NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Gregory Ballesteros

Gregory Ballesteros is an experienced entertainment marketing professional with over a decade of experience within marketing and distribution for global theatrical marketing campaigns. Ballesteros worked with Warner Bros. Discovery and AMC Theatres in a variety of different capacities ranging from film programming, exhibitor marketing and distribution. Throughout his tenure Ballesteros partnered with the major film studios like Disney, Universal Pictures, 20th Century Studios, Paramount, and SONY along with other studios like Lionsgate Films, A24, and Amazon Studios. His interests include finding opportunities for the entertainment industry to evolve through social media, new technology and innovations.

Arsenio G. Assin

Arsenio G. Assin received his BFA from City College of New York’s Picker Institute in Film and Media Studies. Afterward, he worked for several years in various genres in New York, including music videos, documentaries, commercials, industrials, ENG., and independent shorts and features in the different crew departments, such as a key grip, sound, electrician, AC, production design and eventually DOP. His work history has ranged from work for bigger productions, such as an AC for the New York second unit crew of Stanley Kubrick’s last film, Eyes Wide Shut, to smaller productions of independent companies such as cult favorite Troma Entertainment’s feature films Citizen Toxie and Poultrygeist. As a cinematographer, his work in indie films, The Viscous Circle and Sad Spanish Song has been accepted in several festivals as well as had a theatrical release. His longtime collaboration with director Preston Miller has seen his work in the micro-budget film Jones, reviewed by Amy Taubin in Film Comment as “a find.” He believes that it was these varied work experiences that gave him insight into the challenges that face new and upcoming filmmakers.

Ashley Bank

BA in Film, NYU. Graduate of The Second City Conservatory
Ashley has been working in the entertainment industry for virtually her entire life. She’s worked as an actress, stand-up comedian, producer, and writer. As an actress Ashley has appeared in over 40 commercials, and has guest stared on TV shows like Family Ties, My Two Dads, Frasier, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. She’s also appeared in numerous TV Movies, working with greats like Henry Winkler, Dolly Parton, and Raquel Welch, as well as the feature film The Monster Squad. She also worked as a producer for CBS News/48 Hours, and later for CBS News’ documentary department, working on documentaries for The History Channel, The Food Network, A&E, Discovery, and ESPN. She is a graduate of New York University, with a BA in Film, Journalism, & Political Science. She is also a graduate of The Second City Conservatory. For the Screenwriting Department in Los Angeles, she teaches The Business of Screenwriting, The Art of The Pitch, Acting as part of the Script To Screen course, and Scene Study. For the Producing Department in Los Angeles, she teaches Producing Documentaries, and in the Filmmaking Department she teaches Advanced Producing.

Brian Beery

Brian is a vested member of the Screen Actor’s Guild due to many years of professional acting work in TV and Film. After working at a literary agency Becsey, Wisdom, Kalajian, Brian became an assistant to Alexander Payne (Election). Brian recommended Sideways to Alexander and the movie became a financial and artistic success, earning Payne an Oscar for his adaptation.

Brian was a medical researcher on the FOX TV series Bones. His medical research was used in several episodes, detailed on their official website and published in hardcover Bones: The Official Guide. Brian worked in Post Production on several feature films and TV shows directed by Spike Lee, M. Night Shyamalan, Tony Scott, Betty Thomas, the Russo brothers, and Jim Burroughs.

Brian earned his MFA in Screenwriting from AFI. Brian won the Ellen Idelson Playwriting Award, the George Mayr Award for Excellence in Screenwriting and the Kodak 35mm Award for his script Speed Dating. Speed Dating competed in film festivals all around the world and was ranked Best of USA by FilmsShort.com. Brian sold and optioned screenplays and was hired to rewrite movies based on the recommendations of Oscar winning filmmakers. Brian directed over 50 industrials and short films.

John Briscoe

Editor of multiple commercials broadcast both in Western Pennsylvania as well as Los Angeles. Worked as a freelance contractor on various independent films, webisodes and commercials. Editor of an 8-episode “war time” style documentary independently and aired locally in Los Angeles. Director, Producer and Editor of various segments airing on Pennsylvania television including a commercial for Hyundai, as well as various local food establishments and businesses.

