Sandy Stern | Faculty Lead, Producing & Senior Lecturer

Sandy Stern’s first feature was the critically acclaimed teen anthem PUMP UP THE VOLUME starring Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis. Stern’s additional credits include Paul Haggis’ RED HOT, Lynn Littman’s FREAK CITY, Spike Jonze’s BEING JOHN MALKOVICH, Todd Haynes’ VELVET GOLDMINE, Jill Sprecher’s THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING and Brian Dannelly’s SAVED! He also produced the musical version of SAVED!, which premiered at Playwrights Horizons in New York City.

For the past decade, he has partnered with REM frontman Michael Stipe, and their films have drawn such talent as Cameron Diaz, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener, Peter Sarsgaard, Mary-Louise Parker, John Cusack, Matthew McConaughey, Ewan McGregor, Christian Bale and Macaulay Culkin. Prior to Stipe, Stern was partnered with Sean Penn.

He has won an Independent Spirit Award, a Producers Guild Visionary Award and a Satellite Award. He has been nominated for a Golden Globe and a Lucille Lortel, and his films have garnered three Academy Awards^® nominations.

Stern graduated cum laude from Vassar College and summa cum laude from New York University. He is also a published author.

Affonso Beatto | Lecturer

Stan Brooks | Senior Lecturer

A graduate of Brandeis University and the AFI Conservatory, Brooks is an award-winning producer of film and television with more than 30 years of industry experience. He has produced more than 70 works of film and television since 1989, which was the year he founded his first independent production company, Once Upon a Time Film. His producing credits include: the Academy Award^®-winning feature RAIN MAN, the miniseries THE CAPTURE OF THE GREEN RIVER KILLER; the Emmy^® and Golden Globe Award-nominated telefilm PRAYERS FOR BOBBY; and Walter Hill’s Emmy^® Award-winning miniseries BROKEN TRAIL, which was also nominated for three Golden Globe Awards, won a Directors Guild of America Award and received four SAG Award nominations and 16 Emmy nominations.

In 2012, under his new production company, Stan & Deliver Films, Brooks produced and directed his first feature film, PERFECT SISTERS, and later produced the docu-reality series, HOLLYWOOD SCANDALS, and the feature THE GRIM SLEEPER.

Samantha Buck | Lecturer

Elaine Chin | Lecturer

Sejin Croninger | Lecturer

Caldecot Chubb | Senior Lecturer

After successfully building a small business in New York publishing fine art photography, Chubb has worked in Los Angeles as a producer and senior production executive since 1983: at Pressman Film Corp. from 1988 to 1992, from 1994 to 2003 at Alphaville, and at Groundswell Productions in 2006-2007. Collectively in those 16 years as an executive, he supervised the development and production of several dozen films besides his own, working in a variety of financing and distribution environments.

Mr. Chubb has produced 10 movies, most recently THE DINNER, based on the worldwide best-selling Dutch novel by Herman Koch, written and directed by Oren Moverman, starring Richard Gere, Laura Linney, Steve Coogan and Rebecca Hall. Earlier produced pictures include UNTHINKABLE (Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Sheen; Sony, 2010); DARK BLUE (Kurt Russell, directed by Ron Shelton; UA, 2003); Louis CK’s POOTIE TANG (Chris Rock; Paramount, 2001); EVE’S BAYOU, Kasi Lemmons’ debut picture, with Samuel L. Jackson; HOFFA (Jack Nicholson, directed by Danny DeVito; Fox, 1992); Charles Burnett’s much acclaimed TO SLEEP WITH ANGER (Goldwyn, 1990); and CHERRY 2000 (Orion, 1988).

Chubb has been executive producer of six films: among them, I NOSTRI RAGAZZI, an Italian adaptation of the Koch novel; HET DINER, a Dutch adaptation of the Koch novel by Menno Meyjes (2012; Ed Harris’s APPALOOSA (New Line/WB, 2007); THE CROW (Miramax, 1994); as well as six films for television.

In 2011 he partnered on a tech startup to create Aerbook, an innovative environment to make, publish and share media-rich eBooks. The company pivoted to enabling digital commerce in social streams and was sold to Ingram Content Group in 2015.

In addition, from 1999 to 2010 Chubb was Executive Director of the Eggleston Artistic Trust, managing the career and business of the distinguished American artist and photographer, William Eggleston, and in 2008 produced WILLIAM EGGLESTON’S STRANDED IN CANTON, a documentary created from videotapes originally shot in 1973.

