Inspired Minds

Entertainment journalist and author Randee Dawn writes for the LA Times Envelope, Variety, Today.com, and a number of other outlets. fiction. She's also a former editor at The Hollywood Reporter and Soap Opera Digest. Her short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and online publications; she also dreams up trivia questions for BigBrain Games. Randee's science fiction/fantasy/horror novel, "Tune in Tomorrow," is a humorous tale about a reality TV show run by mythical creatures (but starring humans.

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Drew Fortune is a pop-culture journalist and screenwriter, who has been actively publishing for the past ten years. He is a regular contributor to Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, Esquire, and Vulture, but his writings on music, film, and television have been published in Cosmopolitan, Playboy, SPIN, Billboard, the A.V. Club, Stereogum, and many others. His favorite bands are Week, Superchunk, and the Replacements. He loves fly fishing and loitering in record stores. His first book: No Encore! Musicians Reveal Their Weirdest, Wildest, Most Embarrassing Gigs was released in 2019 and is totally fucking awesome.

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People Magazine Executive Editor, Entertainment Jeremy Helligar opens up about his journey through life, the journalism field, being the underdog as a gay black man and a newfound passion for writing. He’s written for numerous publications over the years: Variety, HuffPost, Reader’s Digest, The Wrap, Queerty, Popular Science, among others.  While living in South America, Australia, Asia and Africa, he wrote two acclaimed travelogue memoirs called “Is It True What They Say About Black Men?" and “Storms in Africa.”

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Oscar-winning screenwriter, bestselling author and producer Diana Ossana discusses the magic behind art, her thirty-five year friendship with Larry McMurtry and crafting powerful stories and characters. After co-writing novels “Pretty Boy Floyd” and “Zeke and Ned” with McMurtry, the pair’s collaborative partnership exploded with the onscreen adaptation of “Brokeback Mountain,” which forever changed the way the world saw romance in movies. “Brokeback” won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2006, a Golden Globe, BAFTA Award and Writers’ Guild of America Award. Other works as a writer/producer include mini-series “Streets of Laredo,” “Dead Man’s Walk” and “Comanche Moon,” “Johnson County War” and “Joe Bell” with Mark Wahlberg.

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As one of America’s most prominent journalists, Malina Saval is a three-time LA Press Club award winner and National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award winner. She’s currently the Features Editor at Variety where she’s penned profiles on artists and luminaries such as Sean Penn, Robert De Niro, famed litigator Mathew Rosengart and Nick Nolte. Her articles and essays have appeared in the “Los Angeles Times,” “Los Angeles Review of Books,” “LA Weekly,” “Jerusalem Post,” “Forward,” “Glamour,” “Tablet” and several other national and international publications. She’s authored books including “Jewish Summer Camp Mafia” and “The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens.” Her short fiction and essays have also been included in Palehouse and The Truth About the Fact literary journals and in the anthology “Now Write! Nonfiction: Memoir, Journalism and Creative Nonfiction Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers.” She’s also a photographer and has written screenplays for Disney and Touchstone. A graduate of Cornell University and USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, Saval has appeared as a guest on such as outlets as NPR’s “Talk of the Nation,” PBS and CBS Radio. She’s currently at work on a memoir. 

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Multi-media artist, writer, recording artist, songwriter, filmmaker and actor Brandyn Cross talks about his career and living as a wheelchair-bound amputee. He’s written over 100 episodes of the award-winning hit episodic drama TV show “Proper Manors” (now streaming on Amazon Prime) and the show has been voted the #1 most popular fan-favorite three times. Among his body of written work is the Feature Film “The Legacy,” and the Gary Coleman biography, “As if I Never Existed,” with Gary's widow Shannon Price. Cross is presently releasing the first volumes in an epic book series, "The Legacy," based on real events. As a singer-songwriter Brandyn scored the international top 10 hits “Dear Mr. Jesus” and in 2020 “If Money Talks (It Ain’t on Speakin’ Terms with Me)," and the top 10 music video “I Will Always Love You” and Blue Moon Over Heaven.” As a recording artist on StarPointe Records, he recently won Best Song at the prestigious Utah Film Festival & Awards for his composition and recording of “Love Again,” as featured in “Proper Manors.”

