Dept. of Cinema and Television Arts, CSUN

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John Schultheiss Department Chair Option Head/ Media Theory & Criticism john.e.schultheiss@csun.edu MZ 195 (818) 677-3192 Office Hours: By appointment	Scholarly and Creative Activities --Published critical book editions of film texts of Force of Evil, Odds Against Tomorrow, Body and Soul, and the You Are There Teleplays of Abraham Polonsky; journal essays on the Hollywood Blacklist, the Eastern Writer in Hollywood, the Film Noir Artist, the Small Town in American Film, director Mitchell Leisen, writer Edwin Justus Mayer, critic Robert E. Sherwood, George Jean Nathan and the Dramatist in Hollywood. Documentary Film and Video Productions --Hollywood Screenwriters and Their Craft, Hollywood Directors and Their Craft, The Hollywood Writer: The Studio Years, Film Noir. Teaching --Philosophy underscores the paramount need for engaged critical thinking, as manifested through frequent, extended, and documented analytical writing and other verbal expression. All course structure and content are designed to ensure disciplined intellectual and ethical academic performance. All criticism is education, and all education is criticism attempting to make the work of art and life itself comprehensible. Degrees PhD. 1973 University of Southern California M.A. 1970 University of California, Los Angeles B.A. 1964 John Carroll University


Robert Gustafson Associate Professor Option Head/ Media Management robert.gustafson@csun.edu MZ 316 (818) 677-3432 Office Hours: M 1230-1430 T 1130-1345 & by appt	1986 - Present Principal, Robert W. Gustafson, Limited Liability Company. Analyze telecommunications opportunities for investors. Specific duties include supervision of television program / Web site development promotional packages, release forms, budgets, and financial projections. 1999 Director, Entertainment Industry Institute, California State University, Northridge. Create and promote positive cash flow projects with the entertainment community and the university, including the establishment of computer labs for audience research, enhanced focus group data, and on-campus postproduction activities. 1986 - Present Vice President, Pacific National Investment Corporation. Advise clients on feature film and television program investments. Successful funding includes Bright Lights Big City, Burglar, and Fatal Beauty. 1988 - 1990 Consultant, TMM Multimedia Co. Thousand Oaks,- California. Researched, wrote and guided promotional strategies for CD-ROM maker. 1984-1986 Station Manager, WRGW-AM, Washington, D.C. Supervised operation of an advertiser supported, university-owned, contemporary hit format radio station. Education Ph.D., University of Wisconsin – Madison, 1983. Dissertation entitled, "The Buying of Ideas: Literary Acquisition at Warner Bros." Major emphasis on the economics of the entertainment industry; minor emphasis on business research. Professional Memberships Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Los Angeles peer group. National Association of Television Program Executives. Museum of Television & Radio.

Jon Stahl Associate Professor Option Head/Screenwriting jon.stahl@csun.edu MZ 322 (818) 677-2838 Office Hours: On Sabbatical Fall 08	Jon Stahl is a professional screenwriter and has worked in a variety of capacities in film and television production. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from SUNY Binghamton and his M.F.A. in Film and Television from UCLA. Professor Stahl was a director for several years at WBNG-TV, a CBS affiliate in New York State. One of the programs that he wrote, directed and co-produced, an hour-long special about baseball, won awards from the National Association of Broadcasters and the New York State Broadcasters' Association. Jon left WBNG to freelance in film production in NYC, the land of his birth. He worked in several aspects of production, on commercials, feature films and TV shows such as Saturday Night Live. In time, he was employed with growing regularity as a prop man, despite his profusion of thumbs. Finally realizing that this flaw would impede a sustained career in the property arts, he turned to screenwriting. To support his writing habit, Professor Stahl taught television production at Brooklyn College and at SUNY F.I.T. During this time, he also wrote and directed a short film on a budget of 12-and-a-half cents. Shortly thereafter, he made the requisite trek to L.A. He soon affiliated himself with UCLA Extension, where he taught film production for several years. After receiving his M.F.A., Jon's screenwriting career began to blossom. Several of his feature-length scripts have been optioned by producers such as David Foster (The River Wild, McCabe and Mrs. Miller), Cari-Esta Albert (The Truth About Cats and Dogs) and Meg Ryan's Prufrock Pictures. His short script, “Fast Lane,” won the Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts Award of Excellence in 2003. His current feature-length project, Park Avenue Baseball, placed first in the Broadcast Education Association’s 2008 juried faculty scriptwriting competition and was named “Best of Fest” in the 2008 Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts. Professor Stahl joined the CSUN faculty in 1998. He has been honored by the CSUN Blue Key Honor Society with their Distinguished Faculty Award, the CSUN Ambassadors with their Polished Apple Award, and has been listed in several editions of Who's Who Among America's Teachers. Jon has served as moderator and panelist on several conference panels and has had articles published in the Journal of Film and Video and Feedback. He is a member of the Broadcast Education Association, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the University Film and Video Association, and is the president of the local chapter of the Alvy Singer Appreciation Society.

