Agent, Editor, Film Bios

Taking literature pitches

Looking For: Marilyn is most interested in nonfiction topics from experts in the areas of health, history, cooking, business, lifestyle and pop culture. She loves to be seduced by fresh ideas, great writing and smart marketing in almost every discipline.
Bio: Marilyn Allen spent 25 years working in positions of increasing publishing responsibility culminating in Associate Publisher and Senior Vice President of Marketing for Harper Collins before striking out on her own seven years ago. She is an impassioned advocate for innovation in the marketing and selling of books and loves to work with writers who understand their audience and have smart marketing plans.

Taking film pitches

Looking For: Comedy
Bio: Ali Bell is the Vice President of Production/Development for Ivan Reitman's production banner, The Montecito Picture Company. The company most recently produced the film Disturbia and is in pre/post-production with a slate of films that include such talent as Atom Egoyan, Jason Jones, Michael Keaton, Carol Burnett, Elizabeth Banks, Jason Sudeikus, and Rainn Wilson. Ali has also been the Director of Development for David Heyman's production banner Heyday Films (Harry Potter, UK Film & TV), and an executive at Nickelodeon Movies a production company based at Paramount Pictures (Lemony Snickett, Nacho Libre, Mighty Mouse). She also did marketing for Nickelodeon.

Taking film pitches

Looking For: Thriller, Action
Bio: Foursight Entertainment was formed in October 1999 by four USC undergraduate film students, working out of their shared one-bedroom college dormitory. Eight year later the company has expanded to represent twenty-give writers, director, and talent for film and television. Recent Foursight client credits include Pirates of the Caribbean I, II and III. The Terminal, The Messengers, Child's Play I-V, HBO's Entourage, and The Shield on FX.

Taking film pitches
Looking for: All genres, including scripted and unscripted television.
Bio: After working his way through the Hollywood development system, including work as a script consultant for A-list stars, story editor at a lit management company, and head of a large development team at Platinum Studios, Jay Burns founded Jaywalk Films in 2006 to develop and produce film projects of all genres and both scripted and unscripted television.
Jay was born and raised in Alaska, and quickly dove into the theatre scene in the great north. His time in theatre and opera eventually led him to film, but only after working every conceivable job in a theatre or on a film set.

Taking literature pitches

Looking for: Bill handles all fiction and non-fiction, and specifically looks for stories that have film adaptation potential.
Bio: Bill Contardi is a literary agent representing fiction and nonfiction at Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc. in New York. He started in publishing as an editor working at New American Library, Berkley, and Popular Library. He then worked as vice-president, literary affairs at United Artists and Warner Brothers acquiring literary materials for film. Prior to joining Brandt & Hochman, Bill Contardi was an agent for eleven years at William Morris Agency in New York selling books to film and television.

Taking literature pitches

Looking For: Komenar publishes first-time novelists, mostly literary mainstream and mystery, some historical and adventure. We look for three things: Compelling story, engaging characters, and evocative setting.
Bio: Charlotte Cook, President of Komenar Publishing, co-founded this mainstream house in 2005 to bring attention and opportu- nity to remarkable first-time novelists. Writer's Digest featured Charlotte and Komenar in the Febru- ary 2008 "Ask The Pro" column. Komenar's talented and nimble team has published four titles that have earned many awards, reviews, and sales. (My Half of the Sky was a Book- Sense Pick. Charlotte teaches public writing workshops/ classes, as well as the industry-oriented workshop entitled "Author Boot Camp" at writers conferences and adult schools.

Taking film pitches

Looking For: Children's, Comedies, Dra- ma, Biopics (if the person has the underlying rights to the story ONLY!), and Christmas (any holiday stories - Valentines/Mother's Day etc).
Bio: A seasoned Producer, who got her start at Paramount Pictures, Kerry started Lucky Crow Films in 2002 with directing partner; Jon Gunn. She optioned and Exec Produced Agent Cody Banks and Cody Banks 2 for MGM, Executive Produced Perfect Romance for Lifetime, Produced the award-winning doc, My Date With Drew, worked on Practical Magic, The Blue Room, Mission Impossible 2, and Eyes Wide Shut. She just wrapped production on Like Dandelion Dust starring Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper and Cole Hauser which was adapted to the screen by Stephen Rivele (Ali, Nixon).
Currently she is Producing the documentary Seeking Happily Ever After and about to start production on Why Beulah Shot Her Pistol Inside the Baptist Church. Ms. David is also Co-founder of IndieProducer.net.

