Lisanne Sartor
Board President
Lisanne Sartor is an award-winning writer/director whose short film “Six Letter Word” has screened at over fifty-five film festivals worldwide, including the Telluride Film Festival (www.sixletterword.org). She made that short via the AFI Directing Workshop for Women. She was awarded a renowned Hedgebrook Writers Residency in 2016 and was a 2016 WGA Feature Writers Access Project Honoree. In 2017, she was one of twenty-five women chosen for the first year of the exclusive AFI/Fox Bridge Program, designed to increase the number of women working on studio films.
Leslie Dallas
Co-Executive Director & Co-Feature Retreat Manager
With many years’ experience as a story editor and consultant for studios, networks, and cable, Leslie Dallas, brings a unique marriage of science and art to her work.
Carlo Martinelli
Co-Executive Director
Carlo Martinelli is an independent film and television producer based in Los Angeles. Projects in development include a series with former CIA agent Robert Baer (Syriana), and a new series based on Dashiell Hammett’s Sam Spade character with writer/director Scott Frank (Godless).
Colette Sartor
Co-Executive Director & Co-Feature Retreat Manager
Colette Sartor is an award-winning fiction writer and essayist whose work has been widely published in such places as the CHICAGO TRIBUNE, KENYON REVIEW ONLINE, SLICE MAGAZINE, CARVE MAGAZINE, COLORADO REVIEW, and HARVARD REVIEW. Her writing also has been anthologized in SHORT STORIES FROM PRINTERS ROW, PRESS 53 OPEN AWARDS ANTHOLOGY, LAW AND DISORDER: STORIES OF CONFLICT AND CRIME, and elsewhere.
Leah Estrin
TV Retreat Manager
Leah Estrin was born & raised in Los Angeles & Orange County making her very much a So-Cal native. Her first job was teaching young kids dance. After getting a BFA in Film Production from Chapman University and an MFA from UCLA’s Producing Program, Leah started her career at Imagine Entertainment. During her 11 years at Imagine she moved up the ranks from assistant to story editor to creative executive. While at Imagine, she worked on multiple projects including INSIDE MAN, FUN WITH DICK & JANE, TOWER HEIST, UNDERCOVER BROTHER and INSIDE DEEP THROAT.
Pamela Pierce
Executive Director Emeritus
Pamela Pierce (Executive Director Emeritus) is the founder of the CineStory Retreat and Fellowship Awards. She received her MA from Stanford in screenwriting and is a Pre-Academy Nicholl Fellow. She is the former director of the Austin Film Festival Conference and Screenwriting Competition. In addition, she has done business affairs with CBS Entertainment and has taught screenwriting for Northwestern University, Columbia College Chicago, and University of Chicago Graham School.
Jen Nuzzo
Intern
Jen is a UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting graduate and award-winning journalist. She’s an associate member of Women in Film and started her internship at the CineStory Foundation in 2018.
Rajiv Reddy
Intern
Rajiv Reddy is a filmmaker and a UCLA Professional Program in Screenwriting graduate. His first feature film, ILAI (2013), was featured at several international film festivals including the Mumbai Film Festival and the London Indian Film Festival.