Steve Kaplan | Comedy Expert

I've been teaching and lecturing about comedy around the world for years. My first book, The Hidden Tools of Comedy is a best-seller in its field. I've also written, The Comic Hero's Journey: Serious Story Structure for Fabulously Funny Films and am currently working on a third, about writing comedy for television.

In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other universities, I created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan Punch Line Theatre. In addition to development projects for HBO, I've taught taught workshops at companies such as DreamWorks, Disney Animation, Aardman Animation, NBC's Writers on the Verge, and others.

There are a number of people who teach screenwriting, but there are few who teach comedy. And most are teaching stand-up or improv. My course is one of the only places to learn about the art and science, the physics and philosophy of comedy: what it is, how it works, WHY it works, what's going on when it DOESN'T work, and what you can do to fix it.

Dorothy Parker once described the ability to write comedy as being able to have "a sharp eye, and a wild mind." I'd add the perception to see the absurdities of the world we live in, the courage to include yourself as part of that absurd world, and the ability to share that truth with others. And the occasional bathroom humor.

Unlike some, I teach principles, not rigid formulas. My equation for comedy—An ordinary guy (or gal) struggling against insurmountable odds, without many of the required skills and tools with which to win, yet never giving up hope—expresses not so much a formula but rather a metaphor that describes our existence in this world. We’re all just ordinary people, struggling to live our lives as best we can without super powers or unlimited resources. The main difference between comedy and drama is how we face that struggle. In comedy, no matter what, there is hope.

As metaphor, this perspective invites creativity rather than stifles it, and it allows artists as divergent as Greta Gerwig and Oscar Wilde to still tell tales about human beings struggling to make sense of an absurd world. The best comedies avoid conventional structures—they create their own. Eschewing formula, the best artists hold true to the basic principle of comedy: telling the truth about human beings.

In addition to private coaching and one-on-one consultations, Steve has taught his Comedy Intensive workshops to thousands of students around the world, including--in pre-pandemic times--Los Angeles, New York, Australia, Rio, Moscow and Mumbai. He's presently teaching online on Zoom. You can find out all about it at KaplanComedy.com.

Order my books Hidden Tools of Comedy
or The Comic Hero's Journey
Follow me on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/KaplanComedy
Twitter at Twitter.com/skcomedy 

Dan Zitt | Vice President, Content Production at Penguin Random House
www.danzitt.com

Dan Zitt, Senior Vice President, Content Production for the Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, has been on the front lines of the evolution of the audiobook industry.  During his twenty year career as a content creator Dan has been the creative catalyst for over two thousand audiobook productions, collaborating with bestselling authors, notable celebrities, and award-winning narrators.  Eighteen of his recordings have been nominated for Grammy Awards™, with three winning the award for Best Spoken Word Album.   Currently Dan oversees the production of over fifteen hundred audiobooks a year with his bi-coastal production team.  

As an industry leader, Dan has developed content in cooperation  with companies like HBO, Dr. Seuss, Lucasfilm, and has helped to scale Penguin Random House's audio capabilities globally while maintaining the highest production standards in the industry.  He is also the creator of www.Ahabtalent.com, a casting website dedicated to the discovery of worldwide voice talent for the audiobook industry.

Dallas Jenkins (Creator) & Alaa Safi (Actor) - The Chosen TV Series
https://watch.angelstudios.com/thechosen 

Dallas Jenkins first produced the independent feature Hometown Legend at the age of 25 and shepherded it to distribution by Warner Brothers. In the nearly 20 years since, he has directed and produced over a dozen feature and short films for companies such as Universal, Lionsgate, Pureflix, Hallmark Channel, and Amazon. He is now the creator of the largest crowd-funded media project of all-time, a multi-season series about the life of Christ entitled The Chosen.

Alaa Safi was born and raised in France to Moroccan parents. At the age of 7, he starts practicing martial arts. At 18, he's the Tae Kwon Do World Champion. His fighting and acrobatic skills get him to work as a stuntman in Thailand, India and France. He studies acting in the Atelier International de Théâtre Blanche Salant & Paul Weaver. He starts taking on roles, and keeps studying with Jack Waltzer.

Since he's 21, Alaa takes part in different film genres. But his performance as antagonist to Jackie Chan in Chinese Zodiac 12 paves his way to Hollywood. He's offered to play The Moor in Outcast with Nicolas Cage. He then joins Tilda Swinton, Mads Mikkelsen and Benedict Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange. He's directed by Michael Cuesta in American Assassin alongside Michael Keaton, by Kenneth Branagh in Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, and by Kevin Macdonald in The Mauritanian starring Jodie Foster, Tahar Rahim and Benedict Cumberbatch. 

