Mid-May 2027

Christopher Vogler is a veteran story consultant for major Hollywood film companies and a respected teacher of filmmakers and writers around the globe. His book “The Writer’s Journey”, applying the ancient patterns of myth to modern story-telling, has helped to shape the way people in movies, TV, publishing and the game industry think about stories. It is required reading at many film schools, literature programs and production companies. His 12-stage outline of the Hero’s Journey has been recognized as a powerful tool of therapy, business and self-understanding.

A native of St. Louis and a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Vogler served as a U. S. Air Force officer and made award-winning documentary films on the military space program. Attending the University of Southern California film school on the G.I. Bill he encountered THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES by Joseph Campbell, recognizing it as the secret code of effective storytelling. He started in the film industry as a story analyst for Twentieth Century Fox and went on to work for Paramount, Columbia, Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Pictures. At Disney he joined the staff of the Feature Animation division as a researcher and story consultant, influencing the development of THE LION KING, ALADDIN, HERCULES, and FANTASIA 2000.

His book “The Writer’s Journey” grew out of a short memo he wrote while at Disney, interpreting mythologist Joseph Campbell’s concept of the Hero’s Journey for screenwriters and producers. The memo quickly went viral and became part of Hollywood story lore, while the book has become a standard text for literature students and storytellers in all media. As a development executive for the Fox 2000 unit at 20^th Century Fox he worked on COURAGE UNDER FIRE, VOLCANO, ANNA AND THE KING, FIGHT CLUB and THE THIN RED LINE. As an independent consultant, he has consulted on films such as 10,000 BC, HANCOCK, I AM LEGEND, the KARATE KID remake, Helen Hunt’s directorial debut THEN SHE FOUND ME, Academy Award-nominated THE FIGHTER, Darren Aronofsky’s THE WRESTLER, NOAH and THE WHALE, and the Will Smith-starring FOCUS and BAD BOYS: RIDE OR DIE.

Diane Drake is a professional screenwriter, author, writing instructor, story consultant, and speaker. Prior to becoming a screenwriter, Diane served as Vice President of Creative Affairs for Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack. Her first produced original script, ONLY YOU, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Marisa Tomei, sold for one million dollars, while her second produced script, WHAT WOMEN WANT, starring Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt, is the second highest grossing romantic comedy of all time. In addition, both films have been remade in China featuring major Chinese stars, and WWW was remade as WHAT MEN WANT, with Taraji P. Henson.

Diane is a member of the Writer’s Guild of America, teaches screenwriting for UCLA Extension, and has served as a judge for the Humanitas Prize, Writers Guild Awards, and Austin Film festival, among others. Her debut book on screenwriting, Get Your Story Straight, is available on Amazon.

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.

Prior to co-founding the management/production company Fictional Entity in January 2017, Chris Deckard spent over seven years working with and representing talent at major agencies such as ICM Partners and WME. He has worked closely with traditional and new media buyers to find and develop content for domestic and international audiences. In addition to helping cast and package numerous features and series, he has evaluated thousands of scripts for actors and directors. Chris graduated from Cornell University and earned his J.D. from Notre Dame Law School.

Fictional Entity’s clients have been named to The Black List, The Hit List, The Young & Hungry List, The Blood List and been lauded by the PAGE Awards, the International Emmys and placed as finalists in The Heath Ledger Scholarship and the Academy Nicholl Fellowship The Academy Nicholl Screenwriting Awards, the AWG, ADG, SPA, and AACTA. Clients have written, directed, starred, and produced in numerous formats, including features, TV, virtual reality, and podcasts, independently and for companies like Netflix, NBCUniversal, AMC, Legendary, Meta, Marvel, Fremantle, SyFy, the CW, Warner Bros., Amazon, Blumhouse, Comedy Central, BBC, the ABC Australia, Foxtel, TruTV, Super Deluxe, Hallmark, CBS, Lifetime, E!, and MSNBC.

Chris has advised clients through multiple successful series pilot and pitch sales. He and his business partner were non-writing Executive Producers on a series pilot that sold to a major US network in 2021. In 2024, Fictional Entity client highlights include: a book-to-series pitch sale to Netflix, a first-time writer/director’s feature film entering production, the release of three series from first-time writing Executive Producers, and a feature film release.

Scott has written over thirty movie and TV projects at almost every major Hollywood studio and broadcast network. His screenwriting credits include K-9, ALASKA, and TROJAN WAR. He has been a member of the Writers’ Guild of America, West since 1987.

Since 2008, Scott has hosted GoIntoTheStory.com, the official screenwriting blog of the Black List and named Best of the Best Scriptwriting Website by Writer’s Digest.

In 2013, Scott led the inaugural Black List Feature Film Writer’s Lab. Since that session, he has served as mentor and workshop leader for every subsequent Black List lab. The two events in fall 2025 will be Scott’s 26th and 27th Black List labs.

Scott has led seminars, writing workshops, and been a featured speaker in numerous countries including England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Greece, Mexico, Canada, and New Zealand.

Scott has been hired as a story consultant on numerous film projects including Consultant en Développement on the award-winning French language family film MLLE BOTTINE (2024). He continues to work with that film’s production company La Fête Films as their in-house story consultant.

Author of The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling (Amazon rated #1 Best Seller in Film & Television), Scott is currently an Associate Professor of screenwriting at the DePaul University film school.

Scott Myers is attending this retreat as a Roving Mentor.