Mary C Schaffer Assistant Professor Option Head/Multimedia Production mary.c.schaffer@csun.edu MZ 325 (818) 677- 7945 Office Hours: T 1230-1345 W 1300-1400 R 1230-1345 and by appointment Interview with Mary Schaffer in the July 06 issue of Edge Click here	Mary C. Schaffer is an Assistant Professor in the Cinema and Television Arts Department teaching courses in all aspects of multimedia production and design. She has established a multimedia internship program utilizing her many contacts in entertainment, Internet and game design companies. Before joining the faculty at CSUN, Professor Schaffer worked in many professional capacities in the evolving multimedia industry. Director, Production, Homestore.com, Thousand Oaks, CA Director, Editorial, Geocities, Marina del Rey, CA Director, Realtime Kids, Realtime Associates, Los Angeles, CA Director, Production, Disney Interactive, Burbank, CA Supervising Producer, Viacom New Media, New York, New York Executive Producer, AND Communications, Los Angeles, CA Senior Producer, Synapse Technologies, Los Angeles, CA Prior to Professor Schaffer’s work in New Media, she was a journalist for over 20 years. Producer, WDIV-TV (Post Newsweek), Detroit, MI Producer, Morning Edition, National Public Radio, Washington, DC Assistant News Director, Minnesota Public Radio, St. Paul, MN Associate Producer, WCCO-TV, Minneapolis, MN EDUCATION Masters of Arts, California State University, Northridge. Major in Mass Communications. “Surfing Seniors: A Uses and Gratifications Analysis of Active Retired Adults’ Internet Usage Patters." Bachelor of Arts, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN. Major in Journalism (news-editorial) and with minors in Speech (broadcasting) and Political Science. Fellowship, The Edward R. Murrow Center, Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Boston, MA, 1979.

Nate Thomas Professor Option Head/ Film Production nate.thomas@csun.edu MZ 320 (818) 677-3162 Office Hours: M 0900-1000 T 1100-1200 R 1100-1200, 1730-1800 For additional bio info, go to: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0859287/ For additional info about East of Hope Street, go to: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157566/ Click here to download and view the following video files: East of Hope Street Trailer (3.9 MB -- Quicktime file) E! story on East of Hope Street (4.2 MB - Quicktime file) News stories on East of Hope Street (12.4 MB - Quicktime file) Sample PSAs (6 MB - Quicktime file) Sample Commercials (7.5 MB - Quicktime file) St. Vincent DePaul PSA (2.5 MB - Quicktime file)	Nate Thomas has directed and/or produced numerous film projects including award-winning PBS documentaries, television commercials, public service announcements, music videos, etc. He spent in-flight and ground travel time with 1988 presidential candidate Jesse Jackson directing and producing for the campaign Under The Rainbow, a promotional film narrated by Casey Kasem. In addition, he produced several of Jackson’s television commercials. In Hawaii, Nate line-produced a 70mm IMAX film presentation for Japan’s Expo ‘89. He also produced and directed a series of award-winning anti-alcohol public service announcements geared toward Black women for the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs. These spots were telecast on television throughout California. Thomas also produced a featurette and electronic press kit for Universal Pictures’ Ghost Dad starring Bill Cosby, and the nationally televised PBS film The Last of the One Night Stands. This documentary on the big band era won numerous awards including a CINE Golden Eagle, a Focus Award, honors at the San Francisco International Film Festival and an award from the Black American Cinema Society. It was given special screenings at the 15th annual Wellington Film Festival in New Zealand and the Smithsonian Institution where it is contained in the film archives. Nate, a Warren, Ohio native, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. Using a graduate fellowship from Warner Brothers, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Cinema Production from the prestigious University of Southern California School of Cinema/Television. He is listed in Who's Who Among African Americans and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Mr. Thomas is a tenured Professor of Cinema and Television Arts and Head of the film production program at California State University, Northridge where in 1998 he was honored as the Outstanding Professor in creative activity. Mr. Thomas won a Sony Innovator Award in recognition of his film work and completed the independent feature film entitled East of Hope Street. Mr. Thomas directed the urban drama which was co-written and co-produced with friend and associate Tim Russ, star of Paramount Television’s Star Trek: Voyager series. The film is a real-life story of a teenage Latina who comes of age while struggling to survive the abuses of home, the inner city, and an overburdened child protection system in a Los Angeles most of us never see. East of Hope Street won Best Feature Film at the 1998 New Orleans Urban Film Festival, Best Urban Drama at the 1998 New York International Independent Film Festival, 1st Place, Cross Cultural at the 1998 Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame Festival and a Jury Award at the 1999 Hollywood Black Film Festival. It was also honored at the 8th Annual First Americans in the Arts Awards Show and was nominated for the prestigious Imagen Award (Spanish Image Awards). East of Hope Street is distributed by The Cinema Guild and opened nationally in selected theaters Fall of 1999. It is available on home video through Maverick Entertainment. Professor Thomas recently directed the independent feature film entitled Stompin' which stars Sinbad and Vanessa Bell Calloway. It has been released on DVD by Warner Home Video. Professor Thomas has been featured in a variety of newspaper articles including the L.A. Times and The L.A. Daily News. He has also been featured on E! Entertainment Television, Starz Movie News, and numerous other television entities nationally. Locally he has been featured on Channel 4 News and Channel 13 News.

