Susan Dretzka | Manager, Thesis Production & Delivery
Dretzka first began her relationship with AFI shortly after moving to Los Angeles from her home state of Wisconsin, by volunteering as a line producer on AFI thesis films. One of those shoots landed her a job as a producer’s assistant/production supervisor, working with directors David Lynch and Wim Wenders and on actor Matt Dillon’s directing debut CITY OF GHOSTS. Flash forward some years and Dretzka returned to AFI, this time to help educate future storytellers. She has been delighted to do so for the past 12 years.
Stephen Paratore | Manager, Production & Distribution Finance
Paratore is an AFI Producing alumnus from the Class of 2009 who has produced four feature films. He produced his first feature film, TURKEY BOWL, with all AFI alumni. It was accepted into the 2011 SXSW Film Festival in the Emerging Visions Category, where it sold to Tribeca Film Acquisitions and ESPN.
Paratore holds a BS in Communications from the State University of New York at Fredonia and an MFA in Producing from the AFI Conservatory. For several years he worked as Director of Development for the legendary “Godfather of the Television Movie,” Chuck Fries at Chuck Fries Productions.
Erica Elson | Production Supervisor
Elson is an AFI Screenwriting alumna hailing from Montreal, Canada. She received her BA in Communications from Concordia University and worked for the Line Producer of the Canadian show SOPHIE before moving to Los Angeles. After AFI, Elson freelanced at ABC, Warner Bros, VH1 and MTV. She was then a Showrunners Assistant on the short-lived but much-loved dramedy HINDSIGHT, where she had the chance to write for the web series PLANET SEBASTIAN. Elson’s articles have been published by the Huffington Post, Lifehacker and Readers Digest. She writes and directs short films and is the co-author of the book “The Awkward Human Survival Guide”. Elson created the AFIC Green Seal and is the leader of the AFI Green Initiative. She also enjoys baseball, tennis and planning her next meal.
Narineh Hacopian | Lecturer
Los Angeles native Hacopian is a graduate of the AFI Conservatory and a producer of independent features, award-winning short films, music videos and branded content. She recently wrapped IN A RELATIONSHIP, starring Emma Roberts, Michael Angarano and Patrick Gibson. Her credits include BITCH (Sundance 2017), SOUTHBOUND (TIFF 2015), THE LONER (Tribeca 2016), BAND OF ROBBERS (LA Film Festival 2015), THE FRONTIER (SXSW 2015) and the film adaptation of Neil LaBute’s SOME GIRL(S) (SXSW 2013). Prior to her work on these films, she was with Gore Verbinski’s Blind Wink Productions for three years.
Hacopian’s most recent producing effort, LOWLIFE, had its festival debut in summer 2017. Her next production, AMY IN THE AIR, is currently in development.
DJ Markuson | Coordinator
Markuson is an LA screenwriter and best-selling children’s book author.
The Buffalo, NY, native attended the Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, FL. Originally focused on traditional animation, Markuson gravitated towards filmmaking.
Starting in the art department for Troma Entertainment, he went on to production-design a number of feature films and with interest in producing and learned nearly every other position in the filmmaking process, including stunt work on projects of all sizes.
Markuson has written and directed multiple critically acclaimed projects and is always developing new shows, features and children’s books in his spare time.
Alex Peurye | Coordinator
A Chicago native, Alex is a writer and producer who has worked in both New York and Los Angeles. He is a CPA and graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington where he studied Business and Theater. He brings project management experience from his extensive work with Fortune 500 companies during his tenure at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte. Alex began his involvement with the American Film Institute as a line producer on the thesis film, BALLOON. And according to the film’s director, Jeremy Merrifield, “He’s seen it all, so don’t try nothin’.”
FULL-TIME MENTORS
Andrew Wagner
BREAKABLE YOU, starring Holly Hunter, Tony Shalhoub, Alfred Molina, Cristin Milioti and Omar Metwally, is director/writer Andrew Wagner’s third feature film. It had its world premiere at the 2017 Palm Springs International Film Festival and screened at the Napa Valley Film Festival and in the Film Independent Series at the LACMA curated by Elvis Mitchell. BREAKABLE YOU was released by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions in March 2018 and is currently streaming on Hulu.
