Emine Dursun:
Emine is a Sundance-Alum, New York-based Screenwriter, Script Doctor, and Screenwriting & Creative Writing Teacher. She is a jury member of lots of Film Festivals and Screenplay competitions, such as The Writers Lab US and Europe, which is supported by Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, and Nicole Kidman, and is produced by New York Women in Film & Television. She is leading workshops named “ How To Write An Award Winning Screenplay ”, “ Character Creation ”, “ Building A Strong Structure ”, “ Efficient Moving Dialogue Writing ”, and “ Creative Writing ”. Also gives private lessons in New York. She is the owner of the MAE Media House. Emine is selectively doing script doctoring and script analysis for special projects.

Taylor Lynn:
Taylor Ré Lynn, a New York native, best known for her stage and film work. She has been a producer for numerous prestigious films including the Golden Globe nominated ‘The Fencer’, and ‘Love Gilda’ which premiered opening night of Tribeca Film Festival and on CNN.
Additionally, Taylor Ré serves as a beauty ambassador for various international beauty brands. She is an astute businesswoman and owner of global beauty and fashion enterprises. As an avid supporter of global humanitarian causes, Taylor Ré is passionate about helping others and supports charities including those involving cancer research, HIV eradication, and poverty among vulnerable populations. Ms. Lynn is currently working on film, music and theatre projects in New York, Dubai and Europe.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7524285/

Felix Martinez :
Felix Martinez is a screenwriter and script doctor originally from Argentina. After earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from the New York Film Academy, he began his career working with several production companies in Hollywood before returning to Buenos Aires. Since 2019, Felix has worked as a script doctor for a range of well-known personalities and production companies across Argentina. He is thrilled to serve as a member of the NYISA juror panel.

Nergis Senturk:
Nergis Senturk, an independent filmmaker based in New York with a background in Sociology from Turkey and Hungary, began her journey in the film industry as a production assistant at Plato Film in Istanbul where she gained valuable experience and industry insight. Following her passion for film, storytelling, and adventure, Nergis moved to New York City to pursue further studies in film. She has produced various award-winning films and directed short films, music videos, and commercials. Some of the productions she worked on have been streamed on platforms like Netflix and Amazon. Since 2014, she has been working at MG Cinecraft Productions.
https://imdb.me/nergisenturk

Brianna J. Grant:
“Brianna J. Grant is a 32-year old writer with a brutally realistic perspective and a diverse portfolio of real-life experiences to draw upon. Creativity, specifically writing, has always been her release and, for years, she’s shaped many characters around her little personal universes as a juris doctor, an associate therapist and a college professor. Grant has a long-standing goal of keeping romantic comedies alive and well in her features and to always showcase an underdog worth loving in her television shows. Her writing embraces the beauty in simplicity while also offering stories and characters with deep and diverse layers. When she’s not reading, writing, being a professor or a therapist, she’s probably sleeping, eating, traveling, or laughing with close friends. Her ultimate goal is to see her name rolling the credits of the big screen next to the words: “Written by”.

Website: letsbebreef.com
Instagram: @brianna_jay”

Zihe Tian:
Zihe is an interdisciplinary artist from China. She studied Dramatic Literature and Film Production during her undergrad at NYU and is now pursuing an MFA in Dramaturgy at Columbia University. She works as a dramaturg, artistic/cultural consultant, and voice director in theater, animations, games, and radio dramas. She’s passionate about presenting Classical Chinese culture and art across the world. She is grateful for the opportunity to work for NYISA.

Amelia Cardone :
Amelia Cardone is a creative professional based in the East Village, NYC. She has worked in entertainment across various mediums since 2021, beginning her career at Comedy Central before joining Paramount+, where she currently works in the Creative Marketing Department. Outside of her professional role, Amelia enjoys writing humor articles, pilot and spec scripts, and comedic sketches, as well as producing short films. She also serves as a judge for screenplay and pilot writing competitions, staying closely connected to emerging talent and new voices in the NYC film and television community and beyond.

Xi Ren:
Xi Ren is from China and lives in LA. She earned her undergraduate degree in directing and a graduate degree in screenwriting in America. She is a screenwriter and a member of the International Screenwriters’ Association. She has been writing since she was a little girl. It was total luck and destiny that she pursued this interest as a career and a life. She always believe films and media are ways to gain empathy for people who don’t have a voice, and her goal is to speak up for them.

