marci phillips
executive director of casting, abc​



The Executive Director of Primetime Casting for ABC Entertainment. Marci is responsible for covering the East Coast talent pool. For over a decade, Marci has cast for ABC and ABC Studio pilots, new series regulars, TV movies and alternative series. She was voted “Favorite NY TV/Film Casting Director” in the 2009 Backstage readers poll and tied in 2007. Marci is happy to have the lofty title of adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Department of Theatre Arts. Marci was voted "Favorite TV/Film Casting Director" by Backstage magazine.
nahree ahn
writer/director/founding member of the asian american film lab​​


One of the ORIGINAL FOUNDERS of the Asian American Film Lab (circa 1998), writer and director NaRhee Ahn will be among the judges for the 2013 72 Hour Shootout! NaRhee Ahn is a Korean American writer and director. After earning her BA from Brown University and MFA from Columbia University School of the Arts Graduate Film Division, her shorts A SON FOR SENSEI and UNDER:ELEGY, which was broadcast on AZN Network, toured the Asian American film festival circuit. Her feature debut as a writer/director/producer was PURITY (2006), which was screened at festivals and won awards for its soundtrack by composer George Shaw and for actress Jae Suh. NaRhee has spoken on being a woman director of color at Brown, Columbia and New York Universities, Hunter College - City University of New York, The Asia Society and Museum, on the show Asian America (PBS) and MTV. NaRhee is a past Co-Chair of the board of Columbia University Entertainment group and is currently on the board of Brown University Entertainment in Los Angeles, where she resides. NaRhee is hard at work writing several feature screenplays, original television pilots and webseries.
david elliott
agent, don buchwald & associates​


David Elliott has been an agent at Don Buchwald & Assoc. for over 30 years, working in the areas of on camera, voice over, radio, print, video games and industrials. Prior to working as a talent agent he was an actor in film, TV and stage. He had no acting talent. Recently he has booked clients as the leads in two major video games, and major advertising campaigns for Scott Paper, Bank of America, T-Mobile, Triscuits, Ambi, among others, and sent actors to work in Chicago, Los Angeles, Prague, Johannesburg, Milan, Slovenia and Buenos Aires. The greatest deal of his career was selling a small Wendy's chocolate Frosty to another agent for $10.

​​Don Buchwald & Associates, Inc. is a full service talent agency with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Their Commercial and Broadcast Departments in New York were the original cornerstones of the business, and continue to be recognized as highly influential in the marketplace. 
the judges

Every year, amazing professionals in the entertainment industry donate their time to help empower new, emerging and diverse filmmakers, bringing them into the spotlight...​​
© 2013 The Asian American Film Lab (TM) / The 72 Hour Shootout (TM) www.asianamericanfilmlab.org
ed lin
novelist​



Ed is the author of the novels Waylaid, This Is a Bust, Snakes Can't Run and One Red Bastard. A native New Yorker of Taiwanese and Chinese descent, Lin is the first writer to win three Asian American Literary Awards.
cindy cheung
actress, one on one award sponsor​



Cindy Cheung is originally from Los Angeles and has been a working actor in New York City for the past fifteen years. Her film appearances include M. Night Shyamalan's Lady In The Water, the Sundance feature Children of Invention, Greg Pak’s Robot Stories and most recently, Untitled Public School Project written and directed by Noah Baumbach. TV credits include “Bored To Death,” “Made in Jersey,” “White Collar,” “Fringe,” “Jonny Zero,” “Sex and the City,” "One Life To Live" and all three “Law & Order” franchises. Theater credits include her self-penned solo show, SPEAK UP CONNIE (All For One Festival @ Cherry Lane) directed by BD Wong, Middletown (Vineyard), The Sugar House at the Edge of the Wilderness (Ma-Yi), The Seagull and Antigone (NAATCO), Goodbye Cruel World (Roundtable), Sides: The Fear Is Real… (Ma-Yi/Mr. Miyagi’s Theatre Company), Masha No Home (E.S.T.), W;t (Florida Studio Theater), The First Picture Show (A.C.T.), A Christmas Carol (A.C.T and South Coast Rep), Sweeney Todd and Into The Woods (East West Players). She has an MFA from A.C.T. and lives in NYC with her husband, novelist Ed Lin, and their son.
david henry hwang
​playwright and screenwriter