Taking literature pitches

Looking For: Verna is currently accepting submissions in the following genres: Fiction: Commercial and Literary Fiction, Mystery, suspense, thriller, commercial women's fiction, young adult, Native American Indian. She has also taken an interest in books with a political, cultural or economic context. No sci-fi or horror.
Bio: Verna Dreisbach is a new agent with Andrea Hurst Literary Management, joining the agency in 2007. An award winning published author, she has written for books, literary journals, magazines, and newspapers, as well as ghostwriting for a New York Times bestselling author. She works directly with packaging authors and ideas for such series books as The Idiot's Guides and The Everything Guides, and believes in helping authors break into the world of writing through these types of guide books. If you have an idea for a guide book, are an expert in a field that you believe should have a one, or would like to be a writer for one of these projects in conjunction with an expert, please send her your resume. Verna's 13 years of law enforcement experience as a former police officer gives her a genuine interest and expertise in the genres of mystery, true crime, and suspense. Her other interests include horses, having ridden since she was a young girl. Her newest endeavor has taken her into the realm of natural horsemanship training.

Taking literature pitches

Looking For: Adult literary ficiton. April does not represent mysteries or murders, thrillers, historical fiction or fantasy, nor does she represent children's titles.
Bio: April joined the Andrea Brown Literary Agency Inc. in 2006 after three years of editorial work with a major literary magazine.
Her specialty is adult literary fiction, particularly ironic family dramas and realistic midlife tales, often with a twist, preferably involving strong female characters. She is attracted to collections of interlinked stories with a common character or theme. An original voice and smart, speedy delivery are critical.

Taking film pitches
Looking For: Thrillers, action, family, hor- ror and comedy scripts. He is also searching for the person who stole his car.
Bio: Neal Flaherty is a former Benderspink Executive who recently founded his own production company, Royal Prospect. He is currently in preproduction on the feature film Curve and the documentary Fight Night. This fall/winter Lion's Gate will be releasing Kill Theory, a film Flaherty developed from an idea with a then unknown writer.

Taking literary pitches

Looking for: Jim buys almost all fiction, but he also looks for good, commercial non-fiction in history and science. In fiction, he likes: mysteries, thrillers, science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction. He would also love to find a terrific contemporary novelist with a sense of humor, and/or a good urban fantasy (i.e., sexy vampire novels and the like).
Bio: James Frenkel has worked in publishing since 1971. He has, at various times, been an editor, an agent, a packager and a publisher. He has worked for Dell Publishing/Delacorte Press, Grosset & Dunlap, Macmillan Publishing, and for the past twenty-five years has edited books for Tom Doherty Associates (Tor Books/Forge Books). He is currently a Senior Editor for TDA, and for twenty years has been the packager of The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror anthology series published by St. Martin's Press.

Taking literature pitches

Looking for: Jane purchases non-fiction books related to the craft of writing.
Bio: Jane Friedman is editorial director at F+W Publications in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she oversees the publication of more than 50 titles each year, under the imprints of Writer's Digest Books, HOW Books, Betterway Books, and TOW Books. Her editorial resume includes turns at Writer's Digest magazine, North Light Books, and The Evansville Review. In addition to her acquisitions work at F+W, she also serves as contributing editor at IdentityTheory.com and teaches composition at the University of Cincinnati. She holds a BFA in creative writing and a master's in English.

Taking film pitches

Looking For: Will hear any genre.
Bio: Alexis Garcia is an agent at Endeavor in the independent group. Previously he was an associate in the Entertainment & Media Group in the law firm Sheppard Mullin, where he counseled entertainment industry clients in the development, production, financing and distribution of motion picture and television content. He represented enter- tainment/media clients targeting U.S. Latino audiences and/or involved in film production in Latin America, whether focusing on English or Spanish content. Mr. Garcia earned his J.D. in 2002 from UCLA School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Entertainment Law Review, Business Editor of the UCLA Law Review, and Coordinating Editor of the Chicano-Latino Law Review. Mr. Garcia is also a board member of the East L.A. Classic Theatre, a non-profit aimed at providing comprehensive literacy training and engaging, relevant theatre experiences to disadvantaged youth and minority communities in the promotion of cultural inclusion and academic excellence. Alexis is member of NALIP - Natl Assn of Latino Independent Producers.