Ece Sezer Akalin:
During her sociology education at one of the top-rated universities in Europe, she received training in film analysis. After college, she started her career as a production curator at the drama department of TRT1, Turkey’s premiere news and entertainment channel. Actively participated in the script development process and took on the role of dramaturg, executing the entire production process of a series from inception to completion. Currently, she is working as a jury member at a range of international film festivals based in NY and is actively involved in screenplay development. She also works as an assistant managing the festival director and storyboard artist.

Eric Whitten:
As an actor he will be seen as the main antagonist in the upcoming feature film Till (MGM) and has also had roles in shows such as Long Slow Exhale (opp. Josh Lucas), The Jim Gaffigan Show (opp. Jim Gaffigan) and The Tick (opp. Jackie Earle Haley) to name a few.
Training: NYCDA graduate, and former Kelly Kimball Studio & Anthony Abeson Studio member. As a filmmaker he has produced seven projects in just a short couple of years. He was awarded a finishing grant from FilmInk Magazine for his film Chalk, which played at the Academy Award Qualifying LA Shorts Film Fest. His directorial project Daybreak won awards at NYLIFF & Chelsea Film Festival and played at many other festivals.
He is a proud member of FilmShop New York and his feature film script, EAT was a semi-finalist at the Atlanta Film Festival and StoryPro International Screenplay Contest.
Eric loves the great outdoors, spending many weekends on long hikes in the Georgian mountains. When he’s not moonlighting as a nature nerd he is an avid reader and writer as well as a Dungeons & Dragons enthusiast.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4531320/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

Samantha Merrick:
Samantha Merrick is an actress and writer, known for Death of a Good Man, Lapse (2011) and The Anniversary (2008).
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2571405/?ref_=nmbio_bio_nm

Efsane Karayilanoglu Toka:
Efsane is a published author, screenwriter, and script consultant with years of experience in the media and entertainment industry. She has worked with writers and production companies in Hollywood including Eclectic, Pictures and Fabrik Entertainment mainly focusing on script coverage, project development, and script consulting. She was a member of the International Screenwriters’ Association as a script analyst. Her works are published on various platforms including Fil’m Hafizasi, Pera Sinema, Drizzle Review, and Kayip Rihtim. Founder and the Managing Director of the Uplift Script. After graduating from American Robert College, Efsane earned a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering and a Master of Fine Arts in screenwriting. She currently serves as a jury member for the New York International Screenplay Awards and works as a film/TV critic and lecturer. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and enjoys baking and boxing in her free time.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9244463/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Maureen Dowdell:
“ I hold a Bachelor of Science in journalism and a Bachelor of Arts in music. I went on to study acting at the Alliance Theatre School in Atlanta. Since then, I’ve been blessed to work on camera and in the script department of a CBS and NBC prime time television series, to write and produce a show that aired on PBS, to work as a consultant in the corporate arena and public relations field, and most recently, to work as a correspondent for The Montclair Times.”
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0235701/

Michael Matasci:
Michael Matasci is a Brooklyn based writer and composer. Having scored music for an independent film, Michael continues to produce instrumental and pop songs. Michael is also a screenwriter specializing in comedy and drama. An avid bicyclist, Michael enjoys touring the back roads of New York.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9953348/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Christopher Ortiz:
“ I’ve been screenwriting and script consulting since college, where I also started my background in freelance film criticism for websites such as thescriptlab.com. I graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in Film Studies and a minor in Philosophy, the latter of which is a big factor in my approach to my own writing.
In 2016, I started filmmaking and have written and directed 3 short films since then, all self-financed, along with having co-written a mobile stealth action game for iOS. These experiences redefined my approach and made me better equipped in being both a writer and script consultant. I’ve also been a judge and script analyst for NYISA since 2018.
My biggest influences are the heartwarming, educational Nickelodeon shows I grew up within the 1990s, the innovative writing of Christopher Nolan and Aaron Sorkin, and the genius storytelling of game designer-writers Hideo Kojima (the Metal Gear Solid series) and John Garvin (the Syphon Filter series). “
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10026222/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Fred Ireland:
Fred has been a script judge for several nationwide screenplay competitions for the past seven years and has been a screener for the Atlanta Film Festival shorts program since 2016. Fred has written and directed several short films which have been screened at several film festivals. He has provided script consultation to writers nationwide in both the short and feature-length format and is currently involved with the Wilmington Filmmakers group, a cooperative for all aspects of filmmaking. His interest is primarily focused on narrative scripts and films.

