JUDGES

TESS MCGUINNESS – DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT

Tess McGuinness is the Director of Development at Red Wagon Entertainment (DIVERGENT series, THE GREAT GATSBY) under Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher, where she runs point on projects across Red Wagon’s film and television slates. Originally from New Jersey, she graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College with a BA in Art History and Classics and a minor in Theater. She worked as a production assistant for two seasons of “Saturday Night Live” as well as an Associate Producer for MIRMADE Productions — where she helped produce music videos for Danny Brown and Weezer and commercials for Michael Kors, the NBA, Robitussin, and Away Luggage. In 2020, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue scripted film and television, where she worked for Janet Yang and Inspire Entertainment prior to joining the Red Wagon team. She is also an award-winning playwright and has had her plays performed at Northern Stage, New York Fringe Festival and Off-Broadway. 

RON LESHEM – SCREENWRITER AND AUTHOR

Ron Leshem is a Boston-based showrunner, screenwriter, and author who created the original Euphoria and serves as executive producer on the HBO Emmy®-winning adaptation. Leshem wrote the film Beaufort, which was nominated for the American Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film. He co-created and wrote Bad Boy, HBO Max’s Valley of Tears, Hulu’s No Man’s Land, as well as the upcoming thrillers Trust No Man (Netflix), Red Skies (Apple TV), both award winners at multiple international festivals. 

ANTONY JOHNSTON – WRITER

Antony Johnston is one of the most versatile writers of the modern era, with a body of work spanning books, film, graphic novels, videogames, and non-fiction. An award-winning author and New York Times bestseller, his creations include ATOMIC BLONDE, THE DOG SITTER DETECTIVE, the BRIGITTE SHARP thrillers, and many more.

MITCHELL ALTIERI – WRITER, DIRECTOR

With his family immigrating from Brazil, Mitchell Altieri turned to movies to help him practice the English language. That’s where he fell in love with cinema. Years later he would become an Award-Winning writer/director who has premiered his feature films at festivals such as SXSW, Sundance, Berlin, Sitges, and Fantasia. His filmography includes the cult classics THE HAMILTONS & THE THOMPSONS (Lionsgate), APRIL FOOLS DAY (Sony), THE VIOLENT KIND (RLJE Films), HOLY GHOST PEOPLE (Hulu), RAISED BY WOLVES (1091), A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO SNUFF (Lionsgate), THE NIGHT WATCHMEN (Gravitas), STAR LIGHT (1091), and CONSUMED (XYZ Films). Television works include Lifetime’s true crime thrillers: THE DEADLIEST LIE, SISTERS ON THE RUN, and Tubi Originals: LA MADRE.

JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOUZY – WRITER, EDITOR

Jean-Christophe was born in 1978 and graduated from french Cinema School La Fémis in 2005. Since then, he’s been mainly working as an editor and/or screenwriter on features such as RAW, LET THE GIRLS PLAY and TITANE. He’s a big fan of Tom Cruise, Luchino Visconti, and Jean-Pierre Melville.

JACK DONALDSON – EXECUTIVE COORDINATOR

Jack Donaldson joined Atomic Monster in April 2024 as Executive Coordinator in the office of James Wan. Previously, he served as Executive Assistant to CEO Bill Block at Miramax. Before joining Miramax, Donaldson worked at Dick Clark Productions, first as Executive Assistant to President Adam Stostsky and later as Development Coordinator. Donaldson holds a B.F.A. in Comedic Arts from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. 

SEAN CHARLES – PRODUCER

Sean Charles is a Development & Production Manager at ALLBLK an AMC Networks property. He is responsible for producing and developing all original content for the streaming service, in addition to assisting in acquisitions and scheduling. Sean most recently worked in Corporate Communications working across internal and external communications from the Sundance Film Festival. He also formed and led the inaugural Black employee resource group, Vested Interest in Black Employees (V.I.B.E) from 2018 through 2021, as Co-Chair.

