The Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe (SCSFe)

EXECUTIVE STAFF

Larry N Stouffer
Founder / Executive Director
Since founding SCSFe, Larry has become a quarter-finalist, semi-finalist and finalist in a number of screenwriting competitions. His writing hit the big screen as co-writer and Associate Producer for the dramedy Junkyard Ghost (Lee Majors). The Council on International Nontheatrical Events awarded Larry a Cine Golden Eagle for his doc Where Do The Children Play? In other documentaries he directed George Kennedy in Justice and the Art of Gentle Outrage, John Forsythe in Would We Not Long For the Fair? and Henry Fonda in the award-winning The Big Yellow Schooner To Byzantium.

Larry's screenplays, Rising Star - a family drama - along with Horror High - The Remake, (Larry directed the original cult-classic Horror High) - a campy horror script - and A Message for Martinez - action/adventure - are all projects seeking funding (novel, eh?). A co-writing project, Dance Magic, is set up at a fledgling production company in Florida to be produced.

Larry has sold three feature screenplays, two of which have been produced. He is currently writing a hybrid genre (drama/action) spec screenplay where a tragic mistake made by a young boy puts his grandfather's life in jeopardy.

Lenore Gallegos
Conference Director
In addition to her duties as SCSFe Conference Director, Lenore is House Manager at Teatro Paraguas (Umbrella Theater) in Santa Fe. Widely diversified, Lenore has a BS in Nutrition and Dietetics, an MS in Exercise Physiology, and is an accredited Health and Fitness Instructor through the American College of Sports Medicine. Her current writing projects are completing her stageplay, a short and a full-length screenplay.

CONFERENCE STAFF

Jesse Armijo
Staff-at-Large
Jesse Armijo is a Film and English major at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In 2009, he sat on the board of directors for the Aldo Leopold Film Festival, which was part of the Aldo Leopold Centennial Celebration. Jesse was involved with creating the competition layout, judging the films, and making a promotional trailer for the festival. Aside from being a student, he spends his time making short and feature length independent films. Jesse has just finished writing his first feature-length screenplay and is currently working on other projects.

Steve Carter
Webmaster
Having spent the past several years as a conference attendee and member of the SCSFe staff, Steve is finally moving to the front of the room to lead a seminar at this year's conference. As a writer, his focus on screenwriting has evolved over the years from the new-writer dream of selling the next $100-million box office smash to focusing on doing whatever it takes to just get his movies made. A techno-geek since birth, the explosion of widely available, inexpensive, and easy-to-use digital video cameras and editing tools means this goal is closer than ever... for every screenwriter.

Recently uprooted from his Texas roots, Steve is busy establishing a new network of like-minded screenwriters and filmmakers in Sin City. He can be reached at steve.carter@yahoo.com.

Matt Dixson
Director, The Hollywood Connection
Matt is a native New Mexican. A graduate of the University of New Mexico, he double majored in History and Physical Education. Currently, he spends his days teaching Economics, World History, and Film Criticism. His involvement in the conference began three years ago as an attendee, and eventually moved into the faculty as a volunteer coordinator. Now as Director of The Hollywood Connection component of the conference, Matt is responsible for connecting with Hollywood producers who are real players and are aggressively seeking screenplays to produce.
Matt is an optioned screenwriter and is currently working on a project with a producer he met through the conference. The script which is based on a greek myth is titled: "Eros and the Goddess" and slated for production soon.

Peg Durkee
Site Manager / Special Events
Here comes Peg: a capable gal who seems to love everyone she knows. Perky and bright, Peg is a singer and an award-winning songwriter. Her diversified background includes that she won a philosophy scholarship to Dallas Community College, has extensive experience in marketing, event planning, and administration (which is helpful as she is the SCSFe Administrator). She is writing her first drama/spiritual screenplay and intends to have it polished and ready to pitch at our 2008 Conference. Be sure to ask her about it. Peg was born in Dallas and is quick to say, "But that dont mean I like Country music."

