Step 2: Marketing Intensive

Corey was the driving force behind FreshMaker Media, a literary management and production company, before joining The Cartel in the fall of 2016 as a manager/producer. He represents TV writers, screenwriters and filmmakers in all media.

Corey also serves as an advisor to Jumpcut Media. Founded by serial entrepreneur and Wharton School professor Kartik Hosanagar in partnership with Silicon Valley venture studio Atomic, Jumpcut is a tech + story company that delivers smarter, faster and more cost-efficient audience insights, empowering studios & creators with a unique advantage in the global entertainment market.

On the producing side, Corey executive produced TRUST starring Victoria Justice and Melbourne-based filmmaker client Justin Dix’s sophomore feature BLOOD VESSEL.

Corey previously held the position of Vice President of Development and Production for Inferno Entertainment. Prior to joining Inferno, he spearheaded development for Southpaw Entertainment. His first development executive position was Creative Executive at Red Wagon Productions. Prior to that, he was assistant to Dede Gardner, then Vice President of Production at Paramount Pictures.

Corey attended Townsend Harris High School at New York’s Queens College and holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.

Victoria Nguyen currently serves as a Consultant in Development and Production at Rebel Maverick. After being a PA on independent sets and interning at management companies, she landed at eOne in international acquisitions and then pivoted to the development department. She later worked in development at Valparaiso Pictures, managing the development slate and shepherding new projects and voices into the company - including the films STRAIGHT UP (currently on Netflix), PIG (acquired by Neon), and ON THE COUNT OF THREE (premiered at Sundance 2021).

At Rebel Maverick, Victoria helps develop projects for film and TV, focusing on diversity and inclusion of stories that are often overlooked. Rebel Maverick is a Los Angeles-based productions company co-run by Afro-Latinx queer writer-producer team, Matt Nicholas and Nastassja Kayln. They tell stories about the marginalized and underrepresented in a way that normalizes these experiences and reduces the stigma of being an "other". They champion stories in the film, television, and digital media space that put women at the forefront, give a platform to BIPOC, queer and differently-abled individuals, and more who are struggling with otherness and cultural displacement.

Jason Lubin is a manager-producer and the principal at First Story Entertainment, which he founded in 2018. The lit management company represents a diverse roster of talented writers and directors with fresh voices in all genres for Film and TV. The company’s clients have been staffed on shows on multiple networks including Showtime, CW, Apple+, and Netflix, and have sold series to Disney and HBO Max. In 2021, two of the nine participants selected for the highly competitive WBTV Writers Workshop were clients. In the feature space, First Story clients have written films starring Robert De Niro and John Malkovich, have sold specs to Searchlight Pictures, and have directed feature films accepted to Cannes. Jason also develops both feature film and television projects under the company’s banner. Prior to starting First Story, Jason worked as the Head of Production & Development at Lynda Obst Productions, a Sony-based production company. He also worked at Lionsgate where he rose to Story Editor in the Motion Picture Group and served as the junior creative executive on multiple feature projects. Jason cut his teeth as the assistant to CEO Jon Feltheimer and was named one of Variety's Ten Assistants to Watch. A graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Jason currently sits on the board of the Trojan Entertainment Network. 

Janet Jeffries is a Development and Production executive working in both features and television for Lawrence Bender Productions / Bender Brown TV Productions.

LBP is an independent feature film company in Los Angeles, working with several independent financiers and sales companies. Recent films include the animated short film COPS AND ROBBERS, live action short film TWO DISTANT STRANGERS, both streaming on Netflix the Netflix original feature THE HARDER THEY FALL directed by Jeymes Samuel. Lawrence Bender’s credits also include the films GRETA, HACKSAW RIDGE, GOOD WILL HUNTING, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, PULP FICTION and INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. We are currently developing and packaging films written by an academy award winning writer, and action movie with Jason Statham and a ROMANCING THE STONE type of movie written by the author of the book, CRAZY RICH ASIANS.

Bender/Brown is the company’s television arm. Credits include the Netflix limited series SEVEN SECONDS, Starz limited series FLESH AND BONE, and the current CW series ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO. We currently have projects in development with FX, EPIX, Peacock, Telemundo and Starz.

For the past nine years, Janet has also had the pleasure of being an adjunct professor for the MFA in Screenwriting program at National University. She also is an executive mentor working with Roadmap Writers.

