Katrina Medoff

Co-Founder

Katrina Medoff is an actor, writer and producer in New York City. Her recent projects include the feature “Ask for Jane” (actor) and the short films “Lovestuck” (actor/writer/producer), “Home Invasion for the Holidays” (actor), “Ms. Connections” (actor/writer) and “Dark Blue” (producer). 

Makana Shimaoka

Social Media Manager

Makana Shimaoka is a creative professional who’s worked with multiple film and television production crews in New York City. She recently moved to Los Angeles and has spent the last few years working as a freelance social media manager. She’s currently working on packaging several television pilots in development.

Tracy Sayre

Co-Founder

Tracy Sayre is an award-winning screenwriter and founder of Writers Work. Her short film “Lily + Mara” recently premiered on PBS. She is currently developing three feature scripts for production and serves on the grant board of QCA and is an animal rights activist. Tracy received a BFA and MAT from Maryland Institue College of Art.

Elizabeth Patterson

Director of Outreach

Elizabeth Patterson is an experiential marketer, with a passion for performing arts and film. Her film credits include “Lovestuck”, and “The Happys”, which have both found success in film festivals nationwide. She aims to share the WWFC story with external audiences through speaking engagements, workshops and advocacy programs.

Andrea Bunker

Casting Director

For the past 6 years Andrea Bunker has enhanced her craft from her casting mentor and former boss David Rubin, who is currently The President of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Together they consulted for HBO on many green-lit projects from "Westworld" to "Succession."

In addition to consulting, Andrea was the Associate Casting Director on "Big Little Lies," "Sharp Objects" and various projects for Netflix, Hulu, SONY, Amazon and Fox. Since 2008, Andrea has been the Casting Director to over 40 independent projects (feature films, shorts, commercials and promos). 

Akilah Green

Screenwriter

Akilah Green is a recovering lawyer-lobbyist turned writer. She currently writes for HBO's "A Black Lady Sketch Show" and NBC's "Perfect Harmony." Before that, she wrote for two seasons of Chelsea Handler's Netflix show, "Chelsea," where she also frequently appeared on camera. Akilah has also written for NBC's "A Legendary Christmas with John and Chrissy," The People's Choice Awards, The BET Awards, and Starter Pack on Facebook Watch. 

Akilah has been named one of “9 Black Female Writers Changing Hollywood” by VH1 and was chosen for The Young & Hungry List of Hollywood’s “Top 100 New Writers.” 

Claudia Raschke

Cinematographer

Award-winning cinematographer Claudia Raschke is best known for her ability to bring the rich tones of the motion picture medium to a diverse spectrum of films, from highly stylized commercial endeavors to feature documentaries to lower-budget works of art.

Among her many notable award winning films are: Oscar-nominated "RBG," Oscar-nominated "God is the bigger Elvis" (HBO), Peabody Award-winning "Black Magic" (ESPN), Oscar short-listed "Mad Hot Ballroom" (Paramount), "Particle Fever" (Bond), "Atomic Homefront" (HBO), "The Freedom to Marry" (Argot Pictures) and many others.

Lakshmi Sundaram

Screenwriter

Lakshmi Sundaram is a writer and actor on “Master of None.” Previously, she served as an executive story editor on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine.” Prior to that, she was on the staff of “Smash” and “Next Caller.” Sundaram is an improv writer/performer and the lead singer of a hip-hop band.

Emily Ting

Director

Emily Ting is an award-winning writer, director, and producer. Her first feature "Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong" premiered at Los Angeles Film Festival and was distributed theatrically by Gravitas Ventures in 2016. Emily’s latest feature "Go Back to China" premiered in competition at the 2019 SXSW Festival and is being released theatrically in spring 2020.

Previously, Emily was most known for her producing work, having served as producer on Ishai Setton’s "The Kitchen" and Stephen Suettinger’s "A Year and Change". She also executive produced the films "Pit Stop," "Land Ho!" and "Man from Reno," which collectively have screened at Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca, and Los Angeles Film Festival. She most recently produced Lynn Chen’s directorial debut "I Willl Make You Mine," which is premiering at the 2020 SXSW Festival.

Caroline Roberts

Writer, Producer

Caroline Roberts is a writer, producer and director with over a decade of experience in the film industry. Most recently, she was the Associate Producer on the award winning film, "Mary Poppins Returns." She has worked on such films as "Nine," "Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides," and "Into the Woods."

In 2017, Caroline wrote, produced and directed the short film, "Lily + Mara", for which she received a Global Shorts Award of Excellence for Best Screenplay and an Award of Merit for Best Short Drama. In 2018, Caroline entered the AT&T Createathon filmmaking competition, where her short film, "Better Than Somedays,"won Best Overall Mobile Film.

Caroline is currently in London working on her next feature film.

Rachel Carey

Director

Rachel Carey is a filmmaker and writer based in the New York City area. Her first feature film as writer/director, "Ask for Jane," starring Cody Horn, Sarah Steele, Sarah Ramos, Ben Rappaport, and Alison Wright, premiered at the 2018 Hamptons International Film Festival and was picked up for distribution by levelFILM. It screened theatrically in 10 cities in 2019. Other recent projects include writing and directing the 1-hour dramatic tv pilot Takers, which screened at several festivals including Seriesfest in 2016 (where it won an award for Best Actress in a drama) and writing the web series "The (Female) Genius," which is being launched on Thirdwing's new streaming service in 2020. She has an MFA in Film Directing from NYU, and has taught at several colleges and universities including Yale University.

Shanele Alvarez

Cinematographer

Shanele Alvarez has DP’d multiple features (narrative and documentary) including "Dance Baby Dance" and "Neron," webseries, TV shows, and short films. Shanele is also a Local 600 camera operator and has operated on projects for HBO, ABC, CBS, Nickelodeon, The Jim Henson Co, and more.

Angele Cooper

Director

At 28, Angele Cooper is the only African American female union electrician working within IATSE’s New York Local 52 & Texas Local 484. As a union electrician, she has played many roles from Gaffer to Best Boy working on festival favorites, TV shows & feature films. Her road to film and television is rooted in a love she developed for film and writing while attending the University of Texas at Austin, while on a full athletic scholarship. Angele is a Co-Founder of Alpha Female Films and currently being mentored by producers and directors of the Black TV & Film Collective & New York's Writers Guild of America chapter. She additionally starred in Season 4 of the hit A&E series, '60 Days In'. Her first feature is based off her experience on the show.

Cameron Morton

Director

Cameron is a New York City based director, originally from Atlanta, GA. She has worked with Big Beach Films, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. Cameron is an alum of the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium, and a graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Acting.

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Family, Addiction, and Isolation are recurring themes in her work, and she is drawn to narratives that highlight the natural world. She is a 2019- 2020 Jacob Burns Creative Culture Fellow.

Meredith Metcalf

Writer

Meredith Metcalf is a writer and producer whose plays have been seen at Dixon Place and Manhattan Rep. Her short films have screened at Sick Chick Flicks, the Museum of the Moving Image, and on Roku.

An Assistant Production Coordinator with Local 161, she has worked on films and television series including "Ocean's 8," "Uncut Gems," and "High Maintenance." She is a Next Wave member of New York Women in Film & Television and volunteers with Brooklyn Women's Film Festival.