Monica Landers is founder and CEO of StoryFit, a rapid-growth technology company which provides AI analytics for the media and entertainment industry. With two media technology patents, Monica’s deep experience in media extends from producing for ABC News and Good Morning America to executive leadership at multiple content companies. Monica has deep roots in Austin's startup community and is an advisor to Techstars and Comcast accelerators, University of Texas and Texas State universities, and organizations such as SXSW and Women@Austin.

Mike Gioia, COO, Pickaxe: Mike is a writer and LLM engineer. After working in Hollywood writers rooms for several years, Mike now develops LLM pipelines that can produce realistic, high-quality, highly variable outputs from models. He has designed several LLM systems for using in television production, museum exhibits, and other applied use cases. At Pickaxe, Mike is committed to building the no-code infrastructure that will usher in the mass adoption of AI as a consumer tool. He also writes essays on the emerging landscape of AI filmmaking at his blog Intelligent Jello.

Catherine Clinch, Veteran TV Writer, Hunter, Jake & the Fat Man, Love Boat, Hart to Hart: iOnce a stand-up regular at The Improv, The Comedy Store and The Playboy Club (where she was conspicuously overdressed) Catherine has written for some of television’s most popular network series including THE LOVE BOAT, HART TO HART, HUNTER, JAKE & THE FATMAN, KNIGHT RIDER, TRUE CONFESSIONS and TRANSFORMERS: RESCUE BOTS. In 2018, she created Stan Lee’s S.T.E.A.M. SQUAD for POW! Entertainment. Catherine has worked directly for a veritable who’s who of iconic television producers and executives, including Aaron Spelling, Fred Silverman, Alan Landsburg, Peter Roth, Kevin Reilly and Stephen J. Cannell, earning 26 produced credits in network television. She’s the former Associate Publisher of the print version of Creative Screenwriting Magazine and co-coordinator of the first five years of Screenwriting Expo. Looking for a new challenge, she expanded her scope into other forms of media such as marketing, technology, and mobile entertainment for which she has been awarded three technology patents. She’s also won five hackathons, including the AT&T Regionals two years in a row. Catherine wrote the story and created the art for a new graphic novel, A MILLENNIAL’S GUIDE TO THE APOCALYPSE, which she plans to release later this year. She dabbles in graphic design, teaches classes in Social Media Strategy and the Theory of Storytelling at local university campuses and has road-tripped through half the country. Currently, Catherine Chairs the WGAw Career Longevity Committee where she advocates for older writers to obtain equal access to the job market and equal opportunity for sustained professional growth. She is a frequent speaker at conferences in Nashville, Dallas, Orlando and Portland. Catherine is happily married with three sons.

Frank Deese began his 25-year screenwriting career with the teleplay for “Ghost Train,” directed by Steven Spielberg as the first episode of his NBC anthology series “Amazing Stories.” Frank’s feature film credits include “The Principal” with Jim Belushi and the semi-autobiographical “Josh & S.A.M.” which starred Jacob Tierney, Martha Plimpton, and a featured a young Jake Gyllenhaal. His later work as a script doctor for Universal Pictures, Castle Rock Entertainment, and Dreamworks eventually led him to teaching at UCLA and Chapman University. He is currently an Associate Professor of Screenwriting at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Film and Animation in Western New York. With a lifelong interest in science and technology, Frank has advocated at RIT for instruction in Virtual Production and low-budget previsualization for student films using the Unreal Game Engine. Additionally, he has recently written and co-produced the short Virtual Reality experience “Our Compass” to benefit the Society for the Protection and Care of Children.

Mark Goffman currently is an executive producer for the upcoming NBC series, THE IRRATIONAL. Prior to this, Goffman was an executive producer and writer on THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, BULL, SLEEPY HOLLOW LIMITLESS and WHITE COLLAR. Goffman first started on THE WEST WING, and went on to run the writers' room for STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP. Goffman has been nominated for two Writers Guild Awards and won the Entertainment Industries Council SET (Science, Engineering & Technology) Award. He began his career as a writer in Brussels, for the magazine Commerce in Belgium. He has a Masters in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, wrote speeches for state and federally elected officials, consulted to the U.S. military, Intelligence, Department of State and White House.

Christian Cantrell, Writer, Former VP of Product, Stability AI: My two lifelong passions are storytelling and technology. While they might not seem like they have much in common, I believe they complement one another perfectly. A good modern product should be part of a larger narrative. You don't just buy a new phone; you incorporate a device into your life that helps you stay connected to the people and issues you most care about. You don't just download video editing software; you learn a new workflow in order to amplify your voice. You don't buy an EV to save money on gas; you make an investment in a better future. Just as stories unlock the potential of products, technology unlocks the types of stories I like to tell. I don't write near-future thrillers and science fiction to indulge in futurism; I explore science and technology that don’t yet exist in order to put characters in situations in which they can discover things about themselves that would otherwise have been impossible.