Thelma Vickroy Associate Professor Option Head/Television Production Option Head/Radio Production thelma.vickroy@csun.edu MZ 319 (818) 677-6361 Office Hours: M 1300-1400 W 1300-1400 R 1000-1100 Click here to download CTVA 342 Course Handbook	Thelma Vickroy followed an undergraduate degree in Theater Arts with a MFA in Film and Television from New York University. Her producer/director credits included An Evening of Forbidden Books, broadcast on PBS, and My Father the President, awarded a Cine Eagle and an American Film Festival Blue Ribbon. Since 1982 she produced over sixty public affairs and special events programs for cable and broadcast networks. Her directing credits include Academy Award consideration for Extraordinarily Ordinary, in 1999. Her festival activities include screenings at the DOCtober and Lake Arrowhead International Film Festivals. She has just premiered the second in a series of portrait-style documentaries Gunshots & Word Thoughts. She is currently in production on a new feature length documentary, Ahemd, Ahemd. As Assistant Professor in the Cinema and Television Arts Department at California State University Northridge, she teaches a curriculum in television production covering pre-production, script development and analysis, production and post-production techniques. Thelma is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Film, Television and Digital Media Department at University of California Los Angeles. For six years she produced and taught media arts documentary programs, grade 4-12 in conjunction with International Documentary Association, Light-Bringer Project, Los Angeles Unified School District and Pasadena Unified School District. These resident artist documentary programs were support in funding from Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, John Langley Productions, HeArt Project, Light-Bringer Project and the International Documentary Association. In 1998, as Master Artist and Educator, she co-produced a Video Documentary Residency, a program in video documentary production and critical studies for selected students from 100 continuation high schools in Los Angeles Unified School District. In 2000 and 2001, as Educational Content Expert and Documentary Filmmaker, she founded a documentary studies and production program, DOCS ROCK, for middle and high school students in Los Angeles Unified School District. This project was funded from a grant from the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department Percent for the Arts Program along with additional resources from the Los Angeles Unified School District and the International Documentary Association. The courses Professor Vickroy teaches are CTVA 240 Beginning Television Production, CTVA 340 Advance Video Production and Editing, CTVA 441 Directing the TV Documentary and CTVA 443 Magazine Format Video Production.


