The Story Broads

Story Broads are an international collective of women filmmakers who stand for equality with a goal of creating a place for women in film to come together for community, support, and empowerment. Their ultimate goal is to champion for a female presence both in front of and behind the camera. Each week they bring you information on much more than femalecentric topics. After all, no job or aspect of this industry should be defined by gender or race. Twitter: @StoryBroads and Facebook #SBTO

To view the collective Story Broads articles, click here.

Asmara Bhattacharya is a produced screenwriter and playwright, script reader, and festival screener. A trusted sounding board and consultant for industry professionals, she is developing several shorts and a webseries. Check out her website, DickFlicks.net, or tweet her at @hotpinkstreak.

Kelly Jo Brick is a television and documentary writer and producer. She wrote the Telly Award-winning film PAUSE and the Frank Lloyd Wright documentary The Jewel In The Woods. Kelly Jo is a Sundance Fellow, winner of Scriptapalooza TV and a member of the WGAW Nonfiction Writers Caucus and Women In Film – Los Angeles. Prior to moving to L.A. in 2013, Kelly Jo grew and developed her writing career while working in television and radio advertising in her home state of Wisconsin. You can follow Kelly Jo on Twitter: @KellyJoBrick

Waka T. Brown is the 2016–17 Film & TV organizer for the Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, OR. Waka was one of the six 2013 Quest Initiative participants led by Scott Myers of Go Into the Story at The Black List and her screenplays (comedies, romcoms, & animated features) have been 2nd-rounders at AFF, and placed in the semifinals of PAGE, and quarterfinals of Screencraft writing competitions. Waka has also authored a variety of units and teacher’s guides on international topics through her work with the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education. Please follow her sad little Twitter/Instagram accounts that she only set up because someone told her she needed to establish more of a “social media presence”: @wakatb

Raised on a diet of Lean Cuisine and Sergio Leone, CC Campbell thrives on high stakes and lean narrative. From the slow burn of a TV pilot about a family’s musical dynasty to the hot sizzle of a road trip movie that travels through race and sexual identity, to a short story about coming-of-age during the Cuban missile crisis for Tin House Workshop, her interests are a varied buffet. Currently, she’s finishing a narrative non-fiction book based on her own story, a female buddy odyssey that winds through drug lords, snakes, hallucinogenics and masturbating baboons – for which there is no food metaphor. Twitter: @chachango

Camilla Castree is a screenwriter and freelance food writer living in the U.K. She has previously managed a beauty salon, trained as a professional biscuit taster and handled travel arrangements for the British Royal Family. She writes comedy/drama. Camilla is a founding member of the Story Broads and regularly attends the Austin Film Festival. She can be found at the Driskill Bar or on Twitter @Cilly247.

Cameron Chapman is a Stowe Story Labs alum, freelance writer, author, designer, screenwriter, and filmmaker living and working in Vermont. She has sold four short film scripts to date, was a quarter-finalist in the 2016 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards for her short script Wildflower, and is currently in pre-production on her first feature. Follow Cameron’s website and her Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @cameron_chapman

Sara de Waard is a small-town girl from the wrong side of the tracks in a country that apologizes for its successes just as emphatically as it does for its short-comings. The past five years were filled with hits and misses in the screenwriting department for this full-time elementary teacher and mother of two who feels she has entertaining life insight to share. Follow her on Twitter @deWaardSara.

Belinda Downey moved from sunny Australia four years ago to cynical New York. She studied screenwriting under the talented mentorship of Jerome Perzigian, and gained a community of talented writer friends. Belinda’s writing circumnavigates drama and comedy. Recent scripts include, Journey on the Voyage to the Future about an entrepreneurial convict; Rose, From the Dead about a ghost who haunts her daughter to get married; The Method about a delusional method actor; and Little Isis about a race war in small town Australia. Currently she works in a women-owned Advertising agency in Manhattan, copywriting and art directing. Twitter: @beldowney1

Ethnically Sri Lankan, but born and raised in Dubai, Sabina Giado was part of the first ever all-female comedy troupe, the Funny Girls, and the first improv troupe in the Middle East, Improv Revolution. Her greatest accomplishments to date? The Funny Girls being mentioned in a TED Talk. An off-the-cuff remark on #activistpickuplines ending up in a Buzzfeed article (“I’m underrepresented. In your pants.”) Making the second round of Sundance Labs. What few moments of sweat-and-spice-drenched zen she can muster in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Her tornado, sorry, toddler son. Deciding finally to make her own stuff. And being a Story Broad. She blogs at www.sabinagiado.wordpress.com and tweets at @SabinaGiado.