His performances in Taureau Taureau and in his directorial debut Chrysalis earned him respectively the Best Male Actor Award at the Festival National du Film Hyères les Palmiers and the Cassavetes Award for Best actor at the Austin Arthouse Film Festival. He plays Simon the Zealot in the internationally acclaimed series The Chosen.

Heidi Dean | Social Media Marketing Expert
www.Marketing4Actors.com

Heidi Dean is the industry’s top social media expert for actors and content creators. She’s a social media writer for Backstage Magazine and a frequent speaker at film festivals, conferences, SAG-AFTRA, AEA, podcasts and universities across the country.

Heidi was a proud member of SAG-AFTRA & AEA and a working professional actor for over 20 years. Now she combines her years of industry experience with cutting edge social media strategy to help actors and content creators open more doors for their careers. Her clients include Emmy Award-winners, Broadway stars, recording artists, directors, producers, and filmmakers. Heidi turns social media rookies into ROCKSTARS!

THE GROWING STUDIO | Acting, Dance & Musical Theatre Classes
https://thegrowingstudio.com/

The Growing Studio (TGS) is the largest acting studio in the world with over 6,000 students annually in New York, London, Amsterdam, and more. We offer low cost workshops and classes and help actors further their careers and grow as artists along the way. 

For more info, please visit their website.

Hal Hickel | Visual Effects Animator
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0382579/

Hal Hickel joined Industrial Light & Magic in 1996 as an animator for The Lost World: Jurassic Park. On his next production, he was promoted to lead animator and given responsibility for the animation of several characters in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. In 2000, Hickel was moved up to animation supervisor, teaming up with multi-Academy Award winning visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren on Steven Spielberg’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence.

His special interest in animation lies in the challenge of integrating fantastic characters and creatures into live-action films. Hickel has since supervised the animation work on Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, Iron Man and the first three films in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

In 2007, his work on Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest was recognized with both an Academy Award ® for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Effects and the BAFTA for Best Achievement in Visual Effects.

Hickel was the Animation Supervisor on Guillermo del Toro’s sci-fi epic, Pacific Rim for which he received his fifth BAFTA nomination and a Visual Effects Society Nomination for Outstanding Visual Effects. Prior to that, he was the Animation Director on ILM’s first  feature, Rango which received the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. In 2016, Hickel took on the task of animating the epic battle between orcs &humans in Warcraft.
 
He served as Animation Supervisor in a galaxy far, far away for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which earned him, Oscar, BAFTA and VES award nominations for visual effects. More recently he supervised animation in the train heist sequence in Solo: A Star Wars Story, and is now Animation Supervisor on Lucasfilm’s first live action Star Wars TV show, The Mandalorian.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Hickel studied Film Graphics at California Institute of the Arts before being hired by Will Vinton Studios as a clay animator and motion control operator for commercials and television specials featuring the California Raisins, amongst other characters. Hickel left Vinton in 1994 to join Pixar as an animator on their first  animated feature, Toy Story. Upon completing Toy Story, Hickel was hired at ILM.

Anjelah Johnson | Comedian, Actor
https://anjelah.com/

Anjelah Johnson-Reyes was born and raised in San Jose, California and is of Mexican
and Native American descent. She is one of five children and has a large extended family
to which she remains close. In the beginning of her career, Johnson- Reyes was a
professional cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders. As an Oakland Raiderette, she was
named Rookie of the Year and even performed in Super Bowl XXXVII. After that year
she decided to move to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of acting.

She became an internet sensation with her viral video, “Nail Salon” which led to many
stand up, television and film opportunities. That same year she joined the cast of,
“MADtv” as a series regular, which spawned another internet sensation, “Bon Qui Qui.”
This original character, a disgruntled fast food employee with no filter, has been enjoyed,
viewed and replicated by over 80 million people worldwide. After recording and
releasing 3 songs and 2 music videos as Bon Qui Qui, Anjelah signed a record deal with
Warner Nashville to release a full album titled, “Gold Plated Dreams”, which She’s
toured twice selling out both times. Bon Qui Qui teamed up with Benefit Cosmetics for
her third music video “This Is How We Do It”. After the success of her debut album, Bon
Qui Qui released a Christmas EP titled “Merry Hoodmas”. All the songs are available on
iTunes and the videos are currently on YouTube.

Early in Anjelah’s career she appeared in multiple ads & commercials including
campaigns for Sprint, Visa, Snickers, Verizon, All-State, K-Swiss, Dryers Ice Cream and
was the spokesperson for a Texas based restaurant chain, Taco Cabana. Anjelah has also
guest starred on shows such as The Shield, Ugly Betty, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Super
Store, and others all while touring with her stand up comedy.