DAVID HENRY HWANG was awarded the 1988 Tony©, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, and John Gassner Awards for his Broadway debut, M. Butterfly, which was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His play Golden Child, which premiered at South Coast Repertory, received a 1998 Tony© nomination and a 1997 OBIE Award. His new book for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Flower Drum Song earned him his third Tony© nomination in 2003. Yellow Face won a 2008 OBIE Award for Playwriting and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. His most recent work, Chinglish, won a 2011 Chicago Jeff Award before moving to Broadway, where it received a 2012 Drama Desk Nomination. Other plays include FOB (1981 OBIE Award), The Dance and the Railroad (1982 Drama Desk Nomination), Family Devotions (1982 Drama Desk Nomination), The Sound of a Voice and Bondage. He co-authored the book for Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, which ran almost five years on Broadway, and was the bookwriter of Disney’s Tarzan, with songs by Phil Collins. As America’s most-produced living opera librettist, he has written four works with composer Philip Glass, as well as Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar (two 2007 Grammy Awards), Bright Sheng’s The Silver River (1997), and Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland (2007 “World Premiere of the Year” by Opernwelt Magazine). Hwang penned the feature films M. Butterfly, Golden Gate, and Possession (co-writer), and co-wrote the song "Solo" with composer/performer Prince. He won the 2011 PEN/Laura Pels Award for a Master American Dramatist, the 2012 Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in the American Theatre, the 2012 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, and is a 2013 US Artists Donnelly Fellow. He is currently the Residency One playwright at New York’s Signature Theatre Company, which has recently revived two of his earlier plays, and will premiere his newest work, Kung Fu, in 2013-14.
Photo Credit Lia Chang
nicole kassell
writer/director



Director Nicole Kassell has directed episodes of “Cold Case” and “3LBS” (both CBS; adapted the Arther Miller play, A Ride Down Mount Morgan; and is attached to direct with an attached cast that includes Michael Douglas, Diane Keaton and Emily Blunt. The Woodsman, Kassell’s first feature screenplay based on the play by Steven Fechter, won her first prize at the 2001 Slamdance Screenplay Competition. In 2003, Kassell began production on The Woodsman, with stars Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Benjamin Bratt, David Alan Grier, Mos Def and Eve.  The film premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews and was subsequently picked up by Newmarket Films (Monster, The Passion of the Christ). Produced by Lee Daniels Entertainment and Dash Films, The Woodsman was released in December 2004, honored at the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival with a CACAE prize (art house award) as well as for music composition, awarded a Humanitas nomination and the Jury Prize at the 2004 Deauville Film Festival. Kassell has been nominated for a Gotham Award (Breakthrough Director) as well as for an Independent Spirit Award (Best First Feature). Kassell is a graduate of NYU’s Graduate Film Program. She currently resides in New York with her husband and son.
dan smith
producer, FOX Entertainment Japan



Smith's entertainment career began while serving in the United States Air Force, where he worked in print media and edited and published many of the Air Force's newspapers. Following his service, Smith turned to broadcast media, where he contributed news, entertainment and sports features through such diverse agencies as Associated Press Television News and BET Nightly News. His foray into producing started with the creation of ACTV, a community channel that started with local programming for U.S. military bases in Japan and quickly turned into producing original content for broadcast in Japan, the U.S., and Europe. Among his early successes was the self-hosted reality show Black Life In Japan, which became a global cult favorite and earned him an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno. Smith then developed the entertainment program Access E, which aired in Japan and on several U.S. cable networks. After producing the acclaimed one-hour documentary Fandemonium – Chasing Michael Jackson (Shirarezaru Nanoka Kan) for Fox Television, Smith went on to create the hit weekly entertainment show Fox Backstage Pass, which recently filmed its 200th episode. Smith currently produces original programming for the Fox Television, Fox Movies Premium, Fox Sports and National Geographic channels in Japan.