Wanger’s second feature, STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, starring Frank Langella, Lili Taylor and Lauren Ambrose, premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically by Roadside Attractions. Frank Langella was voted Best Actor by the Boston Critics Association and was runner-up for Best Actor in voting by critics associations in Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas/Ft. Worth. STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING was named one of the Top 10 Independent Films by the National Board of Review and made over 30 critics’ Best Films of the Year lists, including A.O. Scott’s and Stephen Holden’s of the New York Times and Roger Ebert’s of the Chicago Sun-Times. It was nominated for two Spirit Awards: Best Male Lead and Best Screenplay.
Wagner’s first feature, THE TALENT GIVEN US, was an Official Selection at the Sundance Film Festival. THE TALENT GIVEN US also won the Jury Prize at the CineVegas Film Festival and Best First Feature at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival. It went on to play theatrically in over 30 cities and made the New York Times’ and other critics’ Best Films of the Year lists. Andrew was a Gotham Awards Breakthrough Director nominee.
Wanger majored in Creative Writing at Brown University. He attended NYU’s Graduate Film School where his short, THE HARDEST HIT, won the Francois de Menil Scholarship. He moved to Los Angeles to write WACCABUC, a screenplay for United Artists and director Mark Rydell, and then became a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute where he received a Master of Fine Arts. His thesis film, THE LAST DAYS OF HOPE AND TIME, won the Franklin J. Schaffner Fellowship for Excellence in Directing. Andrew went on to develop his adaptation of THE MAN WHO GAVE UP HIS NAME – from the collection of novellas “Legends of the Fall” by Jim Harrison – at the Sundance Writer’s Lab. Andrew was also the cinematographer on Julie Delpy’s feature LOOKING FOR JIMMY.
Kool Marder
Marder began her industry career as an assistant to the Emmy® and Academy Award®-winning director and cinematographer Haskell Wexler. She quickly worked her way up the Hollywood ladder, becoming a production coordinator on numerous films including THE BIG EASY, MOON OVER PARADOR and DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS.
Marder rose to the position of unit production manager on NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, THE DREAM CHILD and David Lynch’s WILD AT HEART (1990 Palme d’Or winner). She was also the associate producer on the original motion picture HALLOWEEN.
Marder spent the next 11 years as Vice President of Production for Universal Studios, where she oversaw more than 50 feature films, including FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, CASINO, CARLITO’S WAY, OUT OF SIGHT, MAN ON THE MOON, AMERICAN PIE, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, ERIN BROCKOVICH and THE BOURNE IDENTITY.
She has collaborated with such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Miloš Forman, Robert Zemeckis, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee, Terry Gilliam and Kathryn Bigelow.
Marder has filled the role as Head of Production for numerous production companies including Incentive Film Entertainment, where she oversaw three films including Derek Cianfrance’s BLUE VALENTINE. Marder also operated as Head of Production for a bond company with the responsibility of overseeing approximately 60 feature films, five of them in China. They include: THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM; Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION; and John Woo’s RED CLIFF. Other films that Marder bonded are 3:10 TO YUMA, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS (Heath Ledger’s last film), WHITE RIBBON (2009 Palme D’Or winner) and the 2010 Academy Award®-winning film THE HURT LOCKER.
