Speakers

Keynote Speaker

Joss Whedon ’87 is an Academy Award-nominated and Hugo Award-winning writer, a director, an executive producer, and an occasional actor. He was the creator, head writer, director, and executive producer of the cult hit, Buffy the Vampire Slayer; its spin-off, Angel; and the futuristic TV show, Firefly. His newest venture is the TV show, Dollhouse, which began airing in February 2009. Mr. Whedon also has written several film scripts and comic book series. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Toy Story’s screenplay. He wrote and directed the film Serenity, based on Firefly. Serenity won the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Mr. Whedon has been described as the world’s first third-generation TV writer, as he is the son of Tom Whedon, a successful screenwriter for The Electric Company in the 1970s and The Golden Girls in the 1980s, and the grandson of John Whedon, a writer for The Donna Reed Show in the 1950s.

Facilitator

Jeanine D. Basinger is the Corwin-Fuller Professor of Film Studies, founder and curator of the Wesleyan Cinema Archives, chair of the Film Studies Department, and a 1996 recipient of Wesleyan’s Binswanger Prize for Excellence in Teaching. Her book, Silent Stars, won the National Board of Review’s William K. Everson Prize. She is the author of numerous articles and book reviews as well as 10 books on film, including A Woman’s View: How Hollywood Spoke to Women 1930–1960; The World War II Combat Film: Anatomy of a Genre; and Anthony Mann: A Critical Study. Her most recent book, The Star Machine, won the Theater Library Association Award of 2008. Professor Basinger served as adviser to Martin Scorsese’s film foundation project, The Story of Movies; co-produced an American Masters episode on Clint Eastwood, and was head consultant on the PBS special American Cinema: 100 Years of Filmmaking, for which she also wrote the companion book.

Presenters

Mark I. Bomback ’93 is a screenwriter whose credits include Race to Witch Mountain, starring Dwayne Johnson; Live Free or Die Hard, starring Bruce Willis and Justin Long; Deception, starring Hugh Jackman and Ewan MacGregor; and Godsend, starring Robert DeNiro and Greg Kinnear. He is presently at work on the features Unstoppable (for director Tony Scott), Agent Zigzag, and The Umbrella Academy, as well as on the HBO miniseries The Sportswriter, which James Mangold will produce and direct. In addition, Mr. Bomback teaches an annual course in screenwriting at Wesleyan University. He lives in Westchester County, New York, with his wife and four children.

Edward (Ed) I. Decter ’79, with writing partner John J. Strauss, wrote There’s Something About Mary, The Santa Clause 2, The Santa Clause 3, The Lizzie McGuire Movie, The Wild, and Rebound. He directed the comedy feature The New Guy, and has created and executive produced television shows, including Chicago Sons and Odd Man Out, for all the major networks. He also has written two book series for Simon and Schuster: The One (Chloe Gamble novels) and The Outriders. Mr. Decter is currently writing Horton Bliss, a feature starring Ashton Kutcher, and Insight, a drama series for Lifetime Television Network (in association with McG’s company, Wonderland Sound and Vision) and Frontier Pictures. Mr. Decter and John J. Strauss’s production company is producing You Again, slated to begin principal photography in August 2009.

Elizabeth (Liz) W. Garcia ’99 has written screenplays for Warner Brothers, Fox Searchlight, Disney, and Revolution Studios. She was a writer for the critically-acclaimed Fox comedy Wonderfalls and was a writer/producer during four seasons of the CBS police drama Cold Case. Her Cold Case episode “Best Friends” won a 2007 GLAAD award for Best Episode of a Television Drama. In 2008, she was one of Variety’s “Top 10 Television Writers to Watch.” She is currently writing pilots for ABC and TNT with her husband, actor Joshua Harto (The Dark Knight). In 2010, Ms. Garcia will be making her directorial debut with the feature film One Percent More Humid, starring Kristen Stewart (Twilight) and Allesandro Nivola (Junebug).

Matthew M. Greenfield ’90 is vice president of production at Fox Searchlight Pictures. As an independent film producer, his feature credits include the award-winning films, The Motel, The Good Girl, Chuck&Buck, and Star Maps. Mr. Greenfield was awarded the John Cassavetes Award for his work on Chuck&Buck at the 2001 Independent Spirit Awards. In 2004, he was named associate director of the Feature Film Program at the Sundance Institute where he worked to find and support the next generation of filmmakers. Mr. Greenfield co-founded Cloverfield Press, a small independent literary publisher currently releasing two to four books a year.

