Writing a Better Future: Reproductive Freedom

Melissa London Hilfers is a screenwriter working in television and film. Over her career, she has developed projects with almost every major studio, network and streamer. She is the Creator/Executive Producer of MONARCH, an opulent family dynasty drama about America’s first family of country music, that aired on Fox TV in 2022. In features, Hilfers is currently adapting a bestselling novel for Netflix. She recently sold HURT PEOPLE, an original legal thriller, also to Netflix. Hilfers wrote, produced and directed an award-winning short film, BLASPHEMY, in which the classic bible story of Abraham and Isaac is re-imagined as a female-driven thriller, which was released in 2019.

Eliza Hittman is a director, screenwriter, and producer born in New York who studied Film/Video at California Institute of the Arts. Her feature film debut IT FELT LIKE LOVE, premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. Her second film, BEACH RATS (2017), also premiered and won the Directing Award at Sundance. Her third feature film NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS  was presented in the Berlinale Competition in 2020 and was awarded the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize. She was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2018 and is currently an Associate Professor at Pratt Institute.

Zora Howard is a Harlem-bred playwright, screenwriter and director. Plays include HANG TIME (The Flea/National Tour; Creative Capital Finalist), STEW (P73 Productions; Pulitzer Prize Finalist), BUST (The Alliance/Goodman; Susan Smith Blackburn Finalist); THE MASTER’S TOOLS (Wiener Festwochen; WTF), AtGN, and THE MOTIONS. Her feature film PREMATURE (2020 Film Independent John Cassavetes Award nominee), which she co-wrote with director Rashaad Ernesto Green, opened in theaters following its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Zora is the 2025 Peacedale Kopit Fellow, a former MTC Judith Champion and Lark Van Lier New Voices Fellow, and a Lilly Award and Helen Merrill Award recipient. Her work has been developed at Cinereach, OPC, NYTW, La Napoule Art Foundation, Stillwright, and Cape Cod Theatre Project, among others. She is currently under commission from Seattle Rep and Chautauqua Theater Company and developing film projects with Shot of Tea, FilmNation, Wychwood Media and River Road Entertainment.

Susan Rinkunas is an independent journalist covering abortion, reproductive health, and politics. She is a co-founder of Autonomy News, a contributing writer at Jezebel, and a contributing editor at The New Republic. Her reporting has appeared in the Guardian, Slate, The Nation, Mother Jones, and more.

Caren Spruch is Planned Parenthood’s “Secret Weapon,” as described in The Washington Post Magazine. As National Director of Arts and Entertainment Engagement, Caren pioneered the organization’s program to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights through the arts.

She collaborates with television and film directors, producers, and writers to change the conversation around these issues through accurate and sensitive storytelling. Among the hundreds of projects with abortion storylines that she has contributed to are the TV shows PALM ROYALE, TOO MUCH, BETTER THINGS, and SHRILL; and the films NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, OBVIOUS CHILD, LITTLE WOODS, and TRAPPED. Caren was honored to speak at the Showrunners for Abortion Rights rallies held on both the East and West Coasts. Caren also joins forces with a wide range of cultural influencers — from actors and musicians to fashion icons — inspiring them to use their platforms to champion Planned Parenthood’s mission and amplify reproductive freedom.