Vanessa Hayes
With over three decades of production and post-production experience, Hayes landed as a post producer through her love of editing (the final re-write) mixed with the alchemy of image capture, sound design, CGI/visual effects and music — ingredients that transform narrative storytelling into the world of moving action. Most recently, she was the visual effects producer on season one of SHADOWHUNTERS and served as co-producer on season one of KINGDOM (DirectTV), THE DIVIDE (AMC), RINGER (CW), NEW AMSTERDAM and AGAINST THE LAW (Fox), LOVE BITES and RAINES (NBC), SAVED (TNT), NOTHING SACRED (ABC) and the Robert Altman-executive-produced pilot GUN. All told she has post-produced and delivered over 375 hours of network and cable programming including television movies, miniseries and two “fat” reality shows, AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL and STARTING OVER. Additionally, Hayes post-supervised features for Warner Brothers, Miramax, New Line Cinema, LIVE Entertainment, HBO Films including writer/director John Ridley’s first feature COLD AROUND THE HEART, Oliver Stone’s FREEWAY and the Pate Brothers’ THE GRAVE — the latter two premiering at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival.
Furtherance to her long career in post-production, Hayes was Production Executive for Dove Entertainment, where she oversaw international feature and miniseries co-productions in Canada and Croatia. At one point she injected herself into a more corporate landscape as Vice-President/Post Production for the Kushner Locke Company, where she directly supervised post on a laundry list of television and feature film projects shot in Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Mexico. Working with many A-level producers and directors, she counts David Manson, John Landgraf, Robert Lovenheim, Barbara Bloom, Pam Veasey, Preston Fischer, Steve Schott, Tony Goldwyn, Richard Pearce, Frank Pierson and Abel Ferrara as mentors and influencers.
Since she first entered the production business, Hayes has experienced the shift and growth of a film-based world to a completely digital landscape that included the amazing morphing of moviolas to AVIDs, celluloid opticals/stop-motion effects to the most advanced forms of CGI/2D and 3D visual effects. She has a deep and abiding interest in how technology has and can continue to advance the art of filmmaking with a passion for discovering new alternate paths to content creation and distribution. Her motto: “Post is not above or below the line… it is on the line!”
CREATIVE MENTORS
Jacob Forman
Jacob Forman’s first feature film, ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, screened at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was acquired by The Weinstein Company for worldwide distribution. MTV Films acquired his spec, HANDSOME DEVIL, in a bidding war in 2007. Since then, Forman has adapted major books and articles for the screen for companies including Paramount Pictures, Misher Films, Michaels-Goldwyn, Davis Entertainment, LD Entertainment, Jon Shestack Productions, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Mark Gordon Company and Film 360. He has held television development deals with CBS Paramount and ABC Touchstone. Jacob co-wrote and produced THE LAST SURVIVORS, which premiered at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival and screened at 20 film festivals prior to its August 2015 release.
The son of an American anthropologist and a Brazilian journalist, Forman grew up in East Timor, Rio de Janeiro, and New York City. Forman earned an MFA in Fiction from Brown University in 1998 and an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in 2004. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Screenwriting Faculty at the American Film Institute, where he teaches graduate coursework in screenwriting and short form filmmaking to first- and second-year Fellows. Forman is an active member of the Writers Guild of America and has been a mentor for AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, the Squaw Valley Conference of Writers, the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony and Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab.
Karen Janszen
Karen Janszen is a Los Angeles-based writer. While she has worked on thrillers, comedies and historical epics – and done uncredited polishes on animated films – she is best known for dramas. Janszen wrote the pilot and developed the sci-fi series MARS for Imagine and Nat Geo. She has also created series and written pilots for CBS, ABC and Epix, including the supernatural crime series HIGH STRANGENESS. Janszen’s theatrical writing credits include studio films DOLPHIN TALE, DUMA and A WALK TO REMEMBER and indie films GRACIE and THE MATCHMAKER. Trained as a science journalist at MIT, she holds degrees from AFI, Harvard and the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently writing a movie for Netflix and developing an original series for CBS Productions, SUSPICIOUS MINDS, about a psychiatrist with delusions who treats delusional patients. Based on her screenplay ACT NORMAL, Variety named Janszen one of Ten Screenwriters to Watch.
