Writing for Sci-Fi

August 27, 2016

Event Date: Saturday, September 10, 2016 || Speakers: Rafael Jordan, Jon Enge, Mairghread Scott, James Kerwin, FRSA & Becca Hardy || Check-in: 12:30 pm ||

UPDATED with additional speakers. (You can still check in and pay at the door for this event)

Science Fiction is a predominant and very popular genre in film and television. The panelists will share their experiences and insight into crafting exciting worlds, characters, and mythologies for sci-fi stories. See more details below.

IMPORTANT:

**The deadline has passed and REGISTRATION is now CLOSED for this event. Please view our calendar for upcoming events.

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More details.

Rafael Jordan — Since 2007, Rafael has written 23 feature films that have premiered on video and cable television, including Syfy and Lifetime, spanning every genre from sci-fi, space opera, action-thrillers, creature features, vampires, werewolves, westerns, vikings, pirates, dinosaurs, disasters and more. He also has five more films in active development/pre-production, as well as several web series and shorts.

Some of his notable films include LOST COLONY: THE LEGEND OF ROANOKE and THE IMMORTAL VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN DRAKE (both starring Adrian Paul, TV’s “Highlander”), STAR RUNNERS (starring James Kyson and Connor Trinneer), VAMPIRE NATION (starring Andrew Lee Potts), as well as YETI, Syfy’s highest rated original program of 2008. In 2013, TAKEN: THE SEARCH FOR SOPHIE PARKER, starring Julie Benz, premiered on Lifetime to high ratings and critical acclaim.

Rafael also has extensive production experience, as well as several second unit directing and producing credits. Rafael began his career at American World Pictures learning the business side of film distribution and sales, attending film markets across the world — Cannes, MIP, MIPCOM, EFM, AFM, etc.

Jon Enge is a writer/director who has directed or worked on the productions of over 100 shorts and music videos over just the last 5 years and has had a hand in all aspects of production. He has worked with many of the biggest names on YouTube, Corridor Digital, Machinima Prime, Freddie Wong, Funny or Die, Epic Meal Time, DeStorm Power, Wayside Creations, Good Cops and many more.

In addition to his YouTube work, Jon wrote and directed the 2008 GI Film Festival finalist: Facing the Enemy. In 2012 he raised $10,000 to shoot a 13 minute pulp action/adventure and is currently working on a sci fi series, a sci fi feature film with Dream Nation Pictures out of Austin as well as some TV pilots.

Mairghread Scott grew up in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, and was raised on a healthy diet of Shakespeare, Monty Python, and three iterations of Star Trek. In high school, Mairghread took classes in film production, and met a boy named Jason, who would become her husband. In college, she studied dramatic writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and learned from some of the best writers in the business: including Charlie Rubin and Joe Kelly. She graduated with a BFA in Television Writing (or a BA if her mother is reading this). The day of her graduation, she packed up her car, picked up her boyfriend, and drove to Los Angeles.

In Los Angeles, Mairghread worked her way up as an assistant while writing plays and honing her talents. Then she landed a job as a Script Coordinator for Transformers Prime and G.I. Joe Renegades. Mairghread got her first opportunity to join a writer’s room there and it led to her first professional script, “Stronger, Faster”: a character piece that saw the Autobot medic, Ratchet, develop a dangerous serum that turned him into a fierce warrior but came at at a price.

Since then, she has written for many different TV shows and comic books as a freelance writer and story consultant. She has had the joy of helping to create the first fan-built transformer, Windblade, and bring her to life in the IDW comics series of the same name as well as writing Windblade’s introduction to the new animated series Transformers Robots in Disguise.

In 2015, she released her first original comic series, Toil and Trouble with artists Kelly and Nichole Matthews from publisher Boom Studios’ Archaia imprint.

For more information, please visit her website at www.mscottwriter.com

James Kerwin, FRSA currently serves as a writer/director on the multi-award-winning series Star Trek Continues.

In addition to numerous film festival grand jury prizes, Kerwin’s work has earned distinctions such as the Webby, the Geekie, Accolade Awards, Telly Awards, the Axiem, the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant, and the R.C. Norris Screenwriting Award. He was named “Best Director” and “Best Screenwriter” by New York Visionfest for Yesterday Was a Lie, his feature film debut from Entertainment One.

Kerwin’s live stage credits range from classical to modern. He was listed among the Los Angeles Times‘ “Faces to Watch” as part of the Lone Star Ensemble theatre group, and has frequently directed for Noah Wyle’s Blank Theatre Company. Kerwin’s directing has been honored by critic Paul Birchall for two consecutive years in Back Stage Magazine‘s “Best of the Year” list. His work has been cited by scholarly organizations and journals such as the Shakespeare Association of America and Shakespeare Newsletter.

For more information, please visit his website at www.jameskerwin.com

Becca Hardy is a writer, actress, nerd-before-it-was-cool, and expert daydreamer. After graduating from the University of Idaho with a degree in clinical psychology, she relocated to Los Angeles to focus on character creation and performance. She found her niche serving as Wayside Creations’ creative director from 2014-2016, developing indie video game properties into live-action film projects. Becca has since set her sights on generating original content and genre projects that she (as a fan) would like to watch, as well as exploring the rapidly blurring line between traditional and new media.