Diane is a queer demi-femme writer/director (she/they) who is drawn to magical realism and science fiction/fantasy. Their favourite topics to explore usually involve mental illness, or the dark side of love and spirituality. She also has ADHD and is autistic, so she loves spending time alone crafting imaginary worlds and writing about them (autism), but also spending time on set with lots of other creative people in the middle of things to make it all come alive (ADHD).

They received their Bachelor of Arts in Film Studies and Literature/Writing from Columbia University, and their Master of Fine Arts in Writing for the Screen + Stage from Northwestern University. While at Northwestern, she spent part of her summer shadowing Richard J. Lewis while he directed an episode of C.S.I.: Crime Scene Investigation. And before grad school, they worked briefly as Darren Lynn Bousman’s director’s assistant while he was in post-production on Saw IV and pre-production for Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Diane then went on to write, direct, and produce the short film Replica, which was selected for the 2020 Bristol Science Film Festival and is now streaming on Amazon Prime in the US and the UK and Vimeo VOD worldwide.

She also directed the short film Penny Foster, which was selected for the 2019 National Screen Institute Online Short Film Festival.

And their young adult fantasy pilot script, Lucy, was both a Quarterfinalist for the 2022 ScreenCraft Screenwriting Fellowship, while a previous draft was a second rounder at the 2018 Austin Film Festival Script Competition.

At the end of 2022, she shadowed a director on a major franchise TV show she’s not allowed to talk about – and will hopefully get to shadow more, and work her way up to directing for that franchise, now that production has restarted. And The Time Is Right, a proof-of-concept short for a time travel game show series they directed, premiered at the 2023 Toronto Short Film Festival. Finally, she is currently writing the first draft of a new feature science-fiction film script that she is very excited about, and which she plans to direct after the it’s finished.

Meanwhile, they continue to work their day job as the Star Trek Franchise Assets Coordinator, soaking up as much as they can on how to write and direct on that kind of massive budget scale.

Liliath & Penumbra is her company.

***If you are a woman, person of colour, disabled, LGBTQIA2S+, and/or what most would label “diverse” in any other way, please contact me about the rates listed below. I will only charge you a percentage of what is listed, commensurate with the current pay gap between you and the average cisgendered able-bodied straight White man.***

SCRIPT CONSULTING

$500 + applicable taxes to read a single draft

$4000 + applicable taxes, flat rate, to work until project goes into production (must already have producer attached)

Diane is willing to work with you on your screenplay, giving you constructive criticism and meeting with you to brainstorm ideas, until your project is ready for production. This is something she loves to do: to help other writers achieve their goals. (If you are a producer in search of a Story Editor to work with the writer of your project, even better!)

*NOTE AS OF 05/02/2023: I support the WGA and am therefore taking a cue from other sites that offer coverage, and will not be offering coverage to any struck companies (those listed by the WGA here: https://apps.wga.org/signatorycompanies/ ), or read anything already optioned by producers for consideration of development or paid work, since it may be intended for sale to one of those struck companies. This will be until the strike is resolved.*

SCRIPT ANALYSIS

$250 + applicable taxes for Standard Delivery (within 3 business days)

$350 + applicable taxes for Expedited Delivery (within 24 hours)

As a university instructor teaching the mechanics of screenwriting to undergraduates, who has achieved degrees in screenwriting from both an Ivy League University and a Big Ten college, and has also worked numerous positions that required writing coverage, Diane is now offering her expertise for hire to studios, production companies, and film funds. (***SEE NOTE REGARDING WGA STRIKE ABOVE***)

Coverage is comprised of a 2-page synopsis of the script, plus 1-2 pages of professional feedback as to whether it should be considered for production.

Writers: please remember that script consulting would be done from the development position of encouraging you in your goals and helping you make your next draft stronger, whereas script analysis is meant to be from a prospective optioner’s perspective to assess whether your current draft is ready for production as-is. For this reason, I do not necessarily recommend script analysis directly to writers, since the feedback can be difficult; this service really is intended for producers. However, if that is your true goal, to see whether your script is ready to go, then so be it!

COPY-EDITING

$50/hour + applicable taxes, 4-hour project minimum

It may sound odd, but one of Diane’s favourite parts of reading her students’ and colleagues’ work is to proofread it for formatting and typing errors. So, if you have a script you’d like to submit to a producer or a contest but need someone to look it over first, she will do it for you.

WRITING AND PRODUCTION

Diane has a full portfolio of feature film and television pilot screenplays she has written.

She also has experience directing numerous short films.