Brown Arts

Hollywood Creators Series

FILM/TV | CONVERSATIONS
Spring 2025
A series of intimate conversations with influential writers, producers, and directors, hosted in collaboration with the Spring 2025 course Advanced Screenwriting in the Department of Literary Arts.

Coming Up

Hollywood Creators Series: Marti Noxon
April 7, 2025 | 1:00 PM | Brown ID Required
Nelson Atwater Lobby, The Lindemann Performing Arts Center

Marti Noxon is a prolific writer/producer/director in both film and television. She’s created and executive produced several high-profile television series including HBO’s Emmy nominated Sharp Objects starring Amy Adams, critically acclaimed Dietland on AMC and Lifetime’s UnReal, for which she received a Peabody award and an Emmy award nomination for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series. Over the course of her impressive career, she has written and served as executive or consulting producer on numerous beloved series including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Mad Men and Glee. Noxon is currently in development on Kill Show, for Apple TV, and Old Soul, for A24 television UK, among other projects. On the feature side, Noxon’s directorial debut, To The Bone, premiered at Sundance and is one of the most streamed independent films on Netflix. Her additional film credits include Fight Night, I Am Number Four and the upcoming adaptation of Ronan Farrow’s explosive expose of Harvey Weinstein, Catch And Kill.

Hollywood Creators Series: Angela Robinson
April 9, 2025 | 1:00pm | Brown ID Required
Kooper Studio, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts
154 Angell Street, Providence RI

Angela Robinson is a veteran film and TV writer/director/producer who is best known for D.E.B.S., her cult classic first feature, as well as her work on groundbreaking series, The L-word and her latest film, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women. Angela recently returned from Ireland, where she directed episodes of Wednesday, Season 2. She is slated to direct a remake of the 1983 vampire classic, The Hunger, and has an overall television deal with Warner Bros. where she is working with J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot to adapt the D.C. comics’ Madame Xanadu, and Greg Berlanti on an adaptation of the best-selling novel, Spoonbenders, for Netflix. Other credits include True BloodHow to Get Away With MurderHung and Herbie: Fully Loaded. In 2021, she executive Produced Passing, written and directed by Rebecca Hall and starring Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. She is also an advisor on several video game projects, including Wildcard and Snowcrash.

Hollywood Creators Series: David Bartis and Doug Liman
April 18, 2025 | 1:00 PM | Brown ID Required
Englander Studio, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts 
154 Angell Street, Providence RI

David Bartis (Executive Producer) is a partner at Hypnotic, the production company he co-founded with director Doug Liman in 2001. Together, they’ve produced films such as Fair Game, Edge of Tomorrow, and The Wall. On television, Bartis executive produced hit series including Covert Affairs (USA), Suits (USA/Netflix), Nightflyers (SyFy/Netflix), and The O.C. (Fox). He also produced Impulse (YouTube Originals) and Netflix’s The Recruit, starring Noah Centineo. He is currently producing Suits: LA for NBC and Peacock. Previously, Bartis was senior vice president of primetime series at NBC Studios, overseeing shows like Providence and Will & Grace. He also held key executive roles at HBO, contributing to Martin and Everybody Loves Raymond. Earlier, at Quincy Jones Entertainment, he helped launch The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Bartis holds a B.A. in English and American Literature from Brown University.

Doug Liman is a director and producer for film and television. His career began with the film Swingers; further credits include Go, The Bourne Identity franchise, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Jumper, Fair Game, Edge of Tomorrow/Live Die Repeat, American Made, Chaos Walking, Locked Down, Road House (2024), and the newly released Matt Damon & Casey Affleck film, The Instigators. For television, Liman has directed and produced numerous series. He currently produces and has directed episodes of The Recruit on Netflix and his show Suits that set a Nielsen record for most-streamed series ever. Other credits include Impulse, Covert Affairs, I Just Want My Pants Back, and The O.C. He has also won numerous awards for his commercials. Liman also works on web, non-linear and VR content through his label 30 Ninjas, which earned a listing in the Guinness Book of World Records for their show Invisible as the first scripted VR series. Liman serves on the board of the Legal Action Center and the Arthur Liman Public Interest Program at Yale Law School.

Past Events

February 21, 2025 | J.J. Abrams

JJ Abrams is the founder and CEO of Bad Robot Productions and the writer, director and/or producer of television series such as Felicity, Alias, Lost, Castle Rock, Westworld, Lovecraft Country, Presumed Innocent, and the upcoming series Duster for MAX, and films in the Star Wars, Star Trek, Mission:Impossible, and Cloverfield franchises, and the upcoming film Flowervale Street for Warner Brothers Studios. In addition to his film and television work, Abrams also conceived the novel S. with writer Doug Dorst, which became a New York Times Best Seller. For Broadway, he has produced The Play That Goes Wrong, Derren Brown’s Secret, GUTENBERG! The Musical!, Cabaret, and Appropriate. Abrams and his wife, Katie McGrath, live in Los Angeles and have three children.

Hollywood Creators Series: Sarah Timberman and Ed Redlich
April 3, 2025 | 1:00 PM | Brown ID Required
Nelson Atwater Lobby, The Lindemann Performing Arts Center

Sarah Timberman's recent producing credits include the seven time Emmy-nominated FX limited series, Fleishman is in Trouble; Justified: City Primeval; and The Man Who Fell To Earth.  Timberman’s other recent notable credits include the Peabody Award and Critics Choice Award-winning, Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated Netflix limited series, Unbelievable as well Elementary, and Masters of Sex.  Additional credits include CBS's SEAL Team, with Ed Redlich.  Emmy-Award winning Redlich has produced hundreds of hours of compelling television including The PracticeUnforgettable, Without A Trace and Shark. A former corporate lawyer, Redlich's "Spirit of America" episode of The Practice won a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association.

Hollywood Creators Series: Matt Tarses
April 4, 2025 | 1:00pm | Brown ID Required
McCormack Family Theater, 70 Brown Street, Providence, RI

Matt Tarses is an Emmy-nominated and two-time Humanitas Award-winning writer and producer. He created and executive produced Worst Week and Mad Love for CBS, Alex, Inc. for ABC, and Teachers for NBC. He has been a writer/producer on Scrubs, Sports Night, The Goldbergs, Atypical, and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He’s currently an executive producer/showrunner on the Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey as well as an untitled upcoming HBO series starring Steve Carell.