Kevin Kennedy
Kennedy is a writer and producer with diverse experience in studio and independent film, as well as both cable and network television. Most recently, he was co-creator and Executive Producer of the CBS primetime drama series THE DEFENDERS, starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell. His most recently produced feature film, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle, was released by New Line Cinema after screening as an Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to his work as a writer and producer, Kennedy helped educate and develop the work of scores of playwrights, novelists and screenwriters in his capacity as founder and workshop director of the Writer’s Film Project, a film writing fellowship program sponsored by Steven Spielberg and Universal Pictures.
He has a degree in Drama and Creative Writing from Stanford, after which he attended the graduate screenwriting program at the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television.
Simone Ling
Simone Ling is a creative producer and story consultant. Credits include executive producer of Aurora Guerrero’s Spirit Award-nominated MOSQUITA Y MARI and producer of Anahita Ghazvinizadeh’s THEY, which premiered at Cannes and continues to play on the international film festival circuit. Clients include Paramount Pictures and the Sundance Film Institute. Additionally, she spearheads outreach for Sundance’s Asian American Fellowship. Ling is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Motion Picture Editors Guild and BAFTA/LA. She also sits on the BAFTA New Talent and Scholarship Committee, Women in Film’s Finishing Fund jury and was a juror for Seattle International Film Festival’s 2019 New Directors Competition. A Fulbright Scholar with Masters degrees from the University of Oxford and Stanford University, she is a TAP/Transatlantic Partners, Film Independent Fast Track, Tribeca TFI Network and IFP/Independent Film Project No Borders Fellow.
Barry Sabath
Sabath holds an MA and PhD in Cinema Studies from New York University and has two decades of feature film development experience as both a studio executive and producer.
He served as Vice President of Production at Columbia Pictures and ran the film division of Robin Williams’ Blue Wolf Productions, whose productions include MRS. DOUBTFIRE. At Twentieth Century Fox, he was Senior Vice President of Production for Paul Schiff Productions, where he oversaw MY COUSIN VINNY and was co-producer on GHOST IN THE MACHINE and PCU.
Sabath is a recipient of the French Chevalier medal for his contribution to French film culture, an international mentor for the Korean Film Council’s Filmmakers’ Development Labs, a participant in labs and panels at the Busan International Film Festival and the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and consults for the recently launched Hainan Island International Film Festival in China.
Sabath taught film history and theory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Illinois State University and is the co-author of ERNST LUBITSCH: A GUIDE TO REFERENCES AND RESOURCES.
Jennie Lew Tugend
Jennie Lew Tugend has produced some of the industry’s most memorable franchises: FREE WILLY, LETHAL WEAPON and HBO’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT.
As former Co-President of Kadokawa Pictures USA, Tugend was a producer on ONE MISSED CALL, a WB release, and two episodes of Showtime’s MASTER OF HORROR.
At Warner Bros., Tugend produced FREE WILLY, the box office smash hit, which has now become a family film classic. She went on to produce the sequel FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE HOME and completed the trilogy with FREE WILLY 3: THE RESCUE.
Tugend co-produced LEATHAL WEAPON 1, 2 and 3. These Mel Gibson and Danny Glover buddy cop movies are now classics in the action-comedy genre.
Producing credits include LOCAL BOYS starring Mark Harmon and Star Kid, which received an Award of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board; MGM’s romantic comedy RETURN TO ME starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver; RADIO FLYER for Columbia Pictures; and SCROOGED for Paramount Pictures starring Bill Murray. For HBO, she co-produced 4 seasons of TALES FROM THE CRYPT and was instrumental in the development and production of THE GOONIES and THE LOST BOYS.
Currently, Tugend and her partners are developing the feature film adaptations of the NY Times best-selling novel “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” with Oscar® and Emmy®-nominated director Bing Liu, the Japanese manga series “MPD Psycho”, the award winning anime film THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME and the award-winning short film POPPIES from director Myles Yaksich.
Tugend was a mentor in the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at USC and is an active member of the Producer’s Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America. She is currently teaching film production at UCLA Extension and is a Creative Thesis Mentor at the American Film Institute Conservatory (AFI).
