About Us
Co-Directors
Jess is a Professional Lecturer and Chair of the Screenwriting Program Committee at the School of Cinematic Arts in DePaul University’s Jarvis College of Computing and Digital Media. Their creative scholarship reimagines screenwriting and filmmaking practices towards radical equity and social justice. King designs and instructs numerous original courses focused on infusing storytelling and production practices with an ethos of care and accountability. They published a ground-breaking first book, Inclusive Screenwriting for Film and Television, with Routledge in 2022. They currently serve on the evolutionary governing board for OTV, an intersectional artist incubator and independent television hub in Chicago.
Jess King (they/them)
Abby Plante (she/her)
Abby Plante is a working Writer and Producer based in Los Angeles. She received a B.A. in Digital Cinema with a concentration in Screenwriting from DePaul University. After participating in the second cohort of the DePaul Los Angeles Quarter, Abby launched her career by working as a Hollywood Assistant at companies like Paradigm Talent Agency to then working in creative development at Bunim-Murray Productions. Versed in scripted and unscripted television, as well as documentary writing, she has since produced various scripted and digital series for networks including Netflix, SyFy, LOGO, and NBCUniversal, and production companies including Participant Media, SoulPancake and Funny Or Die. She is also a Board Member for nonprofit PollenNation which strives to create representation and opportunities for youth from historically underserved Los Angeles-based communities.
Anuradha Rana (she/her)
Anuradha Rana is a filmmaker, educator, and program leader whose work aims to catalyze a more diverse media ecosystem. She has produced and directed award-winning films internationally, supported by Kartemquin Films, Tribeca Film Network, If/Then, PBS, DOC NYC, IL Arts Council, Chicago’s DCASE, and CAAM. Anuradha is the Director of the School of Cinematic Arts and Vincent de Paul Professor at DePaul University. She is on the steering committee for the Asian American Doc Network (A-DOC) and has been named one of Chicago’s 50 Screen Gems, a DCASE esteemed artist, DOC NYC’s Documentary New Leader, part of the ArtEquity BIPOC Leadership circle, and most recently, a Rockwood Documentary Leadership Fellow.
