Current Judges

Author (Here I Stand and Health Is Made In The Kitchen)Writer-Scripts sold (The Champion Inside, Scar Across My Heart)Creator/Producer/Director (Blood, Bruises & Broken Bones – Reality TV show)Screenwriter/Producer/Director (A Sense of Purpose: Fighting For Our Lives, Touch With Your Eyes,  A Cup Full of Crazy- in post production)

Co-Founder, Steel Titan Entertainment (ESPN 30 for 30: Playing for the Mob, Paulie & Henry: The end of a Goodfellas Era, The Fix)

Actor (Saint X, The Right Stuff, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, CastlerockGrace & Frankie, Longmire, Manhattan, Hail, Caesar!, Love You ManWriter/Producer (Issues), XENO

Lee Daniels is an Academy Award® nominated filmmaker whose work is trademarked by authenticity and candor. Some of his renowned movies include The Butler, Monsters Ball and Precious, The United States V.S. Billie Holiday as well as TV works such as EMPIRE and Star. Lee also recently produced the Broadway show Ain’t No Mo‘,

Writer (Around the World in 80 Days, Return to Return to Nuke ’em High AKA Volume 2, Mikey Mouse, Get Blake, Transformers: Robots in Disguise)

Film Festival curator and programming consultant, Artistic Director and Co-founder, Philadelphia Environmental Film Festival.Formerly, Executive Manager, Lightstorm Entertainment (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, Avatar)
Director of International Production, Pantheon Studios (Philips Dutch Interactive Encyclopedia, The Renaissance of Florence)
Producer (Sistuhs)
Post-Production Manager (A Time of Destiny)

Producer/Writer: Julia Fisher Farbman wrote and produced the upcoming feature film “Audrey’s Children” about revolutionary pediatric oncologist and co-founder of Ronald McDonald House Charities, Dr. Audrey Evans. The film, coming out in 2024, wrapped production in the Philadelphia-area and stars Natalie Dormer (Game of Thrones), Jimmi Simpson (Pachinko), and Clancy Brown (Dexter: New Blood). In recent years, Fisher Farbman produced the Emmy-nominated ABC/U.N. Women Special: Celebrate Equality: The Future of Women’s Rights, and has interviewed the likes of His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. She also co-created, hosted and executive produced MODERN HERO (Amazon), an award-winning series that features female role models, including former First Lady, Michelle Obama and Dr. Audrey Evans, whose video amassed 17 MILLION views across platforms.

Joe Gangemi wrote the screenplays for WIND CHILL starring Emily Blunt, \STONEHEARST ASYLUM starring Ben Kingsley and Michael Caine, and BLACKWAY starring Anthony Hopkins and Ray Liotta. He was co-creator and showrunner of comedy series RED OAKS, starring Paul Reiser and Richard Kind, which ran for three seasons on Amazon Prime. Upcoming projects include a period comedy series for Lionsgate TV. He is a graduate of Swarthmore College and lives in Haverford with his wife and children.


Producer/Manager/Actor  The Mosquito Coast (2021), Vikings (2013) and Vikings: Valhalla (2022), A spy among friends 2023 mgm plus/itv, a complete unknown 2024 movie
Adam F. Goldberg is the writer/producer of The Muppets Mayhem, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Fanboys, The Goldbergs, Schooled, Imaginary Mary, How to Train Your Dragon and the upcoming fantasy TV series The Wayfinders.

Writer/Director (ABC’s The Good Doctor, ESPN 30 for 30: Playing For The Mob, Insecure) Co-founder, Steel Titan Entertainment

TV: Executive Producer (Underground, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sherman’s ShowcaseRhythm and Flow)

Film: Producer/Executive Producer (La La Land, Monster, Southside With You, Jingle Jangle, Loudmouth)

Theater: Producer (Jitney and Turn Me Loose)

Writer (We the Animals, Bar Crossed Lovers)

Co-producer GBF  (completed)

 

The Lowe Men  – Producer (development)
Number One (Short, Post Production)
 Director/Writer/Producer
Walking Behind Gordy  (Short Documentary, Post) Director/Writer/Producer
– Writing/acting/producing member Neo Ensemble Theatre

– Development/Grants Consultant, Board Secretary Deaf West Theatre

Tommy Oliver is a producer and cinematographer, known for 40 Years a Prisoner (2020), Black Love (2017) and The Perfect Guy (2015).

Jo Piazza is the national and international bestselling author of The Sicilian Inheritance, We Are Not Like Them, You Were Always Mine, Charlotte Walsh Likes to Win, The Knockoff and How to Be Married. Her work has been published in ten languages in twelve countries and four of her books have been optioned for film and television.  Jo’s podcasts have garnered more than twenty-five million downloads and regularly top podcast charts. An editor, columnist and travel writer, her work has also appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, New York magazine, Marie Claire, Glamour and many other publications. She lives in Philly with her husband, Nick Aster and three feral children.

Jay Roewe

Senior Vice President, Global Incentives & Production Planning

Producer
(The Best and the Brightest)

Producer:The Perfect Man (Universal), Never Again (Focus Features), Bad Hair Day (The Disney Channel), A Christmas Carousel (Hallmark 2020), Nature of Love (Hallmark 2021), Royally Wrapped for Christmas (Great American Family 2021), Maps & Mistletoe (Lifetime 2021), Warming Up to You (Hallmark 2022), Well Suited for Christmas (Lifetime 2022), Record Breaking Christmas (Lifetime 2022), Laughing All the Way (Lifetime 2023). Dawn also served as Executive Producer on two Award Winning short films (The Boy, Butterflies).

ERNIE VECCHIONE is an award-winning screenwriter, producer and novelist. He has written for HBO and Miramax and is a former winner of the Set In Philadelphia Screenwriting Competition. He wrote and produced the Streamy and Webby nominated web series SEX ED: THE SERIES for YouTube, which has more than 160 million views worldwide. His novels, THE AMISH GIRL and DEVIL’S CATCH, are available on Audible and Amazon.

Jeremy Yaches is co-founder of the production company Public Record. His feature work includes HUSTLE, which was the #1 film on Netflix for two weeks straight and WE THE ANIMALS, winner of the Next Innovator Award at Sundance and recipient of five Independent Spirit nominations. He produced the documentary IN A DREAM, which was broadcast on HBO, shortlisted for an Academy Award and nominated for multiple Emmys. Jeremy’s other documentary work includes MONSTER FACTORY for Apple TV+, the Netflix original VOYEUR, SIDELINED for A&E Indie Films and 7 DEADLY SINS on Showtime.

Past Judges