Michael Urban
Michael Urban has been a working screenwriter since selling his first screenplay in 2001, just six months after graduating from the American Film Institute with a Master of Fine Arts Degree in Screenwriting. In 2002 production began on that screenplay, resulting in the MGM/UA feature film SAVED! Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival, the film went on to win accolades at South by Southwest and the Gen Arts Film Festival.
SAVED! lead to a successful career as screenwriter, completing feature film assignments for Paramount, Universal Studios, MGM and Sony Studios. Additionally, Urban has sold original television pilot scripts to ABC, HBO, Lifetime and most recently Universal Cable Productions. In 2015 he co-wrote and co-executive produced the pilot for TRUE FICTION for the Bravo TV Network. He was also hired to write an original television movie for the USA network, currently in development.
In 2005, Urban returned to the American Film Institute as a member of the screenwriting faculty. In the fourteen years he has been teaching he has had the honor of working with the next generation of emerging filmmakers. His former students include hundreds of writers, directors and producers. Additionally, he has seen his students go on to win the Student Emmy® Award, the Student Academy Award® and the Canne Palm D’Or for thesis films realized under his mentorship.
While his core responsibilities at AFI center on mentoring student scripts and short film projects, he has also moderated several of the Institute’s prestigious Harold Lloyd Master Seminars. These seminars consist of a screening followed by a discussion with the filmmakers. Among the filmmakers Urban has hosted are, Mike White (SCHOOL OF ROCK), Vince Gilligan (BREAKING BAD, BETTER CALL SAUL), Lisa Kudrow (FRIENDS, THE COMEBACK), Jay Roach (AUSTIN POWERS, MEET THE PARENTS), Alec Berg & Bill Hader (BARRY), Ryan Murphy (GLEE, THE PEOPLE VS OJ SIMPSON), Christopher Nolan (THE DARK KNIGHT) and most recently Olivia Wilde with her directorial debut (BOOKSMART).
PRODUCTION MENTORS
Robert “Scott” Fort
Robert “Scott” Fort has been a working professional in the film industry for over 20 years. During the first stage of his career, Fort worked as Director of Development at Walt Disney Studios for Stuart Gordon, the director of RE-ANIMATOR, developing projects such as DYNOTOPIA, AMERICAN PSYCHO and the sequel to HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS. He also worked with indie film producer David Lancaster on various Showtime projects, and later with writer/producer Jim Kouf, also at Walt Disney Studios.
Fort began working in physical production as a Production Coordinator and Production Supervisor for Full Moon Pictures, where he supervised over 25 low budget horror films. From there he worked on numerous television pilots and movies of the week at such studios as Warner Bros, Paramount Pictures, Sony Television, Showtime and Lifetime.
Fort has also worked as a UPM and line producer on numerous independent features with directors such as Ken Loach, Christopher Coppola, Andy Fleming and Joe Dante. He has worked in locations as diverse as Utah, Arizona, Missouri, Mississippi, New Mexico, Louisiana, Texas and North Carolina, and has developed an expertise in creating budgets and shooting schedules for film financing packages. Credits include KISS KISS BANG BANG, WAITRESS, NIP/TUCK and ACT OF VALOR.
Most recently Fort was the executive producer on BONE TOMAHAWK, which was on over 40 best film lists. Other recent credits include BURYING THE EX for Voltage Pictures, BLOOD IN THE WATER for Level 33 Entertainment and PUBLIC DISTURBANCE for Lionsgate Studios. Future credits include a horror film for Blum House Studios and a romantic comedy for Netflix. Fort is a member of the DGA and PGA.
Andy House
Andy House has over 35 years of production management experience on television series and movies made across the U.S. and internationally. Most recently, he was Executive in Charge of Production for Gaumont International TV. Before that he was Senior Vice President of Sony Pictures TV, where he supervised more than 25 TV series, 50 pilots and 30 television movies. His credits include BREAKING BAD, HANNIBAL and INTO THIN AIR: DEATH ON EVEREST.
