Damon Lindelof Co-Creator and Executive Producer, “Watchmen” on HBO
DAMON LINDELOF was born in New Jersey to a schoolteacher and a banker. He was also born a writer, although it would take over 25 years to figure that out. In 2004 he partnered with J.J. Abrams to create LOST. No, they were not dead the whole time. Since Damon left the island, he has worked as a writer and producer on STAR TREK, PROMETHEUS, WORLD WAR Z, TOMORROWLAND, and most recently THE HUNT.
Returning to TV in 2014 Damon spent three seasons showrunning HBO’s critically-acclaimed THE LEFTOVERS, which he fiercely defends as “not as depressing as everyone says.” Most recently he just wrapped up the HBO series WATCHMEN, which he fiercely defends as “not as confusing as everyone says.” Damon also wrote this bio.
Attica Locke Creator, Executive Producer of the upcoming “From Scratch” on Netflix and Co-Executive Producer of “Little Fires Everywhere” on Hulu
Attica Locke’s latest novel Heaven, My Home, sequel to the Edgar Award-winning Bluebird, Bluebird was published in September 2019. Her novel Pleasantville was the winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was also long-listed for the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction. The Cutting Season was the winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Her first novel Black Water Rising was nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, as well as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
A former fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Feature Filmmaker’s Lab, Locke works as a screenwriter as well. She was a writer and producer on the Fox series, Empire, and most recently, she was a writer and producer on Emmy-winning Netflix series When They See Us and the upcoming Hulu adaptation of Little Fires Everywhere. She is currently writing and producing a limited series adaptation of her sister Tembi Locke’s memoir From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home for Netflix. A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.
Liz Tigelaar Showrunner and Executive Producer of “Little Fires Everywhere” on Hulu
Liz Tigelaar is showrunner and executive producer of the Hulu limited series “Little Fires Everywhere,” starring and executive produced by Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, which is based on the bestselling novel by Celeste Ng, and debuted March 18, 2020.
Tigelaar most recently served as showrunner and executive producer of the Hulu Golden Globe-nominated comedy “Casual,” created by Zander Lehmann and executive produced by Jason Reitman.
Best known for creating the critically acclaimed drama series “Life Unexpected” which aired on the CW for two seasons, Tigelaar got her writing start on NBC’s groundbreaking drama “American Dreams.” She went on to write and produce such series as ABC’s “What About Brian,” “Dirty Sexy Money,” “Brothers and Sisters,” “Once Upon a Time,” “Revenge,” “Nashville,” and “Astronaut Wives Club,” along with A&E’s “Bates Motel.”
Tigelaar grew up in Dallas, Texas, and Guilford, Connecticut, and graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Scriptwriting and Politics. She got her start as an assistant on “Dawson’s Creek,” followed by “Once and Again,” where she was mentored by one of her writing idols, Winnie Holzman.
Sonja Warfield Co-Executive Producer of “The Gilded Age” on HBO Sonja Warfield is a television writer and author best known for her work on the Emmy Award-winning NBC sitcom Will & Grace as well as BET’s hit comedy The Game. Currently, she’s Co-Executive Producer for HBO’s highly anticipated historical drama The Gilded Age.
Over the course of her nearly 20-year career, Sonja’s also picked up credits from a diverse range of television shows including Disney Channel’s popular Liv and Maddie; BET’s Zoe Ever After, which featured pop star Brandy; the animated series She-Ra for Dreamworks/Netflix, where she also penned an original song; and the ABC comedy Jake in Progress.
She’s developed and written pilots/projects for ABC, NBC, Netflix, Nickelodeon, Lifetime, Universal TV, Sony Pictures Television, and HBO. Ms. Warfield also writes feature films, including a screenplay adaptation of a novel for Alcon Entertainment and 2S, a Hilary Swank production company.
In addition to television and film, Ms. Warfield is author of the entertaining, empowering, and inspiring book Get Your Butt Off My Couch (And Your Hand Outta My Wallet), a woman’s guide to getting rid of her deadbeat husband, boyfriend, or boo-thing. Sonja and her book have been featured on numerous radio and television programs including The Dr. Phil Show.
Sonja is the mother of a teenage son, she’s the daughter of an NFL Hall of Fame football player and she’s a former debutante (but don’t hold that against her). When she isn’t writing scripts or trying to reach the top of the leaderboard on her Peloton, Sonja is a part-time stand-up comedian.
She’s performed at The World Famous Comedy Store, The Laugh Factory, and The Ice House. These days, though, she performs mostly in her kitchen.