Eric Edson Associate Professor Screenwriting/Graduate Program Coordinator eric.w.edson@csun.edu MZ 323 (818) 677-7808 Office Hours: Graduate Program: Thomas McWilliams T 1700-1900 W 1600-1700 F 1000-1100 & by appt thomas.mcwilliams@csun.edu MZ 190 x 7486 or x 7451	Eric Edson is a career screenwriter with five produced feature films and many episodic television credits. Most recently he co-wrote and co-executive produced the MOW Lethal Vows, starring John Ritter and Marg Helgenberger. Other films include The Rose and the Jackal starring Christopher Reeve, The Soggy Bottom Gang, starring Don Johnson, and Diving In starring Kristy Swanson. Eric holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Playwriting from UCLA, and a Master of Fine Arts in Film Directing from The American Film Institute. His BA degree is in English, also from UCLA. Professor Edson is an active member of The Writers Guild of America and serves on several key Guild committees. He is a recipient of The Samuel Goldwyn Award and the National Story Award. Eric has written feature film screenplays for Warner Brothers, Sony-Columbia, ABC Motion Pictures, Hollywood Pictures (Disney), CBS, TNT, Geffen Pictures, Saban Entertainment and others, as well as contracted for TV projects with MTM, Aaron Spelling Entertainment, Atlantis Pictures, Citadel Entertainment, The Konigsberg Company, Canadian Telefilms, and many more. Films written by Eric Edson have won the Huston International Film Festival, Women in Film Lilian Gish Award, Ruby Slipper Award, Cine Golden Eagle, National Educational Film Festival, and the International Film and Television Festival Gold Medal.

Michael Hoggan Assistant Professor Film Production editor8@pacbell.net MZ 301 (818) 677-2849 Office Hours: M 1100-1200 T 1100-1400	Michael Hoggan is a native from Phoenix, Arizona and completed his BA and MA in Art from San Diego State University. During this same time frame he also acquired teaching credentials in Elementary, Secondary and Junior College Education. As a graduate student he received 1st place with his sculpture presentation in the famed San Diego County State Fair in Del Mar. After graduation his life as a burgeoning artist took a turn when he arrived in Los Angeles and began working in the CBS Network Promotional Department. The intense, high paced experience was the birth place of his life in filmmaking. Here the full scope of the postproduction process was learned in a baptism of fire. Gathering of material, writing, editing, sound and music design, sound mixing, negative cutting, hot splicing and the politic of human negotiation with the various executives at the network were all a part of this delicious boiling stew. During the next 30 years he has enjoyed a plethora of experiences in the Motion Picture Industry. As a writer he received his first screen writing credit for "The French Connection", an episode of Miami Vice. He served as Editor of the Cinemeditor, the monthly periodical for the American Cinema Editors from 1993 to 1995. Currently he is in the final stages of completing a text book on the Art and Craft of Motion Picture Editing, perhaps the first book to attempt to describe the scope of this amazing craft and art form. He directed second unit for the Miami Vice and the Crime Story series for NBC. He earned his first directing credit with "The Cell Within" an episode of Miami Vice. The majority of his time in the Motion Picture Business was spent as a picture editor. He has edited on over 20 different TV series including such diverse shows as: Early Edition, Cop Rock, Miami Vice, Comic View, and Fantasy Island. There were assignments on TV pilots such as The Big Easy, Misfits of Science, Celebrity and Homefront. There were also assignments doing long form TV with such projects as the six hour mini series From Here To Eternity, and the two hour Miami Vice special. During this course of the time he received two Emmy nominations and two ACE Eddie nominations for his work on "Smugglers Blues" an episode of Miami Vice and "Snafu" the pilot of Homefront. Michael has had the opportunity to serve on the Board of Directors of the American Cinema Editors (the Phi Beta Cappa organization of the film editing profession) for three terms and served one term as its President from 1992-1994. He has also served on judging panels for the TV Academy, CableACE, and ACE Eddie.

Temma Kramer Professor Film Production temma.kramer@csun.edu MZ 314 (818) 677-2847 Office Hours: T 1300-1400 W 1300-1400 R 1300-1400 and by appointment	A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Professor Kramer received her MFA from the UCLA film school and her MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management. A filmmaker who was presented at the Directors Guild Young Filmmaker program, she has gone on to specialize in screenwriting and is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West. Recently, her story, Little John, was presented by Hallmark Hall of Fame and aired on CBS. In 2003, Professor Kramer’s screenwriting won the CSUN Faculty Award for Outstanding Creative Work. Also, Professor Kramer lectures and writes on diverse popular culture topics, including a catalogue essay on Von Dutch for the Kustom Kulture exhibit at the Laguna Museum of art and a lecture presentation at Cambridge University, England for the Popular Culture Association, titled ‘The Automobile - From Artifact to Art.’ Professor Kramer has taught all aspects of film production. Currently, she is specializing in film directing and advising students on their projects.

