Fellows Selected For The 5th Annual Native American Feature Film Writers Lab

Valerie Complex
·6 min read

The Native American Media Alliance announced today they have selected six fellows for the 5th Annual Native American Feature Film Writers Lab, a talent development program that boosts the careers of Native American writers.

In partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal, A+E Networks, Cherokee Nation Film Office, and A+E Networks, the Native American Feature Film Writers Lab is an annual program for talented and aspiring screenwriters. Over the course of 10 weeks, chosen fellows develop a new screenplay, meet with partner industry organizations and receive creative guidance on their scripts from literary professionals.

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“The incredible success stories from our many fellows of this lab is a true testament to the genuine work behind our programs,” Ian Skorodin, Director of Strategy for the Native American Media Alliance announced. “It’s an incredible inspiration to see our fellows working, writing and providing the authentic voice of Native America at every major studio, network and media conglomerate.”

The Native American Feature Film Writers Lab received numerous applicants from several tribes throughout North America. The chosen fellows will take part in a ten-week curriculum cu-rated by seasoned writing executives. The lab will consist of daily workshops, seminars and in-tensive mentoring to help each writer develop and complete a screenplay in ten weeks and hone skills to prepare the participants for studio writing opportunities. At the end of the program, each participant will have completed an original screenplay and will participate in our annual writers pitch fest every November during the LA Skins Fest.

The 6 fellows of the 5th Annual Native American Feature Film Writers Lab are:

Ty Coughenour (Lummi Nation)
Ty Coughenour is an award-winning writer, producer, director who resides in Seattle, Washing-ton and is a member of the Lummi tribe. He graduated from UCLA in 2011 as a Gates Millennium Scholar. While at UCLA, he interned at Simon Kinberg’s Genre Films and a writer’s room at Nash Entertainment under Robert Kosberg. He moved to Seattle in 2013 and began working as a producer at Mighty Media Studios. While working as a producer, Ty received a Telly award for his work on the 2014 Summer X Games, a regional Emmy in 2015 for creating an NFL talk show, oversaw Skype integration to the 2016 presidential conventions, and produced the Xbox broadcast of the Batman vs. Superman premiere in NYC. T

y continues to work as a senior producer, writer, and director on tier 1 global digital events. While working full-time Ty continued to focus on screenwriting and was selected to the Sundance NativeLab Fellowship in 2013. With the grant from Sundance, Ty wrote, produced, and directed his short film, “Five Dollars” which was accepted to multiple film festivals including the San Diego and Phoenix International film festivals. His next focus is on writing, producing and directing his first feature film.

Rory Crittendon (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)
Rory Crittenden is a screenwriter, director and producer from the Peavine community of the Cherokee Nation. Rory has won six Heartland Region Emmys from his contributions to his tribe’s documentary television program Osiyo, Voices of the Cherokee People. He is a Cherokee history nerd and a pro-wrasslin’ enthusiast. He makes his living as a freelance filmmaker, creating content for various Native American governments, television programs and community organizations. Rory lives in Tulsa with his wife Christy and their two children.

Debra Peebles (Red Lake Band of Chippewa)
Debra Peebles grew up in North Dakota and Northern Minnesota. Her mother’s Indigenous heritage and artistic background has moved her life and affected her journey to writing for cinema. Debra received a scholarship award to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and eventually a Master’s Degree from the University of Missouri in Fine Art and Communications. She spent six years as a Radio Producer and Dj in Kansas City. Inspired by classic films, Debra was drawn to telling stories about relationships, their worlds and the courage to change them.

Faith Phillips (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma)
Faith Phillips is a Cherokee novelist and screenwriter living in the foothills of the Ozarks. She created the sub-genre known as Okie Noir. Her writing conveys a unique perspective on the lives of people existing in a land populated by migrants, exiles, outlaws, and survivors of attempted genocide. Phillips left active law practice and returned to her homeland in 2011 to devote her life’s work to the written word. Over the course of the next decade she published four books including fiction, memoir, and true crime, along with a host of essays and rock & roll reviews.

Her screenplays are designed to deliver the peculiar experience of life’s joyful yet grievous existence in the Cherokee Nation with a healthy dose of humor. Phillips recently produced a national true crime documentary series set in her beloved home. Faith’s career is dedicated to telling the true and powerful stories of people who have traditionally been overlooked and unheard, with an emphasis on the powerful message of healing that comes through truth-telling.

Linzmarie Schultz (Wyandot Nation of Anderdon)
Linzmarie Schultz grew up in rural NC where she attended NC School of the Arts both in drama and a summer of filmmaking specializing in writing/producing. She (eventually) got her degree from UNC CH where she acted and wrote on the student television soap opera as well as being a guest writer on an action comedy series. In between starting and finishing her degree she went to drama school in England. She recently placed 2nd runner up in Film Impact Georgia for her short film script, a dystopian dance film.

Her novel won judge’s favorite for Novel in Progress from Ink and Insights. Her recent pilot was inspired by her grandparents and their families (both sets) experiences and stories of Detroit. She considers herself a genre writer. During the pandemic, she tried stand-up and co-produced a zoom scene study of working writers scripts that she met on twitter including a BAFTA winner. She’s based in Atlanta and is a member of SAG-AF-TRA. She’s very excited and grateful for this feature lab!

Steven Tallas (Navajo)
Steven Tallas is an Award-Winning Filmmaker known for his debut feature film, 2020’s Rez Dogs. Growing up, Steven wanted nothing more than to see someone like himself starring in the movies he enjoyed most. With his penchant for storytelling and love of cinema, it’s no surprise that he found his calling in filmmaking. He began creating films as a teenager, learning from online resources and his experiences as an extra on film sets throughout Arizona and New Mexico. Paired with his passion for sharing his heritage, Steven uses filmmaking to create opportunities for fair representation of the Navajo Nation in art and media.

His goal is to share the stories and the history of Native Americans that Hollywood has often overlooked. Steven also hopes to create films with messages and characters that younger generations can identify with, films that he hopes will make his younger self proud. Steven has been honored to be part of the Native America Media Alliance Writer’s Seminar which helped him refine his screen writing skills. He has also participated as a key presenter in the Indigenous Film Summit and also was a judge at the Santa Fe Film Festival and the Alter Native Film festival. He has worked with HBO and PBS. He is now finishing up a found footage horror film called Skinwalker Cave.

For more information, visit http://www.nama.media

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