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Talkhouse

Ryan J. Sloan and Ariella Mastroianni’s feature <a href="https://www.gazerfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gazer</a> is out now in theaters through Metrograph Pictures. Ryan co-wrote, co-produced and directed Gazer and Ariella co-wrote, co-produced and stars in the film. Ryan is an electrician turned filmmaker from New Jersey with no credits you&#8217;d recognize. Gazer is his first feature. Ariella is an actor and writer from New Jersey by way of Ontario, Canada. She founded the music and entertainment magazine NKD MAG in college with Catherine Powell.

Ryan J. Sloan and Ariella Mastroianni

Film

How We Made Gazer

Tom Bateman made his screenwriting debut with the neo-noir thriller <a href="https://www.shoutstudios.com/magpie" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Magpie</a>, which had its world premiere at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival and is out now in theaters and on VOD. Tom also serves as a producer on the film. In 2023, Tom starred in Peacock’s Based on a True Story alongside Kaley Cuoco and Chris Messina and will return for the second season in November 2024. Bateman previously starred in Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives, opposite Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton. Tom is well known to audiences for the breakout role in Kenneth Branagh’s star-studded Agatha Christie film adaptation Murder on the Orient Express and reprised his role in its sequel Death on the Nile. Tom’s film credits also include starring in Cold Pursuit, opposite Liam Neeson, and Jonathan Levine&#8217;s Snatched, with Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer. On TV, Tom led the Netflix series Behind Her Eyes, opposite Eve Hewson, and appeared in the small-screen adaptation of Thackeray’s Vanity Fair opposite Olivia Cooke and Johnny Flynn. (Photo by Lee Malone.)

Tom Bateman

“To Know That We Are Not Alone.”

Pascal Plante is a Montreal-based filmmaker whose third narrative feature, the psychological cyber-thriller Red Rooms, is out now in theaters through Utopia. His previous film, Nadia, Butterfly, premiered in the official selection of the 73rd edition of Cannes Film Festival in 2020. After his graduation from Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema, Pascal co-founded the production company Nemesis Films, with which he directed numerous short films including Blast Beat (Slamdance 2019), Blue-Eyed Blonde (Best Canadian Short Film, VIFF 2015), and Nonna (Slamdance 2017). His first narrative feature, a punk romance entitled Fake Tattoos, competed at the Berlinale, in Generation 14plus, in 2018. Pascal considers himself like a cinephile that became a narrative filmmaker with documentarian tendencies.

Pascal Plante

How to Create in Darkness and (Mostly) Stay Sane

Jake Allyn&#8216;s debut feature as directror, <a href="https://wellgousa.com/films/ride" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ride</a>, which he also stars in and wrote, is now in theaters and on demand. The film, a crime drama set in the world of rodeos, also stars C. Thomas Howell, Annabeth Gish. Allyn is also the writer of 2021 film No Man’s Land and starred in it alongside Frank Grillo, Jorge Jimenez, Andie MacDowell and George Lopez. After graduating from Cornell and deciding to pursue acting full time, Allyn landed his first series regular on BET’s one-hour drama The Quad, where he played BoJohn Folsom, a star quarterback forced to attend a historically black college who had to overcome a checkered past and race issues to win over his teammates. Jake’s performance was praised by The Hollywood Reporter and The Quad made The New York Times’ “Top Shows to Watch.” (Picture by Maarten de Boer.)

Jake Allyn

The Ride of My Life

Byron Mann currently stars opposite K-pop star Nichkhun and legendary Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang in the indie romcom The Modelizer, which he also wrote and produced. Mann is best-known for his role opposite Steve Carell in the 2016 Best Picture Oscar nominee The Big Short, and also recently starred alongside Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson in the actioner Skyscraper. On TV, Mann can currently be seen on The Recruit for Netflix, while his other notable credits include Arrow, Hell On Wheels, Altered Carbon and The Expanse. He also played attorney Ed Lan in Little Fires Everywhere with Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington, Rosemarie DeWitt and Joshua Jackson, based on Celeste Ng’s bestselling book. Mann grew up in Hong Kong, and studied at the University of California, in LA, graduating magna cum laude in Philosophy. He maintains residences in Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Hong Kong. (Photo by Narbeh Khodaverdi.)

Byron Mann

The Brazilian Actress and the Covid Quarantine Camp (Or, The Miraculous Making of The Modelizer)

Bomani J. Story is the writer, director and producer of the new horror film The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, which is in theaters from June 9 through AllBlk, RLJE and Shudder. Bomani spent time writing his own short stories as a child and cut his teeth on filmmaking when he started making shorts at San Bernardino Valley College, before finishing his studies at USC&#8217;s school of Cinematic Arts. He wrote Rock Steady Row, which went on to win the Best Narrative Feature, and the Audience Award at 2018 Slamdance Film Festival.