Alexis Krasilovsky Professor Screenwriting alexis.krasilovsky@csun.edu MZ 318 (818) 677-2816 Office Hours: T 1230-1330, 1800-1830 W 1200-1330 R 1730-1830 Links: www.csun.edu/~hcrtv005 www.womenbehindthecamera.com	Alexis Krasilovsky specializes in screenwriting and film studies. She also supervises independent senior film projects. For the 2003-2004 academic year, she will be teaching "Advanced Screenwriting," "Screenplay Adaptation," "Women As Filmmakers," and "International Cinema: France." Krasilovsky is the author of Women Behind the Camera: Conversations with Camerawomen (Praeger, 1997), described by Kris Malkiewicz as: "a fascinating book for anyone, female or male, who contemplates a career in cinematography. It offers a great wealth of insights, rewards and sacrifices which are facing people behind the camera in their professional and personal lives. It opens for the reader a world of courageous women who are possessed by the love of film." Her latest film is the feature documentary, Women Behind the Camera, which won the Spirit of Moondance Award for Best Documentary Feature, the BEA (Broadcast Educators Association) Award for Best Documentary - Long-Form, and the Best Documentary Film Award at the Female Eye Film Festival (Toronto). Her writing on film has also been included in Michael Tobias' book, The Search for Reality: The Art of Documentary Filmmaking and several issues of Creative Screenwriting and other periodicals. Prof. Krasilovsky is the writer-director of the award-winning film, What Memphis Needs, which was shown nationally on PBS' "The '90's," as well as in the Museum of Modern Art's "Between Word and Image." In addition to directing the videos Beale Street and Mr. Boogie Woogie, she is also the producer and director of the films End of the Art World (starring Andy Warhol), Exile, and Blood–a film which the L.A. Times reviewed: "In its stream-of-consciousness way Blood evokes Manhattan street life even more powerfully than Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver." Krasilovsky also directed the 360 degree holograms, Created and Consumed By Light and Childbirth Dream, which have been exhibited in international festivals and museums including the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, France and International Expos in Korea and Japan. At California State University Northridge, Prof. Krasilovsky teamed with her film production students to produce a first-hand account of what it meant to survive a 6.7 earthquake. "Epicenter U." interweaves 16mm footage shot by film students and their professor with footage shot of them– including Angela Sostre, one of 500 students forced to flee from cracked, crumbling dorms; Trent Wade, one of CSUN's many deaf students, who faced the night of terror alone in the dark, unable to lip-read; and Glenn Gainor and Michael Young, two film production students who refused to let an earthquake come between them and their Senior Film. Alexis Krasilovsky was born in Alaska, raised in New York, and educated at Yale University and California Institute of the Arts. She lives in Los Angeles with her fourteen year old son.

Kenneth Portnoy Professor Screenwriting knoy@aol.com MZ 310 (818) 677-7810 Office Hours: T 0730-0800, 1045-1100, 1245-1300 W 1600-1800 R 0730-0800, 1045-1100, 1245-1300 Personal web page click here	EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND Ph.D., New York University, 1976 M.A., New York University, 1969 Teaching Certificate, St. Joseph's College, 1972 B.A., Tulane University, 1967 ADMINISTRATION Director CTVA INTERNSHIP Program Coordinator, Script Library Chair, Curriculum committee, Professional Activities committee, Search and Screen Committee, Graduate Studies Thesis Committee, Evalution of Tenured Faculty committee PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE Writer, Screen Adaptation, 2nd edition, Revised and Expanded, Focal Press, 1998. Writer, Matrix, Environmental Workbook, Los Angeles Public Schools, 1995. Writer, The Fundamental Building Blocks of Dramatic Writing, Copley, 1993. Writer, Screen Adaptation, Focal Press, 1991. Writer, "The Use of New Technologies in Traditional Teaching Methods," Educational Journal. Writer "And a Drink Takes a Man," Quincy, Universal TV. Writer, "I Want to Marry a Millionaire," Fantasy Island, Columbia TV. Writer "Whose to Blame," Quincy, Universal TV. PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS Life Member Writers Guild of America, West Member Academic Liasion Committee, Writers Guild Member Social Committee, Writers Guild