Darren Foster
Conference Advisor
Darren Foster teaches screenwriting at the University of Colorado, Denver and the Colorado Film School. He is the Founder and President of Film Scribe (www.filmscribe.com), a website dedicated to supporting screenwriters worldwide, and the Co-Director of the Screenwriting Contest at the Vail Film Festival (www.vailfilmfestival.org) where he is also a member of the Festival's Advisory Board. Darren has taught at various festivals, conferences and educational institutions nationwide and has been on the faculty of The Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe since 2005.

An active screenwriter, Darren has written more than a hundred screenplays with several under option and/or contract. He is the Owner and President of Film Scribe Productions and the Co-Founder of Serotonin Rising Pictures, LLC. His latest projects include co-writer on Nephilim (www.nephilimthemovie.com) slated for production in Wisconsin in 2009 and writer and co-producer on the film Serotonin Rising (www.serotoninrising.com) currently in hiatus but scheduled to resume production in late 2009. Darren also co-developed the TV pilot Happiness 101 with Tony Perri and Warren Miller Entertainment that is currently being pitched to a variety of networks.

Darren resides in Estes Park, Colorado with his wife, Shana.

Elias Gallegos
West Coast Liaison
Elias Gallegos; a Santa Fe home grown actor who has cut his teeth on stage in Los Angeles, but got his start riding horses for Westerns in this Enchanted Land known as New Mexico. Mr. Gallegos has studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts West and is very proud of his time and efforts spent with The South Coast Repertory Professional Conservatory. He has worked in film, television, commercials, and he continues to snag print jobs every now and again... thanks Mom.

Most recently Elias is an actor who has "scene" the light, in regards to the power of story. For it is one thing for like-minded professionals to have and dream amazing stories, but to have an avenue and talented panel of artists in which to harness that power and give it direction. Well that is something entirely different. Mr. Gallegos would like to thank Larry N Stouffer for creating and maintaining such a unique environment that not only allows artists to dream but affords us the opportunity to realize them.

John Hayes
Actors Choice Awards Producer
John Hayes is a Founding Staff Member of SCSFe, a 20-year resident of Santa Fe, a Friday child, a midnight baby, a fire dog Aries from Kansas.

John has also been long involved with the Santa Fe Playhouse as an actor, photographer, and board member, and with the Santa Fe Opera as a super nummerary and weekend graveyard security guard (and star watcher). Carpe noche.

He has worked in film production as an actor, background artist, photographer, security guard, co-screenwriter, film production budgeting, and assistant to the esteemed Mr. Stouffer.

Sarah Jones
Transportation Coordinator
A 14th-generation Santa Fean, Sarah supports the New Mexico film community in various capacities. Sarah began as a volunteer at the Taos Talking Picture film festival after a career path adjustment from Early Childhood educator to the wild world of film.

From acting in independent films to transporting directors at the first annual Albuquerque Film Festival, she fuels her passion for storytelling through film by staying involved in all creative aspects of New Mexico film making. Sarah attended the conference in 2004 and is happy to be working "behind the scenes" with the conference this year. She is working on a WW II screenplay.

Vicki Joyce
Hospitality Coordinator
Vicki was a semi-finalist in the American Accolades Screenplay Contest for her screenplays Hell Gate to Golden Gate and Geode. She was a quarter finalist in the 7th Annual International Screenplay Competition for her screenplay Hell Gate to Golden Gate.

She has placed in the top 10% of the Nicholl's Fellowships in Screenwriting. Her newest script, Frat Mom, has received attention from several production companies. Vicki has been on the SCSFe staff for the past 4 years.

Alberto Mares
Graphics
Alberto Mares directed his first short film in October. Wow! Every screenwriter should get the chance to direct. It makes one a better writer. Alberto attended the New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive and graduated a screenwriter. His first short screenplay to be produced, Milagros ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDTX750fdnE ), was accepted to more than 20 film festivals nationally and internationally, winning top awards at the Chinh India Community Film Festival, Swansea Bay Film Festival in Wales, and Kids First Film Festival in Santa Fe. Alberto's passion is writing animated features and shows.

