Teacher Biographies:

Seth Michael Donsky is the founding chairman of the screenwriting department at the New York Film Academy. He holds an M.F.A. in film from Columbia University where he was a twice awarded the Dean’s Fellowship, the highest merit award granted at Columbia University’s School of the Arts. He is a two-time national finalist of the Coca-Cola Refreshing Filmmaker Contest. His short film, Loopy, won a generous development grant from Hallmark Entertainment, screened at festivals around the world, including the Cinequest film festival and the Short Film Festival of Clermont-Ferrand, and was nationally broadcast on The Independent Film Channel. His debut feature film, Twisted, which he wrote and directed, premiered at the 47th Annual Berlin International Film Festival where it was nominated for the Teddy Award. Twisted was distributed theatrically in the U.S. and throughout Europe and screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which awarded Seth an honorarium for the work. Additionally Seth is an internationally published journalist who has written for The New York Press, The Daily Beast, Gotham Magazine and Los Angeles Confidential among other titles. His most recent project, The Usher Treatment, a gothic drama, has been optioned by RFC Productions, founded by the late Robert F. Colesberry, co-creator of HBO's The Wire.

Carol Mayes, (producer, writer, director), has years of industry experience. She has worked on a diverse array of projects for network television, as well as independently produced shorts, features, and animation. Her films as writer/director, "Commitments" (starring Allen Payne & Victoria Dillard) and "Rituals" (starring Regina King, Isaiah Washington, & Jenifer Lewis) were produced for BET Pictures and Lifetime Television, respectively. As a winner of the Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship, she has written features & television scripts for Disney Studios and ABC Television. Other credits include, writer, "East St." pilot episode for The N Network, and producer for segments on PBS' "Sesame Street". Other honors include, finalist for the Chesterfield Writer's Film Project, and awards from the Toronto International Film Festival, Director’s Guild of America, the CINE Golden Eagle, Student Academy Award Nomination, Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame, and Urban World Film Festival.

Carol Mayes holds a Master of Fine Arts from The American Film Institute and a Bachelor of Arts from Princeton University.

For more information, please email sdonsky@nyfa.edu or to register call 212-674-4300