Taking film pitches

Looking For: Small thrillers, horror, ro- mantic comdedy. No period or sci-fi.
Bio: Karen has over 20 years experience in the film industry ranging from small independent features to overseeing production for major studio films. After 10 years at the William Morris Agency as Head of the Story Department, Karen left to serve as President of Feature Films for Icon Productions. Karen left Icon to form Ten Chimneys Entertainment to develop projects for all media. In 2003 she produced The Rundown for Universal Studios. At the same time Ten Chimneys began producing programming for children, starting with Animal Atlas and later Safari Tracks, two television series now in their 3rd and 4th years of national syndication. In 2007 Karen produced the animated feature The Ten Commandments and is in pre-production on the thriller Phase One.

Taking film pitches

Looking For: Comedy, Drama with a sci-fi element.
Bio: Jason Gold graduated from the American University's School of Communication in Washington, DC and immediately started his career at Trilogy Entertainment Group in Hollywood. He then went on to the Kaplan Stahler Gumer Braun agency where he worked for a high-level television literary agent. Following his time at Kaplan, Jason worked at DreamWorks SKG in the feature story dept. While at DreamWorks, Jason worked on such films as Disturbia and Sweeney Todd. After DreamWorks, Jason returned to the representation world as a Junior Manager at Artist International. While there Jason became Story Editor and later Creative Executive of Artist Interna- tional's parent company Hollywood Studios International. Jason now serves as Creative Executive for Remember Dreaming Produc- tions as well as being a Manager at In Season Management where he services many literary and talent clients.

Taking film pitches

Looking For:scripts for independent films
Bio: Since graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Cinema & Photography from Ithaca College, Jon Gunn has worked as a director, screenwriter, producer and editor. His most recent films include Mercy Streets and My Date With Drew. Gunn is directing Like Dandelion Dust adapted for the screen by Oscar nominated screenwriter, Stephen J. Rivele and to be released by 20th Century Fox. In the Spring of 08 Gunn will direct Why Beulah Shot Her Pistol Inside the Baptist Church adapted for the screen by Gail Gilchriest (My Dog Skip). Gunn with writing partner, John Mann have most recently sold their spec script Ian The Vampire to Fox Searchlight and were hired by Dreamworks to write their next animated film Alcatraz. Gunn is also President of IndieProducer.net

Taking literary pitches
Looking for: Spencer represents fiction and non-fiction for younger children, including picture books, early readers, chapter books and middle grade projects. Spencer does not represent juvenile educational titles, nor adult fiction or non-fiction, but she does maintain collegial relationships with agencies that specialize in work for grown-ups.
Bio: Spencer officially launched the agency side of her consulting business in 2007. Many of the talented creative people Spencer had worked with over the years as an editorial director and publisher at such companies as Price, Stern, Sloan, Disney Publishing, Lyrick Studios and Scholastic, and as the head of RHG, had projects she couldn't resist helping to develop. She sold her first picture book manuscript in 2007.

Taking film pitches
Looking for: Comedies, Thrillers.
Bio: After graduating Cal Poly S.L.O. in 1995 with a degree in Finance, Josh was hired to work for John Davis of Davis Entertainment and worked on such films as Grumpier Old Men, Courage Under Fire, Out to Sea, The Chamber, and Dr. Dolittle. He then started his own production company, Jericho Entertainment, where he produced The Hebrew Hammer starring Adam Goldberg, Andy Dick, and Mario Van Peebles. He is currently developing several other films including Living and Breathing starring Tom Wilkinson, Anjelica Huston and Sandra Oh as well as Mistral with Wind Dancer Films and Matt Williams. Josh's clients include Robert Knott (Apaloosa); Giancarlo Esposito (Gospel Hill); Laurence Malkin and Chad Thumann (Five Fingers); Dean Craig (Caffeine, Death At A Funeral); Ken Bowser (Easy Riders, Raging Bulls; Live From New York); and a host of other literary clients.

