Saturday, August 26th, 2pm at Peaks & Pints

This panel discusses the struggles, successes, and failures encountered while pursuing a career as a screenwriter. In this moderated Q&A, local screenwriters will describe their strategies for success and perseverance in an industry that at times seems to be closed to outsiders.

Moderated by: Daryle Conners 

Daryle Conners is an award-winning writer, filmmaker, and video game designer, whose short film, J’arrive, shot in Paris, premiered at SIFF in 2015. She writes screenplays and interactive scripts and has designed many game titles for the PC and iPhone/iPad, including “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”, the first real-time rendered 3D game for children. She has interviewed everyone from Pope Benedict XVI to Madonna, and co-produced a 5-hour documentary series for PBS called “The Faithful Revolution.  Daryle is currently co-producing two feature film projects – The Small Star Seminar, with Cory McAbee, and Idaho ’73 with Mischa Jakupcak and Diane Kurys.

Betty Kim Betty is a screenwriter, singer, songwriter, actor, and former ballet dancer. She has been president, treasurer, secretary, and head of the compendium for the Northwest Screenwriters' Guild. Currently she chairs the membership committee for NWSG and focuses on writing feature length comedies. She is featured in Blake Snyder's Save the Cat Strikes Back for her pitching method. Her songs have been featured in television and film.	Kevin Rexroat Kevin has been hired to write or rewrite four feature-length films and a TV pilot. His screenplays and teleplays have finished as high as the finals in multiple competitions, including Emerging Screenwriters, The Austin Film Festival, Scriptapalooza, Final Draft’s Big Break, BlueCat, and others. His adaptation of Chris Crutcher’s DEADLINE has a producer attached and is currently under consideration at several production companies.	Kristi Simkins Kristi is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and editor. Her screenplays have won, or placed highly in, many acclaimed screenwriting competitions including the BlueCat Screenplay Competition. She’s both been hired to write and sold several award-winning screenplays. She is currently an editor on a large-scale documentary project call The School of Life Project. Kristi’s multi award-winning short film, SOMETHING SPECIAL, which she wrote and directed, was a finalist in a New Zealand international filmmaking competition judged by Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson and producer Barrie Osborne (LORD OF THE RINGS, THE MATRIX). SOMETHING SPECIAL screened at dozens of film festivals all over the world, including the Cannes Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, and the Palm Springs International ShortsFest. The film was also broadcast on television in the PBS series “Official Best Of Fest” and The Pentagon Channel.	Persephone Vandegrift Persephone is a multi award-winning screenwriter, filmmaker, passionate story coach and consultant. Current projects in development include WW2 TV series ESTHER'S DEN (to be directed by Shannon Van Metre), feature romantic comedy THE WATER KING, and historical feature and TV series, AGRIPPINA. Besides screenwriting, she is also a playwright, author, and creator of The Very Fairy children's book series. Her two short films, ALL THINGS HIDDEN, and THE LAST LIGHT, were both filmed in the Pacific Northwest. She currently resides in Central Oregon.