"My time at the screenwriting program in Squaw Valley was a rare opportunity to step away from my harried life and focus on my script with the guidance of incredibly talented mentors. I went in with a draft that I knew needed to be rebuilt from the ground up, so I was ready for it. Tom Rickman went above and beyond in his role as my advisor and the sessions with other mentors were invaluable. I highly recommend this program to any screenwriter looking for an intensive workshop with a star-studded lineup of patient and generous teachers."
—Amanda Micheli

"Squaw Valley is the most powerful and effective of any workshop I've attended. My mentor, Camille Thomasson, helped me to see where my story had holes, which characters were extraneous, and how to get back in line with my original intent. The difference is the way Squaw approaches us as individuals. The one-on-one mentoring combined with “community” sessions strikes the right balance and gives writers the direction we need."
—Kari Nevil,Filmmaker

"I found the Squaw Valley Writers Workshop in Screenwriting to be incredibly rewarding, both professionally and creatively speaking. I made numerous valuable contacts in a short amount of time, and was able to receive, through the mentoring system, individualized and focused feedback from a seasoned professional in my field, something you just don’t get at other writing conferences.

Coming away from Squaw, I was not only closer to a final draft of my screenplay, but I knew what to do with it afterwards. The close-knit and supportive faculty gave me the confidence and the know-how to get my script into the right hands post-workshop. My first screenplay, “Luna’s Highway” is now in pre-production, and I wholeheartedly attribute this success to my experience at Squaw Valley. I highly recommend this program for anyone interested in tuning their writing dreams into reality."
—Tamuira Reid

Production commitments will determine
the availability of staff members.

EUGENE CORR is a writer/director of films and television whose credits include the Academy Award- nominated Desert Bloom, Waldo Salt: A Screenwriter’s Journey, (co-written/directed with Robert Hillmann), Prefontaine for Disney Pictures, and Mike Hammer: Too Legit for VH1, and The Joe Louis Story for Hallmark Entertainment. His television credits include Against the Law (Fox), Shannon’s Deal (NBC) and I’ll Fly Away (NBC). Currently he is producing a documentary, From Ghost Town to Havana, shot in Oakland, California and Havana, with Roberto Chile as cinematographer and co-producer, in Havana.

PAMELA GRAY is a screenwriter whose credits include A Walk on the Moon, which received the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award and a Golden Satellite nomination for Best Original Screenplay; Music of the Heart; and Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights. Her television credits include one-hour drama pilots for CBS and ABC. Her original screenplay, Betty Ann Waters, starring Hilary Swank, is now in post-production. Currently, she is writing an adaptation of the bestseller Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, with Meryl Streep and has contributed to the forthcoming book, Now Write, published by Tarcher/Penguin, 2010.

TONEY MERRITT is a writer, editor, and cinematographer. An independent filmmaker for 35 years, his films have been screened globally. He is in process on a ten-part film-poem on the Brazilian Amazon, as well as and a film on shamanism. He has recently completed, Lucha Libre de Tijuana, as well as a documentary on human sexuality, Erotic Powerplay, for Dr. Gabriele Hoff. He teaches Writing for Visual Media as part of San Francisco State’s Digital Video Intensive Program. Currently he is adapting a short story, "A Dreadful Day," by Dan Warthman, which he will also produce.

PATRICIA MEYER is a screenwriter/producer for both film and television. Her many credits include the ABC miniseries, The Women of Brewster Place, starring Oprah Winfrey, which earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Miniseries. She executive-produced Nora Ephron’s directorial debut motion picture, This Is My Life, and has written screenplays for Martin Scorsese and for Robert De Niro's Tribeca Productions. She made her directorial debut with the short film The List in 2004. Currently she has a one-hour drama series in development with 20th Century Fox Television and CBS and two of her recent motion picture screenplays are being packaged for production in 2010. She has been a Senior Lecturer in Screenwriting at American Film Institute for the past five years.