Taking literary pitches

Looking for: Practical nonfiction, including health, diet & fitness, self-help, how-to, pop psychology, relationships, parenting, personal finance, cookbooks and a few celebrity autobiographies. All books are written by or with top, nationally recognized experts in their field.
Bio: The Linda Konner Literary Agency (LKLA), founded in 1996, represents ap proximately 70 authors of adult nonfiction books. She has written eight books, including Just the Weigh You Are: How to be fit and healthy whatever your size (Houghton Mifflin) and The Last Ten Pounds (Avon), both of which were reissued in 2000 by Barnes & Noble Publishing; How to Be Successfully Published in Magazines (St. Martin's Press), Why Can't a Man Be More Like a Cat? (Dell), and Your Perfect Weight (Rodale), which has sold over 450,000 copies.

Taking film pitches
Looking for: Intelligent, character and story driven works that have the potential for mainstream appeal.
Bio: In 2001, Koplan founded Timbergrove in order to develop and produce the kinds of films that he enjoys most - intelligent, character and story driven works that have the potential for mainstream appeal. In February 2007, Koplan completed production on the film noir thriller The Last Lullaby, which stars Tom Sizemore (Saving Private Ryan, Heat) and Sasha Alexander (Mission Impossible III and NCIS.) Lullaby is currently in postproduction in Los Angeles. Koplan is a graduate from the University of Virginia and serves on the board of the Virginia Film Festival.

Taking literary pitches

Looking for: Juvenile & YA only. I am particularly interested in character-driven YA and MG fiction with a strong voice, but I will also be happy to look at picture books, chapter books and juvenile non-fiction projects.
Bio: Jennifer is new to the Andrea Brown Literary Agency, but not to the world of children's books. She's been a children's bookseller for more than a decade, and is the founder of the extremely popular YA event series Not Your Mother's Book Club. She's been with Andrea Brown Literary Agency since 2007 and is quickly building a roster of top-notch clients. Jennifer is interested in helping dedicated authors build careers.

Taking film pitches

Looking for: Krista's focus is on non- fiction written by women for women. She specializes in memoir, both serious and humorous, and working with authors developmentally to voice the most difficult experiences honestly and simply. "Uncluttered honesty, speaking your truth-that's what's going to matter to a reader. That's what has the potential to change someone's life."
Bio: Krista Lyons-Gould has been in book publishing more than twelve years. She is currently the VP, Publisher of Seal Press, a member of the Perseus Books Group and has been working with Seal since late 2003. Priorto her role at Seal, she was the VP Editorial for Avalon Travel Publishing, then an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group (now also part of the Perseus family).

Taking literature pitches
Looking for: Great science-fiction/fantasy, creative mysteries, and chilling novels of hor- ror, thriller, and suspense.
Bio: Originally from Philadelphia, Steve Mancino moved to New York in 1999 and quickly took a position at Barnes and Noble's midtown flagship store. His specialties include Classical and Medieval literature, especially Chaucer, and Milton. Outside of his degree, Steve has an interest in Philosophy, having studied the pre-Socratics, Plato, Aristotle, and philosophies on "The Self." Steve celebrated his first sale for JABberwocky in April 2005 with Kat Richardson's Greywalker, a cross-genre blend of urban/paranormal fantasy and mystery, in a three book deal. He followed it up with Jim C. Hines' funny fantasy, Goblin Quest, in a two book deal within a year.

Taking literature pitches
Looking for: In terms of acquisitions, Ten Speed Press publishes lifestyle nonfiction books in the areas of how-to, cooking, career and business, pop culture, and body-mind-spirit. My special interests include gift, pop culture, DIY, green living, health and healing, nutrition, self-help, alternative spirituality, and sex and relationships. Books that take a fresh or quirky approach to their subject, usually with a prescriptive element.
Bio:Brie Mazurek is a senior editor at Ten Speed Press, a Berkeley-based independent publisher specializing in lifestyle nonfiction titles. During her nine-plus years at Ten Speed, she has worked on a wide array of books, from illustrated nonfiction to high-quality cookbooks to best-selling career guides. that take a fresh or quirky approach to their subject, usually with a prescriptive element. Visit www.tenspeed.com.

