FULL-TIME MENTORS
Kool Marder | Senior Lecturer
Marder began her industry career as an assistant to the Emmy® and Academy Award®-winning director and cinematographer Haskell Wexler. She quickly worked her way up the Hollywood ladder, becoming a production coordinator on numerous films including THE BIG EASY, MOON OVER PARADOR and DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS.
Marder rose to the position of unit production manager on NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, THE DREAM CHILD and David Lynch’s WILD AT HEART (1990 Palme d’Or winner). She was also the associate producer on the original motion picture HALLOWEEN.
Marder spent the next 11 years as Vice President of Production for Universal Studios, where she oversaw more than 50 feature films, including FRIED GREEN TOMATOES, CASINO, CARLITO’S WAY, OUT OF SIGHT, MAN ON THE MOON, AMERICAN PIE, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS, ERIN BROCKOVICH and THE BOURNE IDENTITY.
She has collaborated with such filmmakers as Steven Spielberg, Brian De Palma, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Miloš Forman, Robert Zemeckis, Peter Jackson, Ang Lee, Terry Gilliam and Kathryn Bigelow.
Marder has filled the role as Head of Production for numerous production companies including Incentive Film Entertainment, where she oversaw three films including Derek Cianfrance’s BLUE VALENTINE. Marder also operated as Head of Production for a bond company with the responsibility of overseeing approximately 60 feature films, five of them in China. They include: THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM; Ang Lee’s LUST, CAUTION; and John Woo’s RED CLIFF. Other films that Marder bonded are 3:10 TO YUMA, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS (Heath Ledger’s last film), WHITE RIBBON (2009 Palme D’Or winner) and the 2010 Academy Award®-winning film THE HURT LOCKER.
Vanessa Hayes
With over three decades of production and post-production experience, Hayes landed as a post producer through her love of editing (the final re-write) mixed with the alchemy of image capture, sound design, CGI/visual effects and music — ingredients that transform narrative storytelling into the world of moving action. Most recently, she was the visual effects producer on season one of SHADOWHUNTERS and served as co-producer on season one of KINGDOM (DirectTV), THE DIVIDE (AMC), RINGER (CW), NEW AMSTERDAM and AGAINST THE LAW (Fox), LOVE BITES and RAINES (NBC), SAVED (TNT), NOTHING SACRED (ABC) and the Robert Altman-executive-produced pilot GUN. All told she has post-produced and delivered over 375 hours of network and cable programming including television movies, miniseries and two “fat” reality shows, AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL and STARTING OVER. Additionally, Hayes post-supervised features for Warner Brothers, Miramax, New Line Cinema, LIVE Entertainment, HBO Films including writer/director John Ridley’s first feature COLD AROUND THE HEART, Oliver Stone’s FREEWAY and the Pate Brothers’ THE GRAVE — the latter two premiering at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival.
Furtherance to her long career in post-production, Hayes was Production Executive for Dove Entertainment, where she oversaw international feature and miniseries co-productions in Canada and Croatia. At one point she injected herself into a more corporate landscape as Vice-President/Post Production for the Kushner Locke Company, where she directly supervised post on a laundry list of television and feature film projects shot in Canada, Europe, New Zealand and Mexico. Working with many A-level producers and directors, she counts David Manson, John Landgraf, Robert Lovenheim, Barbara Bloom, Pam Veasey, Preston Fischer, Steve Schott, Tony Goldwyn, Richard Pearce, Frank Pierson and Abel Ferrara as mentors and influencers.
Since she first entered the production business, Hayes has experienced the shift and growth of a film-based world to a completely digital landscape that included the amazing morphing of moviolas to AVIDs, celluloid opticals/stop-motion effects to the most advanced forms of CGI/2D and 3D visual effects. She has a deep and abiding interest in how technology has and can continue to advance the art of filmmaking with a passion for discovering new alternate paths to content creation and distribution. Her motto: “Post is not above or below the line… it is on the line!”