From sci-fi adaptations of Shakespeare, to dramas inspired by the ancient Greeks, Shelley Gustavson integrates her rural Iowa upbringing, and a background in cultural anthropology and theater, with character-driven independent dramas. Her scripts have been honored as Nicholl and Stage 32 quarterfinalists; Bitch List and Half The World Literati Prize honorees; Screencraft finalists, and second-rounders for Sundance and Austin. Active in the screenwriting community, she volunteers as a Happy Hour representative for The Blacklist in Chicago. An experienced actor and theater production manager, Shelley is also an educator and anthropologist, working over 15 years in museum exhibit development. Twitter: @shelleygusto

Vicky Hinault is a London based freelance writer and editor where she works creating content for global brands. Outside of work Vicky’s had short stories, poems and articles published, online and in print. One short story was translated into a performance piece and staged in London while a collaborative art and poetry project was exhibited in Jersey Museum. Vicky also used to run an award nominated film blog but decided to stop reviewing films and start writing her own. Vicky has had scripts reach the second round at AFF, Quarterfinals in Screencraft and the finals of the LSF Create 50 initiative. Twitter: @vickyhinault

Hailing from the sometimes-embarrassing, but ultimately-amazing state of Texas, Despina Karintis was a closeted cinephile who eventually came to terms with her obsession and took up the craft of screenwriting. Thanks to too much television and an endless supply of National Geographics as a kid, she was a daydreamer and wanderluster from the start. This prompted adventures across the globe that included sliding down glaciers, skirmishing with sharks, and nearly drowning in a desert tinaja. Needless to say, her life has birthed quite a few tales that inspired scripts in the Action/Thriller and Comedy genres. Despina is Co-Founder of Story Broads and hopes to broaden the horizon of women in film for generations to come. Twitter: @Wonder_Writer

Lisa Kothari is an emerging screenwriter who focuses on writing comedies that are either romantic, like The Michaels, or fun mash-up concepts, like The Hip-Hop Hillbilly. She enjoys writing across many types of mediums, from blog articles to essays to a memoir, and is constantly working on new material to write and publish. Most recently, she has undertaken a graduate degree program in mental health counseling, not only to counsel people, but also to draw compelling characters in their fictional worlds.

Shara Lerman is a Los Angeles based attorney, actress and producer, and the founder of Lerman Law Group. A life-long performer, Shara has never quite been able to get away from the business and co-founded Three Amoebas Productions in order to facilitate her own projects. She is currently developing several projects of her own as well as producing projects for clients. Shara is also an avid cook and budding wine collector, and occasionally ventures back into ballet. She would love to hear your suggestions for great wines to try! Twitter: @SharaLerman

Gabrielle A. Lodl is a screenwriter, unapologetic nerd, and proud Story Broad. She has attended AFF six times and has no plan to stop going. She works overnights in a mental health facility, and spends her days sleeping. When she’s awake, Gabi can usually be found gaming, writing, or soaking up stories. Though tweet-less, you can reach her by email at gabiaden@hotmail.com Twitter: @happysockqueen

CK Love is a screenwriter and content creator living sometimes in LA and sometimes in Toronto. She co-founded an art/design company in Toronto named “Ceremony Chagall” where she used both her 3D and writing skills – writing, acting and performing plays, and finally developing a computer game optioned by Virgin Interactive. CK received Advanced Certificates in Yoga/Meditation and in Transpersonal (Integral) Therapy and owned and operated two studios in the Toronto area. Her major focus, now, is on her writing – primarily screenplays – features and shorts. She writes Thrillers, mostly psycho – of course, and much to her surprise and perhaps a smidge of chagrin, she finds she has an aptitude for RomComs. Twitter: @lala_hip.

Natalia Megas is a Washington, D.C. freelance journalist who turns biographies and ripped-from-the-headlines narratives into screenplays that have won awards and placed in contests like Austin Film Festival, Sundance Labs, and Page International. Inspired by real people with extraordinary stories whose moral shade isn’t always black or white, Natalia infuses her European upbringing and the colorful personalities she’s met along the way with her sleuth-like ability to find just about anything on the internet. When she’s not writing, she’s screening films for fests such as AFI, an experience that keeps reminding her why the first 10 minutes of a story is always the most important. You can follow her on Twitter @DameWriter.

Originally from Aurora, CO, Roe Moore‘s vast experience has taken her both in front of the camera and behind the scenes on familiar television shows like Lucha Underground and Wives with Knives as well as indie film favorites like Entertainment (John C. Reilly/Michael Cera) and The Escort (Bruce Campbell/Lyndsy Fonseca). She’s had the opportunity to work as a script supervisor alongside many highly acclaimed directors including Student Academy Award Winner, Davide Henry Gerson. As founder and producer of PiePie Productions, she has produced multiple award-winning projects including short film Dark Specter and narrative web content for Funny-or-Die. Roe was recently awarded a women’s Filmmaker-in-Residence with Her Film Project. When Roe isn’t on set or working on her upcoming projects, she can be found swimming, sweating in Bikram yoga, or enjoying time with her two dachshunds Peanut and Slinky. Twitter: @Roe_Moore

Farahday Morgan strives to underscore the presence of light in all of her work whether in life or on the page. Ms. Morgan was born and raised in Austin, Texas—where Southern roots and soulful tunes planted the foundation for her to be a storyteller at heart. Farahday was invited into the ISA Development Program in 2015 due to her strong original pilot. In addition, two of her feature projects have placed in the top 15% of the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition. She is currently working on launching a resourceful site, Female Film Collective to help support female filmmakers, writers, directors, producers and actresses. She aims to expand management companies and target likeminded, creative artists to better support each other in the film industry. Ms. Morgan has worked for Madhouse Entertainment and is a recurring film critic on the Page 2 Screen podcast with host Jeff York for the Curious About Screenwriting Network. Most recently, her unfiltered comedic autobiography entitled Naked won a scholarship from the Writers Retreat in Spain. Follow Farahday on her website, Instagram and Facebook and Twitter: @farahdaymorgan.