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“Rolling Stone” legend Jason Fine joins us to share his musical inspirations and journalism journey. He’s been with “Rolling Stone” since 1997 in a number of capacities, from Editor to Director of Content Development to SVP of Rolling Stone Films. He’s edited books on Johnny Cash, George Harrison and Michael Jackson, and wrote/executive produced “Long Promised Road,” a documentary about The Beach Boys' founder Brian Wilson. Fine also served as Editorial Director for Men’s Journal Media Group. For several stories he edited while at “Rolling Stone” and “Men’s Journal,” he received ASME awards and nominations as well as transformed “Men's Journal” into a modern, cutting-edge magazine for a new generation.

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Tracy is Amasia Entertainment’s Senior VP of Television. Currently, Amasia is in development at The CW with a sequel series to Dan Curtis’ classic, "Dark Shadows," to be showrun by Emmy-winner Mark B. Perry. Additional shows in development include "Because the Night" based on the James Ellory book, "Wolfe"— A contemporary mystery thriller series inspired by a Patricia Highsmithian author, a Francis Perkins miniseries about the trailblazing woman known as FDR’s conscience, and a sexy CIA actioner created by "Spygame" writer Michael Frost Beckner.

A graduate of Pepperdine University, Tracy began her film in production before working as a personal assistant to actress, Jennifer Aniston. Tracy assisted Aniston in production during three seasons of "Friends," and several feature films. After working as a script analyst for producers Jennifer and Suzanne Todd at Team Todd, Tracy took a story editor position with producer Rob Fried at Fried Films; there she worked on projects including "The Boondock Saints," and HBO’S critical darling, "Winchell." Tracy next joined producer Dan Halsted at Halsted Pictures, who was then partnered with Oliver Stone, where she worked in development on TNT’s "Witchblade" and films including "Any Given Sunday" and "The Art of War."

Spending much of her childhood as a rabid fan of science fiction and horror films, Tracy was next hired by her childhood hero, Gale Anne Hurd, at her company, Valhalla Motion Pictures. She rose through the ranks to become Senior Vice President and Head of Development. At Valhalla Tracy was the executive in charge of production on the PBS award-winning documentary, "True Whispers: The Story of the Navajo Codetalkers" and helped develop Ang Lee’s "Hulk," Marvel’s "The Punisher," and Karyn Kusama’s "Aeon Flux."

After four years at Valhalla, she headed up development for Academy Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman’s Revelations Entertainment, where she was involved in the development of films including "Invictus," directed by Clint Eastwood, and "10 Items or Less," directed by Brad Silberling. She was a producer on Richard Loncraine’s film, "5 Flights Up," starring Diane Keaton, Morgan Freeman and Cynthia Nixon. Tracy also helped get Revelations into television when she sold "Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman" to Discovery Science Channel, where she served as Executive Producer on the Emmy-nominated series. She was also co-producer of the Peabody Award-winning “ESPN 30 For 30 Documentary, "The 16th Man," which won a special “Television with a Conscience” Emmy.

Of all of her work at Revelations, she is most proud to have been instrumental in setting up, developing, and serving as an executive producer on the pilot of CBS’ hit series, "Madam Secretary." Working with TV showrunner goddess Barbara Hall remains a career highlight. Tracy was a producer on 60 episodes of "Madam Secretary" before moving on from Revelations to launch Amasia’s TV division.

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Born & bred in Sydney, Australia to European/Middle Eastern parents Serah danced from a young age. After joining Youth Theater at age 16, she finished her training in London, where she performed in both period & contemporary plays. Serah is an award-winning actress, with an established career in Europe. She was a lead on a hugely successful sitcom in Turkey for four years. She also kick-boxes, performs her own stunts (including wire work), and has had several lead roles in drama, action, comedy and thriller features. 

After accruing a huge following and success on Turkish TV for several years, she enjoyed TV shows in Germany, Holland, the UK & shot several films in Bulgaria. Later, Serah moved to Los Angeles to pursue a more international career. Since then, she has enjoyed roles on "Ray Donovan," "Scandal," "Entourage," and other series, while also performing in several plays, including most recently Darren Bousman's ("SAW II," "III," "IV" & "Spiral") "Theatre Macabre." Her latest venture, "The Surprise Visit," is one she both stars in & produced. This is her first time producing a film. "The Surprise Visit" story belongs to Nathan Cowles & Serah & is based on a true story that took place on the historical Virginia estate it was filmed on. 

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Rob Schnapf has been making critically acclaimed records for the past two decades. He first gained recognition by producing (with his then-partner Tom Rothrock) Beck's debut album, "Mellow Gold," including the breakthrough single, "Loser." Rob and Tom produced three albums for Elliot Smith, including "XO" and "Figure 8."

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