Jared Rappaport Assistant Professor Acting Option Head / Screenwriting jared.h.rappaport@csun.edu MZ 303 (818) 677- 6261 Office Hours: M 1300-1400 T 1430-1530, 1800-1900 W 1800-1900	Jared Rappaport holds a degree in Mass Media from the University of Illinois and received his Masters of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute. As a Directing Fellow at the AFI, he was awarded THE REMY MARTIN SCHOLARSHIP, given to the most outstanding student at the Institute’s Center For Advanced Film Studies, and THE AMY ROSE BLOCH SCHOLARSHIP for excellence and creativity. Early On, an educational television series he wrote, produced, and directed for Florida Public Broadcasting, is currently being seen on PBS stations. Designed to improve reading skills for children in grades kindergarten through third grade, Early On has been greeted with effusive praise by educators. Jared co-founded and was creative director of the film company “Wizard Productions” specializing in industrial and commercial filmmaking. His clients included: the United States Department of Education, IBM, Digital Equipment Corporation, REEBOK, the Boeing Company, Hilton International, The National Oceanographic Administration, Taco Bell, and a myriad of others. Professor Rappaport began his Hollywood career writing for the television Series Family Medical Center and the long running daytime serial, Days of Our Lives. He has written film scripts for most of the major film studios, including: Legendary Lou McBride for Sony; How High the Moon and Body and Soul, as well as production rewrites for Fluke for MGM; Duty to Defend and Senior Trip for Paramount; and the animated feature Mountain of Dreams for Warner Brothers. Jared also co-wrote and co-produced Blindness, an independent theatrical release starring Vivian Wu and Joe Lando. His script That’s Life, a Manhattan ensemble comedy about the difficulties of staying monogamous in a long-term relationship, is currently in pre-production. He has most recently completed Fathers and Sons, a trilogy of vignettes co-written and co-directed with his fellow AFI graduates Rodrigo Garcia and Robert Spera, seen nationally on The Showtime Network this past Father’s Day. This trio of filmmakers is currently at work on their next script, Man and Wife. Jared is presently at work on the script, Good Humor for Mockingbird Productions, as well as a script for David Ladd at MGM, Baby I Can Make You A Star, and the spec script Jeez If You Love Honkus. Jared has moderated and participated in panels at film festivals such as the Sarasota Film Festival, and the Riverrun Film festival, and most recently led a Master’s Seminar in Directing at the North Carolina School of the Arts. His professional affiliations include: the Writer’s Guild of America West; The Director’s Guild of America; and the University Film and Video Association.

Quinn Saunders Assistant Professor Television Production quinn.saunders@csun.edu MZ 317 818-677-7066

Dianah Wynter Assistant Professor Television Production dianah.wynter@csun.edu MZ 307 818-677-7944 Office Hours: T 1430-1730	Dianah Wynter's episodic directing credits include the Showtime series Soul Food, The Parkers, Moesha for UPN, Secret World of Alex Mack and the pilot for Technical Difficulties. Movies- for-television include the romantic thriller Intimate Betrayal (BET) which she directed and co-wrote (available on DVD); and Daddy's Girl featuring music sensation Lauryn Hill. This production garnered an Artios Award for Best Ensemble from the Casting Society of America and an Emmy nomination for Dianah Wynter in the Best Director category. Her theatre credits include Fences with Samuel L. Jackson at Seattle Repertory Theatre; the award-winning British play Mules at San Francisco's Magic Theatre; To Take Arms with Sanaa Lathan and Hattie Winston at the Tamarind Theatre; and the World Premiere of Interrogation of Nathan Hale at South Coast Repertory. She has been a recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Director's Fellowship and is a regular director for the Mark Taper's New Works Festival. She was an executive producer on ESPN's Bearing the Torch: Politics & the Olympics, a documentary chronicling the history of The Olympic Games in the 20th century. Under a development deal with ABC Network, she developed the television Movie Mixed Doubles for actor Martin Lawrence's Wuzzup Productions. Her original screenplays include Somewhere over the Weekend and an adaptation of The Life & Times of Joe Briggs. She is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and the AFI directing programs.