CHRISTOPHER MONGER is a writer/director whose credits include The Englishmen Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down A Mountain for Miramax; Girl From Rio; Waiting for the Light, Crime Pays, for Film Four International. His television credits include the record-breaking film Seeing Red, for Granada and WGBH, for which he received a Christopher Award. Recently he directed the documentary Special Thanks to Roy London, and A Sense of Wonder, based on the play. For HBO films he is currently in production on an adaptation of Dangerous Doses, based on the book by Katherine Eban. He wrote the screenplay Temple Grandin, which aired in February on HBO, and which stars Clare Danes as Temple Grandin.

TOM RICKMAN is a screenwriter/director whose many credits include Coal Miner’s Daughter, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award; Everybody’s All-American; and The River Rat (which he also directed). His television credits include Truman, nominated for an Emmy Award; Tuesdays With Morrie, for which he received both the Humanitas Award and the Writers Guild Award; and The Reagans, nominated for an Emmy. He recently adapted the critically acclaimed Front of the Class from the book by the same name, for Hallmark Hall of Fame, which screened in December 2008. Currently he is writing the Miles Davis story for the producer, Rudy Langrich (Hotel Rwanda).

LISA ROSENBERG is a screenwriter whose credits include independent features The Riddle and Savage Dawn, the dramatic short Friends, KCET’s The Oddest Couple documentary series, the internet-based political series Reinventing America and the Emmy award-winning public TV series, Psychology: The Study of Human Behavior. She recently completed her adaptation of Edie Meidav’s award-winning novel Crawl Space. She is also writing a column on storytelling for SF360, the S.F. Film Society’s website.

TOM SCHLESINGER was Caroline Link’s story consultant on the Academy Award-winning script, Nowhere in Africa, and Beyond Silence nominated for an Academy Award in 1998. He also consulted on a feature length documentary, Prom Night in Mississippi which was screened at last year’s Sundance Film Festival; two Burkert-Bareiss/TV60 productions: Hearts of Fire, written and directed by Luigi Falorni, and Ayla, now in production. He created and developed The Stranger, a television series with Keith Cunningham for Moroccan television, and is co-writing and producing Mestiza, an independent film which will be shot in 2010. He is also completeing another feature, Pet Dream.

CAMILLE THOMASSON’s screenwriting credits include Ave Maria and Luther. Her television work includes The Brook Ellison Story, which won a Christopher Award; The Magic of Ordinary Days; The Valley of Light, for which she was awarded a Templeton Prize; and a second Christopher Award for her adaptation of Patricia Reilly Giff’s Pictures of Hollis Wood. She adapted The Stacey Bess Story, based on the autobiography, Nobody Don’t Love Nobody for Hallmark Hall of Fame. Also for Hallmark Hall of Fame, she wrote The Lois Wilson Story, based on the book by William Borchert, which will air on CBS in 2010.

MICHAEL URBAN's first feature-length film Saved! was written while he was a fellow at the AFI. Subsequently he wrote a feature film for Plan B/Paramount, called The Killing, to be directed by Jacob Estes. Currently, he is working on The Other Guy, a dark comedy with David Duchovny attached to star, produced by Then Productions and Bold Pictures. Additionally, he is in preproduction for his directorial debut with Longing Lasts Longer and is also collaborating with Camille Thomasson on a comedy feature, Outlaw Inlaw.

GUESTS: (Production commitments will determine availability.)

JULIE PARKER BENELLO is the principal at Chicken and Egg Productions.

SARAH RYAN BLACK's production company is Grand Illusions.

DEBBIE BRUBAKER has over 25 years of experience in motion picture and video production. She lives and works in San Francisco.

GRAHAM LEGGAT has been the executive director of the San Francisco Film Society since October 2005.

DANIELLE RENFREW was an award-winning documentary filmmaker before becoming a producer in Los Angeles.

SCOTT ROSENFELT is an independent producer who founded I.E. Productions with producer and writing partner, Billie Grief; he also is a partner in Picture Play Films.

GEORGE RUSH’s law practice specializes in the entertainment industry with emphasis on the San Francisco Bay Area film community.

GAIL SILVA is an advisor and curator for arts organizations, individual artists and filmmakers, with nearly 30 years of service to the independent media field.

RON YERXA is a producer and partner of Bona Fide Productions in Los Angeles.