During his tenure at Sony he spent three years in Moscow, Russia, supervising a joint venture producing Russian language TV series for broadcast across the Russian Federation. He also spent a year working in Hong Kong supervising Sony’s television production efforts across China and Southeast Asia. Before joining Sony he worked as an assistant director and production manager for nearly every major studio in Hollywood. His credits appear on, among others, THE A TEAM, FALCON CREST, E.T. THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (2nd unit) and PUMPKINHEAD.
He earned a Master of Arts Degree in Communications from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business from the University of Southern California.
Thomas Mahoney
Thomas Mahoney’s recent credits include KARMA, THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS (alongside Wes Craven) and ANARCHY PARLOR.
Previously, he was VP of production at Cinipix, where he guided the production and post-production of the independent action/horror feature RAZE, which was released early 2014 by IFC Midnight, and a slate of other films. Thomas produced REMOVAL in 2009, released by Lionsgate.
Currently, Mahoney is a producer on WILD INDIAN shooting this fall. Mahoney is also graduate of the American Film Institute Conservatory.
Jaki West
Jaki West is a DGA Unit Production Manager with 16 years of experience. Her UPM credits include SHADOW WOLVES, HIROKIN: THE LAST SAMURAI, STREET, SENSITIVE MEN, APPLAUSE FOR MISS E, OF GOD AND KINGS and FAIR GAME (formerly CROQUET GAME). She is currently in production on the documentary MOST SECRET: THE GREATEST ESPIONAGE STORY NEVER TOLD. AUPM credits include DECODING ANNIE PARKER, THE LIST, FREE FALL, WILD ABOUT HARRY, JUNCTION and POLITICS OF LOVE.
Prior to her work in independent features, West worked as first assistant director and production manager on feature film promotions, staged entertainment promotions and TV commercials. Her work included several CIRQUE DU SOLEIL productions, RINGLING BROTHERS and MARVEL stage shows and hundreds of commercials filmed across the United States and around the world.
EDITING MENTORS
Anne Goursaud
Anne Goursaud is an accomplished film editor and director. It was Francis Ford Coppola who first spotted Goursaud’s talent, giving her the chance to edit ONE FROM THE HEART. Since that time, she has directed and edited a wide range of projects and worked with some of the most highly acclaimed professionals in the movie industry.
Her directing credits include the cult thriller EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE, POISON IVY II — both for New Line Cinema — and the erotic drama LOVE IN PARIS (ANOTHER 9 1/2 WEEKS) for Trimark.
Her editing credits include Francis Ford Coppola’s teen classic THE OUTSIDERS, starring Matt Dillon and Tom Cruise; the Oscar®-winning BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, starring Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins; and IRONWEED, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, for which they both received Oscar® nominations.
Goursaud also edited Bruce Beresford’s comedies CRIMES OF THE HEART and HER ALIBI; John Duigan’s epic drama WIDE SARGASSO SEA; Janusz Kaminski’s horror film LOST SOULS; and the sequel to CHINATOWN, THE TWO JAKES, directed by and starring Jack Nicholson. Most recently, she edited Universal Pictures’ innovative OutKast movie-musical IDLEWILD and the edgy new independent feature EXPIRED, which premiered at Cannes.
Goursaud was writer-producer on the feature-length documentary ULTRASUEDE: IN SEARCH FOR HALSTON, which was released in theaters in February 2012 and bought by Showtime.
She is attached to direct two features, CORONADO and BETSY & NAPOLEON, for legendary producer Fred Roos. Goursaud last produced, directed and edited A CLASSY BROAD: MARCIA’S ADVENTURES IN HOLLYWOOD, a feature-length documentary about the first woman Production VP at a major studio, Marcia Nasatir. The film opened in March 2019 on digital platforms and had a week theatrical run – March 8th to 14th – at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills. It is currently available through VOD, and KANOPY for educational use.
Goursaud also re-cut THE LONGEST ROAD, a feature documentary about refugees in Kurdistan that premiered at the San Antonio Film Festival in 2018. She just finished A DAY IN THE LIFE, a documentary about Apple Corps, and is currently editing RING ROAD, a documentary about a woman motorcyclist finding her voice touring Iceland.
