April 2026

Julie Merson is an award-winning producer and senior entertainment executive who has been developing, packaging, selling and producing television for over 20 years. She has collaborated with a wide array of writers, producers and production partners including Dwayne Johnson’s 7 Bucks, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way, LeBron James’ Springhill Entertainment, Marc Platt Productions, Jessica Biel’s Iron Ocean Films, and Blumhouse Productions. She has created and produced shows for Netflix, E!, TLC, Lifetime, Bravo, Oxygen, MTV, VH1, A&E, Discovery, Science, Bravo, WeTV, Fuse, YouTube Originals and PBS. She has also pitched, developed and worked closely with buyers and executives at Apple, Disney, Hulu, Amazon, Fox, NBC, Showtime and HBO. 

Most recently, Julie served as Head of Television for Rainn Wilson’s company SoulPancake (a division of Participant Media) where she developed and sold scripted and unscripted content, and won the Environmental Media Award for best Children’s Series for her news parody KID CORRESPONDENT. Before joining SoulPancake, she served as Vice President of Development and Current Programming at 44 Blue, where she created, developed, sold and oversaw 37 projects at 16 networks and streamers, including JAILBIRDS for Netflix, and won the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Unscripted Series for STRUT, which she produced with Whoopi Goldberg. Before joining 44 Blue, Julie ran Stacy London’s production company, Super Long Play, and headed up the TV division at Washington Square Films. In her freelance days she worked in-house at MTV and VH1, was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Documentary Program for TRUE LIFE: MATTHEWS MURDER about the brutal killing of Matthew Shepard, and produced music videos and feature documentaries for artists including Dave Matthews Band, Jay-Z, Pharrell, and Mary J. Blige. 

Julie is currently editing Elizabeth Pryor’s memoir about life as the Black Jewish daughter of Richard Pryor for Simon & Schuster, to be published in 2026. She is also developing Madeleine Smitherberg’s memoir about her life in late night television as creator and showrunner of the Daily Show. Julie is also developing TV adaptations of both books. 

After attending the Rocaberti Writers Retreat in 2023 as a mentee with THE WOLVES OF BROADWAY, a TV series about the rise and fall of the Broadway’s most infamous bad boy, Julie joined forces with mentor Wendy Kram to produce PARKIE, a feature film which will be directed by fellow mentor Niall Johnson. 

Julie is a proud member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America.

Stan Zimmerman is a man of many mediums (TV, film and theatre). He’s been nominated for two WGA Awards for Best Comedy Writing – THE GOLDEN GIRLS and ROSEANNE (the infamous lesbian kiss episode). Stan’s also written and produced on GILMORE GIRLS, co-created the Lifetime sitcom, RITA ROCKS, wrote on both BRADY BUNCH movies and rewrote the ABC-TV movie of ANNIE. Stan has a BFA-Drama from NYU/Circle-in-the-Square and has directed LA productions of The Diary of Anne Frank, Entertaining Mr. Sloane, A Tuna Christmas, Gemini, Spike Heels and his original plays – Meet & Greet, Knife to the Heart, Have a Good One, and Yes Virginia (also at Judson Theatre - Pinehurst, NC and North Street Playhouse - Onancock, VA). Stan directed Off-Broadway’s HYPROV (Daryl Roth Theatre). TRWplays has published and licensed his works: Yes Virginia, Silver Foxes and his suicide awareness play, Right Before I Go., which he performs in across the U.S. Zimmerman & Berg wrote the Lifetime hit Christmas movie, LADIES OF THE 80'S: A DIVAS CHRISTMAS. Stan’s memoir, The Girls: From Golden to Gilmore was released by Indigo River Publishing. He’s appeared on numerous podcasts, national morning shows, and as the "Bartender” on Andy Cohen’s WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE to promote it. Stan was the host/showrunner on Bravo’s SITUATION: COMEDY, a reality show produced by Sean Hayes.

Dan Zeff is a director and screenwriter based in the UK. He works across drama and comedy, and especially loves projects that combine the two. Whether dark noir thriller or playful romantic comedy, the key elements for him are always character and emotion – storylines that powerfully move their audience to tears or laughter - and often both. His work has won three BAFTA awards and gained a further seven BAFTA and EMMY nominations.