EMMA LUFFINGHAM – PRODUCER

Emma joined World Productions in 2019 as Head of Development. During that time she has also story-produced SHOWTRIAL (BBC), KAREN PIRIE (ITV), and a handful of upcoming projects in production. Prior to joining World, Emma was at Tiger Aspect where she script exec’d THE GOOD KARMA HOSPITAL and headed up a Writers Initiative to identify new British Asian talent. Emma began her drama career at the BBC where her credits include the Bafta-winning THREE GIRLS, UNDERCOVER, SILK, WHAT REMAINS, and THE INTERCEPTOR.

PETER MOHAN – WRITER, PRODUCER

Peter has more than 600 hours of dramatic programming for network television. His credits as a writer and Executive Producer include THE HARDY BOYS, ORPHAN BLACK, THE LISTENER, LOST GIRL, MUTANT X, DUE SOUTH, and BLOOD TIES. In addition, Peter has twice served as the Showrunner in Residence for Norman Jewison’s prestigious Canadian Film Centre.

RANDALL KEENAN WINSTON – PRODUCER

Randall Keenan Winston is the producer of many beloved comedy series including SCRUBS, and COUGAR TOWN, working with such icons as Michael J. Fox and Courteney Cox. He is currently serving as Executive producer and Director on AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE and MIXEDISH. Randall proudly served as a board member of Ohio University and the Lupus Foundation of America and has served as mentor and Director for The International Screenwriters Association and GLAAD.

JOSEPH MALLOZZI – WRITER, PRODUCER

Joseph is a writer and producer known for STARGATE SG-1, STARGATE: ATLANTIS, DARK MATTER, and TRANSPORTER: THE SERIES. In 2012, he co-created the comic book DARK MATTER with Paul Mullie and made it into a TV series with Mallozzi and Mullie co-writing. A renowned and respected sci-fiction writer, Joseph has written on scores of TV shows, including projects as diverse as THE ADVENTURES OF PADDINGTON BEAR to RIPLEY’S BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

BILL THOMAS – SHOWRUNNER & DIRECTOR

Bill is a drama showrunner and documentary maker for various channels including Investigation Discovery, National Geographic, and the BBC. Bill also directs feature films and TV series – most recently an adaptation of THE THREE MUSKETEERS for Signature Entertainment and AMERICAN MONSTER for Arrow Entertainment. Bill began his career in film and TV art departments, working as a prop maker on various movies, including STAR WARS, five of the HARRY POTTER films V FOR VENDETTA, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, JAMES BOND, and THE DARK KNIGHT RISES.

RACHEL JAMES – DEVELOPMENT EDITOR

Rachel is a Development Editor working at RED production Company in the UK. She started her career as a trained broadcast journalist in regional news before making the move into TV production. She gained over 12 years of experience working with indies and broadcasters like BBC, Tiger Aspect, and Phil McIntyre across a number of high-end TV drama series. Most recently at RED, she worked with the script team on IT’S A SIN, the Channel 4, and HBO hit show by Russell. T. Davies.

ANTHONY FLOREZ – WRITER

Anthony Florez is a Native American writer and director who was selected for the 21st Century Fox Writers Lab and awarded the Tisch School of Arts Dean’s Fellowship in television writing. Anthony was a 2020 Shore Scripts Short Film Fund winner with TWO BEARS, which premiered at Palm Springs Int’l ShortsFest where it was nominated for Best Short Film. Anthony has gone on to write for the TV shows DEPUTY (Fox), DARK WINDS (AMC), and POWERBOOK IV: FORCE (Starz).

TERESA HUANG

Teresa Huang is a graduate of the CBS Writers Mentoring Program and was named a WGA TV Writer Access Project honoree. Her television credits include AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (Netflix), SUPERSTITION (SYFY), MACGYVER (CBS), SEAL TEAM (CBS), and TOM SWIFT (The CW). She is currently the Co-EP for FX’s ALIEN:EARTH.

JESSICA RUSTON

Jess was the lead writer and co-creator of the Netflix adaptation of GEEK GIRL. She has also written on shows such as HARLOTS, YOUNG WALLANDER, SANCTUARY and CATCH ME A KILLER. Jess has multiple projects in development with production companies and broadcasters in the UK and the US. The author of four novels, all published by Headline Review, Jess is known for her ability to work in different mediums and genres.