Creative Principles

Colin Jeffrey is the Chief Creative Officer of Doner and Co-Founder of Wolfgang. Under his leadership, Doner was named an Ad Age A-List Standout Agency in 2023. At Wolfgang, Colin has created acclaimed campaigns for brands like Adidas, Panda Express, and NBCUniversal. Recognized as one of the most creative minds in advertising, Colin has appeared on AdWeek’s Creative Top 100 list and Business Insi...

Michael Costigan is a film and television producer based in Los Angeles. He is a partner at Aggregate Films, a production company he founded with Jason Bateman which creates film, television, documentary, and unscripted programming across all platforms. In this interview, we talk about the development process of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, challenges and opportunities in the current landscape, the importa...

Sean McBride is the Chief Creative Officer of Arnold Worldwide, a globally recognized creative agency. He is the creative guru behind our favorite progressive commercials starring Flo and Dr. Rick. Sean’s work has been repeatedly recognized by every major advertising award show there is, including Cannes, D&AD, One Show, Communication Arts, Clio, New York Festivals, London International, and many...

Mark Sanderson is a screenwriter, author, script consultant, and lecturer. His career spans sketch comedy, writing for MTV, and over two dozen screenwriting assignments, including 17 produced films with worldwide distribution. Mark’s films have premiered on networks like Lifetime, SyFy, Fox, and HBO Canada, and stream on platforms like Tubi, Amazon, and Apple+. With a long history of working with...

Joshua Zetumer serves as the showrunner, executive producer, and head writer of FX’s SAY NOTHING, an adaptation of the New York Times best-selling and National Book Critics Circle Award for Non-Fiction winning book SAY NOTHING: A TRUE STORY OF MURDER AND MEMORY IN NORTHERN IRELAND by Patrick Radden Keefe. Zetumer has also written on a number of global box office hits, including ROBOCOP from direct...

Ellie leads the creative team at GLOW, working with high-profile entertainment clients such as Warner Brothers, HBO Max, Paramount+, Showtime, NBA, The Roku Channel, and more. She's also worked as Global Creative Manager at Netflix working on original projects including documentaries, unscripted, comedy, and kids and family content. She created campaigns and helped build audiences for a variety of...

"We wrote spec scripts. We sat in a Borders bookstore with an out-of-date agent directory and wrote query letters," says Alison Schapker, remembering her earliest days trying to break into television. "It couldn't have been more cold calling than what we were doing." Alison Schapker is a television writer and producer who has worked on genre-defining shows like CHARMED and ALIAS, and most recently...

Douglas Vigliotti is the author of four books, including ARISTOTLE FOR NOVELISTS and TOM COLLINS: A ‘SLIGHTLY CROOKED’ NOVEL. In his latest book, ARISTOTLE FOR NOVELISTS, Douglas Vigliotti shows you exactly how to write a novel using the tried-and-true principles that have been used since antiquity to tell great stories. These timeless principles are the foundation on which any story can be writte...

Dallas Jenkins is the creator, producer, director, and writer of the international hit series THE CHOSEN. He launched his career producing the independent feature HOMETOWN LEGEND at the age of 25 and shepherded it to distribution by Warner Brothers. In the nearly 20 years since then, he has directed and produced over a dozen feature and short films for companies such as Universal, Pureflix, Hallma...

Dean Devlin has produced and co-written some of the most successful feature films of all time: INDEPENDENCE DAY, STARGATE, and GODZILLA which collectively grossed more than 1.4 billion dollars worldwide. Jonathan Glassner is a seasoned television writer, producer, and director best known for his work on science fiction and drama series. He is widely recognized for his work on STARGATE SG-1 and CSI...

“I was really into THE BATMAN,” says Zobel. “So much so that I had reached out to him after I'd seen it. I had happened to have been on an email chain with him from years prior about another kind of movie thing, and so I had his email and I just reached out.” Craig Zobel is a director, producer, and screenwriter best known for directing episodes of hit series like WESTWORLD, THE LEFTOVERS, and AME...

Manuel Garcia-Rulfo stars in the Netflix series THE LINCOLN LAWYER. He will next be seen starring as the title character in PEDRO PARAMO, the directorial debut of Rodrigo Prieto based on the iconic book by Juan Rulfo, and was recently cast in a lead role in JURASSIC WORLD 4 opposite Scarlett Johansson. In THE LINCOLN LAWYER, Manuel plays lawyer Mickey Haller, who works in the back of his Lincoln N...