Chubb is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in the producing branch. He is married with two daughters in college.

Andrew Corkin | Lecturer

Amedeo D’Adamo | Associate Dean, Academic Affairs & Senior Lecturer

D’Adamo currently teaches film directing at the Universita Cattolica, Milan: he is also the Lead Teacher for the studio-funded Native American Feature Lab in Los Angeles. He was the Scientific Director of the E.U.-funded Feature Development Program Puglia Experience (2008 – 2011) and the founding Dean and then President of the original Los Angeles Film School, where he also co-created and ran the Feature Film Development program. He has also taught at many universities and labs including AFI, Royal Holloway, Universita Svizzera and the University of Zurich, and with his wife Nevina Satta he designed and ran both the University Feature Development Lab and the University Doc Lab for the Locarno Film Festival. Together they co-founded The Traveling Film School, a non-profit organization that provides free film and theater training to children in underdeveloped regions; it has built small tuition-free film-schools in Cameroon and Sardinia. His book Empathetic Space on Screen (2018: Palgrave Macmillan) is about how character is expressed through production design, cinematography and soundtrack. D’Adamo has also edited a new book, Producing For The Screen, which is out from Routledge/Focal press in 2019.  His features have been to festivals such as Rome, Miami, Austin, Torino and others.

D’Adamo also teaches in the Directing Discipline.

Cari Daly | Lecturer

Laura Davis | Lecturer

Jane Goldenring | Senior Lecturer

Chris Kaye | Lecturer & Creative Thesis Mentor

Kevin Kennedy | Senior Lecturer & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor

Kevin Kennedy is a writer and producer with diverse experience in studio and independent film, as well as both cable and network television. His principal credits include THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON and the TV series THE DEFENDERS, which he co-created and executive produced.

In addition to his work as a writer and producer, Kennedy helped to educate and to develop the work of scores of novelists, playwrights, and screenwriters in his capacity as founder and workshop director of the Writer’s Film Project, a film writing fellowship program sponsored by Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

Kennedy is a graduate of the English/Creative Writing program at Stanford University, after which he attended the MFA screenwriting program at the UCLA School of Film and Television.

Kennedy also teaches in the Directing and Screenwriting Disciplines.

Simone Ling | Senior Lecturer, Senior Cycle Mentor & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor

A producer, educator and curator, Simone Ling’s projects have played on Amazon, Hulu and PBS, and at festivals throughout the world including BFI Flare, Busan, and Tribeca. Feature credits include Spirit Award nominated Mosquita y Mari, and They, an Official Selection of the Cannes Film Festival nominated for a Queer Palm and the Camera d’Or. Award-winning short projects include VR piece Emerging Radiance, narrative Moving Out, and documentary They Call Me Suki. A member of the PGA, MPEG/IATSE, and BAFTA, she is Deputy Chair of BAFTA North America’s Learning, Inclusion & Talent Committee, and spearheads intersectional outreach for the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program. A Fulbright Scholar, she has masters’ degrees from the University of Oxford and Stanford University, is an Advisor for Sundance’s digital educational platform Co//ab, and based between Los Angeles and London, consults internationally for festivals, filmmakers, and labs.

Luke Matheny | Lecturer

Lillah McCarthy | Lecturer

Lillah McCarthy is a producer and manager whose extensive career in the entertainment business includes holding senior management positions at three networks.

As Senior Vice President of Original Programming for TNT and TBS, Senior Vice President of Series Programming for the Fox Network and as an Executive Producer at Sony Television, McCarthy developed and produced an extraordinary roster of hit shows including THE SIMPSONS, MARRIED…WITH CHILDREN, Chris Elliott’s cult classic GET A LIFE, EARLY EDITION starring Kyle Chandler, THE CLOSER, SAVING GRACE, RIZZOLI & ISLES, MY BOYS, MEN OF A CERTAIN AGE, THE LAST SHIP and FALLING SKIES, among others.

Beginning as an actress in New York and regional theater before joining the television executive ranks, McCarthy quickly rose from a current programming executive at ABC to senior executive positions at three networks, first at Fox and later at Turner where she supervised the development of all series programming at TNT and TBS for more than 12 years and worked with such talent as David E. Kelley, Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Sam Raimi and the late Stephen Bochco, to name a few.

In between those positions, McCarthy supervised television development at Stephen Cannell Productions under Peter Roth and had an overall producing deal with Sony Television where she produced and directed both comedies and dramas. Presently working as an independent producer and manager, McCarthy is also an executive consultant, script consultant and coach, and an adjunct professor at the American Film Institute.