Her short story, KEEP ONLY THE GOOD PIECES, was published on Hollywooddementia.com in June 2016. Three other short stories, A GREAT BAD YEAR, PAULINE’S ADVENTURES ON THE SILVER SCREEN and THE HEIRESS, were also published.
Goursaud is an AFI mentor and teaches First Year Editing Analysis also at AFI.
Goursaud received a License in History of Art from the Sorbonne and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Editors Guild, A.C.E., the Academy of Arts and Sciences and SAC.
Robert Ivison
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Robert Ivison has worked as a film editor in Los Angeles since 1994. He began his career cutting commercials and music videos, working with U2, Whitney Houston, The Wallflowers, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Celine Dion, Santana and many others.
His feature film credits include STANDER, WALKING TALL, TAKE THE LEAD and TRICK ‘R TREAT, and his television credits include SUITS, MAD DOGS, THE LAST TYCOON and THE ROOKIE.
Lynzee Klingman
With a degree in 20th Century History from Columbia University, Klingman spent her early career working on documentaries, notably Emile de Antonio’s Oscar®-nominated IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG and HEARTS AND MINDS, which won the Academy Award® for the Best Documentary Feature. She won the BAFTA Award and was nominated for an Academy Award® for her work on ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST and worked again with director Miloš Forman on the musical HAIR and MAN ON THE MOON. Some other credits include TRUE CONFESSIONS, BABY BOOM, OUTBREAK, PROTOCOL, ALI and A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT. She edited LITTLE MAN TATE, HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS, as well as THE BEAVER for director Jodie Foster, and WAR OF THE ROSES, MATILDA and HOFFA for Danny DeVito. Some independent films include Sundance Audience Award winner PICTURE BRIDE, LIVING OUT LOUD and PANIC.
Klingman is a member of American Cinema Editors, a Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and on the Advisory Board Member for the Brooks Institute and the Liberty Hill Foundation. She has been an advisor to the Sundance Institute’s Summer Film Lab and the National Film Institute in Beaconsfield, UK. She is also on the faculty of USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Rick Shaine
After graduating from Middlebury College and taking a course in Documentary Film at Columbia University, Shaine found employment in the documentary world of New York City in the early 1970s. He worked as assistant camera and later assistant editor for The Maysles, Leo Hurwitz and Manny Kirchheimer. He also directed, edited and photographed the documentary QUIET VOICES, UNCLAIMED DREAMS which showed at the Museum of Modern Art and had a week-long run at The Bleeker Street Cinema.
Moving into features, Shaine assisted legendary editors Alan Heim, Jerry Greenberg, Barry Malkin and Richard Marks, working on such features as LENNY, NIGHT MOVES and MISSOURI BREAKS. He helped to create THE GODFATHER SAGA which combined the GODFATHER films into a new format with additional lifts and outtakes added.
Shaine became a full editor in 1980, editing such films as the original NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET directed by Wes Craven, Arthur Penn’s DEAD OF WINTER, Joan Micklin Silver’s CROSSING DELANCEY and Frank Gilroy’s THE GIG. He also worked with Bob Fosse on Herb Gardner’s THE GOODBYE PEOPLE and edited trailers for Fosse’s SWEET CHARITY musical on Broadway.
Moving to Los Angeles, Shaine has teamed with director Michael Apted for several features including AMAZING GRACE, ENIGMA, ENOUGH, BLINK, EXTREME MEASURES and CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER. He also edited PITCH BLACK with Vin Diesel, directed by David Twohy, and Marvel’s INCREDIBLE HULK with Edward Norton, directed by Louis Leterrier. He is a member of A.C.E., serving on the Board for four years, and a member of the Motion Picture Academy.
Shaine has enjoyed sharing his knowledge of editing with young editors and has taught classes at AFI, USC, Middlebury College and Los Angeles Film School. He is excited to be working with editing Fellows at AFI.