Preston Butler

MFA in Acting, California Institute of the Arts.
Preston Butler III is a multi-hyphenate artist who engages in acting, directing, writing, and music. He has performed all across the United States as well as internationally in France, Belgium, and Scotland. Butler starred as Kitch in the West Coast Premiere of Pass Over by Antionette Nwandu (She’s Gotta Have It) at ACT Seattle, in which he won Best Actor in a Play. In 2021, Butler made his network television debut as a jazz pianist (Kendle Spotnitz) on NCIS. Preston also wrote and directed an original theatrical production at his alma mater, Vanguard University. Created in collaboration with current students, the play, God So Loved: Do We?, explored the complexities of racism, social justice, and faith. This “Digital Play” centered on the new reality of ‘stay-at-home’ virtual communications with each scene taking place via Zoom, FaceTime, and social media posts. Butler voices Cooper Calhoun, a recurring character on the Focus on the Family audio series, Adventures in Odyssey. Most recently, Preston narrated The Souls of Black Folk by W.E.B. Du Bois for Apple Books as a part of their celebration of Black History Month. As an educator, Preston worked intensively with the CalArts Community Arts Program (CAP) developing new programs centered on digital content creation and the various elements of filmmaking. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, Preston teaches Acting in the Script To Screen course, as well as Scene Study. For the Producing Department in LA, he teaches Acting for Producers.

Denise Carlson

Denise Carlson is a producer, consultant and development executive with twenty five years of experience in the entertainment industry. She was at Disney Channel for 9 years as the Director of Original Movies, responsible for overseeing the development and production of 47 television movies, including the megahit High School Musical, as well as other highly successful films such as Wendy Wu and The Cheetah Girls movies. She has also produced series for Disney+ and independent productions. She is on the board of the LA Femme film festival, which is dedicated to presenting films that are made by and about women. She has a BFA from Rollins College and a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology from Ryokan College.

James H. Coburn IV CAS

James H. Coburn IV has been teaching production sound at college level for fifteen years. He is a Production Sound Mixer of 25 independent feature films, including The Bronx Bull, Free Enterprise and All’s Faire In Love, and TV series including Roger Corman’s Black Scorpion and Guru To Go for Discovery Networks. He was one of the mixers on the 2015 documentary Kobe Bryant’s Muse. His most recent project was consulting about sound and mixing for the documentary feature, Be The Beauty, which showcases Poet Laureates around the country. Before turning to mixing he was a boom operator and has worked on numerous network TV series, documentary projects and features. A long-time member and former Board member of the Cinema Audio Society, he was instrumental in creating the CAS Technical Awards. James wrote the Foreword to the authorized biography of his Oscar-winning father, “Dervish Dust: The Life and Words of James Coburn” (Potomac Books, 2021) and is currently working on a new book about the art of Production Sound mixing.

Benjamin B. Cohen

Benjamin Cohen is an award-winning writer, professor, and performer. In his writing, Benjamin likes to play with dark and challenging material from an honest, comedic perspective. Raised in Atlanta and based in Brooklyn, Benjamin worked on projects selected by the Austin Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and The High Museum of Art. He also appears in the Emmy-Nominated PBS short documentary, “What Makes a Great Book.” Benjamin has taught Writing and Film History at NYFA since 2012 and is an active member of the WGA-E. When he’s not writing, teaching, or performing comedy on the NYC stage, you can find Benjamin with his lovely wife and two dogs.

Morgan Dameron

BA in Film & Television Production, USC
Morgan Dameron wrote, directed, and produced the feature film, Different Flowers. She previously worked at Bad Robot Productions on Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Trek Into Darkness. She has developed projects with Paul Feig’s Powderkeg Media, 3BlackDot, Olive Bridge Entertainment, and Very Big World. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, she teaches Art of the Pitch, The Business of Screenwriting, Script To Screen, Feature Workshops, Adaptation, Elements of Screenwriting, Story Generation. For the Producing Department she teaches Navigating The Industry online.

Darren Dean

Darren Dean is an Award-winning American Producer, Writer and Director. Working in the realm of micro-budget and social justice films, he has helmed works by renowned directors Sean Baker, Rashaad Ernesto Green, Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra. His films have won awards at Sundance, have been nominated for Oscars and have won Clio Awards. He is currently hard at work at the new features THE END STAGE OF STARS (dir Rachel Mason’s follow-up to CIRCUS OF BOOKS); JACK-BE-NIMBLE (dir Alex Thompson’s follow-up to SAINT FRANCES); MO (dir Chris Brown’s follow-up to THE OTHER KIDS); as well as the debut feature AMERICAN 11 (dir Shayain Lakhani). Dean will also begin prepping his feature directing debuts in 2021, THE APOLOGY and the Spanish-language NO SUGAR TONIGHT.