In June 2009 Anjelah recorded her first one-hour special for Comedy Central and Warner
Bros. Records titled, That’s How We Do It. Her second one-hour special, The
Homecoming Show, aired on NUVOtv in July of 2013 and is currently available on
Amazon. In 2014 Anjelah recorded her third hour special, Not Fancy which is a Netflix
original, and is currently available for streaming. In 2017 she filmed her fourth hour
special Mahalo & Goodnight in Honolulu, Hawaii. It premiered on the Epix channel and
is now available for steaming on Amazon.

Johnson has starred in such films as OUR FAMILY WEDDING, ALVIN AND THE
CHIPMUNKS: THE SQUEAKQUEL, ENOUGH SAID, THE RESURRECTION OF
GAVIN STONE and the film MOM’S NIGHT OUT which not only features Anjelah but
also her husband, musician Manwell Reyes.

Anjelah resides in Los Angeles and Nashville with her husband and her dog Banzo, and
continues to act and tour the country with her sold out comedy shows.

Matthew Rhodes | Film Producer, President of The Hideaway Entertainment
https://thehideaway.com/

MATTHEW RHODES (President) is a veteran motion picture and television producer and executive with over 25 years of experience. He has produced over 35 films, worked with top tier directors, and notable stars. His films have received box office success (over $1 Billion worldwide), terrific reviews and award-winning recognition.

In July 2017, Rhodes became President of the production company, The Hideaway Entertainment, a business built to support and protect the creative community. The company is focused on film, television and digital productions. The Hideaway co-financed and co-produced CHERRY, along with AGBO Films, starring Tom Holland which was released on Apple TV+ in March 2021. The Hideaway announced the co-financing and producing of FREEDOM RIDE, a period drama that Deon Taylor is set to direct based on first-person accounts by a dozen of the original Freedom Riders, including the late civil rights icon and U.S. Congressman John Lewis. They have financed and executive produced the action movie, MILE 22 (STX Entertainment) starring Mark Wahlberg and directed by Peter Berg; the sci-fi comedy franchise, MEN IN BLACK: INTERNATIONAL (Sony Pictures) starring Chris Hemsworth, Liam Neeson and Tessa Thompson and directed by F. Gary Gray; and BLOODSHOT (Sony Pictures) starring Vin Diesel and based on the Valiant comic book of the same name. The company remains very active with many other projects in development. 

Before joining The Hideaway, Rhodes was President of Bold Films, where he oversaw a large slate of films and television shows as head of creative and production activities. During his time at the company, Bold released WHIPLASH (Sony Classics), directed by Damien Chazelle starring Miles Teller and JK Simmons; NIGHTCRAWLER (Open Road), directed by Dan Gilroy starring Jake Gyllenhaal. Both films received numerous nominations and wins from The Academy Awards, The Golden Globes, the Independent Spirit Awards, and dozens of others around the world. 

Matthew Rhodes graduated with a B.A. from Ohio University’s School of Telecommunications in Film and Television (Producing and Directing). Rhodes grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Rhodes currently lives in Pacific Palisades, California with his wife and daughter.

Trever Stewart | Producer

Mr. Stewart started his career in literary development in 2001, developing several feature film and TV projects with Miramax, New Line Cinema and HBO Canada. In 2006 he relocated to Portland, Oregon to join Laika Entertainment as a development executive, serving the films Coraline, Box Trolls and a forthcoming untitled project slated for 2022 release. In 2013 he joined Paramount and Charlie Kaufman's film Anomalisa as production executive and signed a 2-year production deal with Bent Image Lab in 2015. In 2016, he consulted on Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and most recently served as Co-producer on an unannounced project at Netflix. Mr. Stewart has a development deal with Disney's Searchlight Pictures and is currently producing a stop-motion pilot for the Syfy Channel, a 2D series at Amazon and a pilot for the National Film Board of Canada. 

Ely Thorel | Dancer, Actor, Creator

Hi! My name is Ely Thorel and I am 27 years old, living in Los Angeles, California! I'm originally from New York, and I moved to LA to pursue my dance career. I've always known I wanted to dance at a young age! I loved to choreograph and I was lucky enough to have the opportunities to showcase my work in high school, which led me to all the work I did after.
After I graduated, I just started working and teaching. I focused on my craft and really made a name for myself in upstate NY but I knew it could be bigger. In 2018 i moved to California, and i started training and actually became a student again which was amazing. Then COVID hit us in 2020, and everything shut down. I decided i'd "try" out this app named "Tik Tok" and low and behold, my passion for acting came back. 
I started doing Mean Girls reenactments, and after my first viral video everything just went off from there. Now I do more things than just Mean Girls but i've gained more than 300 thousand followers, had a buzzfeed article about me, and have had a handful of celebrities interact with my content. I'm very thankful for all of the people who watch, like, share and follow me. I'm still just a regular guy just like everyone else, I just happen to wear a lot of wigs.