A-LEVEL INDUSTRY PROFESSIONAL JUDGES

Steven Conrad

Steven Conrad (born 1969) is an American screenwriter, film producer and director. He sold his first screenplay, Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, adapted from a short story he had written for a creative writing class. He followed shortly after with The Weather Man (which he also produced) and The Pursuit of Happyness. In 2013, he adapted a James Thurber short story for the film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by and starring Ben Stiller. In 2015, he developed Patriot for Amazon Studios and it premiered in its entirety on February 24, 2017. In addition to executive-producing the series, he has also written and directed most of the first season's episodes. In the same year, Conrad re-wrote the script for Wonder. Conrad wrote, produced, and directed two seasons of Patriot streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Perpetual Grace, LTD on Epix.

Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson is both an Oscar (Rain Man) and an Emmy (Breaking Bad) winner who has produced over forty films and television shows. Johnson produced all of the writer-director Barry Levinson’s films from 1982-1994. In addition to Rain Man, their diverse slate of acclaimed features includes Good Morning, Vietnam, The Natural, Tin Men, Avalon, Diner, and Bugsy, nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. His slate of motion pictures includes The Chronicles of Narnia franchise and David Chase’s Not Fade Away. He produced Alfonso Cuaron’s A Little Princess, The Notebook, Ballast, Galaxy Quest; The Rookie directed by John Lee Hancock; Mike Newell’s gangster drama Donnie Brasco starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino; and Clint Eastwood’s A Perfect World starring Kevin Costner. He produced the 2017 Alexander Payne film Downsizing starring Matt Damon, as well as Simon Baker's directorial debut Breath. Earlier this year he completed El Camino directed by Vince Gilligan. He is currently producing Fever Dream directed by Claudia Llosa in Chile and the John Lee Hancock movie The Little Things starring Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto.

 

Tom Ortenberg

Tom Ortenberg served as CEO at Open Road Films, a theatrical distribution company founded in 2011 by AMC Entertainment and Regal Entertainment Group, the two largest exhibition companies in the United States. He spent over 12 years at Lionsgate Entertainment, opening their Los Angeles office in 1996 and serving as President of Theatrical Films until he left in 2009 to take the same position at The Weinstein Company. Tom began his film career with Columbia Pictures in 1985, and joined Hemdale Film Corporation in 1989, where he served as President of Distribution and Marketing before joining Lionsgate.  Tom is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and is a Trustee of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA). He was named by The Hollywood Reporter as one of the most influential people in Independent Film.

 

Arthur M. Sarkissian

Arthur M. Sarkissian is an Armenian-American film producer mainly known for being one of the producers of the Rush Hour series. He is also a former fashion designer in England, UK, and the founder of a production company under his own name, Sarkissian Productions. His work as a producer also consists of major blockbusters like While You Were Sleeping (1995), Last Man Standing (1996), and The Foreigner (2017).

 

Steven Schneider

Producer Steven Schneider has quickly risen the ranks of Hollywood to become one of the go-to experts in genre films. After having authored and edited numerous books on world cinema and horror, Schneider moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in producing. Following the record-breaking success of 2009's PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, a film he helped bring to the screen, Schneider quickly amassed a slate of impressive films and television series with A-list filmmakers at the helm, including James Wan's INSIDIOUS (2011), Barry Levinson's THE BAY (2011), William Brent Bell's THE DEVIL INSIDE (2011) , Oren Peli's AREA 51 (2012), Rob Zombie's THE LORDS OF SALEM (2012), and the 2011 ABC/DreamWorks Television pilot, The River. He has spent the last several years working with powerhouse producer/director, M. Night Shyamalan on such movies like SPLIT and GLASS. Steven is also actively producing projects alongside horror veteran Roy Lee.

 

Jackie Tepper

Jackie Tepper is a seasoned Film Industry vet who is most currently Producing Partner of the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Dances With Films, aka DWFLA. In her thirteen years with the festival, she is involved in many facets which include: screening committee, Industry Choice Award committee, ICA Judge selection, arranging and moderating VIP Panels and Cocktails & Conversations with guest speakers, Spotlight World, sponsorships, etc. She spent three years as Vice President of Acquisitions and co-productions at the foreign sales company, E7, and eleven years at New Line Cinema/Fine Line Features as Executive Director of Acquisitions and co-productions, where she worked on in house productions, as well as attended major film festivals year round in an acquisition and talent scouting capacity. Additionally, Ms. Tepper has been involved in feature film development and finance. Coming from a music industry family/background, she is deeply passionate about all things creative.

Raquelle David

Raquelle David is an Australian producer and literary manager based in Los Angeles at Elevate Entertainment, who has worked across film and television for the past eleven years. Her multiple film credits have garnered a number of accolades including nominations for Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Australian Academy Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Award and Screen Producers Australia Award. Raquelle has worked for Goalpost Pictures, Seven Network, Screen New South Wales in Australia and Rhombus Media in Toronto, Canada, under the tutelage of producer Niv Fichman (THE RED VIOLIN, ENEMY, BLINDNESS). Her clients are currently working for Marvel TV, HBO Max, Amazon Studios and Netflix. 

 

Bradley Gallo

Bradley is a co-Founder and the President of Film & Television at Amasia Entertainment. He has over 20 years of media and entertainment industry experience including film, television, commercials and journalism. 

Amasia recently acquired the rights to and will be producing the beloved GREEN HORNET AND KATO franchise, set up at Universal, and will also be producing the highly anticipated DARK SHADOWS: REINCARNATION sequel series. Amasia and Bradley also produced John Patrick Shanley’s upcoming WILD MOUNTAIN THYME starring Emily Blunt, Jamie Dornan, Jon Hamm and Christopher Walken; the 2019 Sundance and SXSW selection THEM THAT FOLLOW starring Olivia Colman, Kaitlyn Dever, Alice Englert, Jim Gaffigan, Walton Goggins, Thomas Mann, and Lewis Pullman; MR. RIGHT starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick, directed by Paco Cabezas; and THE CALL starring Halle Berry and Abigail Breslin.