Ms. Warfield has a B.A. in Cinema/Television-Critical Studies from the University of Southern California where she has taught television writing.
Nancy Won Executive Producer of “Americanah” on HBO MAX and Co-Executive Producer of “Little Fires Everywhere” on Hulu
Nancy Won has most recently served as an Executive Producer of HBO Max’s adaptation of “Americanah”, based on the novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. She was a Co-Executive Producer of the Emmy-nominated “Little Fires Everywhere” on Hulu, and has written and produced for series including “Jessica Jones”, “Supernatural”, and “Brothers and Sisters”. A graduate of Yale College, Won was born in Seoul, Korea and grew up in Southern California.
MODERATORS
Sonya Winton-Odamtten Co-Executive Producer of “Lovecraft Country” on HBO
Jonathan I. Kidd Co-Executive Producer of “Lovecraft Country” on HBO
Playwrights and documentarians, Jonathan I. Kidd and Sonya Winton- Odamtten are the physical manifestation of a stellar collision. While Jonathan grew up in the farmlands of Mansfield, Ohio, Sonya was reared by her creative-hippie parents in the metropole of Los Angeles. No one could have predicted that their paths would cross while pursuing their Ph.D.’s at Yale University…changing their lives forever…
Jonathan earned his Bachelor’s degree with honors from The University of Michigan in African Studies, African American Studies, and English. He received his Master’s of Art, Master’s of Philosophy, and Doctoral degree from Yale University in African American Studies and English.
Sonya earned her Bachelor’s degree with honors from Spelman College, where she majored in Political Science. She received her Master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, a Master’s of Art, and Master’s of Philosophy in African American Studies and Political Science from Yale University. Sonya received her Doctorate in African American Studies and Political Science from Yale University.
In 2001, while at Yale, Jonathan and Sonya founded a non-profit theater company, Adam, Eve, & Steve Productions (AES) and directed and produced a number of successful theater productions that include: Jonathan’s There Must Be A God Somewhere, Jan Henson Dow and Robert Schroeder’s Shaka, and Sonya’s Matri-focal Concentric Zones of Violence Revisited: Part One. In 2003-04, they took two years off from their studies to complete a documentary on youth mobilization during the Presidential election covering such groups as ROCK THE VOTE, THE NATIONAL HIP HOP POLITICAL CONVENTION, STONEWALL DEMOCRATS, COLLEGE REPUBLICANS, HEADCOUNT, NEW VOTERS PROJECT, LEAGUE OF PISSED OFF VOTERS, CITIZEN CHANGE, and PUNKVOTER.
In 2006, they were one of the featured theatre non-profits selected to participate in Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 DAYS/365 PLAYS national festival. Parks remarked on the “unforgettable” productions staged by Jonathan and Sonya, at sites of contestation around greater Los Angeles (for example, the intersection of Florence and Normandie avenues, where Reginald Denny was beaten during the Rodney King rebellion). In 2007, Sonya and Jonathan taught theatre to teenagers in South Los Angeles through the LAUSD after school program Beyond
The Bell, which utilized intensive readings of the works of Shakespeare, Lorraine Hansberry, and August Wilson to help students create their own one-act plays addressing issues such as environmental justice, class inequality, and bullying.
After stints as professors, playwrights, and documentarians, Sonya and Jonathan turned their eye toward a television career and were chosen for the Warner Brothers Television Writers Workshop in 2009. In addition to staffing on a number of shows, most notably ABC’s THE WHOLE TRUTH; FOX’s TOUCH; and AMAZON’s OASIS, Kidd/Winton-Odamtten found success in selling several of their spec pilots: THE 4TH REICH (Showtime with Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and CBS Studios attached as producing partners); Warner Horizon, the 1970s period drama RODEO DRIVE; and Lifetime, the dynastic family drama, SOUTHERN GOTHIC which Catherine Hardwick was attached to direct and Alfre Woodard and Melissa Leo set to star in. At the close of 2018, Kidd/Winton-Odamtten signed an overall with HBO to develop new projects while continuing their work on LOVECRAFT as CO-EP’s.
Finally, through their philanthropic work, Kidd/Winton-Odamtten recently launched the Feed Black Covid-19 Health Workers Challenge. After partnering with Frontline Foods, the duo recruited over 40 other Black Hollywood writers in order to support health care workers in underserved Black communities around the country. Thus far, their outreach has fed hospital, nursing home, and health clinic staffs in Downtown Los Angeles, St. Louis, New York, Dallas, Houston, Durham, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Providence, Inglewood, Boston, Memphis, and Minneapolis-St. Paul.
Liz Tigelaar
Sonja Warfield
