StoryWorks.FILM
Book Editor, Development Executive & Leadership Consultant
I am a leadership consultant who empowers people to connect to their own magic and mastery. I am also a development executive and book editor who works with extraordinary first time and bestselling authors, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and photographers, Tony award-winning producers and playwrights and Academy Award-winning producers and screenwriters.
James Cameron, whose film Avatar is the number one grossing film worldwide, bid on a treatment I wrote for virtual reality. I oversaw the development from book to feature film of This Boys Life starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro.
I began co-directing the graduate publishing course at Harvard at twenty-five. I continued to be a consultant to the director for over fifteen years including when the program was moved to Columbia Journalism School. My training includes a lifetime of mentorship in psychotherapy, energy healing and meditation.
As an associated literary agent, I worked with exceptional investigative journalists and learned how simultaneous book and film deals raise lucrative publishing royalties and film options for fiction and non-fiction authors.
As the art production manager of Premiere Magazine, I developed strong production skills to coordinate the art, photography, advertising and editorial departments to deliver the monthly film magazine on time and within budget.
I have worked for major publishing houses including Random House, Viking Penguin, Henry Holt, Grove Atlantic, New World Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Full-time professional experience in addition to my work as a freelance consultant includes:
Nantucket Film Festival
New York, NY & Nantucket, MA. 2004-2005
Served on the screening committee for films for a festival that honors the art of screenwriting and storytelling
Script consultant at two-week screenwriters-in-residence program
The New York TimeS & CALLAWAY EDITIONS
Head of Print Publicity. New York, NY. 2002
Headed print publicity for A Nation Challenged: A Visual History of 9/11 and its Aftermath featuring the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and photojournalists. This co-publication of The New York Times and Callaway Editions also had a Scholastic young reader’s edition to help children gain an understanding of the events of the 9/11 and the aftermath of the war in Afghanistan through text and photographs.
I helped put the first book from The New York Times publishing division on the bestseller list through cultivating relationships with the United Nations, the World Forum, the Associated Press, government leaders in politics and in education as well as through Time, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal.
These books showed how “people unite and act heroically in response to acts of terror and realize that hope can rise from the ashes of hate.” The photographs and text, with the emphasis on images accompanied by captions, gave insight and compassion for the suffering of refugees from the war in Afghanistan and reflected many New Yorkers’ wish for reconciliation rather than retaliation.
METRO-GOLDWYN MAYER & UNITED ARTISTS
Head of Development. New York, NY & Los Angeles, CA. 1994-1996
Head of Development working with the Vice President of Development in the acquisitions and development of material for joint studios Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists. Promoted by studio executives for working collaboratively
Built strong relationships with the studio executives and publishers, agents, playwrights and screenwriters. Adapted a database I designed to track writers and material to network the two studios
Acquired books for feature film and contributed story development on feature films in production which included James Bond's GoldenEye
Wrote a treatment for virtual reality based on a book bid on by studio chief John Calley and director James Cameron
WARNER BROTHERS
Story Editor. New York, NY & Los Angeles, CA. 1991-1993
Story editor as part a three-woman development team with the Senior Vice President of development to initiate, acquire and develop material for feature films for producer Art Linson. Oversaw development while the Senior Vice President was on maternity leave
Collaborated on the development of produced screenplays for feature films which included Leonardo DiCaprio’s acting debut This Boy’s Life and the adaptation of La Femme Nikita
Discovered and developed screenplays with exceptional emerging and established authors, playwrights and screenwriters including Pulitzer Prize and Academy Award-winning David Mamet
Mentored playwrights and screenwriters in the Dramatic Writing Department of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Story Editor. New York, NY & Los Angeles, CA. 1990-1991
Partnered with the Head of Development to open an office in New York to acquire and develop books and plays for Producer Scott Rudin. Read first drafts of Jodie Foster’s directorial debut Little Man Tate and Uma Thurman’s Jennifer Eight
Initiated and deepened strong and trusted relationships with authors, literary and film agents to discover stories. Covered both theater and publishing through extensive meetings, seeing plays several times a week and often reading ten books a week
Created an extensive database of authors, editors, agents and publishers to discover and track material and build relationships
PREMIERE MAGAZINE
Art Production Manager. New York, NY. 1988-1990
Oversaw art production schedules and budgets and printer’s execution of layouts
Generated annual advertising revenue projections and editorial page estimates for the Editor-in-Chief
Coordinated the art and editorial departments to deliver final galleys. Contributed writing, research and design
Promoted from Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief to Art Production Manager
Read my first screenplay, JJ Abram’s Regarding Henry. Stories about the industry, weekly film screenings and discussions afterward in the office with brilliant editors immersed me in the world of feature filmmaking
THE ROBBINS OFFICE LITERARY AGENCY
Associate Literary Agent. New York, NY. 1986-1988
Coordinated simultaneous book and film deals with Creative Artists Agency. Negotiated contracts for first-serial rights. Reviewed book contracts. Orchestrated international rights with foreign scouts
Evaluated, edited and structured book and magazine manuscripts and proposals by New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, Esquire and Rolling Stone journalists and authors
Managed financial affairs, generated annual income projections and paid contractual advances
Promoted from Assistant to Associate Agent
THE COLUMBIA PUBLISHING COURSE, Columbia University
THE RADCLIFFE PUBLISHING COURSE, Harvard University
Co-director & Consultant. Cambridge, MA & New York, NY. 1990, 1996, 1998 & 2003
Co-directed the Harvard graduate publishing program in book and magazine publishing. Continued as consultant to the director when she brought the program to the Columbia Journalism School
Partnered with the director to develop and structure the program and oversee a hundred students and ninety consultants
Facilitated editorial and design workshops, directed the staff and mentored and oversaw career placement for a hundred graduates every summer
