Event Details
Tuesday September 15, 2020 7:00 pmvia Zoom
Presented by the WGAE Women's Salon and LGBTQ Salon
The WGAE Women’s Salon and LGBTQ Salon are thrilled to invite all WGAE members for a panel on Tuesday, September 15 featuring WGAE writers Nialla LeBouef (EVIL), T Cooper (THE BLACKLIST, THE GET DOWN, COPPER), and Monet Hurst-Mendoza (LAW AND ORDER: SVU). The panelists will discuss how they landed their first gig, what it was like navigating a room for the first time, and tips and advice for early career staff writers.
Nialla LeBouef
Nialla LeBouef is a writer and self-professed nerd based in New York. Born and raised in Washington, D.C, her unwavering passion for cinema started early as a child, thanks to her actor father and accountant mother. This cinephile upbringing eventually led her to the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she minored in cinema studies and holds a BFA in Film and Television. Her first pilot, CHARITY HOSPITAL, was selected into the second round of the 2017 Sundance Episodic Lab, attracted Sofia Coppola, and led to her first staffing job. Apart from writing and watching horror films, Nialla enjoys books on the paranormal/occult (specifically haunted places), has a small collection of movie tickets, red lipstick, and clothing from the 1940s. Her favorite film is The Spirit of the Beehive, and she is currently staffed on the CBS show EVIL.
T Cooper
T Cooper is a author, television writer, journalist, and filmmaker whose groundbreaking work has been pushing boundaries both in print and on screen for 20 years. He currently serves as Co-Executive Producer on The Blacklist (NBC), and has also written episodes of The Get Down (Netflix) and Copper (BBC America), in addition to original scripts for Showtime, Lifetime, and YouTube Red (RIP). Cooper is the author of nine books, including two bestselling novels. Cooper’s feature documentary Man Made (2019) has screened at more than 80 film festivals worldwide, winning fourteen Best Documentary Jury and Audience Awards—in addition to a Sundance Institute Grant (the film is currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime). Cooper is a Professor of English and Creative Writing at Emory University, and with his wife and WGA writing partner Allison Glock-Cooper, one-half of Holler Beach Productions. More info: www.t-cooper.com
Monet Hurst-Mendoza
Monet Hurst-Mendoza is a NYC-based playwright and screenwriter from Los Angeles, CA. Her plays have been developed with Rising Circle Theater Collective, Astoria Performing Arts Center, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, The Flea Theater, WP Theater, The Public Theater, Classical Theatre of Harlem, and the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, among others. She is an alum of the Emerging Writers Group at The Public Theater, R&D Group at The Civilians, Fresh Ground Pepper’s Playground Playgroup, WP Theater Playwrights Lab, the Van Lier Fellowship at New Dramatists, and has held residencies with The MITTEN Lab and SPACE on Ryder Farm. Her play Torera was featured on the 2019 Kilroys List and 50 Playwrights Project’s 2019 Best Unproduced Latinx Plays, and is slated for production at Long Wharf Theatre in Fall 2021. She has been profiled by Remezcla as one of the “8 Most Exciting Latino Playwrights Making Work Right Now.” Monet joined the writing staff of Law and Order: SVU in 2019 for the show’s record-breaking 21st season. An episode she co-wrote, “Redemption in her Corner”, has garnered 3 Imagen Award nominations, honoring positive portrayals of Latinos in the media. Monet is a proud member of The Kilroys, The Dramatist Guild, and WGAE.
This conversation will be moderated by Lisa Takeuchi Cullen:
Lisa Takeuchi Cullen is a TV writer, author and journalist. She is currently in an overall deal with Universal Studios, under which she is developing a drama series for Netflix. Lisa was a consulting producer on “Law & Order: SVU” and has developed drama pilots for ABC, NBC, CBS, A&E and Warner Bros.; her pilot “The Ordained” was produced by CBS.