Meet the Judges
Danny Belinkie is a Philadelphia-based filmmaker with a concentration in cinematography and still photography. His narrative work includes numerous feature and short films, as well as music and dance videos. His corporate clients include Amazon, Google, American Eagle Outfitters, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and the Los Angeles Unified School District. As a DoP he prides himself on fostering a positive on-set environment. Making movies, stressful as it may be, should always be fun (let's not forget that!).
Tori Bond is a screenwriter, playwright, and the author of Familyism, a collection of very short stories. She placed 3rd in the Scriptapalooza TV contest in the sitcom category, and her screenplays have received accolades at the Austin and Nashville Film Festivals.
Her one-act play was performed at The Second City in Chicago, and she received the Judges Award and Audience Choice for her short play at the Off Page Short Play Festival. Tori holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Rosemont College and has studied comedy and screenwriting at The Second City.
Raymond P. Smith
Raymond P. Smith has been a member of Philadelphia's Plays and Players for over forty-five years, directing over four dozen plays for the main stage, workshops, cabarets and children's theater, chairing the Play Selection Committee, coordinating publicity, conceiving and coordinating the series "Second Stage At Plays & Players" and serving on the Board of Directors (1979 - 2012) . He studied acting at the famed Hedgerow Theater.
At theaters throughout the Philadelphia area, he has acted in works by Wilde, Moliere, Coward, Stoppard, Pinter, Chekhov, Ibsen, Beckett, Simon, Sophocles and Kaufman and Hart. For five years he served on the board of Directors of the Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival, and for the past five years has served as a judge for the National High School Shakespeare Competition sponsored by the Philadelphia Branch of the English-Speaking Union.
Anthony Wilcox will be a judge in the Nov. 12 festival. Anthony studied acting at Rowan University and has been acting for 20 years on stage and screen. “I like plays because it requires work," Anthony says. "Plays give you a certain discipline." He began his theatrical career at the South Camden Theatre of Camden, NJ, and has since graced the stages at Arden theatre, Haddonfield Players and Plays, Woodbury Playhouse, as well as in films and on TV.
David Greenberg has written and doctored a total of over 60 screenplays. His feature writing and directing debut Stomping Ground premiered at The Philadelphia Independent Film Festival in 2016. His 1995 short film The True Meaning of Cool won an award from the American Film Institute. In spring 2021, David co-produced the feature Seclusion, currently on a successful festival run.
A Philadelphia native with deep ties to the local filmmaking community, David, teaches screenwriting at Drexel University and University of the Arts.
Andy Silverman is an award-winning screenwriter/producer. His recent credits include three feature films, a short, and a web series. His latest film, a psychological thriller, Seclusion, won Best Narrative U.S. Feature at the 2023 Chandler International Film Festival. His creature-feature horror comedy, Cyst is available to stream on demand. Texas Cotton (2018), distributed by Indie Rights, is currently streaming. His award-winning comedy web series, Buckle Up (2017) is available on Amazon Prime.
His recent screenplay, Squonk, was a quarterfinalist in the 2022 Nicholl Fellowship Screenplay Competition and is currently in development.
Michelle Sligh is a film & television producer and the Founder and Executive Director of New Hope Studios, a film studio currently in preconstruction in Brunswick, Georgia. She is also spearheading the development of a Film Commission and Film Office in Glynn County, Georgia. Michelle is the producer and casting director on the television series An Accidental Fire, which is recipient of a $50,000 grant for Diversity and Emerging Artists from The OneFifty, an Oscar winning Artists First studio in the Warner Bros. Discovery Family. Michelle has produced three feature films, including the award-winning horror film Dooba Dooba.
Carla “C.J.” Spataro directs the MFA in Creative Writing and the MA in Publishing programs at Rosemont College and is a founding partner of Philadelphia Stories. She is an award-winning short fiction writer.
Her work has appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies including Taboos & Transgressions, Iron Horse Literary Review, december, Sequestrum, and Exacting Clam. Her debut novel, MORE STRANGE THAN TRUE, is forthcoming from Sagging Meniscus Press in June 2024.
Brigette is a screen and television writer, playwright and journalist. In addition to selling a feature screenplay, and garnering awards for many others, Brigette has written, produced and directed short films and plays. Her feature screenplay Molly is in development.
Her TV work includes the award-winning one-hour pilot AKA Mia, and work on Yani Payne's pilot, An Accidental Fire.
Brigette began her writing career at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from NYU. She is a member of NYWIFT, WIF, the Dramatist Guild of America, and the National Italian American Foundation.
Mary Spiers is an award winning screenwriter, a novelist, educational content creator, and clinical neuropsychologist. She is particularly passionate about crafting and promoting narratives that give voice to girls, women, and individuals from underrepresented groups, Mary has significant experience working with individuals experiencing a range of neurological disorders. She developed the site neuropsyfi.com dedicated to analyzing the depiction of neurological differences and disorders in feature film. She has also been a “brain science” consultant to film-makers through the National Science Foundation’s Science and Entertainment Exchange.
