Lola Petitbon
Lola Petitbon is a Franco-American screenwriter and director who trained at UCLA after beginning her career as an actress. A finalist and winner of several international screenwriting competitions, she is currently developing a TV series in Los Angeles, backed by an Oscar-winning producer, and a short film produced in France, where she will make her official directorial debut. Her work blends intimate, character-driven storytelling with music, humor, and a touch of burlesque.
Malka Wallick
Malka Wallick (she/they) is an award winning actor, writer, and filmmaker based in NYC. Their feature film Our Bodies & Other Shames is currently in post production and was the recipient of the 2025 ScreenCraft film fund, the CineStories Underrepresented Stories scholarship, and was a finalist for the Sundance Development Lab. Malka has developed their work as a 2024 Theatremacher Fellow with the Alliance for Jewish Theatre and is an active member of the She-Collective writer’s cohort. Her short play — in verse — Women of Valor, was a finalist with Red Bull’s short play competition. malkawallick.com
Isaac Feder, Samuel Limor and Danny Weiss
Isaac Feder is a film director and television showrunner who has produced and directed shows for Netflix, Sony, Disney+, Amazon, and Comedy Central. His debut feature Sex Ed won the Grand Jury Prize at the Portland Film Festival, and his ESPN 30 for 30 film AC Green: Iron Virgin was a TriBeCa selection. Born and raised in Chicago, he holds degrees from Northwestern and the AFI Conservatory, and now lives in Los Angeles.
Samuel is a Producer and Production Executive with credits at companies such as Awesomeness TV, Dreamworks Animation, E!, Investigation Discovery, Nickelodeon, and Netflix
Danny Weiss is a television Writer and Producer with a broadcast procedural background having written for HOUSE, M.D., BATTLE CREEK on CBS and most recently having served as a Co-Executive Producer on NBC’s CHICAGO MED. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Joni and his three children.
Camille Shooshani and Aaron Shooshani
Camille Shooshani is an Iranian-Jewish writer and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her debut documentary feature, “Léa & I” premiered on Netflix in 2019. She was awarded the USC Presidents’ Sustainability Award in 2024 for “The Concrete River,” a film documenting a 51-mile trek along the Los Angeles River. In 2020, she received her MFA in creative nonfiction writing from Columbia University. She received her BA from the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 2017.
Aaron Shoooshani (he/him) is a writer and producer based in Los Angeles. Before writing, Aaron worked in political strategy for Economic Justice Initiatives like the Fight For $15, that aimed to raise the minimum wage. He has worked as a writer’s assistant to Showrunner Chris Romano (Blue Mountain State, Kill the Orange-Faced Bear) and produced and written a number of independent shorts. Raised in Los Angeles to Iranian Jewish immigrants, Aaron attended Columbia University where he received a B.A. in History and Economics.
Liz Buda
Liz Buda is a writer and producer from the San Fernando Valley. She is an executive producer on the horror feature Malus, currently in post-production, and has sold projects to production companies, including Crystal City Entertainment and Biônica Filmes. Liz holds an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, where she won the Samuel Goldwyn Writing Award for her pilot based on her grandfather’s experience in the post-World War II black market.
Dan Abramovici
Dan is a writer and director whose work often explores questions of identity through a surrealist lens. His films use unconventional storytelling to navigate complex human moments with honesty and imagination. His credits include: PLAY IT AGAIN (acquired by Prideflix)and SEARCHING FOR MARCEAU (Semifinalist Academy Nicholls Fellowship).
Jacob Seidman
Jacob is an LA based writer, actor, and producer. Selected previous projects include:”Fall to Fame” streaming on Dekkoo (winner best dramatic actor Micheaux Film Festival) and “Searching for Josh Brolin” on SeekaTV.
Boaz Dror
An award-winning screenwriter, Boaz has scripted dialogue for Japanese television shows on the Anime Network, written sketches for Second City LA, and independently produced and launched a sci-fi/horror graphic novel titled NIGHT OF THE MULLETS. His most recent project, an animated detective show set on Noah’s Ark, was developed by CBS with Jack Black’s Electric Dynamite, but ended up in turnaround as a result of the pandemic. After a brief sabbatical to pursue an MFA from UC Riverside and be full-time daddy to his baby daughter, he now hopes to resurrect and relaunch ARK CITY JAZZ as a feature, with the help of the Jewish Writers Institute.
Sarah Wildman
Sarah Wildman is the is the author of Paper Love: Searching for the Girl My Grandfather Left Behind. She was formerly the global identities and borders writer at Vox, a position she originated. She was the recipient of the German Marshall Fund’s 2010 Peter R. Weitz Prize, awarded for excellence and originality in European coverage. Long a regular contributor to The New York Times, Slate, The Forward, Washingtonian (where she is a contributing editor), and The New Yorker online, among other publications, Wildman has won a number of competitive grants and fellowships: from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (Jerusalem in 2013 and Paris in 2017); Arthur F. Burns and American Council on Germany fellowships in Berlin; a Mile- na Jesenska Fellowship in Vienna; and a Pew Fellowship in International Journalism in Paris. A former New Republic staffer, Wildman has also worked for The Advocate magazine, American Prospect, and Politics Daily. Wildman was the Barach non-fiction fellow at Wesleyan University’s writing workshop in 2014 and a Dart Center Ochberg fellow (a project of the Columbia School of Journalism) in 2015.
Jacob Stark
Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Jacob S. Stark is a graduate of UCLA Law School and the UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting. An award-winning writer/producer, Jacob has worked with entertainment companies ranging from Warner Bros to NBCUniversal to Nickelodeon. Most recently, Jacob produced the acclaimed Israeli TV series, The Man Who Wanted to Know Everything, which aired on Kan 11 and is being distributed by Keshet International. He also served as an executive producer on Netflix’s The Great Seduction, which premiered on the streaming network as the #1 non-English film in the world. He is currently writing and producing an animated Christmas feature (like a good Jewish boy) with A+C Studios out of England. He is very proud to have been an inaugural Jewish Writers Institute Fellow.