October Mentors

Our 2019 October Colony mentors (pictured below from L to R) comprise an undeniable brain trust for our four feature screenwriters in residence. Over the first weekend, Ilyse McKimmie (long time Deputy Director of Sundance Institute and UCLA alumna) and Keith Bunin (screenwriter and playwright) join our group. They bring years worth of stories and have both seen many projects through to fruition from different points of view. Our mentors offer notes, industry wisdom, and camaraderie to our four writers at the beginning of the month. These conversations will inevitable inform the work writers do all month.

The second weekend brings Talia Cohen of Topic Studios and writer/director Jeremiah Zagar to the island.  As the Director of Film at Topic Studios, Talia is exposed to a wide spectrum of projects being shown around the industry. Jeremiah is a filmmaker who spans the worlds of fiction, nonfiction and commercial, most recently premiering at Sundance with his acclaimed We the Animals.

The final weekend will bring Alix and Alex.  Producer (and member of the Academy) Alix Madigan has a slew of experiences and successes under her belt, including WINTER'S BONE starring Jennifer Lawrence. Alex Smith writes and directs with his brother on features and pilots distributed by the likes of Amazon, HBO, and Disney.

The autumn foliage on Nantucket provides an inspiring backdrop for mentors to offer guidance and expertise to our narrative feature writers. Writing can be a solitary pursuit so we deeply thank these six exceptional advisors for creating community and helping our 2019 narrative feature writers develop the most moving stories possible. THANK YOU!