Adam Rosenberg, CEO of ARO Pictures. Most recently, he produced the hit animated feature film GOAT for Sony Pictures Animation and is currently overseeing a slate of projects at studios including Paramount, Sony, Netflix, and Amazon. Before ARO Pictures, Adam co-founded the production company Modern Magic with Oscar-winning writer/director Rodney Rothman. While at Modern Magic Adam served as an Executive Producer on Michael B. Jordan’s directorial debut, CREED 3, for MGM and also Executive Produced SAMARITAN, directed by Julius Avery and starring Sylvester Stallone, for Amazon. Prior to that, Adam was an executive at MGM for eleven years, where he ultimately served as Co-President of Production for its Worldwide Motion Picture Group, overseeing feature film development and production. During his tenure, he oversaw such projects as CREED 1 & 2 with Ryan Coogler, Michael B. Jordan, and Sylvester Stallone, Jordan Peele’s CANDYMAN, the Aretha Franklin biopic RESPECT directed by Liesl Tommy starring Jennifer Hudson and Forest Whitaker, BAD TRIP starring Eric Andre, Little Rel and Tiffany Haddish, Antoine Fuqua’s THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN starring Denzel Washington and Chris Pratt, Dwayne Johnson’s FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY and HERCULES, and Jose Padilha’s ROBOCOP.

Laura Gutin, executive producer and writer. She was executive producer for the hit TV series BLACK-ISH (2014-2022), for which she received a 2018 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series. Laura has also written for and produced such shows as NIGHT COURT (2023-2025) and BOJACK HORSEMAN for Netflix (2014). In 2024, she was a writer for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards.

Joel Potrykus, independent film director. He has been called the "New King of Underground Cinema" and "indie cinema's patron saint of misfits." Joel has written and directed five features, including APE (2012), which won the Best New Director prize at the 2012 Locarno Film Festival, and BUZZARD (2014), which was awarded the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2014 Ljubljana International Film Festival. BUZZARD and Joel's most recent feature, VULCANIZADORA (2024), are available on the Criterion Channel. He has directed eleven short films, earned his MFA in screenwriting from Emerson College, and teaches filmmaking at Grand Valley State University.

Adam Cohen, producer and operations manager for ECHOBEND, which creates premium commercial work for national brands like Sonic, Dr. Squatch, Jimmy John’s, and more. Adam has worked as a production supervisor for Netflix and produced the independent revisionist genre film GOLDMINE (2026), currently available on Prime. Adam is an experimenter with gen AI, VR, immersive theater, and digital content for brands big and small (Solawave to Liquid Death).

Jamie Schutz is an Emmy Award winning producer, director, and President of Stick Figure Entertainment. His most recent streaming series include Born in Synanon (2022) a documentary series on the drug treatment facility and cult for Paramount+ and Hip Hop World (2024) for Prime. He has produced such documentary films as I’m Your Venus (2024) for Netflix and Satisfied (2024), about Renée Elise Goldsberry’s journey to starring in the hit musical Hamilton, with Amblin Entertainment. Both films premiered at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. In 2011-3, he was Executive Director of the Paris Film Academy, and he holds a BA in English Literature and Film Studies from WashU. His session will focus on documentary production for film and TV markets and the financing and deal-making side of the industry. January 30th, 2026 

Carolyn Kras is an award-winning TV writer, screenwriter, and playwright and the former organizer and programmer of HollyWU. She has written numerous films currently in development, including Magnetic (to be directed by Jon Amiel). The script has received a Hamptons International Film Festival Screenwriters’ Lab Selection, an Alfred P. Sloan First Place Screenwriting Award, a Plume & Pellicule Award, the Screenplay Search Award, and a Writemovies.com Award. She has also written award-winning TV pilots, including a legal procedural entitled In Chambers for Academy award-winning producer Cathy Schulman. She holds a BA in Drama from WashU and an MFA from Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University. She currently teaches screenwriting at Emory University. Her session will address how to get internships and first jobs in LA, page programs, and agency assisting, as well as the writers’ room structure, networking, and alternative paths like Fulbrights. February 20th, 2026

Alison Small is Head of Film for Brownstone Productions—actress, director and producer Elizabeth Banks’s Universal-based production company. She has worked as producer or executive producer for such releases as Bottoms (2023), Cocaine Bear (2023), and Charlie’s Angels (2019). Prior to her time at Brownstone, Small worked as Vice President of Production and Creative Executive at Paramount Pictures. She holds a BA in Film & Media Studies at WashU. Her session will focus on the role of the executive producer in feature-length filmmaking, which combines many roles and areas of expertise, including business strategy, script review, and fine-grained creative decision-making during and after production. March 20th, 2026

Schawn Belston is Head of Global Delivery at Amazon Studios with expertise in digital media, postproduction and archives. He oversees Amazon Studio’s library and digital supply chain, whose aim is to “maximize commercial potential and preserve cultural and artistic legacies.” He previously served as Executive Vice President of Media and Library Services at 20th Century Fox, where he worked for 25 years. His work in film preservation began with the 1997 re-issue of the original Star Wars trilogy. Subsequently, Belston became Senior Vice-President at the Walt Disney Company where he managed the Fox library and Walt Disney Studio catalogue. He regularly appears at public screenings and on podcasts to discuss film preservation and restoration. He received a BA in Comparative Literature from USC in 1995. His session will address the value of humanities degrees in the industry as well as career opportunities in film preservation and archiving during the streaming era. April 3rd, 2026

Karena Evans is a director, writer, and actor who has been profiled in Teen Vogue, Marie Claire, and NUVO. She has directed the upcoming Prime series Blade Runner and is an award-winning director of music videos, for Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Coldplay. She has also directed episodes for such series as P-Valley, Gossip Girl, and Mr & Mrs Smith. She will discuss the difficulties and opportunities in directing and acting in Hollywood during and after COVID, the path—for women, especially Black women—to directing major productions in the industry, and the challenges of being a for-hire director who must shoot scripts they didn’t write.  April 24th, 2026