NFI Faculty:
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Mr. Akers will be teaching from his acclaimed book Your Screenplay Sucks! 100 Ways To Make It Great, which is used in classes at Vassar, Chapman, SCAD, and in Mr. Akers’ own classes at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He has over twenty years experience writing for film and television, and three of his feature screenplays have been produced by major studios, including Ernest Rides Again. William has written for the Disney channel, NBC, ABC and CBS, and teaches screenwriting workshops across the country and in Europe. Currently, his script about the fall of Saigon has director Jon Amiel (The Man Who Knew Too Little, Entrapment) attached. He races from Vanderbilt to the NFI to impart his screenwriting experience to our eager students. |
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Mr. Garba has worked on various projects as an editorial staff, including Universal Studio’s Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and Serenity and Warner Bros’ Lucky You. Mr. Garba also worked on the Emmy-nominated show, Two and a Half Men and the pilot for Big Bang Theory. He recently penned a script, Into America, for Posh Films and Magnolia Entertainment that will be going into production in the fall. He recently finished writing and producing a series of video shorts for Yamaha, for their 2008 “Need-6” promotional campaign. His script, Walking Through Fire, was optioned by Ruthrich Productions, a company with a developmental deal with Universal Studios. |
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Michael D’Anna brings almost 20 years experience in music videos, commercials, documentaries, and feature films to the NFI. Making his start in the world of commercials, he moved on to documentary filmmaking with the Odyssey Channel series Religions of the World, hosted by Academy Award winner, Ben Kingsley. D'Anna has also worked extensively in Europe, shooting behind–the-scenes footage for Paramount and Universal at the Cannes Film Festival and other international markets. His award-winning feature film Side Sho is currently in wide release from Lionsgate Films. He taught storyboarding and directing workshops at Savannah College of Art and Design before joining the NFI faculty, where he now teaches the students the ins and outs of directing for film and TV. |
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Founding Artistic Director of Nashville’s award-winning Naked Stages and Green Room Projects, Mark Cabus is a graduate of Belmont University’s BFA Theater Performance program, the National Shakespeare Conservatory, and the British/American Drama Academy at Oxford University. With a career spanning 39 years, he is an accomplished actor, writer, director and producer, working in film, television, and Off Broadway, regional, and children's theater. His short film, The Important Things, co-written and directed by NFI faculty Will Akers, won the “Cut to the Chase” Award at the 2009 Eugene International Film Festival. An educator of merit, Mark has distinguished himself around the Southeast and currently serves on the faculties of Belmont University and the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts, teaching acting and directing, and is a guest lecturer at Vanderbilt University's Film Department. He is the Tennessee Williams Fellow for 2004 and the Tennessee Arts Commission/Ingram Industries Individual Artist Fellow for 1992. Mark reveals his favorite quote belongs to Akira Kurosawa: “The true artist never averts his eyes.” |
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Lou Chanatry is a veteran Director of Photography with over 25 years in the business. Throughout his career he has worked on numerous commercials for company’s like Diners Club, Hilton Resort and Spas, and the TN lottery. He has shot country music videos for top stars including, John Michael Montgomery, Dolly Parton, Deborah Allen, Tracey Lawrence, and David Ball. He has also been behind the camera for CMT, Wife Swap, Coyote Ugly, Nashville Star and Gone Country. He earned his first D.P. credit lensing Get Serious for Ray Stevens. Some of Lou's other credits include The Novice with Academy Award nominee Frank Langella, Side Sho, and Shattered. Lou is also a mentor for the Advanced Production course at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. |
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Adair Freeman trained at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University, and Auburn University. She finds herself behind the camera in both commercial and fine art contexts, shooting projects that range from John Deere advertising campaigns to insect exoskeletons. Her unique view of all things visual has won her a growing base of editorial, advertising, and music-industry clients who appreciate her creative angle. Her work ranges from photo shoots with world famous artists, including Sting, LeAnn Rimes, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Josh Turner to projects depicting the lives of relatively obscure hard working Americans from the heartland. Adair points the camera with NFI students illuminating them on the ins and outs of still photography composition and framing. |