Taking film pitches
Looking For: Comedy scripts (romantic, broad, family, teen, R-rated etc.), coming of age or family friendly scripts, young adult thriller or horror. No sci-fi, period epics or romance novel type material.
Bio: Danny Manus is the Creative Executive for Clifford Werber Productions (Cinderella Story, Sydney White, Just Add Water) an in- dependent production company. CWP recently sold a larger budget, family fantasy/adventure project to United Artists, and a MOW pitch to ABC Family, both which are currently being developed. Manus is attached to co-produce both of these projects. Daniel was previously the Director of Development for Sandstorm Films (The Covenant, 8MM2), an independent production company with a first look deal at Sony Screen Gems and a development deal with Top Cow Comics. Daniel has written articles on the development process published in Script Magazine and is currently writing a book about pitch- fests, which will serve as a "No B.S. Guide for Writers."
Raised on Long Island, NY, he holds a BS degree in Television with a concentration in Screenwriting from the Ithaca College Park School of Communications.

Taking film pitches
Looking for: Comedy, Drama, Thriller. No torture/porn thrillers.
Bio: Before launching Tom Sawyer Entertainment, Rachel Miller worked at Red Wagon Entertainment (Gladiator, Memoirs Of a Geisha, Bewitched, Jarhead, Spy Game) and at the management company Handprint Entertainment with artists such as Mariah Carey, Brandy, Tyra Banks, and Kyra Sedgwick. Miller also worked in the international sales department of the endeavor talent agency on such films as Northfork and Step into Liquid. Miller is a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where she worked with NYU's Tisch and Leonard M. Stern School of Business to develop a joint undergraduate producing certificate program.

Taking literary pitches

Looking for: Nick's tastes tend to run just outside the mainstream. Counter-cultural, counter-intuitive, thought provoking, dark, relevant-if any of these describe a project, then it will probably hold some appeal for him. Politics, current affairs, science (particularly physics and space), pop culture criticism, sports, scientific thrillers, noir, literary fiction-apply a unique perspective and Nick's curiosity will be piqued. And funny is good, too. Everybody likes the funny.
Bio: "Nick Mullendore joined Loretta Barrett Books, Inc. in April 1998 and is the Vice President and Director of Foreign Rights for the agency. He began his publishing career in publicity at HarperBusiness, the trade business books imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, after graduating from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a B.A. in Creative Writing in 1996.

Taking film pitches
Looking For: Thrillers, horror, comedy, R Rated Comedy, Sports films, really open to anything.
Bio: Dave graduated from Indiana University in 2001 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre and a minor in Film Studies. Dave began as an intern at both Lighthouse Productions (working for producer Michael Phillips) and at New Line Cinema in their development department. In January of 2004, he was hired on at New Line as an on call temp. That May, the development department hired him on as their departmental assistant. In August of 2004, he was hired on as the assistant to the Senior Executive Vice President of Production, Richard Brener, where he worked as Richard's assistant dur- ing development and production of many projects including Monster in Law, Just Friends, Final Destionation 3, The Number 23, and Wedding Crashers. Dave was promoted to Creative Executive in January 07.

Taking film pitches
Looking For: All.
Bio: John Orlando began his career in entertainment writing and editing a magazine for Disney Channel where he caught the film bug. He went on to be a creative executive at Codikow Films and then took a job at the William Morris Agency where he worked for 2 1/2 years in the feature and television literary departments. John left WMA to get back into development, working in features development at John Wells Productions and subsequently at United Artists until the studio's demise in 2005. After UA, John worked as a talent/literary manager at Circle of Confusion where he saw the completion of the first feature he brought in to the company, Senseless, which shot independently in Scotland last year. Presently John runs production and development for Contradiction Films, an independent producer/financier based in Can- ada. They plan to shoot their first 2 features, The Demonstration and Diary of a Superhero, back-to-back this Summer.

Taking literature pitches

Looking for: Tony handles thrillers, mysteries, politics, international culture and history, music, baseball, and football. No poetry, cookbooks, gardening books, children's books, or science fiction.
Bio: Tony Outhwaite has been an agent at JCA Literary Agency since 1984 and previously worked at St. Martin's Press. He has also published articles on jazz, culture, and politics in National Review, Chronicles, Jazz, Actuel, and other magazines. His book, Clubs of Whistle Stop Chords: The Story of the High-Life Jazz Organ America's Inner Cities, was published in early 2006. JCA Literary Agency represents general fiction and non-fiction. Outhwaite's personal interests are thrillers and mysteries, literary and international fiction and nonfiction projects on politics, international culture and history (especially France, Italy, Central Europe and Africa), music ( jazz and rhythm-and-blues), and some sports (baseball and football). JCA does not handle poetry, cookbooks, gardening books, children's books or science fiction.