Kevin DiNovis

For the past twenty-five years, Kevin DiNovis has worked as a screenwriter and film director. His debut feature, Surrender Dorothy (1998), won multiple awards, including the Grand Jury prize for Best Feature at the Slamdance, Chicago Underground, and New York Underground Film Festivals. His subsequent work includes the political satire Death & Texas (2004), which stars Academy Award nominees Charles Durning and Mary Kay Place.

As a writer, DiNovis adapted Mary Higgins Clark’s bestselling thriller Loves Music, Loves to Dance for USA Networks. He was the first writer selected to inaugurate Marvel Studio’s Writers Program. In addition to adapting two features and one short subject for the celebrated ‘MCU’, DiNovis participated in an uncredited dialogue polish of the script for Thor.

In 2019, DiNovis presented his paper entitled “‘The Other Fellow’: ‘Transference of Identity’ in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association’s Conference in Atlanta, GA. He followed that up at SAMLA’s 2022 Conference with a paper entitled, “A Little Help from His Friends: The Expanding Role of MI-6 in the New 007 Cinematic Universe.”

Rick Greenwood

As a writer, director, producer and cinematographer his works have appeared in over 50 film festivals and earned 13 awards. Currently in pre-production for his directorial feature debut with Therapy Pictures. MFA in Filmmaking, New York Film Academy; BFA in Fine Art, University at Albany, NY.

Israel Gutierrez

Israel Gutierrez is a Mexican American filmmaker with a background in film and video editing. He worked as an editor at NBCUniversal for E! Entertainment International and Telemundo International. As a filmmaker, he recently won Best Film Screenplay (Mexican American Film Festival 2022) and Best Short Drama (Official Latino Film Festival 2022) for his multi award-winning historical drama They Call Us Sediciosos. Iz wrote, directed, and edited the short as a proof-of-concept for a feature film and TV series.

Mentored by Oscar-winning screenwriter David S. Ward and former DGA president and director Martha Coolidge, he is the recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker Grant for the short he wrote and directed Sin Frontera, an immigration love story, which screened at the SAG Foundation, won numerous drama awards including official selections in Academy accredited festivals.

Denise Hamilton DEI Los Angeles Education Chair

Denise Hamilton has over 30 years experience as a writer and producer for NBC, ABC and PBS network specials and syndicated programs. In the area of documentary film she most recently was co-producer of BEING MICHELLE, a feature which won the 2022 Audience Award as Best Documentary at the Florida Film Festival, and presented at fourteen other festivals. Ms. Hamilton was writer and field producer for four internationally-shot documentaries, including “NGONE’S STORY: A Tale of Africa’s Orphans”, which aired on NBC affiliate stations; as well as the feature “Hollywood Musicals: Singing and Dancing” which screened at the Palm Springs Film Festival and as a 4-part series for PBS. She served as series producer of “Where Cultures Collide”, a 5-part web series for KCETLink, and was coordinating producer on “For Peace Sake”, the Emmy award-winning 2-hour NBC-TV special, as well as the “Motown 40: The Music is Forever” documentary special for ABC-TV. She has served on the awards selection committee of the International Documentary Association, and has taught documentary film production for Spelman College. For eighteen years Ms. Hamilton also served as co-chairperson of the Black Association of Documentary Filmmakers-West.

Matt Harry

MFA in Film Production, USC
Matt has been telling stories since he was 10 years old. He spent his early years writing newspaper articles for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and one-act plays before discovering filmmaking at Ohio University. He graduated cum laude with a BS in Television Production. He moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts and received an MFA in Film Production. As a screenwriter, Matt’s work has been recognized by the Austin Film Festival, the FOX/NYTVF Comedy Script Contest, Script Pipeline, the Launchpad Manuscript Contest, and the Nicholl Fellowships. His first produced feature screenplay, FUGUE, landed on several top-ten lists, won Best Horror Film at the Mississippi Film Festival, and was picked up for distribution by GoDigital. His short film SUPER KIDS, which he wrote and co-directed, has over 6 million views on YouTube. His TV pilot MONSTER COPS was awarded Grand Prize in the Second City Original Sitcom Contest, and is currently in development. Matt has also published four novels, written and directed an immersive play, and created a card game called You Are a Filmmaker. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, he teaches Thesis Workshop, Transmedia, Feature Workshops, Script To Screen, Unscripted Storytelling, Adaptation, and Genre Studies. For the Producing Department, he teaches Producing Reality TV.

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