx/animation production for over ten years, with credits on Emmy winning and
Oscar nominated shows. He has been a quarterfinalist at Scriptapalooza (2018), Screen Craft
Animation Screenplay Competition (2022), Filmmatic – Inroads Fellowship Season 6, Emerging
Screenwriters Animation Screenplay Competition (2023) and Emerging Screenwriters
Screenplay Competition (2024). A semifinalist at Script2Comic (2022), Los Angeles International
Screenplay Awards – Diversity Initiative II (2022) and Vail Film Festival Screenplay Competition.
And a finalist at NYC Midnight Screenwriting Challenge (2020). He has a BFA degree in Film
Production from the University of British Columbia. Wahid has the ability to constantly incept
ideas, create detailed worlds and produce engaging dialogues. He has worked as a freelance
writer for companies such as Yellow Animation, Ferlyco, Wondery, Outfit7, Epic Story Media,
Bidya Media and Omens Studio.
WREN HANDMAN
based in Vancouver, B.C.
COMEDY
SCI-FI
THRILLER
ROMANCE
Wren Handman is a screenwriter and novelist whose stories are connected by one common thread: that we can’t make a better world if we can’t imagine it. As a queer writer with a chronic pain condition, Wren tells stories that uplift, inspire, and centre her community in joy. She loves narratives that blend the magical with the everyday... probably because she secretly wishes magic were real. With her writing partner, Amy Fox, Wren wrote the award-winning sitcom The Switch, which aired on OutTV. Their project Home(less) received development funding from the Harold Greenberg Project, and their science fiction TV show, Synthesis, is in development with Trembling Void Studios.