Taking film pitches
Looking for: Open.
Bio: Lucienne Papon currently works as an executive for Director Martin Campbell at Sony Pictures. In 2005, she won the Gil Cates Fellowship, and she was awarded the first annual Debra Hill Fellowship by the Producers Guild of America given to an up and coming female producer, which included a $15,000 grant to aid in the development of her projects. Previously, Lucienne worked as an assistant to Producer Chris Moore, then with a first look deal with Miramax. Projects in development were Joy Ride for Fox, American Weddings for Universal, and the Project Greenlight series.

Taking film pitches
Looking for: Action, Action Adventure, Thriller
Bio: Currently a Development Executive at Kurtzman/Orci (Transformers, Mission: Impossible 3, Star Trek 11, Zorro), Steven is responsible for bringing new projects into the company (spec screenplays, articles, and pitches), as well as overseeing the develop ment on projects including Cowboys & Aliens (DreamWorks) and 2012 (Warners).
Before these two films Steven worked with Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. With them he co-founded Centropolis Effects, the digital effects company that produced effects for Panic Room, Scorpion King, The Patriot, Stuart Little, Godzilla, End of Days, and others.
Steven has produced digital visual effects and/or main and end title sequences, commercials and trailers for a host of films including Braveheart, Se7en, The Shadow, In the Line of Fire, Demolition Man, Sister Act 2, True Lies and Last Action Hero.

Taking literature pitches

As a former editor at NAL/Signet, Pocket Books, Bantam Books, and as manager of book publishing for The Los Angeles Times, Angela Rinaldi has worked closely with first novelists and nonfiction writers. She has taught publishing programs at UCLA and was a member of the Literature Panel for the California Arts Council. She is a member of AAR. Her agency list is an eclectic mix of nonfiction and fiction and includes the former New York Times bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson, Zen Golf by Dr. Joseph Parent, Some Writers Deserve to Starve: 31 Brutal Truths About the Publishing Industry by Elaura Niles, My First Crush by Linda Kaplan, Reflections from the Heart: What Our Animal Companions Tell Us by Deborah DeMoss Smith, Rescue Me by Megan Clark and novelists Drusilla Campbell, Marjorie Reynolds, Stephanie Kane and Eben Paul Perison. She is actively looking for commercial and literary fiction, narrative non-fiction and practical and proactive nonfiction. She does not represent category romances, science fiction/fantasy, westerns, cookbooks, poetry, children's books, young adult titles or film scripts.
Angela will not be taking pitches on Sunday.

Taking literature pitches
Looking for: Quality fiction and general non-fiction.
Bio: BJ Robbins has worked in the book publishing industry her entire adult life, starting in the publicity department at Simon & Schuster and later at Harcourt. In 1992 she started her own Los Angeles-based literary agency, which represents quality fiction and general nonfiction, with a particular interest in memoir, biography, history, pop culture, sports, travel/adventure, medicine and health. Her client list includes novelists James D. Houston (Snow Mountain Passage; Bird of Another Heaven), Craig Ferguson (Between the Bridge and the River), Eduardo Santiago (Tomorrow They Will Kiss), John Hough, Jr. (The Last Summer and the upcoming Carry Me Home) A member of AAR and PEN USA West, Ms. Robbins has led workshops at UCLA Extension, UC Irvine Extension and at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers Fiction Workshop.

Taking film pitches in groups only

Looking for: Comedy, action, horror, and thriller.
Bio: Luke Ryan arrived in Hollywood in 2000 and has since worked as a screenwriter, producer, studio executive, and instructor at UCLA Extension. He has a script in development at New Line, has served as a studio executive at New Line and Paramount Pictures/MTV Films, and his producing credits include Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle and the recent New Line Cinema release, Martian Child. When he's not single-hand- edly trying to bring about the downfall of western cinematic culture, he enjoys watching enormously trashy reality TV shows and hiking with his dog, Blue.

