Dawn Spinella

 Youth Cinema Project Filmmaking Mentor

Dawn Spinella has achieved success both in front of and behind the camera, as well as on the page. She's won multiple awards in all three disciplines and considers filmmaking a continuously evolving form. Her first biographical screenplay "Mary & The Moon" won The Alfred P. Sloan Science Screenwriting award. She's taught screenwriting at UOP and UCLA, and teaches workshops for both short, feature and tv formats. Her students consistently win writing and filmmaking awards and their films screen throughout the world. Ms.Spinella organized and moderated the American Screenwriters Conference for five years and is currently working with other organizations to develop similar programs. Dawn holds an MFA in Screenwriting and an MA in Creative Writing.  She's had the honor of working with and learning from amazing filmmakers including Dustin Lance Black (Milk), Bobby Moresco (Crash), Paula Wagner (Mission Impossible), Wolfgang Petersen (The Perfect Storm) and dozens of other working writers and directors. She has been a mentor for the Youth Cinema Project for 4 years.