Laura K. Marsh
Co-Technical Coordinator
Laura grew up in southern California a surfer, an artist, and a birdwatcher. Not, remarkably, a screenwriter.

Several degrees later (B.S, M.S, M.A., Ph.D., and a post-doc at Los Alamos National Lab), she has worked all over the world in tropical rainforests studying everything from plants to monkeys to jaguars to people. She has published in professional journals on many aspects of science, including a book, and she has discovered a new species of saki monkey in Ecuador.

She began formally writing screenplays nearly four years ago and now has five feature scripts being sent out for funding by her manager. In her spare time, she owns True Believers Comics & Gallery in Santa Fe and volunteers for SCSFe.

Mahree Munding
Staff-at-Large
Mahree was born and educated in New Mexico. In the past, she served as a WGAw Signatory Agent and is a member of Women in Film. She also published and edited "It's A Wrap" magazine, an entertainment industry quarterly that showcased New Mexico talent to the LA and New York film industry during the 1990s. She began her love of screenwriting again in 2006. Her favorite genres are comedies and horrors, but she has also written a thriller and a sci-fi. She attended the PGA Awards in 2007, and DGA Awards in 2008.

Sylvie Obledo
Volunteer Coordinator
Sylvie is a newcomer to the SCSFe staff. She coordinated volunteers for the 2009 Santa Fe Film Festival and volunteers annually as a Regional Coordinator for the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market.

Sylvie's passion for storytelling, reflected in a variety of guises, includes costume design for theater productions such as A Madhouse in Goa, A Doll's House, Twelfth Night, and for the indie film The Wrong Guy. She served as prop master for Bully Magic, an educational film, and was script supervisor for Heat Lightening, a film noir.

Sylvie lives in Santa Fe where she studies acting with Maura Studi and is in the midst of writing her first feature-length screenplay.

Sheila Seclearr
Partner Coordinator
Sheila Seclearr has a collection of creative hats as a former book publicist and novelist. She studied film and screenwriting at Loyola University in Chicago, the Center for New TV in Chicago and is also a ProSeries Alumnus (ScreenwriterU). Now focused on cinema, she is founder and director of Outta the Clear Blue Productions in Taos, New Mexico with clients including Tamee and Ray Zimmerman, Derek Hart Entertainment and Yale Alumni of New Mexico.

With her OCB colleague J.J. Ramo, Seclearr helped write scripts for "The Fine Art of Living" (pre-production, 2011) and "Secret of the Dragon's Eye" (pre-production, 2013). She recently accepted a position on the Board of Directors of Derek Hart Entertainment in Atlanta, GA.

Jason Strykowski Press Agent Bio Coming Soon...

John Tollett
Graphic Designer
John Tollett is an author of numerous books about Mac computers and design, many of them co-authored with best-selling author Robin Williams, including Robin Williams Design Workshop, The Non-Designer's Web Book, Cool Mac Apps, Robin Williams Web Design Workshop, Macs on the Go, Robin Williams DVD Design Workshop, Podcasting and Blogging with GarageBand and iWeb, and Peachpit Learning Series Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

John has more than 40 years of experience working as a professional art director, designer, and illustrator, working for advertising agencies, in-house art departments, and as a freelancer in Dallas, Santa Fe, and points beyond. He is a co-founder of the Santa Fe Mac Users Group, and was a founding partner of West of the Pecos, one of the first web design firms in Santa Fe. John has been using a Macintosh professionally since 1988 and continues to follow a career of digital creativity and exploration.

Melissa J. White
Program Book Designer
Mel is an award-winning designer/writer and studied screenwriting at the New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive with Tom Musca. She co-wrote and directed the narrative short, Wastewater in 2009 as well as the micro-artumentary, Mixing. Her short screenplay, "ID", won 1st place at the Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2008 and her feature screenplay, "Goethe's Theory of Color" made the Page International Screenwriting Awards Quarter-Finals last year. Mel works as a media manager in Santa Fe and was appointed to the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission in 2007. She owns Whitespace Creative, LLC in Santa Fe, a branding-design studio. Sample her writing at www.melissajwhite.com.

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