Experience LMU: PITCHING ON ZOOM: Selling to Hollywood Post-Pandemic

    Monday, October 16, 2023 at 4:00 PM until 5:00 PMPacific Daylight Time UTC -07:00

    Michelle Amor (Gillie)
    Clinical Assistant Professor of Screenwriting
    LMU School of Film and Television

    After losing my beloved grandmother in 2009, I decided life was way too short to be unhappy. So, in 2010, I quit my “good job” and convinced my husband to do the same and we drove our two kids and all our worldly possessions 2000+ miles from Chicago to L.A. so I could pursue my dream of becoming a screenwriter and professor full-time.   

    It was the best decision of my life.  

    I sold my first TV show, THE HONORABLE to BET/ViacomCBS in March 2020. It was first sold to the CBS Network in 2019. Co-created with Everybody Hates Chris’s Ali LeRoi, the political drama is produced by Dr. Phil’s Stage 29 Productions and CBS Television Studios. I’m also developing several other projects including APEX, a sci-fi, also with Stage 29 and CBS Television Studios, PG COUNTY, a book adaptation for Lionsgate and Mary J. Blige’s Blue Butterfly Productions, and SAVING BRANDON, a feature film project with 2X WWE Hall of Famer Booker T. Huffman. Previously, I co-wrote the feature PLAYIN’ FOR LOVE, directed by and starring Robert Townsend, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Jenifer Lewis, as well as wrote OF BOYS & MEN starring Academy® Award-nominated actress Angela Bassett and Robert Townsend. I also co-produced and co-wrote the documentary feature film TUPAC SHAKUR: BEFORE I WAKE.   

    A proud and active member of the Writers Guild of America West (WGAW), I served four elected terms as co-chair of the Committee of Black Writers (CBW), whose mission is to empower, increase visibility, and create career and networking opportunities for Black writers in Hollywood. In June 2020, I penned an open letter titled Dear Hollywood addressing systemic racism that went viral. It was featured in numerous publications, including the LA TimesWashington PostForbesTHRDeadline, and Variety. A passionate Clinical Assistant Professor of screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University, I previously taught screenwriting at UCLA, Chapman U., CSUN, and AFI. I received my B.A. in Entertainment & Media Management from Columbia College, Chicago, and my M.F.A. in Theater, Film, and Television from UCLA. In April 2020, I was honored in Variety’s Entertainment Education Impact Issue as a “top educator around the world”.  

    I currently reside in West Los Angeles with my family but my heart will always belong to Chicago.  

    Registration is no longer available because the registration deadline has passed.