He is currently writing the screenplay adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel NUTSHELL for Snapper Films/Streetcar Productions. His previous original screenplay PROJECT MUSTARD won the Tribeca Sloan Development award and was showcased at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Dan’s TV movies as director include CONSUMING PASSION starring Olivia Colman and Jodie Whittaker, THE QUEEN AND I starring Samantha Bond and Frances Barber, HATTIE - still BBC4’s highest ever rating drama, and the BAFTA winning thriller WHEN WILL THERE BE GOOD NEWS starring Jason Isaacs and adapted from the bestselling novel by Kate Atkinson.

Other notable TV work includes the hugely popular mini-series LOST IN AUSTEN starring Gemma Arterton as Elizabeth Bennett, Amazon Prime’s period drama THE COLLECTION starring Mamie Gummer, and the Emmy-nominated ADOLF HITLER : THE ARTIST starring Rupert Grint, as well as episodes of celebrated British series INSIDE No9 and DR WHO.

His early short films as writer-director won awards worldwide, most notably SWEETNIGHTGOODHEART starring David Tennant, DUAL BALLS and THAT SUNDAY which were both BAFTA nominated, the latter (starring Alan Cumming and Minnie Driver), also won awards at the Chicago and San Diego Film Festivals, and was screened by the BFI across their cinemas as their number one Valentine’s Day short.

Dan mentors in film schools regularly, and has spent six years on the board of Directors UK, the professional association for the UK’s screen directors. He is also a trustee of the Directors Charitable Foundation, a charity that seeks to support and inspire people from all backgrounds to consider a career in the industry.

Niall Johnson has been writing and directing movies for over 30 years.

He came to Hollywood’s notice in 2003 with his spec supernatural script WHITE NOISE, starring Michael Keaton, which opened in January 2005 at #1 in the UK and #2 in the US, where it broke the box-office record at the time for the biggest January opening for a non-sequel.

In that same year, 2005, Niall wrote and directed the black comedy classic KEEPING MUM, starring Rowan Atkinson, Maggie Smith, Kristin Scott Thomas (winning the London Film Critics 2006 Best Actress Award award), and Patrick Swayze. Niall adapted the script from an original by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Richard Russo (Nobody’s Fool, Empire Falls)—winning them the 2006 HBO Comedy Festival Best Screenplay Award.

Niall’s other credits include: wife-swapping comedy-drama THE BIG SWAP (1996); traditional haunted house TV-Movie THE GHOST OF GREVILLE LODGE (1999), starring Prunella Scales and George Cole; MUM’S LIST (2016) the critically-acclaimed true story weepie romance based on St John Greene’s best-selling memoir, starring Rafe Spall and Emilia Fox; and the Western-styled adventure story THE STOLEN (2017) set in New Zealand’s 1860s Gold Rush, starring Alice Eve, Jack Davenport, Graham McTavish and Richard O’Brien.

Niall was a writer on the visually-striking animated drama-documentary feature ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE, based on the memoir by Ryszard Kapuscinski about the Angolan civil war of the mid-1970s. It received its World Premiere at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and was voted Best Animated Film at the European Film Awards.

His most recent work is the Family Fantasy Adventure movie LEGEND HAS IT, starring Rupert Everett, Tamsin Grieg and Emilia Fox and an array of up-and-coming British acting talent. Niall has also been lead director on the new comfy-crime British-Greek TV show THE SUNSHINE MURDERS for Paramount+, debuting on the UK’s Channel 5 in Summer 2025.

Born and raised in Sutton Coldfield, near Birmingham, Niall’s passion for movies is a result of a childhood spent producing epic remakes of the likes of PLANET OF THE APES, STAR TREK, DOCTOR WHO and BATMAN with his brother and a silent Kodak 8mm film camera—the most notable recurring feature of these being his mother’s laundry hanging on the washing line in the back-yard!

Niall has been a Rocaberti mentor since 2019.