Mark Harris is a columnist for Entertainment Weekly. Recently, his writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, GQ, Details, Portfolio, Slate, and The London Observer. His first book, Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood, was named the best nonfiction book of 2008 by Booklist magazine, and was also listed as one of the year’s best books by many other publications, including the The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Newsday, and Salon. A graduate of Yale University (’85), he lives in New York with his husband, Tony Kushner.

Evan J. Katz ’83 is executive producer of the Fox series 24 and has received the Writers Guild of America episodic dramatic script award for his work on the episode “Day 2: 7:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.” Now in his seventh season on the show, he also is a 2006 Emmy winner for Outstanding Drama Series. Mr. Katz created and was the executive producer of the shows Three and Special Unit 2 for the WB and UPN networks. He also has worked as a writer and/or producer on JAG, Class of ’96, and The Commish. Born and raised in Queens, New York, Mr. Katz received a bachelor of arts degree from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California.

David N. Kendall ’79 has been a writer, director, and producer in both film and television for more than 20 years—and has the scars to prove it. He began his career in television, as a writer and then as a producer, and has more than 200 produced episodes to his credit. A pair of situation comedies that he wrote for and executive produced, Growing Pains and Boy Meets World, had seven-year runs on ABC and remain in worldwide syndication today. As a director, he has worked on 20 different television series. These shows include the current ’tween hits iCarly and Hannah Montana, and the soon-to-premiere series JONAS, starring the Grammy-nominated Jonas Brothers. Mr. Kendall also has written and produced several movies for television, including Nature of the Beast, and he directed the feature The New Guy. He launched his first Internet venture, AngryGreenGirl.com, in spring 2009. Mr. Kendall lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

Jeffrey S. Lane ’76 is best-known for his work on such television programs as Mad About You, Ryan’s Hope, Lou Grant, Cagney and Lacey, The AFI Life Achievement Awards, The Tony Awards, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, and the miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan. He is the winner of five Emmy Awards, three Writers Guild Awards, two Peabodys, a Golden Globe, and the Christopher Award, and the relatively good-natured loser of many more. His book for the Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels earned him both Tony and Drama Desk nominations, as well as the Drama League Award for Best Musical of 2005. According to imdb.com, he played Clarice’s father in the film The Silence of the Lambs. But he didn’t.

Dylan Leiner ’93, is executive vice president, acquisitions and production at Sony Pictures Classics. He has been involved with the acquisition and production of a broad range of films including In The Company of Men; Run Lola Run; Pollock; The Triplets of Belleville; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Cache; Friends with Money; The Lives of Others; Frozen River; The Wackness; Rachel Getting Married; I’ve Loved You So Long; The Class; and Waltz with Bashir. Among his upcoming projects are David Guggenheim’s It Might Get Loud, James Toback’s Tyson, Coco Before Chanel starring Audrey Tatou, Pedro Almodovar’s Broken Embraces, and the British drama, An Education, starring Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, and Emma Thompson. Mr. Leiner oversees Sony Pictures Classics’ physical and post-production services. He has been named by The Hollywood Reporter as a member of its 35 under 35 “Next Generation Group” and by Crain’s New York Business as among its “40 Executives under 40.”

Dan Ira Shotz ’99, is a writer and co-executive producer of Harper’s Island for CBS Television. He also served as co-executive producer on the fan-favorite series Jericho. Both shows were developed by Mr. Shotz, who is a partner with Jon Turteltaub ’85 and Karim Zreik in Junction Entertainment, the company responsible for the films National Treasure and the sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets, among others. Mr. Shotz lives with his wife, Emily, in Los Angeles.

Paul J. Weitz ’88, with his younger brother Chris, first gained notice for his contributions to the screenplay for the computer animated feature Antz. Keeping the family business alive, the Weitz brothers collaborated on their next project as well, Paul as director and Chris as producer of the 1999 teen comedy American Pie. In 2002 the Weitz brothers teamed with screenwriter Peter Hedges to adapt British novelist Nick Hornby’s cult book About a Boy, which the brothers also co-directed. In a 2004 solo project, Mr. Weitz served as writer, director, and producer of In Good Company. He also has received acclaim for his plays, which include Privilege, Roulette, and Show People. As an actor, he appeared in a supporting role in the film Chuck&Buck. Mr. Weitz comes from a Hollywood background: his mother is Academy Award-nominated actress Susan Kohner, his father is fashion designer John Weitz, his grandfather is famed talent agent Paul Kohner, his grandmother is Mexican actress Lupita Tovar, and his uncle is producer Pancho Kohner.