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:: LAwritersgroup.com
Moderators ::
Nicole Criona,
Co-Founder
Find Nicole's Groups
Nicole, a Los Angeles native,
has been running writers groups for nearly 8 years. As Director of Operations and Development at
Writers Boot Camp, she worked supporting and guiding emerging screenwriters,
as well as being a writer in her own right. After managing several
medium-sized independent businesses, and working as an Assistant at George
Carlin's company, she decided to learn production, and
produced three short films. THE SHOOTING was her first producing project,
and screened at the Austin Film Festival, IFFM in New York,
Cleremont-Ferrand in France, and the Taos Talking Pictures Festival. She
went on to produce DEATH STORIES #3: THE LAST IMPRESSION, and MONSTERS!
MONSTERS! MONSTERS! She was both Assistant to the Director and Key
Research on MICHAEL & ME, a documentary released in 2005. She
wrote a popular blog where according to blogpulse.com, for a single
lovely day in December 2005 her blog was 15th most popular blog in the world
for a post about Craigslist. In
addition to writing poetry and short story fiction, she has written articles
for IG Living Magazine, and
is currently a
Web Copywriter and SEO Writer. She has most recently had stories published on
Hissquarterly.com (Sanity is a One-Trick Pony issue), Six Sentences,
and
Narrative Magazine. Nicole attended Mount St. Mary's
College as a Liberal Arts Major and took writing courses at the UCLA Writers program.
Sanora Bartels,
Co-Founder
Find Sanora's Groups
Sanora has been running writers groups for nearly 8
years and in 2006 graduated with a Master of Professional Writing
degree from University of Southern California. She has studied with
various poetry mentors, including Cathy Colman (Borrowed
Dress),
Ron Koertge (Making
Love to Roget’s Wife),
and Holly Prado (from
one to the next).
At USC, she studied screenplay writing with Syd Field (Screenplay)
and has since completed a full-length screenplay titled “Straying
Home”. Her poetry has been published in
Wordwrights!
magazine and
New Millennium Writings.
Her full-length poetry manuscript is titled
The Order of Things.
Sanora is a teacher of Vedic Meditation and has written several pieces
on Vedic philosophy and has had over 20 articles published. You can
find her meditation schedule on
www.VedicMeditationTeacher.com. Sanora is a co-editor on the
Meditation page of
www.AllThingsHealing.com.
Tom
Rastrelli,
Moderator
Find Tom's Groups
 A native
of Iowa who’s lived in every corner of the country, Tom is a two year member
of LAwritersgroup.com. He will graduate in May 2011 with a Master of
Professional Writing from the University of Southern California and enjoys
writing across the genres. Some authors with whom he has studied include
Janet Fitch (White Oleander), Dana Goodyear (The New Yorker) and Gina Nahai
(Caspian Rain). He is a finalist in the 2010 MPW Writing for Stage and
Screen Festival and a scholarship recipient for the 2010 New York State
Summer Writers Institute. His blog,
www.gospelaccordingtohate.com,
confronts religious hypocrisy with a mixture of memoir, commentary, and
personal essay. Tom has a B.A. in Theatre Arts from the University of
Northern Iowa and a Master of Divinity from St. Mary’s Seminary &
University, Baltimore.
Rob Tobin, LA
Moderator: Writers Group for Screenwriters (Currently on Hiatus)
(West Los Angeles)
http://imdb.com/name/nm2599619/
Rob is a screenwriter, script doctor, writing coach, author of “How to Write
High Structure, High Concept Movies,” (Xlibris Press) and “The Screenwriting
Formula” (Writers Digest). He has sold both features and sitcoms. Rob is a
frequent speaker at film festivals and conferences and Creative
Screenwriting Magazine recently produced two of Rob’s instructional
screenwriting DVDs. Rob’s script “The Camel Wars” is in pre-production
with director John McTiernan (“Die Hard,” “Predator,” “Hunt for Red
October”). Rob rewrote “Across the Red Line,” a sports feature for the
Cannell Studios; the treatment for “Guard of Honor,” (from the best-selling
novel) for Midnight Soldiers; the treatment for “The A-Team” for Cannell;
rewrote the western farce “Zen Cowboy” for Triad Films; and the sitcom pilot
“Time for Joy” for Riviera Entertainment.
Rob is a former VP of Writers Boot Camp. As a story analyst, he read 5,000+
screenplays for Goldwyn, Spelling, Interscope, TriStar, TriMark and HBO, et
al. He helped establish a feature film department for Stephen J. Cannell
(“The A-Team,” “Hunter,” “The Commish”).
BOOKS:
How to Write High Structure, High Concept Movies (Xlibris Press).
Screenwriting: The Formula (Writers Digest Books, due spring ’07).
Quebracho.
The Statue Moves.
God Wars: Living With Angels, Book One of the God Wars Series.
DVDs:
“The Seven Essential Elements of a Successful Screenplay” (Creative
Screenwriting Magazine, produced 2005)
“Credible Dialogue” (Creative Screenwriting Magazine, produced 2006)
SCRIPTS:
“Camel Wars” Iraq War feature drama in pre-production with director John
McTiernan (“Die Hard,” “Hunt for Red October,” “Predator”).
“Better Than Human,” feature drama written for Living Earth Productions.
“Across the Red Line,” a comedy/action feature sold to the Cannell Studios.
“Guard of Honor,” treatment sold to Cannell Studios and Midnight Soldiers
Prods.
“Zen Cowboy,” a feature comedy sold to Triad Films. In turnaround.
Time for Joy,” sitcom pilot and one episode sold to Riviera Entertainment.
“I Love Ludo,” half-hour sitcom pilot, written for Bu West Productions.
“Chasing Steven Spielberg,” winner, 2004 Telluride Indiefest, quarter
finalist 2006 Page Screenwriting Competition, quarter finalist 2006 American
Scriptpimp screenwriting competition.
“On the DL,” aka “Balls of Different Sizes,” semi-finalist 2004 Project
Greenlight, semi-finalist 2006 American Screenwriting Competition, optioned
by CIV Productions.
“Back to the Garden,” quarter-finalist 2004 American Screenwriting, 2006
Page screenwriting competition.
“The Server,” quarter-finalist 2004 American Screenwriting Competition.
“Truthies,” quarter-finalist, 2005 Screenwriting Expo Screenwriting
Competition.
“God Wars: Living with Angels”
“Just Imagine”
“The Statue Moves”
“Plains, Twains and Horsies”
“Sweetheart”
“IPO”
“O’Reilly and Fitz”
“Living with Angels,” Episode One of the “God Wars” trilogy.
TV specs available as writing samples: “Ally McBeal,” “Mad About You” and
“Seinfeld.”
FILM AND TELEVISION DEVELOPMENT:
* Interpreter Films & Management/Writers Boot Camp, VP of Development.
* Stephen J. Cannell Studios, Director of Development, Motion Picture
Division: Work included doing script rewrites and polishes.
* Davis Entertainment, Director of Development
* Freddie Fields Productions, Story Editor
* TriStar, Interscope, Spelling, Turner, HBO, Goldwyn, et al., Free-lance
story analyst
EDUCATION
U. of Southern California Los Angeles, CA, M.A. in Professional Writing
U. of Victoria, Canada Victoria, B.C., B.A. in Creative Writing
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