Vijaykumar Mirchandani :
“Be the Change”- believing in making a difference! Lights, Camera, Action! three words that changed his life, from in front to behind the camera as an award-winning filmmaker. An incredible journey growing under the backdrop of Bollywood to working for global TV networks in Dubai, Italy, Qatar, Malaysia, Australia, China, and US in Tv direction and content creation across diverse genres – sports, news, fashion, documentaries, and entertainment. With a filmmaking course from Sydney, his projects have received more than 135 film festival selections including Academy Award®, BAFTA and Canadian Screen Awards. He has over 45 awards to his credit in documentaries, short films, marketing, and promotions. The list of short films – “Coming Out with the Help of a Time Machine”, “Divide-Time to Breathe”, “The Last Jam Jar”, “Paese Che Vai-When in Rome”, “Love Can’t Be Locked Down”. “The Process”, “Habaneros”, “Stranger In the Room’, “To Be Forgotten”, “Red Rose” and documentaries like “Where The Streets Have No Name”. “They are No Less”. Spiritual at heart, VJ is a hybrid filmmaker with the ability to own a room, who masters in developing relevant and compelling stories that forge strong emotional connections with his audiences. He is passionate about giving a voice and supporting humanitarian issues that matter. His films have been inspired by true events – Black Lives Matter, Autism, Homelessness, Women Empowerment, Domestic Violence, Sexual Abuse and Marital rape, Bigotry on Asian Americans during the pandemic, LGBTQ+, depression, mental health, veterans with PTSD and disability.
His films have made a huge impact with the audiences and was broadcast in Germany, Hungary, Austria, Switzerland, UK, Australia, US and is also available in libraries and Amazon Prime. His other avatars in the creative space are as a consultant on short films, film festival strategy and, also serves as the jury with many film festivals.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4024903/?ref_=fn_al_nm_2

Dakota Reinike:
Originally a native of New Paltz, New York, Dakota fell in love with television development while pursuing her B.A. in TV/Film at DeSales University. While attending, she completed an internship with ASR Media Productions as a Production Intern and was thrilled to officially join the team following her graduation in May 2018. She currently holds a position as a Digital Producer and is based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For the past four years, Dakota has been a Jury Member for the New York International Screenplay Awards (NYISA) and frequently collaborates with friends on filmmaking and writing projects. She has a love for writing comedy but enjoys the creative spark and energy from any genre when writers come together. In her spare time, she enjoys painting, playing piano, and volunteering at the local humane society.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8768516/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

Gregory Phillip Davies:
After high school, Greg went straight into university, City Varsity in Cape Town, where he studied Animation for Film and TV. He learnt traditional 2D animation drawing, stop motion animation development, story boarding, screenwriting, 3D modelling and environmental design, After Effects, Photoshop and film editing. In his final year, he specialised in After Effects for Visual Effects and Video game design.Straight after graduating from Animation, he went on to do a degree in Acting for Camera at the same university, where he learnt professional theatre acting, voice work (he has worked on his American accents as well as his rooted British accents), improv, screen writing and acting for film and television for 3 years.
Greg Philip Davies worked as an actor on the feature film “The Mauritanian” produced by Benedict Cumberbatch, STX films and BBC films, Starring Tahar rahim, Jodi Foster, Shailene Woodley, Benedict Cumberbatch and Zachary Levi.
Greg worked on the set and location, alongside Jodii Foster and Shailene Woodley. Greg has joined with brand MTD (Make The Difference) in promotional work as well as concept design for MTD products.
Greg is trained in vocal performance from city Varisty. Both for stage vocal work and ADR for film, Greg has performed monologues and duped voice acting for ADR sessions.

Victoria Britton:
“ I’m a film producer and writer-director from the Midwest with six years of combined experience creating narrative fiction, documentary, and news. My work has been shown at Tribeca Film Festival and on the Atlantic. Last year, I lent my producing skills to three narrative short films and two features, including Matt Berman’s “The Baby Pact” starring Haylie Duff. Since 2020, I’ve been a volunteer pre-screener for the Academy-Award qualifying Indy Shorts International Film Festival and am part of the Filmmaker Hospitality Team for the Hobnobben Film Festival. I earned a Bachelor of Arts from Butler University.
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9710103/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Victoria Prima:
NY based TV producer
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8332240/

Jennifer Phillips:
Director/CEO/Fight Choreographer/Producer/Playwright/Screenwriter at J Phillips Creative Management/360 Productions. JPCM is the film and fight choreography arm of the comapany. It is an internationally recognized company that provides artistic expertise to major Hollywood studios, production houses, and independent film companies. 360 Productions handles all of it’s “live” stage events at renowned entertainment centers, as well as other forms of creative consultancy. Both companies have offices in the USA, Canada, and Singapore (Asia head office). Studied at Columbia University in NYC.