Taking film pitches
Looking for:
Bio: Most recently, Ellen Sandler was a co-executive producer and writer on the Emmy-winning hit series Everybody Loves Raymond, and has written for over twenty- five other prime-time network television series. She is a highly regarded script consultant, and in addition to her television writing workshops in Los Angeles and New York, is a frequent featured speaker at schools and universities across the country.
Ellen began her career in New York as a playwright and director. Her recent theatrical productions in Los Angeles include Jewish Roots at the Hudson Theatre and How'd It Go? starring Megan Mullally at the HBO/Warner Bros. Workspace. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writers Guild of America.

Taking literary pitches

Looking for: Kristin is looking for well- written, smart commercial fiction with strong characters. She is especially interested in historical fiction, mysteries, and women's fiction.
Bio: Kristin Sevick joined Tor/Forge's editorial department in July 2006 after working for a few years in medical publishing. She received her bachelor's in Communications at New York University and is the editor of a new historical mystery series for Forge. She lives in Queens with her fianc� and their spoiled cavalier spaniel.

Taking film pitches

Looking for: Ken represents screen, television and book writers, and also sells film and television rights to books, plus life rights.
Bio: Ken Sherman is the President of Ken Sherman and Associates, a Beverly Hills-based literary agency. Ken represents screen, television and book writers, and also sells film and television rights to books plus life rights. Since graduating from the University of California-Berkeley as a psychology major, Ken has returned to the classroom numerous times having taught his course, "The Business of Writing for Screen, Television and Publishing", at both USC and UCLA for more than six years.

Taking literature pitches

Looking for: Christian Fiction and non-fiction
Bio: It was April, 1997 when Kimberly began her employment in the sales department at Harvest House. In 2001 she was hired into the editorial department where she now tracks over 1,200 submissions a year as the manuscript coordinator. She has discovered numerous new authors who have found great success in the mass market (selling nearly 750,000 copies total). Her ability to spot talent is uncanny, and her passion for the underdog makes her a favorite with agents. Now with literary works, radio, and television (appearing on the 700 Club) added to her repertoire, Kimberly is constantly on the search for promising first-time authors who are looking for that all important break.

Taking literature pitches

Looking for: In picture books and middle- grade, Kelly looks for a good sense of humor, stories that stretch a young reader's imagination, and speak to them in an authentic voice. In young-adult, she appreciates character-driven stories and literary voices. In non-fiction for children, she looks for projects that inspire and stimulate our younger generations. On the adult side, Kelly is interested in fiction and non-fiction with international or multicultural themes.
Bio: Kelly Sonnack is an agent with the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. The Los Angeles Times dubbed the Dijkstra Agency "the most powerful literary agency on the West Coast". Kelly started her publishing career under the publishing giant Elsevier, where she worked as an Acquisitions Editor under the Academic Press imprint. Some of Kelly's recent and soon to be published books include Steve Watkins' Down Sand Mountain (Candlewick), Jasmin Darznik's The Good Daughter (Grand Central), Merrily Kutner's Alphabet Magic (Roaring Brook), and Candace Ryan's Animal House (Bloomsbury).

Taking literature pitches
After fourteen years at Random House Children's Books, Jim Thomas has worked on everything from easy readers to nonfiction for teens. His passion, however, is middle-grade and YA fiction, and he now specializes in this area as well as serving as the middle-grade/YA editorial director for the Random House imprint. Authors he's worked with include Jeff Stone (The Five Ancestors), Jeanne DuPrau (The Books of Ember), and Joaquin Dorfman (Playing It Cool).

Taking literature pitches

Looking for: Actively seeking new authors, Sally is interested in commercial and literary fiction, narrative nonfiction, education, business and current affairs.
Bio: Sally van Haitsma is a literary agent with the Castiglia Literary Agency. The agency has placed best-selling nonfiction and fiction titles with major publishers since 1993, also representing film and foreign rights. Sally's new sales include: Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien (Simon & Schuster); Silverstein & Me by Marv Gold (Red Hen Press); America Libre and El Nuevo Alamo- -2 book deal--by Raul Ramos y Sanchez (Grand Central); and The Leisure Seeker by Michael Zadoorian (HarperCollins). She has a Masters in Communication from UC San Diego and graduated Phi Beta Kappa.