Creative
Advisors
Internationally
accomplished creative screenwriters from all around the world undertake the
role of Mosalsalat’s Creative Advisors; they join the Lab to guide the aspiring
screenwriters, honing and maximizing their creative talents, not just by
developing their entry projects, but also by equipping them with the necessary
tools and skills to guide them throughout all their future screenwriting
endeavors.
Following
is the list of Mosalsalat Screenwriters Lab’s Creative Advisors for its past rounds, in addition to a brief bio for each:
Mosalsalat 2022
Daniel Habib
Daniel Habib is a writer, producer and film connoisseur from Beirut, Lebanon who started his career in 2011 as the lead writer on the second season of the critically-acclaimed series "Beirut, I Love You". In 2013, he co-founded and managed Heyoka Media, a digital production house specializing in non-fiction alternative Arabic content across multiple platforms and formats. Habib now dedicates his time to leading a team of writers developing original Arab Genre fiction as the head writer and co-founder of Last Floor Productions.
He also teaches scriptwriting at the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts (ALBA) and acts as a consultant for the MBC SHAHID streaming platform.
Magdy Amin
Magdy Amin is an Egyptian screenwriter, who was originally a mathematics teacher. His passion for cinema fueled this major career change, driving him to study screenwriting extensively through various workshops held by prominent scriptwriters such as Tamer Habib, Mariam Naoum and Medhat Eladl. He was then invited by Tamer Habib to take part in his writing room for the production of the Ramadan series: "Grand Hotel" (2016), marking his debut writing experience. Later he was invited by Mariam Naoum to join Sard Writers' Room where he took part in several productions, namely: "Kaenoh Embareh/Just Like Yesterday" (2018), "Zay El Shams/ Crystal Clear" (Ramadan 2019), as well as "Leih La2 part 1?!/Why Not part 1?!" (2020) where he co-wrote the script with Dina Negm under the supervision of Mariam Naoum, and "Khali Balak Men Zizi/ Take Care of Zizi “(Ramadan 2021) where he was co-writer with Mona Elshimi also under Naoum's supervision. He also participated in the writing of horror series such as "Ansaf Maganeen / Half Crazies" (2021), and "Al Zeyara/ The Visit" (2022). In Ramadan 2022, Amin brought his first original idea to the light by creating the series "Meen Qal?!/Who Said?!"(2022), for which he solely wrote the story and scenario, and co-wrote the screenplay with Mona Elshimi.
Peter Blauner
Peter Blauner is a TV writer, producer, and the author of nine novels. His books include “Slow Motion Riot”, winner of an Edgar Allan Poe award for best first novel from Mystery Writers of America, and “The Intruder”, a New York Times bestseller, and a bestseller overseas. He began his career as a journalist for New York magazine in the 1980s and segued into writing fiction in the 1990s. His short stories have been anthologized in Best American Mystery Stories and on Selected Shorts from Symphony Space on National Public Radio.
In recent years, he has turned his attention to television as well as novel-writing. Blauner has been a staff writer and co-executive producer for several network TV shows, including “Law & Order: SVU” and “Blue Bloods”. His most recent novel, “Sunrise Highway”, published by Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller. A new novel set in Egypt, “Picture In The Sand”, will be published by Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press in early 2023.
He lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. with his wife, author Peg Tyre.
Shelby Stone
Award-winning film, television, and documentary producer and ID8 Multimedia principal Shelby Stone was formerly President of Production for Freedom Road Productions. An experienced producer, Stone has produced over 80 hours of television throughout her career and is the recipient of numerous awards and nominations including Emmys, Golden Globes, The Bronze Lens, People’s Choice, GLAAD, George F. Peabody Awards, the Humanitas Award, and NAACP awards. She is an active member of Women in Media, Film Independent, where she taught the Producer’s Lab and the Producers Guild, where she is a member of the One Guild Steering Committee and is the co-chair of the Producers of Color working group.
Mosalsalat 2019
Dave
Holstein
A Golden
Globe nominated creator, writer, and executive producer of “Kidding”. He was
previously a writer and an executive producer of the Showtime drama “I'm Dying
Up Here”, starring Melissa Leo, and the comedy series “The Brink”, starring Tim
Robbins and Jack Black. He was also a writer and producer on the final season
of “Raising Hope” and spent six years as a writer / producer on the Showtime
series “Weeds”.
Larry
Wilmore
An Emmy
winning TV writer and executive producer who has created shows such as ABC’s “Black-ish”,
HBO’s “Insecure”, and Fox’s “The Bernie Mac Show”, and has written for shows
such as NBC’s “The Office” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. Wilmore also
hosted, wrote, and executive produced “The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore” on
Comedy Central and currently hosts the podcast “Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air”.
Mariam
Naoum
An
Egyptian script writer who graduated with bachelor’s degree in screenwriting from
The Higher Institute of Cinema. Naoum is a leading social/feminist script
writer whose work addresses the challenges of those who are socially and
economically marginalized with a particular focus on women's issues. Among her
famous TV works: “One/Zero” (2009), “A Girl Named Zat” (2013), “Heat Wave”
(2013), “Segn Al-Nessa” (2014), “Under Control” (2015), and “Abu Omar Al-Masri”
(2018).
Mohammad
Btoush
A
Jordanian Scriptwriter and university lecturer. He wrote many historical,
Bedouin and social TV series in addition to different theater plays. Btoush
received the
State Merit Award in the field of Arts (2003) for his play
“Halima”. Among his famous TV works: “Wadha w Ibn Ajlan” (2007), “Abu Jaafar Al-Mansour”
(2008), “Samarqand” (2016), “Shoug” (2017), “Al-Muhallab Ibn Abi Sufra” (2018),
“Al-Majdee” (2018), and “Maqamat Al-Ishq” (2019).