David Levien, the FFF guest speaker, is a screenwriter, director, producer, and novelist. He is co-creator, executive producer, and showrunner of Showtime's Billions, along with Brian Koppelman. Over the past two decades, Levien has created an influential and diverse body of work in both film and television. Some of his most noteworthy credits include Ocean's Thirteen, Rounders, Solitary Man, The Illusionist, Runaway Jury, Tilt, and ESPN's 30 for 30 (This Is What They Want) for which he won a sports Emmy. His latest show is Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, which will be aired on Showtime soon. 

Peter Kalmbach has over twenty years experience in the feature film industry having served as head of acquisitions for indie art-house distributor October Films. He was a Executive Producer on the acclaimed and award winning film Revolutionary Road with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. He is currently a full-time screenwriter working with director Ridley Scott producing his newest script.  

Jon Adler has worked in the film industry for over 20 years. He studied film production at the University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduate, and continued at the USC School of Cinematic Art’s graduate program where he honed in on his passion for filmmaking. Jon founded the production company Adler Films, Inc. He wrote and produced his first feature film “Dead Sound”, which was featured in numerous film festivals and released in 2020. Adler Films is currently in development on a series of island-based thrillers written and to be produced by Mr. Adler.

In 2019, in conjunction with Adler Films, Jon partnered with NY Times bestselling author Ted Bell, and together they formed a new film and television production company, El Dorado Entertainment. Mr. Adler and Mr. Bell are producing Mr. Bell’s bestselling series of spy/thriller novels, “Hawke”, as well as his YA bestsellers “Nick of Time” and “Time Pirates”.
 

Laura deNey is an Emmy award-winning documentary filmmaker, who loves to tell hidden stories from around the world, with a focus on culture, environment, and the arts. She has produced and edited dozens of hours of documentary programming for National Geographic, NBC, Netflix, CNN, and PBS, most recently executive producing the docu-series "Going From Broke," created by Ashton Kutcher, which empowers young people get out of student loan debt. She runs her production company Flicker Filmworks with her husband and partner Mustafa Bhagat in New Paltz, NY.

Jay Scully recently filmed the role of Dr. Hal Brenan in the upcoming independent feature, Mid Century, directed by the great Sonja O'Hara, with Stephen Lang, Bruce Dern, and Shane West. He has cast over 50 feature films and television shows, and worked extensively on set as an acting teacher and coach. Recent coaching work includes Superfly (Sony) Paradise Pictures, a pilot for USA Network, The Fosters (Freeform), as well as features for directors J.J. Abrams (Super 8), Judd Apatow (This Is 40), and James Wan (Furious 7). He has coached a number of Hollywood's top actors, including Xolo Mariduena (Cobra Kai), Frieda Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire), Moran Atias (Tyrant), Diana Silvers (Booksmart), and the late Paul Walker, as well as NBC Sports color commentators and high-level public speakers. 

As a writer/director he most recently co-created and directed the pilot presentation Big & $ave. Jay received his BA from Tulane University, an MFA in Acting from Brandeis University and was a founding cast member of Expanded Arts, a theater company in New York, acting in acclaimed productions of Hamlet (title role), Julius Caesar (Mark Antony), and Twelfth Night (Malvolio). At Expanded Arts, he also wrote and directed Twelve, an ensemble play based on a Brooklyn murder trial in the early '90s. He is also the resident Screen Acting teacher at South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa.

He spent much of the pandemic writing The Screen Actors' Guide to Auditioning, a comprehensive book on all aspects of auditioning for the current film and television business, based on his years of experience as a casting director and private coach in Los Angeles.

Wendy Stapleton is a Greenwich native who graduated Cum Laude from the University of Michigan before earning her MFA from the Professional Writing program at the University of Southern California. At USC, Wendy learned fiction and screenwriting from some of Hollywood’s most famous and beloved writers including Shelly Berman and Syd Field. For the past 10 years, Wendy has worked tirelessly raising money for multiple non-profit organizations many of which she sits on the boards of. She’s been a member of UNICEF’s Next Generation Board and was formerly the chair of the Greenwich chapter. Along with Ms. Stapleton’s background in the arts, her passion for philanthropy strengthens the GIFF team’s commitment to using film to serve the greater good. Wendy is the founder and chairman of the Greenwich International Film Festival.