CREATIVE THESIS MENTORS
Amedeo D’Adamo | Lecturer & Creative Thesis Mentor
Jacob Forman | Senior Lecturer & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Jacob Forman’s first feature film, ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, screened at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, where it was acquired by The Weinstein Company for worldwide distribution. MTV Films acquired his spec, HANDSOME DEVIL, in a bidding war in 2007. Since then, Forman has adapted major books and articles for the screen for companies including Paramount Pictures, Misher Films, Michaels-Goldwyn, Davis Entertainment, LD Entertainment, Jon Shestack Productions, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Mark Gordon Company and Film 360. He has held television development deals with CBS Paramount and ABC Touchstone. Jacob co-wrote and produced THE LAST SURVIVORS, which premiered at the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival and screened at 20 film festivals prior to its August 2015 release.
The son of an American anthropologist and a Brazilian journalist, Forman grew up in East Timor, Rio de Janeiro, and New York City. Forman earned an MFA in Fiction from Brown University in 1998 and an MFA in Screenwriting from the American Film Institute in 2004. Since 2007, he has been a member of the Screenwriting Faculty at the American Film Institute, where he teaches graduate coursework in screenwriting and short form filmmaking to first- and second-year Fellows. Forman is an active member of the Writers Guild of America and has been a mentor for AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, the Squaw Valley Conference of Writers, the Nantucket Screenwriters Colony and Film Independent’s Screenwriting Lab.
Harrison James | Lecturer, Cycle Development Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Harrison James studied directing at Boston University where she received the Dean’s Grant for Filmmaking. She then attended the AFI Conservatory as both a Screenwriting and Directing Fellow. Her screenplay “Still Life” was a finalist for the Sundance Lab. She is currently writing and directing VENICE BEACH CC, a television series, and SHOOTING STAR, a feature film about a Marine who comes home from Afghanistan and re-enters his life, changed. She recently directed professional, mounted stage productions of “Cowboy Mouth,” “Savage Love,” and “Fool for Love,” all by Sam Shepard. Harrison is a working screenwriter for producers such as Heather Graham, and directors such as Autumn DeWilde, Julian Goldberger and Melodie McDaniel. Her spots for Spies Travel were directed by Nicolas Winding Refn and won the bronze lion at Cannes. Harrison co-founded Girl Trip, a production company, film festival and panel series to advance emerging femme-identifying filmmakers, and is on the Directing faculty at the AFI Conservatory. Devoted to being an actor’s director, she currently studies with Nancy Banks. Harrison lives and works in Los Angeles and is represented by Anonymous Content.
She also teaches in the Directing Discipline.
Laura James | Lecturer & Creative Thesis Mentor
Laura James (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker and television director. Laura began her career as an actor and transitioned into directing. Her background in theater, improv and sketch comedy along with years of experience working as an on-set acting coach for television and film meant working closely with studio executives, producers, writers, directors and actors which has given her the ability to create and shape a story, invent a rich visual language for each project and the tools to realize that vision.
Drawing on her experience as an actor, writer, producer and director, in both film and television, comedy and drama, Laura has a unique and expansive love of the creative process and respect for the craft. In addition to creating her own work, Laura teaches workshops and classes, aligning emerging artists with the stories they want to tell. Laura has taught directing at USC’s Graduate School of Cinematic Arts, she is frequently a guest on craft panels, and currently teaches and mentors first and second-year fellows at AFI.
Laura has participated in the CBS Director Program, the Disney Channel Multi-camera 360 Program and the inaugural DGA Director Development Initiative. Laura is also involved in a leadership capacity for the Women’s Steering Committee at the Director’s Guild of America (DGA).