Bomani J. Story

The Power of the Pen

Dani Barker is an award-winning, multi-hyphenate filmmaker and actor whose talents are displayed in her recent feature film <a href="https://www.followherfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Follow Her</a>, directed by Emmy Award-winner Sylvia Caminer and shot by Academy Award nominee Luke Geissbuhler. Follow Her had its world premiere at Fantasporto in 2022 sweeping the top awards and earning Dani Best Actress along with Best Film and Audience Award and is out in theaters and on VOD on June 2. Dani has also helmed, scripted and starred in projects such as Starvival, the Unprofessionals, which she produced, wrote, and played the lead; and Squirm, produced for Canada’s OUTtv. Her new film, AI ARTIST, premiered at the Runway AI Film Festival March 2023 bringing home the Merit Award. The film is now being developed into an Anthology series with co-writer and co-director Jessey Nelson.

Dani Barker

The Fake Financier

Matt Dellapina co-wrote and stars in the new feature The Woods are Real, which has its <a href="https://www.lesfilmfestival.com/films-2023/the-woods-are-real" target="_blank" rel="noopener">world premiere</a> at the Lower East Side Film Festival on May 5. Matt created and starred in Adult Ed., an original series that premiered at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival and with his longtime producing partner, Sean Lewis, co-wrote and starred in These Hopeless Savages, a feature film now streaming on Tubi and Amazon. His plays have been produced &amp; developed by Slant Theatre Project, Naked Angels, The Lark, Ars Nova, and Crowded Outlet. In front of the camera, Matt’s recent TV and film roles include The Big Door Prize, Kevin Can F Himself, Bull, The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show, The Blacklist and NCIS: New Orleans.

Matt Dellapina

Confession

Gabriel Bier Gislason is a writer-director from Copenhagen. Based out of London and New York for over a decade, he recently returned to his Denmark after graduating from NYU’s Grad Film Program. His first feature, Attachment, a Danish-UK horror romance steeped in Jewish mythology, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2022, followed by, among others, Fantastic Fest and the BFI London Film Festival and is streaming on Shudder from February 9. (Photo by Aleksander Hørup.)

Gabriel Bier Gislason

“Not Great!” Or, How I Fought COVID Claustrophobia While Writing My Apartment-Bound Jewish Folk-Horror Romance Attachment

Michael Tennant was born and raised in San Diego, California, and attended the University of Arizona (the Harvard of Arizona) where he graduated with a BFA in both Acting and Directing. After graduation, spent the next four years hustling as an actor in New York City, where he did his requisite episodes of Law and Order, wore a peacoat, and then decided he missed having a kitchen and returned to the West Coast. Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, he booked leads in multiple pilots as well as guest starring roles for ABC, NBC, Nickelodeon, and The CW before also working as an actor/producer/writer on productions for STX, IFC Films, Amazon, Neon, and Netflix. <a href="https://www.ifcfilms.com/films/pretty-problems" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Pretty Problems</a>, which he wrote, starred in and produced, has won a number of awards, including the Audience Award at SXSW, and is out now in select theaters and on VOD through IFC Films. He currently resides with his dog Leroy in Los Angeles. They have a very nice kitchen.

Michael Tennant

Revisited: I Made a Movie to Save My Marriage and Then I Got Divorced

I Made a Movie to Save My Marriage and Then I Got Divorced

Dan Coplan is an award-winning writer, director, producer and actor. He has been shot at twice, has traveled to Mt. Fuji in Japan on a Buddhist pilgrimage and, when he was 14, he was very, very sick – standing 5&#8217;11&#8221; tall, he weighed a mere 69lbs and was only given hours to live. This is why he makes movies. Coplan started making movies when he was 14 years old. One of his early films, The Incredibly Awful Dr. Sporgo, won the Silver Medal at the 1974 Atlanta International Film Festival and Golden Image Certificate at the 1975 Long Island International Film Festival. He graduated from the NYU Film School, where he was mentored by department head Haig Manoogian, who was also Martin Scorsese’s mentor. In 1975, he wrote and produced the documentary The Dream Factory, starring Sean Connery, Gloria Swanson, Marlo Thomas, Roy Schieder and narrated by Eli Wallach. It is now part of the permanent cinema collection of the Museum of Modern Art. Echos of Enlightenment, his critically acclaimed directing debut, has been shown around the world and was acquired by Netflix. He produced Growing Up Smith, which won the audience award at the 2015 Woodstock Film Festival, and the acclaimed documentary film The Lost City of Cecil B. DeMille. His new film, 8 Winds, was released in March 2022. It won the award for Best Original Screenplay at the Madrid International Film Festival 2021. Look him up on IMDb.

screenwriting