February 2011 Contest

Walt Becker is an accomplished director, screenwriter, producer and best-selling author. Mr. Becker made his directorial debut with Buying the Cow for Sony pictures, followed by the comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder. He recently directed Wild Hogs starring John Travolta, Tim Allen, Martin Lawrence, William H. Macy, and Marisa Tomei, which has grossed over $250 million worldwide. Becker followed that with the holiday family comedy Old Dogs starring Robin Williams and John Travolta.

Mr. Becker is producing a number of feature film projects and has projects in development at Disney, Sony, Universal, MGM, Summit, and CBS Films. His production company currently has a first look producing deal with Walt Disney Pictures. In television, Mr. Becker co-created and executive produces the TBS series Glory Daze, a one hour period comedy following the lives of four college freshman in 1986. He directed, co-wrote, and executive produced the pilot.

Mr. Becker is also the author of two novels. His first novel Link was on the Los Angeles Times and National Bestseller Lists, and is in development for Becker to direct and produce. He later co-wrote the legal thriller Misconception with attorney Robert Shapiro. Mr. Becker also created the graphic novel "Last Reign" which Boom! Comics published in 2009.

Mr. Becker received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications Studies from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Film from the Peter Stark Program at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, where he received the Robert S. Ferguson Award.

Michael Taylor is the Chair of Film and Television Production at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and a producer of theatrical and television films. His credits include Last Embrace, Bottle Rocket, Phenomenon, The Hi-Line, Instinct, The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper, Mrs. Munck, Princess of Thieves, Phenomenon II, The Commuters, and Copying Beethoven. He is currently producing and directing a documentary film entitled NO LABELS.

A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Taylor is the recipient of The National Board of Review Award, The Genesis Award for Outstanding Feature Film, The Santa Clarita International Film Award for best Tela-Feature, and The Variety/EDI $100 Million Award.

Kathleen "Bird" York is a study in creative versatility: an Oscar-nominated songwriter and recording artist ("In the Deep" from the Oscar-winning film Crash), an accomplished actor with over a hundred television and film credits to her name, and a screenwriter who has written projects for Warner Bros, Sony and, most recently, the Fox network.

Acting highlights include her recurring role as Andrea Wyatt on The West Wing, her starring role as country singer Naomi Judd in the NBC miniseries Love Can Build a Bridge, supporting in Diane Keaton's Northern Lights, and the films Nightjohn, Cries of Silence, and Cold Feet (with Tom Waits), as well as her cameo as the masseuse on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

In addition to her theme song for Crash, Bird is a recording artist, having released two records. Her songs have also been heard in Seven Pounds, Nip/Tuck, House M.D., CSI: NY, Everwood, Standoff and numerous other film and television projects.

Currently Bird is working on her next record (due out this fall), as well as several screenplay projects.

Edward Saxon, an Oscar winner, is a graduate of the USC Peter Stark Producing Program. He received his undergraduate degree at McGill University.

His credits include producing The Silence of the Lambs, which swept Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture at the Academy Awards. He also produced Philadelphia (which won two Oscars, including Best Actor for Tom Hanks), Adaptation, nominated for 4 Oscars—including Best Supporting Actor winner Chris Cooper—and the Oscar-nominated documentary Mandela: Son of Africa, Father of a Nation.

Most recently, he has been a producer on Enlightened, an upcoming HBO comedy series. He produced Sam Mendes's Away We Go at Focus Features in 2009, and Our Family Wedding at Fox Searchlight in 2010, which stars Forest Whitaker and America Ferrera.

Past credits include Tom Hanks' directorial debut That Thing You Do!, Ulee's Gold, Devil in a Blue Dress, Beloved, Fast Food Nation, Something Wild and Miami Blues.

Saxon is a founding Advisory Board member of the Independent Film Channel, and is a mentor for the Sundance Institute, Producer's Guild, and Peter Stark Motion Picture Producing Program at USC. He also has extensive experience working in Haiti both as a documentary filmmaker and as an activist. Saxon is married to the artist Kirsten Coyne. They have two young daughters and live in Los Angeles.

Michael Menchel began his entertainment career as the first trainee in the mailroom of Creative Artists Agency. He was an assistant to such highly-acclaimed agents as Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer and Bill Haber before joining the talent department as an agent himself. Menchel started by representing and working with such actors as Jim and John Belushi, Robin Williams, Sean Connery, Dennis Hopper, Virginia Madsen and many others. He later realized that representing filmmakers as well as actors could possibly increase the number of potential film and television packages for his clients, and signed filmmakers Oliver Stone, Richard Donner, John McTiernan, Joe Johnston and Alfonso Cuaron. Menchel helped facilitate such films as Good Will Hunting, October Sky, El Salvador, the Die Hard franchise, and Platoon.

In 2000, Menchel left CAA to join Ovitz in his new venture AMG, a management/production company. Menchel later set out on his own to form RELEVANT ENTERTAINMENT, a film and television production company. Since 2007 RELEVANT ENTERTAINMENT has been producing, packaging and developing such film projects as Paul Potts Story—the life story of the opera singer who won Britain's Got Talent—and Escape, the memoirs of Carolyn Jessop, the mother with eight children who escaped from Warren Jessop's FLDS religious sect and whose book helped to convict and sentence Jessop to two life terms.