Shorts Lab

CHOICES

Logline: CHOICES is a coming-of-age comedy about a class clown, a nerd, and an aspiring prom queen who await pregnancy test results in a girls’ bathroom at their South L.A. high school.

Kameishia Wooten, writer/director: Kameishia Wooten is a passionate director, writer, and producer who creates provoking, inclusive, socially impactful stories for film and television. She has written, directed, and produced 6 short films and a web series. Most recently, Wooten’s proof of concept short, DESTINY’S ROAD, received the Best Narrative Short Film Audience Award at the 2021 Moorpark Film Festival, Best Short Film Award at the 2020 Black Truth Film Festival, and has screened in over 20 film festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad.

Janae Green, producer:
Janae Green is an entertainment professional pursuing production management, sustainability, and creative producing. She received a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Media Studies from Carleton College (Northfield, MN) and a Master’s of Entertainment Industry Management from Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA). She currently works at Meta as a Production Coordinator on their Creative Strategy team supporting shows such as “Red Table Talk,” “Cardi Tries,” and “The Walking Dead” with Genvid.

Robin J. Hayes, producer: Dr. Robin J. Hayes hails from a blended Afro-Latine, Caribbean, and African American family in Brooklyn (before it was artisanal). With the assistance of academic scholarships, she attended St. George’s—an elite New England boarding school—and studied at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. After graduating, she collaborated with veterans, clergy, and soccer moms to lead dozens of humanitarian aid missions in Cuba, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Meagann Pallares, line producer: Meagann Pallares, a bilingual Latin American producer, began her career in Video Production at theAudience, a celebrity driven social media publishing company founded by Sean Parker, Ari Emanuel, and Oliver Luckett. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, she is perhaps best known for her work on the Chrysler PacifiKids national campaign, leading a team of 12 hidden cameras while children took over the dealership. She has also produced commercials for brands such as Bud Light, Microsoft, and most recently Glassdoor, to name a few. Her film production credits include a docu-drama called THERE IS MANY LIKE US featuring Eric Roberts, and a psycho thriller THE SLEEP. She traveled the world as a Story and Line Producer for GEARS OF WAR PRO CIRCUIT where she was able to interview some of the

most well-known professional gamers and their families in both Spanish and English. A fun fact is that she produced music videos for The Chainsmokers’ first viral hit SELFIE and their sophomore single KANYE. Taking pride in her work, she strives to ensure the production of high quality, trending and empowering video content shared by the millions.

PLEASE IN SPANISH

Logline: Feeling disconnected from her ethnic roots, a young woman warms to her cultural identity after meeting a lively neighbor.

Patricia Seely, writer/director: Patricia Seely is a Los Angeles based multimedia producer whose recent projects include THE COCKTAIL PARTY, an official selection at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival, written and directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Jessica Sanders, and THE RISING VOICES STORY, directed by Kwanza Nicole Gooden, which featured the stories of BIPOC filmmakers on their journey to create meaningful, inclusive short films under the Rising Voices initiative. She was previously the VP of Production for Kobe Bryant’s Granity Studios, producing the ESPN+ series “Detail,” the scripted podcast “The Punies,” the sports fantasy audiobooks The Wizenard Series and Legacy and the Queen, and behind-the-scenes documentation of the Academy Award-winning animated short DEAR BASKETBALL. Other past credits include the feature film LIZA, LIZA, SKIES ARE GREY, written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Terry Sanders, and the Emmy-nominated National Geographic series “Hard Time.”

Alexandra Clayton, producer: Alexandra Clayton is a producer and filmmaker whose work leans into the earnest and awkward experience of being human. UNPACKING is her narrative feature debut as a co-writer/director/producer. She recently produced the narrative feature IN SILVA, an environmental-horror set in the mountains of Colorado. Other producing credits include the feature docs REFRAME (post), and FACES OF THE MODERN MAYA (pre-production), two narrative shorts in 2021, two web series, and a lot of branded content. Films she’s acted in have screened at over 30 festivals including Karlovy Vary, NYC’s Rooftop Films, SF’s Cinema by the Bay, and have streamed on Amazon and Kinoscope. A grounded optimist who thrives on the creation of original work from the ground up, Clayton believes the stories we tell create the culture we live in. She lives in Los Angeles with her dog Roo.

Miranda Pacheco, line producer: To begin her career, Pacheco studied film at Columbia University. While living in New York City, she worked at Scott Rudin Productions, The Weinstein Company, and HBO, as well as commercial companies RSA and Anonymous Content. Since relocating to Los Angeles, she has worked on a variety of studio feature films including BAYWATCH, MORBIUS, WEST SIDE STORY, and KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON. In 2020 she was selected as a NALIP Latino Lens Producing Fellow. She has produced various short-form content, including short films, commercials, and music videos. Her feature film VERMILION is currently in consideration for the 2022 Sundance Producers Program. She is the founder of The Broad Society and an active member of The Latin Tracking Board as well as The Colour Collective. As a producer, she is committed to telling unique and personal stories that uplift marginalized communities.

SILVERLAKE CLEANERS

Logline: On Hwa-young’s last day of work before moving to New York, she has two disparate encounters with the same local that make her question the decision to leave her family and community behind.

Katarina Zhu, writer/director: Katarina Zhu is a Chinese-American filmmaker/actress from the suburbs of New York. She graduated from NYU in 2018 with a BFA in Drama. Since then she has gone on to write, direct, and act in her own short films. Through her work, she’s interested in exploring how cultural divides can be bridged and how they inform relationships, especially within families and across generations. Lastly, she’s interested in films that focus on characters, typically younger females, who transcend their circumstances in order to claim agency in their lives.

Corrine Dye McGarey, producer: Corrine Dye McGarey has a background in producing advertising and branded content. For the last seven years she was based in New York working as a Producer within North Six Group, a global collective of producers and content creators. Whether it be on a sound stage or on location, McGarey is well versed in complex shoot production—bringing an idea to life from initial concept through final delivery. Working with budgets that range from $25K to $3M, she is known for her strategic ability to maximize production value within the project’s scope, and in building relationships with clients, creatives, and crews, she is trusted as a calm and decisive leader on set. McGarey’s producing talents lie in bridging tempestuous creativity and business reality, aligning both to mutual benefit. She thrives amidst ever-shifting priorities and budgets. She harnesses the egos of her team members, knowing precisely when to pull tight and when to give the reins play. And, perhaps most importantly, she truly enjoys it. McGarey has a B.S. in Business Administration from University of Denver. She is currently studying an MFA in Producing at the American Film Institute Conservatory.

Mireia Vilanova, producer: Mireia Vilanova is a Barcelona-born, L.A.-based producer working in film, television, digital media, commercials, and photography. She has led numerous projects in the U.S. and Europe that have been screened all over the world in top tier festivals such as Tribeca, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Hollyshorts, Outfest, Palms Springs ShortFest, LA Shorts, and the Edmonton International Film Festival. She has worked with companies like Netflix, Grindr, Indeed, Barça TV, and the Royal Spanish Swimming Federation. Vilanova holds an MFA from the Peter Stark Producing Program at the University of Southern California. She is a 2021 Film Independent Project Involve Producing Fellow and a member of the BAFTA Newcomers Program.