With nearly two decades of experience in entertainment, Sam Schifrien can trace her fascination for the magic of film & TV back to a moment in her Northern New Jersey kindergarten, when she learned to tie her shoes for a sketch on the MTV show The State. In the three decades since that moment, Sam has gone on to work for multiple representation companies in several capacities, networks & studios in international development and media relations, in a writers’ room and on sets (where her responsibilities grew beyond tying shoes).

Most recently before starting her own company, 93 Cedar, Sam developed a slate for Untitled Entertainment that included projects (mainly television) with Christina Ricci, Reggie Hudlin, Chris Diamantopoulos, Annie Chang, The Crown Princess of Greece, Vanessa Hudgens, Melanie Griffith, and Jack & Danny Huston. Before Untitled, Sam worked with producer Michael Rosenberg (Hung, The Riches) at roseyTV, originally under a deal with eOne. Most notably, roseyTV produced PopTV’s Let Get Physical from Workaholics’ Connor Pritchard and starring Matt Jones & Jane Seymour, for which Sam received a Development Associate credit. Prior to that, Sam worked with JoAnn Alfano, first on ABC’s Resurrection starring Omar Epps & Frances Fisher, with a writing staff that included Tara Butters & Michele Fazekas, Aaron Zelman, Tom Schnauz, and the late, great Nathan Louis Jackson, as well as producing-directors Dan Attias & Chris Misiano. Sam followed JoAnn to NBCUniversal International where the slate of projects originated from companies within the UK, Australia and Canada, and included Carnival’s Downton Abbey, Australia’s Glitch which streamed on Netflix, & You, Me, and the Apocalypse which aired in the US on NBC.

Sam started her career (really at ABC Media Relations in NYC in high school, but in Los Angeles) at Brillstein Entertainment Partners, captaining their flag football team and working for literary manager Margaret Riley, whose rosters includes Charles Randolph (The Big Short), Susanna Fogel (A Small Light), Alex Tse (Wu-Tang Saga), Mark Ruffalo (Sympathy for Delicious), Margaret Nagle (Warm Springs), Ann Cherkis (Better Call Saul) and Anthony Zuiker (CSI). Sam proudly graduated from the USC Business-Cinematic Arts Joint Degree Program started by industry legend and former WMA agent Larry Auerbach, with Order of Troy Honors for service.

In addition to working to build 93 Cedar, recently Sam has worked in story analysis and IP evaluation for companies with major studio deals, and judged screenplay competitions for various festivals, institutions and organizations. Currently, she is looking for like-minded partners and is building a slate that includes female-created genre, comedy with a purpose/has a personal connection to the creator & builds up opposed to tearing down, and any non-fiction or docu-series projects which could be partnered with advocacy groups.

Prior to co-founding the management/production company Fictional Entity in early 2017, Chris Deckard spent over seven years working with and representing talent at the major agencies ICM Partners and WME. While at WME, Chris worked in the media rights department, selling books for series and film adaptations before moving into the talent department, where he worked closely with high level actors in film, television, and the then-emerging digital space. While at ICM Partners, he again worked with high level actors and worked closely with the packaging and sales department and the digital media group. For over a decade, Chris has worked closely with traditional and new media buyers to find and develop content for domestic and international audiences. In addition to helping cast and package numerous features and series, he has evaluated thousands of scripts for actors and directors. Chris graduated from Cornell University and earned his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School.

Chris helps his clients navigate the evolving entertainment landscape in the United States and abroad. He has negotiated deals for features, series, and podcasts in several international territories. His clients have been named to The Black List, The Hit List, The Young & Hungry List, The Blood List and been lauded by the PAGE Awards, the International Emmys, and The GLAAD Awards. Clients have also earned nominations and placements from The Heath Ledger Scholarship, The Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Awards, the AWG, ADG, SPA, and AACTA. Clients have written, directed, starred, and produced in numerous formats, including features, TV, virtual reality, and podcasts, independently and for companies like Netflix, Lucasfilm, NBCUniversal, Legendary, Marvel, Fremantle, SyFy, the CW, Warner Bros., Amazon, Blumhouse, Hulu, XYZ, The BBC, Comedy Central, the ABC Australia, Foxtel, TruTV, Super Deluxe, Hallmark, Lifetime, CBS, Facebook, E!, and MSNBC.

Several of Chris’ clients had films shoot in 2021, including one for Netflix, and another which sold to XYZ Films, both of which are slated for 2022 release. Within the past year, clients have sold series to Amazon, Netflix, eOne, and Hulu. Chris, along with his business partner, is also an Executive Producer on a scripted series project alongside two writing EPs from New Amsterdam which sold to Universal Television in 2021.