Speakers:  Dean Batali, Cheryl McKay
Moderator:  Shun Lee Fong

Dean Batali
TV Writer

Dean
Batali worked as a writer on "That 70s Show" for seven years,
serving as an executive producer for the show's final season. He
wrote for the initial two seasons of "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer,"
and has written for "Duckman," "Hope and Gloria" "Bruno the
Kid" and "The Adventures of Pete and Pete." Before coming to
Los Angeles, he worked as an actor and playwright for Taproot Theatre
Company in Seattle, Washington, and has written and produced numerous
musical theater productions. He is a graduate of the Evergreen State
College in Olympia, Washington. and lives in La Crescenta with
his wife, Beth, and two daughters, Erin and Katharine.

Cheryl McKay
Writer

Cheryl McKay has been professionally writing since 1997. Cheryl wrote the screenplay for The Ultimate Gift, based on Jim Stovall's novel. The award-winning film stars James Garner, Brian Dennehy, and Abigail Breslin and was released in theaters by Fox in 2007. The Ultimate Gift won a Crystal Heart Award at the Heartland Film Festival, received three Movieguide Nominations, winning one of the Ten Best Family Films of 2007, and won a CAMIE Award, for one of the Top Ten Films of the year. Cheryl also wrote the DVD for Gigi: God's Little Princess, another book adaptation based on the book by Sheila Walsh, as well as the Wild and Wacky, Totally True Bible Stories audio series and books with Frank Peretti. She wrote a half-hour drama for teenagers about high school violence, called Taylor's Wall. It was produced in Los Angeles by Family Theater Productions. She wrote a script called Killing Hope, commissioned by Art Within, after winning a year-long fellowship. Her screenplay, Never the Bride, is being adapted into a novel for Random House
Publishers and will be released in June 2009. Triumphant Pictures has
optioned the film script with plans to produce in 2009. Please visit
her website at: www.cherylmckay.net