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Jason Glassman, a dedicated film geek and accomplished screenwriter, has created projects for MTV, the USA Network, UPN, and Howard Stern. He taught screenwriting at Writers Boot Camp in Los Angeles and now acts as the NFI’s Director of Development. In addition to his own screenwriting projects, Jason Glassman is a creative writing and English teacher at Middle College High School in Franklin. Jason earned his Masters in English at Claremont Graduate University. Jason serves as the NFI's Director of Development, greenlighting the scripts for the student projects, and shepherding them through the various stages of development while helping to make their stories come alive. |
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Emboldened by surviving a decade of world travel and ritualistic abuse at the hands of producers, 'Divas' & 3 chord cowboys, Scott began working with local and national filmmakers over the last few years. He has scored movies that have been screened at over two dozen film festivals worldwide; of note, "Sith'D", a short Star Wars spoof, won Best Comedy at Comic-Con (2006), and "Gracie: diary of a coma patient" (2007) received much critical acclaim for Scott's musical score. As the owner of Scootman Music Productions, he's worn many funny hats, all while doing music, audio & voiceover production and sound design work for Scholastic, Documentary Channel, Oxygen Network, Chattem/IcyHot, Ridiculous Software, Enzyte, The Nashville Film Festival, The BAO Way, Vanderbilt Cancer Center, Mobil/Exxon, Ritz-Carlton, CMT, P-K Pictures as well as music for the movie soundtracks of Smart People and London Tango. |
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An experienced studio and independent animator, and a graduate of the Art Institute Atlanta, John T. Hill’s animation and visual art work has appeared on series for CMT, ABC Family, MTV and Funny or Die. After several years working in Hollywood at Animax Entertainment alongside acclaimed independent directors like Suzan Pitt and Juliette Garrison, Hill moved to Nashville to further his career. and share his love of animation with a new generation. The NFI is thrilled to bring his unique skills as a story board artist, production artist and animator to its program. John introduces our students to the diverse world of animation, with emphasis on the basic principles which are universal in all visual film production. |
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Worked more than 30 years in the broadcast industry in numerous capacities, including behind-the-scenes and on-air, in markets as diverse as Cincinnati (OH), Charleston (SC), Dallas/Ft. Worth (TX), and Los Angeles (CA). He worked at NBC Television Network as a publicist for shows such as Family Ties; My Two Dads; The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson; Days of Our Lives; Win, Lose Or Draw; Wheel of Fortune; and helped start the short-lived daytime drama, Generations. He handled the publicity for March for the Homeless, a charitable event run by Valerie Harper and Jon Voight, working directly with them to set up the march in Washington, DC. After Los Angeles, he moved to Nashville to help prolific television producer Jim Owens create a local television station in the Branson, MO, area, then create an international radio syndication division for Jim Owens Entertainment. Richard also helped promote a broadway-style musical, Summer of ‘66, which ran at the Crook & Chase Theater in Myrtle Beach, SC. For the past ten years, Rick has run a successful design and marketing firm and is in the process of creating two new companies, one dealing with social media marketing, the other with traditional marketing and advertising. He has written 15 books on computer software applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Final Cut Pro and the 3D animatin applications Vue and Poser. Rick is a three-time Emmy winner and has also won numerous writing and producing awards from the former Broadcast Promotions and Marketing Association. |
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Theresa just finished a job as make-up artist for superstar Miley (Hannah Montana) Cyrus on her latest feature film. She has also worked on the make-up crews of feature films for Oliver Stone, Robert Redford, and Tyler Perry, to name just a few. She has done commercials for clients as diverse as the Nashville Predators and Shoneys restaurants, as well as doing make up for Al Gore on The Climate Project. Theresa's work has been featured in numerous magazines including Vanity Fair, Teen Vogue and Cosmo. Theresa has fun ‘damaging’ our students; aging them, building bullet wounds, and helping them learn the magic of both traditional beauty and special effects makeup. |
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Mark Schlicher, SOC brings a passion for visual storytelling to NFI. Educated at the University of Wisconsin, Mark began his 25-year media career in radio, traded his microphone for an ad agency marketing job, then branched out on his own as a Director of Photography, Steadicam operator, director, producer, and Final Cut Pro editor. Mark immerses his cinematography students in an intense, hands-on workshop approach, challenging them to master both the "how" and the "why" of lighting and camerawork, so they can shoot their own projects with purpose and skill, and work on professional sets with confidence. Mark loves working with the small groups of bright, motivated students at NFI. |