Screen and television writer Amanda Parham earned her MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, where she was two-time winner of the Screenwriters’ Showcase competition. Amanda’s work has been recognized in the Nicholl Fellowship (Semifinalist, top 2%), the Page Awards (Finalist, top 1%), the Austin Film Festival (Semifinalist, top 1%), the StoryPros Awards Screenplay Contest (3rd place winner), and the ScreenCraft Fellowship (winner). Twitter: @aparham

Aarthi Ramanathan’s addiction to movies began at age 10 when she penned her first Disney movie. Unfortunately, they never got back to her, but by that point, she had already been bitten by the screenwriting bug and has been writing scripts ever since. Her love of animation, combined with her cross-cultural upbringing – India, where she was born, Kuwait, where she grew up, and Canada, where she lives now – has lent itself to a portfolio of rich characters and journeys in the family and fantasy genres. She has previously written for a web series, and her screenplays have also been recognized in various screenwriting contests including Final Draft Big Break (top 10 in genre), Stage 32 Feature (winner), Screencraft (finalist), PAGE (semifinalist) and AFF (2nd Rounder). Visit her website and follow her on Twitter @ajramanathan

Shoshana Rosenbaum is a writer/director and educator based in Washington, D.C. Her award-winning short film THE GOBLIN BABY has screened at festivals around the U.S. and internationally. She was an invited filmmaker at Stranger With My Face International Film Festival’s inaugural 2015 Attic Lab with her supernatural thriller script THE GOBLIN CHILD. Her Goonies-for-girls script THE CREEPY HOUSE was a selected project at the 2016 Stowe Story Labs. Her screenplays have been finalists in the Austin Film Festival Pitch Competition, Nashville Film Festival, Hollyshorts Film Festival, DC Shorts Film Festival, and Asian Pacific American Film Festival. Follow Shoshana on her website, Facebook and Twitter: @shoshanarosenba

Heather Taylor is a writer, director and co-founder of the creative studio, Cereal Made. She was a 2018/19 resident of the Bell Media Prime Time TV program at the Canadian Film Centre (sponsored by ABC Signature Studios), and was part of the 2019 Corus Writer’s Apprentice Program where she interned in The Hardy Boys writer's room (Hulu/ YTV). She was a finalist in the Austin Film Festival 2019 script competition. Heather graduated with a Masters in Screenwriting from City University, London. She’s an idea machine, the Indiana Jones of research, and builds supernatural worlds with real world consequences. Her career highlights include her first feature film, The Last Thakur, which premiered at the London International Film Festival; her sci-fi web series, Raptured; and Stitched, her award-winning horror short. Heather is currently working on her next feature film, ROT, with New York-based BullMoose Pictures. See more of her work on HeatherATaylor.com and follow her on Twitter: @heatherAtaylor / @redonblack YouTube: redonblackfilms

Terri Viani got her professional start as a screenwriter with Jumbo Pictures/Disney in New York on ABC’s Brand New Spanking Doug. After Disney, she worked as a freelancer in New York City before moving to New England to write for The Westerly (RI) Sun and The Stonebridge Press rural newspaper group. Her scripts have awarded her spots at the Austin Film Festival and Stowe (VT) Narrative Story Labs. She is an associate member of the WGA, West, as well as a social media consultant for Roadmap Writers and a Script Magazine contributing writer. In her teens and twenties she lived and traveled all over the world including Saudi Arabia, England, and the Soviet Union, and currently resides in the Connecticut countryside with one husband, three cats, fifty-thousand honeybees (give or take) and a passel of ornery hens. Follow Terri on her website, Instagram and Twitter: @thewriterink

Based in Barcelona, Anne-Cecile Ville is a French screenwriter and honorary Brit, having spent 22 years in the UK. In the last five years, she has written five feature films, two TV pilots and four short films. In May 2015, her rom-com feature film was listed in the top four romance screenplays in The Black List. She’s just completed her debut novel: YOU PULL ME IN. She is also very active across filmmaking platforms including The Story Broads and @TheWracGroup. Follow Anne-Cecile on IMDb and @AC_Screenwriter.

Raised on a diet of television and old Hollywood, Teresa Warner was destined for the movie business before she could walk. Jury’s still out on whether the movie business is destined for her. Her pilot has placed at the Austin Film Festival and the Nashville Film Festival. Most recently it was in the Top 100 of the Launch Pad Pilot Competition. She highly recommends that you read it. After receiving her MFA in screenwriting from The University of Texas, she made the dreaded leap to Los Angeles. Spoiler alert: It’s actually pretty great. Her writing focuses on coming-of-age stories with strong female characters, where the stakes are low and the emotions are high. Twitter: @TheTeeeeeeLife