The daughter of actors Kevin McCarthy and Augusta Dabney, McCarthy is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Hollywood Radio & Television Society, Screen Actors Guild and Women In Film, and she is Vice President of GreenLight Women.

Kevin Garrett Monroe | Senior Lecturer

Kevin Garrett Monroe is a strategic, action-oriented business and legal affairs executive with over 15 years of experience creating and acquiring content, advancing businesses, protecting brands, and leading teams in both emerging technology and traditional entertainment landscapes.

Mr. Monroe is currently Vice President of Business and Legal Affairs at Dreamworks Animation, where he negotiates above-the-line talent agreements for animated and hybrid feature films, and television projects.  At Dreamworks, Monroe also provides business affairs support to both the Themed-Entertainment Group and the Advanced Creative Technology Team in connection with more complex transactions involving location-based experiences, digital media platforms, and high technology (including virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, and other next-gen technology partnerships). Prior to Dreamworks, Mr. Monroe served as legal counsel to start-up entities whose business focus was to create and publish interactive entertainment software application products that involved next-gen technology.  Most recently, Mr. Monroe served as General Counsel for VR/AR startup company WITHIN (funded by Andreesson Horowitz [a16z] and Laurene Powell Job’s Emerson Collective) and VP of Business Affairs at FoxNext (a next-gen entity funded by a16z and Twentieth Century Fox).

Prior to his work with tech start-ups, Mr. Monroe served as a senior business affairs and legal executive for several media companies, including Walt Disney Motion Pictures, Focus Features (a film division of NBCUniversal), Oddlot Entertainment (a standalone production entity owned by billionaire Gigi Pritzker), FilmDistrict (an independent mini-major studio previously financed by billionaire Tim Headington and producer Graham King) and Overture Films (an independent motion picture studio previously owned by John Malone’s Liberty Media and Starz Media).  During his career, Monroe has worked on major tentpole and franchise projects such as: the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN series; KING ARTHUR; and the NATIONAL TREASURE films. He has also worked on smaller independently financed productions such as: OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN, LAW ABIDING CITIZEN, THE VISITOR, THE RAVEN and HELL OR HIGH WATER. Over the years, he has negotiated talent deals on behalf of media companies for the services of Johnny Depp, Tom Hanks, Jerry Bruckheimer, Gore Verbinski, Nicolas Cage, Chow Yun Fat, Antoine Fuqua, Idris Elba, Keith Richards, Helen Mirren and Orlando Bloom.

Monroe received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Howard University. He obtained his Juris Doctor from Howard University School of Law, where he graduated with honors.

John Palmer | Lecturer

John Ira Palmer is a founding partner and producer at Projected Picture Works with Sean Penn and John Wildermuth. Palmer’s producing credits include SEPTEMBER 5 (dir.: Tim Fehlbaum, cast: Peter Sarsgaard & John Magaro, Venice 2024) and ASPHALT CITY (dir.: Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire, cast: Sean Penn & Tye Sheridan, Cannes 2023), as well as FLAG DAY (dir.: Sean Penn, cast: Dylan Penn & Sean Penn, Cannes 2021), AL IMAM (dir.: Omar Al Dakheel, Vimeo Staff Pick), THE DARE PROJECT (dir.: Adam Salky, Frameline & Outfest 2018), and CONTRA-INTERNET: JUBILEE 2033 (dir: Zach Blas, Berlin 2018). Palmer served as a production executive for Projected Picture Works titles including DADDIO (dir.: Christy Hall, cast: Dakota Johnson & Sean Penn, Telluride & Toronto 2023) and SUPERPOWER (dir.: Sean Penn & Aaron Kaufman, Berlin 2023).

Austin Reynolds | Senior Lecturer, Cycle Development Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor

Austin Reynolds is a graduate of the AFI Conservatory. His thesis script “From New York to Florida” landed on the 2012 Black List, and he spent three years as a feature staff writer for Walt Disney Studios, developing and writing live-action theatrical scripts directly for the studio. He most recently co-wrote a new THE SANDLOT for 20th Century Fox.

Reynolds also teaches in the Screenwriting Discipline.

Sara Rose | Lecturer

Terrie Samundra | Lecturer & Creative Thesis Mentor

Terrie Samundra is a director and screenwriter whose debut feature film, KAALI KHUHI, was released globally by Netflix Originals in October 2020. Her many short films have screened internationally, garnering numerous accolades, and she recently wrapped the writer’s room for an undisclosed Netflix series.

