Instructors

All Collective Instructors are screenwriters and each contribute to the Collective approach to the craft of screenwriting according to their own style and diverse writing background. We are all dedicated to supporting the robust community of New York City area screenwriters and filmmakers.

DAVID NEGRIN

David Negrin is a screenwriter, producer, and professor of writing for film and television. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the NYC Screenwriters Collective, the largest not-for-profit screenwriting workshop in New York City. David is an Adjunct Professor of Film and Television at Hofstra University. He is also Host and Co-Producer of 'The Script' Podcast and moderator of @ScriptFeed. In addition to filmmaking, David has worked in political communications at the state-wide and national campaign level. He grew up in New York City, attended The Bronx High School of Science, and graduated from State University of New York at Buffalo with a degree in Computer Science.

Alec Pollak

Alec Pollak is a screenwriter, producer and director living in Brooklyn. He was Chief Creative officer at the web video production and development company For Your Imagination where he co-created the web series “Kyle Piccolo: Comic Shop Therapist” and produced on a number of other series. He co-authored “Vita’s Garden”, a Doorpost Festival finalist and the semi-historical comedy short  “The Duel” and produced several short films for the eco-fashion brand Bhoomki including “Love Or…” and “Coat Tales.” He currently has several projects in various states of development.

Christopher Theokas

Christopher Theokas is a founding member and instructor of the NYCSC. Recently, he wrote and co-produced the feature film, Carl(a), starring Laverne Cox ("Orange is the New Black), and Mark Margolis ("Breaking Bad," Noah), which won Best Story at the 2013 Long Island International Film Expo, the Award of Excellence at the Canada International Film Festival. Currently, Mr. Theokas is working on the web series, "The Adventures of Half Life".

Vanessa King

Development consultant and story editor Vanessa King has written several screenplays & pilots that have been recognized in prestigious screenwriting competitions including the Screencraft/ScriptChix Pilot Launch (Winner), Nicholl Fellowship (Quarterfinalist, top 5%), Final Draft's Big Break (Top 35, Top 1%), and the Industry Insider Television Writing Contest (Top 25, 2013).  A former contributor to HelloGiggles.com, she has performed numerous times at Upright Citizen's Brigade-East as an "invited storyteller". Her tweets (@manhattancanuck) have been featured as “Tweets of the Week” by The Huffington Post. Originally from Canada, she resides in NYC.

 Kristina Leath Malin

Kristina Leath-Malinis a “Production Chick” by trade and website. As a filmmaker, producer, published writer, blogger and Brooklyn/New York dweller, her passion for horror extends to many media outlets, including her published book Objectification Repackaged: The Women of 21st Century French Horror. She is a very active New York-based horror feminist scholar, and her upcoming documentary "My Final Girl: The Black Women of Horror from Race Films to 1970s Blaxploitation Horror Cinema" traces two of the most notable periods in American film history with horror based elements which focus on African American female participation.

Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson

Jeremy Engdahl-Johnson is a west coast transplant with an eye for story. His journalism has appeared in High Country News, The Health Care Blog, and Seattle Weekly, and his fiction has appeared in Spitball and Writers Billboard. He’s published two novels. He turned his attention to screenwriting upon moving to New York in 2009, with a particular focus on the absurdity of the modern workplace in the digital age. When he’s not working on his own writing projects he’s running publishing and public relations for a global consulting firm.

Paul Epstein

Professional TV & film writer, producer and director. Paul creates quality television documentary, miniseries, and scripted projects. Extensive experience in production as Director, 2nd Unit Director, and 1st AD.

Denise Papas Meechan

Denise Papas Meechan is a TV Producer and screenwriter.  She co-produced the feature film “Five Days Gone”, an official selection in the Nantucket and Brooklyn Film Festivals.  Her horror screenplay “Skin” won the bronze award at the Hollywood Screenplay Contest and her comedy “Sex Dreams of Jon Stewart” was a semi-finalist in the Screencraft competition.   Denise has produced, written and directed television shows “Fashion Police” and “Behind the Label” for Style Network and WE, as well as the Emmy-award winning cult hit, “Subway Q&A”.

Joe Collevecchio

Joe Collevecchio is a screenwriter and editor who specializes in crime and historical drama.  He is drawn to complex characters placed in moral grey areas and to the influence the land itself plays in dramatic events. His scripts explore the complex relationship between motivation and action, why good people do awful things, and how evil or wrong action is a matter of perspective. Joe studied Journalism at UNC Chapel Hill and also works in advertising as a copywriter and video producer.

Victoria Augustine

Victoria Augustine began her artistic life in the Syracuse Ballet Theatre.  She studied English at Barnard College, then focused on screenwriting in graduate film school at Syracuse University.  Her sixth screenplay "The Audition" placed quarterfinalist in the Nicholl Fellowship (twice), Austin Film Festival and Slamdance.  It was optioned briefly by two independent producers in Australia.  She is also a member of Independent Film Project and New York Women in Film & Television.  Most recently, she adapted an Oxford University Press publication by a Columbia University neuroscientist into a dramatic television series called"Ignorance."  It placed semifinalist in the 2014 Industry Insider Television Writing Contest.

Samuel Clemens Long

Educated on the mean streets of Detroit. Writer/Photographer/Lover