Karen Janszen | Senior Lecturer & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Karen Janszen is a Los Angeles-based writer. While she has worked on thrillers, comedies and historical epics – and done uncredited polishes on animated films – she is best known for dramas. Janszen wrote the pilot and developed the sci-fi series MARS for Imagine and Nat Geo. She has also created series and written pilots for CBS, ABC and Epix, including the supernatural crime series HIGH STRANGENESS. Janszen’s theatrical writing credits include studio films DOLPHIN TALE, DUMA and A WALK TO REMEMBER and indie films GRACIE and THE MATCHMAKER. Trained as a science journalist at MIT, she holds degrees from AFI, Harvard and the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is currently writing a movie for Netflix and developing an original series for CBS Productions, SUSPICIOUS MINDS, about a psychiatrist with delusions who treats delusional patients. Based on her screenplay ACT NORMAL, Variety named Janszen one of Ten Screenwriters to Watch.
Kevin Kennedy | Senior Lecturer & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Kennedy is a writer and producer with diverse experience in studio and independent film, as well as both cable and network television. Most recently, he was co-creator and Executive Producer of the CBS primetime drama series THE DEFENDERS, starring Jim Belushi and Jerry O’Connell. His most recently produced feature film, THE ASSASSINATION OF RICHARD NIXON starring Sean Penn, Naomi Watts and Don Cheadle, was released by New Line Cinema after screening as an Official Selection at the Cannes Film Festival.
In addition to his work as a writer and producer, Kennedy helped educate and develop the work of scores of playwrights, novelists and screenwriters in his capacity as founder and workshop director of the Writer’s Film Project, a film writing fellowship program sponsored by Steven Spielberg and Universal Pictures.
He has a degree in Drama and Creative Writing from Stanford, after which he attended the graduate screenwriting program at the UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television.
Simone Ling | Senior Lecturer & Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Simone Ling is a creative producer and story consultant. Credits include executive producer of Aurora Guerrero’s Spirit Award-nominated MOSQUITA Y MARI and producer of Anahita Ghazvinizadeh’s THEY, which premiered at Cannes and continues to play on the international film festival circuit. Clients include Paramount Pictures and the Sundance Film Institute. Additionally, she spearheads outreach for Sundance’s Asian American Fellowship. Ling is a member of the Producers Guild of America, the Motion Picture Editors Guild and BAFTA/LA. She also sits on the BAFTA New Talent and Scholarship Committee, Women in Film’s Finishing Fund jury and was a juror for Seattle International Film Festival’s 2019 New Directors Competition. A Fulbright Scholar with Masters degrees from the University of Oxford and Stanford University, she is a TAP/Transatlantic Partners, Film Independent Fast Track, Tribeca TFI Network and IFP/Independent Film Project No Borders Fellow.
Jennie Lew Tugend | Senior Creative Thesis Mentor
Jennie Lew Tugend has produced some of the industry’s most memorable franchises: FREE WILLY, LETHAL WEAPON and HBO’s TALES FROM THE CRYPT.
As former Co-President of Kadokawa Pictures USA, Tugend was a producer on ONE MISSED CALL, a WB release, and two episodes of Showtime’s MASTER OF HORROR.
At Warner Bros., Tugend produced FREE WILLY, the box office smash hit, which has now become a family film classic. She went on to produce the sequel FREE WILLY 2: THE ADVENTURE HOME and completed the trilogy with FREE WILLY 3: THE RESCUE.
Tugend co-produced LEATHAL WEAPON 1, 2 and 3. These Mel Gibson and Danny Glover buddy cop movies are now classics in the action-comedy genre.
Producing credits include LOCAL BOYS starring Mark Harmon and Star Kid, which received an Award of Excellence by the Film Advisory Board; MGM’s romantic comedy RETURN TO ME starring David Duchovny and Minnie Driver; RADIO FLYER for Columbia Pictures; and SCROOGED for Paramount Pictures starring Bill Murray. For HBO, she co-produced 4 seasons of TALES FROM THE CRYPT and was instrumental in the development and production of THE GOONIES and THE LOST BOYS.