Ted Humphrey is an accomplished writer, producer, director, and showrunner. He’s earned acclaim for his work as a producer on the CBS hit show THE GOOD WIFE in which he was honored with multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, and Writers Guild nominations for Best Drama Series. For his episode “Boom,” he received a Writers Guild nomination for Best Episodic Drama Script. In his latest series, THE LINCOLN LAW...

“We are an underdog culture. We love the underdog story. And I think with wrestling, and certainly what we tried to do with HEELS was that,” says Martin. “Regional wrestling, that's like about the lowest level of showbiz you can get and people are doing it truly because they love it because it means something to them because maybe they are not special in their life, but when they are in that ring,...

Jac Schaeffer is an accomplished screenwriter best known for her groundbreaking work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She served as the head writer and executive producer for WANDAVISION, Marvel's first TV series on Disney+, starring Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany. Schaeffer's background includes THE HUSTLE which starred Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson, and Marvel Studios’ feature film BLACK WID...

In 2021 Mary Neely and Kareem Rahma met at a Brooklyn comedy show. A week later they found themselves crammed at a downtown restaurant, elbows tucked and leaning forward, deep in discussion about an age-old argument: are men only nice to women who they want to have sex with? A settlement was never reached. Not long after, Kareem posted a still of Mathieu Kassovitz’ LA HAINE to his Instagram with t...

"The idea for CHALLENGERS came to me through this moment when I was watching the U.S. Open and it was this very controversial match between Serena Williams and Naomi Osaka," says Justin. "It was controversial because there was a call by the ref where he accused Serena Williams of receiving coaching from the sidelines and up until that point, I hadn't been a massive tennis fan or anything. I just h...

Bear McCreary is an acclaimed composer known for his work in film, television, and video games. His distinctive style blends orchestral elements with electronic and world music influences, creating unique and memorable scores. Best known for his work on the reimagined series BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, McCreary has also composed music for popular shows like OUTLANDER, THE WALKING DEAD, THE LORD OF THE R...

In his 35-year career, Mark Morris has written and edited around fifty novels, novellas, short story collections, and anthologies. His script work includes audio dramas for DOCTOR WHO, JAGO & LITEFOOT, and the HAMMER CHILLERS series. Among his most recent work are new audio adaptations of the classic 1971 horror movie BLOOD ON SATAN’S CLAW and the M.R. James ghost story A VIEW FROM A HILL, the off...

It’s almost Halloween! To celebrate, we've curated a spine-chilling compilation of the best moments from our interviews with the masters of horror. First, we have Mike Flanagan talking about THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and the freedom and challenges of working in the horror genre, then we have Dennis Lehane talking about the process of writing novels vs. TV and the balance of darkness and hope, fol...

Rob Letterman is the creator, showrunner, executive producer, and director of GOOSEBUMPS for Sony/Disney+. The series is a critical and commercial success for the streamer, debuting to more than 4 million households within its first three days of availability. Nick Stoller, is the director of the $379M-global grossing comedy franchise NEIGHBORS, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, and the animated feature...

Multiple Emmy and IDA award-winning filmmaker Erik Nelson has produced and directed a wide range of feature documentaries for his company ‘Creative Differences’. Some of his producing credits include GRIZZLY MAN, CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS, INTO THE ABYSS, and the Oscar-nominated ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD. In his latest film, DAYTIME REVOLUTION, Erik takes us back in time to the week that J...

Daniel Church is a horror fiction writer and the author of THE HOLLOWS, which was shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award. His second book, THE RAVENING, is out now and his third novel, THE SOUND OF THE DARK, will be published in 2025. In THE RAVENING, two women fight to free themselves of a terrifying thousand-year-old curse. Jenna lost her mum when she was a girl—a terrifying incident on a lon...

Rebekah Powell is a Creative Director & Video Director better known as RebekahBCreative on social media. With more than 24 thousand followers on Instagram and another 75 thousand on TikTok, Rebekah inspires and guides aspiring creatives through her engaging content on TikTok, boasting over 1.5 million likes. Known for her candid advice, Rebekah shares insights into the creative industry, from care...

Hayley Frazier and Emalee Burditt are LGBTQ+ comedy writers based in Los Angeles. The two met as assistants on LAST MAN STANDING and have written together since. Hayley and Emalee just wrapped as Executive Story Editors on THE Z-SUITE for Tubi. They were also previously staffed on Mike Schur's A CLASSIC SPY for Netflix and seasons one and two of Disney's THE SANTA CLAUSES. In THE SANTA CLAUSES, Sc...