Brooklyn, NY (February 28, 2012) – IFP announced today the speakers for the 2012 version of their popular writer/directors conference, Script to Screen. Hosted at 92Y Tribeca, IFP’s Script to Screen Conference will take place March 17, and is presented in partnership with Writers Guild of America East, the New York Television Festival, and BookExpo America.

IFP’s Script to Screen Conference is the place for writers and writer/directors to explore the art, craft, and business of writing and create the next generation of independent film and media. Script to Screen explores new opportunities available to indie filmmakers, encourages collaboration amongst attendees, and directly connects aspiring and working creatives to the decision-makers of the film, television, publishing and new-media.

Script to Screen is anchored by with Bennett Miller, the Oscar-nominated director of Moneyball and Capote, as well as a Screenwriter’s Roundtable featuring up-and-coming  auteurs Ry Russo-Young (Nobody Walks), Leslye Headland (Bachelorette), Madeline Olnek (Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same) and Liza Johnson (Return).

Previous Conference speakers have included writer/directors Barry Levinson (Diner, Rain Man), Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale), Lena Dunham, (Tiny Furniture), Lisa Cholodenko (The Kids Are All Right), Lee Daniels (Precious), Jon Favreau (Swingers), Terry George (Hotel Rwanda), Debra Granik (Winter’s Bone), Todd Haynes (I’m Not There), Peter Hedges (About A Boy), writer Mark Heyman (Black Swan), producers Barbara DeFina (Goodfellas), Scott Franklin (The Wrestler), Ted Hope (Adventureland) and Susan Stover (Laurel Canyon).

“Now more than ever filmmakers have ample opportunities available to develop, create, and fund their latest projects. But in this rapidly changing environment, writers and writer/directors still struggle to get their work seen, sold, and produced on multiple platforms,” says Executive Director Joana Vicente. “IFP’s challenge is not just to host a conference where innovators and icons can talk about their work, but to also engage attending creatives in the process of building community and collaborating to create sustainable work that will stand out in the marketplace.”

To this end, IFP is hosting a number of initiatives aimed to do just that including:

*The day kicks off with a creative writing game led by comedians Ethan T. Berlin and Eric Bryant, the creators of IFC’s new comedy game show “Bunk.”

*The Surrealist game “Exquisite Corpse” will follow, where attending writers will draft live a screenplay to be performed and analyzed later in the day by novelist and comic memoirist Jonathan Ames (creator, “Bored to Death”).

*For the third year, selected crowd-sourced projects will be pitched for feedback from a panel of experts including Cinetic’s Dana O’Keefe, producers Ron Simons (Gun Hill Road) and Dia Sokol (creator & executive producer, MTV’s “16 & Pregnant”) and CollegeHumor.com’s head writer David Young.

*All Script to Screen attendees will also participate in the Networking Lunch, where heads of major screenwriting organizations and contests as well as content creators are available to meet and chat about their programs, and the ways they can advance writers’ careers. Participating organizations include WGAE, Nantucket Film Festival Screenplay Competition, New York Television Festival, NYCScreenwriters.org, Sundance Institute, Tribeca Film Institute, and YouTube, as well Pitch Workshops panelists and other producers.

The Conference is open to the public. Passes are available and cost $90 for IFP members and $110 for non-members and include lunch.

For a complete line-up of speakers, to purchase a pass, or for more information on pre-conference give-aways and contests: https://thegotham.org/conferences/script-to-screen/

Panels will also be available to IFP members at www.ifp.org following the event.

About IFP
After debuting with a program in the 1979 New York Film Festival, the nonprofit IFP has evolved into the nation’s oldest and largest organization of independent filmmakers, and also the premier advocate for them. Since its start, IFP has supported the production of 7,000 films and provided resources to more than 20,000 filmmakers – voices that otherwise might not have been heard. IFP believes that independent films enrich the universal language of cinema, seeding the global culture with new ideas, kindling awareness, and fostering activism. The organization has fostered early work by leading filmmakers including Charles Burnett, Edward Burns, Jim Jarmusch, Barbara Kopple, Michael Moore, Mira Nair and Kevin Smith. For information: www.ifp.org.