Author: Ian Skorodin

Michelle Hernandez is a Wiyot and Latina filmmaker. She grew up on the Table Bluff Reservation, where she found her love for filmmaking. She has a Masters in Film and Electronic Media at American University in Washington, D.C. and a B.A. at Humboldt State in both Film and Native American Studies. Her work often focuses… Read more »

Joshua Emerson (Navajo) is a Navajo comedian, writer, and actor, based in Denver, Colorado. He is a founding member of the award-winning comedy troupe and production company, DeadRoom Comedy. Comedy shows that Joshua produces through DeadRoom Comedy include ‘Colorado Native,’ a Native American Comedy Showcase, and ‘Dead Inside,’ winner of the Denver Fringe Festivals Audience… Read more »

Rory Crittenden / ᎤᎵᏍᎦᏂ is a screenwriter, filmmaker, and documentarian from the Peavine community of the Cherokee Nation. He has won six Heartland Regional Emmys for his past work directing and producing nonfiction content for the Cherokee Nation.In 2022, Rory became one of the recipients of Firelight Media’s SPARK Fund. His western television pilot Goingsnake… Read more »

Diego Moreno is a Pascua Yaqui and Mexican American screenwriter from Tucson, Arizona. His 2016 Native Horror Short, My-A-Knee, won the Alexander Laing Memorial Award for Best Screenplay. In 2018, Diego received a BA in Film and Media Studies from Dartmouth College where his honors thesis, My Heroes Have Always Killed Cowboys, focused on portrayals… Read more »

JohnTom Knight is a writer, comedian, and proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Following his internship at Adult Swim in 2020, JohnTom was selected and participated as a fellow in the 2021 Native American TV Writers Lab. He currently serves as a script coordinator and freelance writer on the upcoming kid’s fantasy animated series Spirit Rangers at… Read more »

Maya Rose Dittloff (ǔkkayǔ”kwīyinnimǎakii/Many Pipes Woman) is Mandan, Hidatsa, and Amskapi Pikuni (Blackfeet) from the Starr School region of the Blackfeet Nation. Maya is a member of the WGA and works as a writer, director, and producer across film and television. She was trained at UCLA in the School of Theater, Film and Television, and… Read more »

Meilani Wenska is an award-winning Native Hawaiian screenwriter, filmmaker and actor who creates projects that dispel stereotypes and misinformation about Hawaiian culture to raise awareness on the commodification of Hawaiian land and culture. She has written multiple features and pilots, and her second feature was a semi-finalist in Final Cut’s Big Break contest. As a… Read more »

Kaili Y. Turner is a Black Indian (Nipmuc), comedian, actress, writer, producer, and puppeteer whom received her MFA from the Actors Studio Drama School. Kaili’s pilot Fk’d Up & Fabulous is streaming on the Tenoir TV app, and her play Indian Country was a semifinalist for the Eugene O’Neill playwrights conference. She’s also creator of… Read more »

Eagle Smith, born in Ketchikan, AK. Fka Kat Smith. Eagle had the good fortune of growing up during the Summers of her childhood in her hometown, Metlakatla, Alaska, and her school years in the Seattle area. As she puts it, “one foot on the reservation, one foot off.” Her continued ambition for storytelling is accredited… Read more »

Sabrina Saleha is a Navajo screenwriter and actress. She is an alumna of 2023 ImagineNative’s Screenwriting Features Lab and 2022 LA Skinsfest Native American Media Alliance’s TV Writer’s Lab. Sabrina graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Screenwriting from the Institute of American Indian Arts in May 2023, having received a scholarship from Warner… Read more »