Meet Our Filmmakers

Miranda Bowden-Parker wrote her first story, about a mushroom invasion of earth, at age eight. Born second the last of six girls and one boy, writing became an outlet for Bowden, defining her creative spirit amongst her equally talented siblings. The native Angeleno’s stories have grown to include her debut novel, “Caitlin,” a thrilling story of family secrets, nightmares, and secret societies. She has just finished writing for Disney's new series, “Pretty Freekin' Scary,” and AMC ALLBLK's, “Partners In Rhyme.” These days she is currently a senior scriptwriter for Bentley Kyle Evans’ Bent Outta Shape Productions and a writer on the equally hilarious TV shows, “In the Cut,” “Family Time,” and “Hip Hop Squares.” Miranda is an industry veteran and has been a finalist in Color Creative’s ABFF Script-to-Screen, Charles D. King’s Macro Episodic Lab, Creative Lab’s Script-to-Screen, and Write in Color. Additionally, she has served as Story Consultant for TRUTV, and Story Editor for an Ali Leroy project.

Cleo Handler is a director/writer/actor who loves horror/comedy, music/theater, and slashes/hyphens. She has created and directed several original films (The Living, Olympian, #LifeOnAir), and written several others (Bye Bye Baby, Out to Lunch, Moon Party, & the musical webseries Young Like Us). Her work has screened at Frightfest, Flickers Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival, Brooklyn Film Festival, Film Shortage, and more, and her screenplay GOOD GIRL was a 2022 Sundance Development Track/Sloan Grant Second Round Selection.

Her musicals From THE FIRE and GLASS ACT were featured in Broadway’s Future Songbook at Lincoln Center, winners of the Players Theater Off-Broadway Musical Production Program, and semi-finalists for the O’Neill National Music Theatre Conference. She’s worked in production for SYFY/USA’s CHUCKY and Showtime’s COUPLES THERAPY, and recently released an album called gold. She studied at the William Esper Studio and Yale, where she was an O’Neill Playwriting Fellow.

Mary Iacono is a writer in Los Angeles. She recently co-wrote an episode of Disney’s MECH-X4 and has worked in writers rooms on many TV series including OCTOBER FACTION, ARROW, DEFIANCE, and NUMB3RS, where she wrote comic books, digital extras, and promotions. Currently Mary is focusing her efforts as an organizer with the Writers Guild and IATSE, as well as smaller, less publicized labor actions across the country.

She currently has a scripted romcom podcast being shopped by Five-Fifty-Five and Rainshine Media. PIONEERS was written as a mea culpa after a late night argument with her neighbors highlighted her privilege, nearly bringing out the worst in her.

MAX LEHMAN is a New Yorker through and through. Unfortunately, he was actually raised in New Jersey by his neurotic Jewish parents. Though he always felt like he grew up on the wrong side of the Hudson River, Max managed to survive in a blue-collar, confederate flag waving part of the state no one seems to acknowledge. When with friends, he’s hoping someone will have a question about a movie, especially if it involves monsters, serial killers, or Mel Brooks.

Max discovered his love for comedy and writing in high school and explored it further while studying Theater at Hofstra University. Max has studied acting, improv, and sketch, and developed his passion for screenwriting into a full-time pursuit.

Max continues to write for the screen and performs stand-up in LA and is working to develop a new era of horror-comedy with impactful stories that have more than a run-of-the-mill-scary-monster-in-the-woods storylines.

Wanjiru Njendu is an award-winning filmmaker originally from Kenya, whose creative imagination earned her the nickname 'Magic' at a young age.

Her award-winning short film “Boxed” which played over 200 film festivals, with numerous wins and nominations. “Boxed” was selected by the Académie des César for their 2021-2022 Nuits en Or program. The film was also honored with the Abraham Lincoln Award for Best film on Liberty and Equality by the Chicago International Indie Film Festival. Her other films have played in over 100 Festivals. 

Wanjiru was honored by the Roxbury International Film Festival with the 2021 Rox Vision Award. Wanjiru directed a horror short “Stray,” which was acquired by 20th Digital Studios with a feature option. She was the shadowing director on the Netflix series DAYBREAK. During the pandemic, she filmed a docs-series “Built for Good Africa” on Green Buildings in Africa.

Wanjiru is developing several scripted film and television projects. Wanjiru is repped by M88, Gersh, and ITG and is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS).

Jenna Payne has a penchant for dark content, buckets of blood, and fast talking. She won an award for her first ever short film, “Feline Frenzy,” and her scripts and short films have been recognized and featured in multiple contests and festivals.

For the past few years, Jenna has battled the US healthcare system in addition to autoimmune disease and has channeled her rage into a feature-length dark comedy/medical revenge called “Hysteria.” The script has rave reviews and a short proof of concept - directed mostly remotely during Covid-19 lockdowns - depicts some of the barriers to diagnosis and care and toured film festivals including 2023’s disability-focused horror festival Access: Horror. She is now working with Production Designer, VFX specialist, and miniature maker Fon Davis (NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, INTERSTELLAR, MARVEL) to create miniature sets for the feature version of HYSTERIA and a sequestered production plan to keep cast and crew safe as someone who is at high risk.

Jenna was selected for Female Filmmakers Festival Berlin's Resource Lab directing incubator for 2022, and her prognosis for Ankylosing Spondylitis, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis, and more have thankfully improved over the course of this project - as has her sharp sense of humor.

Charles Pieper is a Los Angeles based writer/director. He's directed numerous short films and has written several feature screenplays. He recently sold his script DESTROY ALL NEIGHBORS to RLJE/Shudder starring Alex Winter and Jonah Ray, which became a hit Shudder Original in 2024. Charles comes from an animation background, specifically stop motion, but works most frequently in live action production.

His short film “Malacostraca” played in over 30 festivals across the world including top horror fests such as Overlook, Beyond Fest, and Motel X, before premiering online at Director’s Notes and then ALTER. The feature length screenplay expansion of it was a horror semi-finalist in the 2021 Austin Film Festival.

Beyond the script sale, he recently produced the new stop motion animated short “Everybody Goes to the Hospital” which is currently making the fest rounds. He attended Emerson College in Boston as well as studied film and animation at FAMU, NCSA, Calarts, and MassArt.

Puppett is a non-binary queer filmmaker who focuses on character-driven genre and comedies with a social impact lens. Born in Washington DC, they grew up in suburban Maryland and rural Pennsylvania, feeling perpetually out of place. While placing female, queer, and trans characters in leading roles, Puppett's stories include themes around identity and belonging.

Their work has been featured on USA Today, HuffPost, and Out.com, and screened in 55+ film festivals around the world, including Academy Award Qualifying festivals Slamdance and Outfest. They directed an episode of the Emmy-Nominated series "Razor Tongue," which also garnered a Special Recognition Award from GLAAD. Puppett's professional directorial debut, "Wedlocked," penned by Guinevere Turner (American Psycho, Charlie Says), collected festival awards and secured SVOD and AVOD distribution (starring Beth Grant, Sally Kirkland). Puppett is currently developing several projects, ranging from a suburban goth drama to an urban horror comedy, all of which center female and LGBTQ+ protagonists.