Currently, Tugend and her partners are developing the feature film adaptations of the NY Times best-selling novel “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet” with Oscar® and Emmy®-nominated director Bing Liu, the Japanese manga series “MPD Psycho”, the award winning anime film THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME and the award-winning short film POPPIES from director Myles Yaksich.
Tugend was a mentor in the prestigious Peter Stark Producing Program at USC and is an active member of the Producer’s Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America. She is currently teaching film production at UCLA Extension and is a Creative Thesis Mentor at the American Film Institute Conservatory (AFI).
Vanessa Perez | Cycle Development Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Vanessa Perez began her career in talent management at International Creative Management (ICM). After leaving ICM, her goal was to create multicultural content that resonates globally; she found this at CANANA (Pablo Cruz, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal). Perez was the executive in charge of production on MISS BALA (Un Certain Regard). She was a producer on PARAISO (Toronto International Film Festival) that had box office success in Mexico and CESAR CHAVEZ starring Michael Peña, America Ferrera and Rosario Dawson. Perez’ projects have been supported by TIFF, SFFILM, WIF, SUNDANCE AND FILM INDEPENDENT.
EDITING THESIS MENTORS
Angela Catanzaro | Editing Thesis Mentor
Angela Catanzaro has worked extensively in both television and feature films. She’s edited numerous TV pilots and critically-acclaimed series including FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, THE SHIELD, PARENTHOOD, AWAY and THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE, with her work on the FNL series finale earning her an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award nomination. In recent years, Catanzaro has worked primarily in feature film, twice teaming up with Martin Campbell on the action-thrillers THE FOREIGNER and THE PROTÉGÉ. Angela also edited the young adult drama FIVE FEET APART. She is a member of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the Motion Picture Editors Guild and American Cinema Editors, where she serves as a mentor in the A.C.E. Diversity Mentorship Program.
Debra Chiate | Editing Thesis Mentor
Amy Duddleston | Editing Thesis Mentor
Anne Goursaud | Lecturer & Editing Thesis Mentor
Anne Goursaud is an accomplished film editor and director. It was Francis Ford Coppola who first spotted Goursaud’s talent, giving her the chance to edit ONE FROM THE HEART. Since that time, she has directed and edited a wide range of projects and worked with some of the most highly acclaimed professionals in the movie industry.
Her directing credits include the cult thriller EMBRACE OF THE VAMPIRE, POISON IVY II — both for New Line Cinema — and the erotic drama LOVE IN PARIS (ANOTHER 9 1/2 WEEKS) for Trimark.
Her editing credits include Francis Ford Coppola’s teen classic THE OUTSIDERS, starring Matt Dillon and Tom Cruise; the Oscar®-winning BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA, starring Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins; and IRONWEED, starring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, for which they both received Oscar® nominations.
Goursaud also edited Bruce Beresford’s comedies CRIMES OF THE HEART and HER ALIBI; John Duigan’s epic drama WIDE SARGASSO SEA; Janusz Kaminski’s horror film LOST SOULS; and the sequel to CHINATOWN, THE TWO JAKES, directed by and starring Jack Nicholson. Most recently, she edited Universal Pictures’ innovative OutKast movie-musical IDLEWILD and the edgy new independent feature EXPIRED, which premiered at Cannes.
Goursaud was writer-producer on the feature-length documentary ULTRASUEDE: IN SEARCH FOR HALSTON, which was released in theaters in February 2012 and bought by Showtime.
She is attached to direct two features, CORONADO and BETSY & NAPOLEON, for legendary producer Fred Roos. Goursaud last produced, directed and edited A CLASSY BROAD: MARCIA’S ADVENTURES IN HOLLYWOOD, a feature-length documentary about the first woman Production VP at a major studio, Marcia Nasatir. The film opened in March 2019 on digital platforms and had a week theatrical run – March 8th to 14th – at the Laemmle Music Hall in Beverly Hills. It is currently available through VOD, and KANOPY for educational use.