Samundra is an alum of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and the Sundance WIF Finance Lab, and is a current directing fellow of ReFrame Rise; a partnership between the Sundance Institute and Women in Film. She is a SFFILM Rainin Grant fellow for screenwriting, a Princess Grace recipient and a member of the WGAW.

A multicultural artist, Samundra grew up between a rural village in India, a small farming town in Missouri and along the coast of California. She is represented by the Gersh Agency and Circle of Confusion.

Samundra also teaches in the Directing and Screenwriting Disciplines.

Allan Arkush | Senior Lecturer

Allan Arkush was the executive producer of the TV series HEROES and CROSSING JORDAN. His other Television Directing & Producing credits include NCIS,GET CRAZY, FAME, ALLY MCBEAL, MOONLIGHTING,LA LAW, HELLCATS, ELVIS MEETS NIXON,ST. ELSEWHERE, DEFIANCE,BRAINDEAD, WITCHES OF EAST END, SHANNON’S DEAL, CENTRAL PARK WEST, MOON OVER MIAMI and PARENTHOOD, over 400 episodes in all.

His most recent directing assignment, Netflix’s A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS: THE HOSTILE HOSPITAL episodes earned him a DGA Nomination for Best Directing of a Children’s Show.

As a lifelong film buff, Arkush’s film criticism can be found on TrailersFromHell.com, where he is a contributing Guru. He also taught Producing & Directing For TV at UCLA Graduate School.

Arkush graduated from NYU Film School and began his career working for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures in the mid-1970s. It was there that he began his career by Co-directing with Joe Dante, HOLLYWOOD BOULEVARD, for which they were paid $85. In 1979, he made The Ramones’ cult favorite ROCK ‘N’ ROLL HIGH SCHOOL, which Rolling Stone magazine named as one of the top 10 rock ‘n’ roll DVDs of all time.

Arkush resides in Los Angeles with his wife. He has 2 daughters in graduate school.

Moran Cerf | Sloan Scholar

Moran Cerf is a professor of neuroscience. Additionally, he is the Alfred P. Sloan faculty at AFI.

Prior to his academic career, professor Cerf worked as a hacker for nearly a decade, breaking into leading financial and government institutes to test and improve their security. His hacking background has led him to later pursue non-traditional ways to investigate the brain, using methods and techniques that benefit from heavy computational skills and novel research tools. Notably, he has been working with patients undergoing brain-surgery where he studies behavior, emotion, decision making and dreams – by directly recording the activity of individual neurons using electrodes implanted in the patients’ brain.

He is a multiple-times national story-telling champion (‘The Moth’), and his public talks at TED, TEDx, Google Zeitgeist, PopTech, DLD and others have received millions of views and a large following. In addition to his academic career, professor Cerf is a science consultant for various Hollywood films and TV shows. Recently, he was named one of the “40 leading professors below 40”.

Most importantly, he is right handed.

Barry Sabath | Senior Lecturer

Holding an MA and PhD in Cinema Studies from New York University, Sabath also offers two decades of feature film development experience as both a studio executive and producer.

A Vice President of Production at Columbia Pictures, he also 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 a consultant for the newly 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.

Cathy Wischner-Sola | Senior Lecturer & Faculty Director, Internships

Wischner-Sola is an award-winning executive producer. She executive-produced HBO’s TAKING CHANCE starring Kevin Bacon, which debuted in the Dramatic Competition at the Sundance Film Festival and won WGA and DGA awards and the Humanitas Prize. The film garnered 10 Emmy® nominations, including Outstanding Television Movie, and the Golden Globe nomination for Best Movie. She won the Christopher Award and Television Academy Honors, and was nominated for the Television Producer of the Year Award from the Producers Guild.

Wischner-Sola served as Vice President, Original Programming at TNT Originals, where she shepherded and supervised an extensive slate of distinguished movies, miniseries and high-budget international co-productions, earning network ratings and critical acclaim. Her projects include Emmy®-nominated PIRATES OF SILICON VALLEY, DAVID COPPERFIELD, Patrick Stewart’s A CHRISTMAS CAROL and ANIMAL FARM.

Additional producing credits include the CBS miniseries COMMON GROUND and Emmy®-nominated A WINNER NEVER QUITS with Daniel H. Blatt Productions, where she previously served as Vice President, Creative Affairs. Wischner-Sola holds a BA from The New School for Social Research and attended Northwestern University. She is a member of the Television Academy.