Goursaud also re-cut THE LONGEST ROAD, a feature documentary about refugees in Kurdistan that premiered at the San Antonio Film Festival in 2018. She just finished A DAY IN THE LIFE, a documentary about Apple Corps, and is currently editing RING ROAD, a documentary about a woman motorcyclist finding her voice touring Iceland.
Her short story, KEEP ONLY THE GOOD PIECES, was published on Hollywooddementia.com in June 2016. Three other short stories, A GREAT BAD YEAR, PAULINE’S ADVENTURES ON THE SILVER SCREEN and THE HEIRESS, were also published.
Goursaud is an AFI mentor and teaches First Year Editing Analysis also at AFI.
Goursaud received a License in History of Art from the Sorbonne and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, the Editors Guild, A.C.E., the Academy of Arts and Sciences and SAC.
Robert Ivison | Lecturer, Editing Thesis Mentor and Interim Discipline Head (Second Year Editing)
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Robert Ivison has worked as a film editor in Los Angeles since 1994. He began his career cutting commercials and music videos, working with U2, Whitney Houston, The Wallflowers, Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, Celine Dion, Santana and many others.
His feature film credits include STANDER, WALKING TALL, TAKE THE LEAD and TRICK ‘R TREAT, and his television credits include SUITS, MAD DOGS, THE LAST TYCOON and THE ROOKIE.
Inbal Lessner | Lecturer & Editing Thesis Mentor
Stephen Mark | Editing Thesis Mentor
William Paley | Editing Thesis Mentor
Chris Peterson | Editing Thesis Mentor
Katy Skjerping | Editing Thesis Mentor
Shelly Westerman | Editing Thesis Mentor
CYCLE DEVELOPMENT MENTORS
Beth de Araújo | Lecturer & Cycle Development Mentor
Kate Gill | Cycle Development Mentor
Tracy Grant | Lecturer & Cycle Development Mentor
Harrison James | Lecturer, Cycle Development Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Dana Lustig | Senior Lecturer & Senior Cycle Development Mentor
Dana Lustig has directed five feature films and produced over 20 independent features. She produced the true survival story JUNGLE, starring Daniel Radcliffe. The movie was shot in Colombia and Australia’s Gold Coast and was released earlier in the year. Lustig also produced the feature film LOOK AWAY, directed by Assaf Bernstein. Starring Jason Isaacs, Mira Sorvino and India Eisley, the film will be released later this year. Currently Lustig is executive-producing SPIDER IN THE WEB, with Ben Kingsley and Monica Bellucci, and she just wrapped filming the second season of the Israeli hit series VERY IMPORTANT MAN.
Lustig directed the dark love story A THOUSAND KISSES DEEP, nominated for a British Independent Film Award. Other directing credits include the comedy WILD CHERRY with Rob Schneider, KILL ME LATER starring Selma Blair, CONFESSIONS OF A SOCIOPATHIC SOCIAL CLIMBER starring Jennifer Love Hewitt (the highest rated telecast for Oxygen’s original programming) and WEDDING BELL BLUES, with John Corbett.
For 10 years, Lustig was a partner at Bergman Lustig Productions (BLP) along with Ram Bergman. Among the films BLP produced are BRICK, nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award, and DANCING AT THE BLUE IGUANA, directed by Oscar® nominee Michael Radford.
Next, scheduled for this fall, Lustig will direct the remake of the Israeli film THE MAN IN THE WALL.
Dana Lustig was born in Israel, and after her army service she moved to LA to graduate from the AFI Conservatory, where she lectures today. Lustig is a member of the DGC, PGA and SAG, and holds Canadian and EU passports.
Vanessa Perez | Cycle Development Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Austin Reynolds | Senior Lecturer, Cycle Development Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Matty Rich | Lecturer, Cycle Development Mentor & Creative Thesis Mentor
Sara Rose | Lecturer & Cycle Development Mentor
Chris Rossi | Cycle Development Mentor
VFX THESIS MENTORS
Shalena Oxley-Butler| VFX Thesis Mentor
