Instructors

The Watkins Film School has attracted notable professionals to teach and guest lecture. Special guests have included producer Frank Capra, Jr., producer Wallis Nicita, director/screenwriter Joan Tewkesbury, Academy Award-winning actress Talia Shire, director Richard Colla, Academy Award-winning director Delbert Mann, Golden Globe winner Chris Zarpas, actor James Cromwell, and actor Patrick Bergin.

Chair

   Steven Womack
    Chair- Watkins Film School & Professor - Screenwriting

M.F.A., Southampton College, Writing.

B.A., Tulane University, Honors Degree, English.

Co-wrote the television films Volcano: Fire On The Mountain and Proudheart, which was nominated for the CableAce Award. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America and an award-winning author of ten novels including Dirty Money. He also co-edited and wrote the introduction for The True Crime Files Of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Berkley Books. His latest novel is By Blood Written.

Visit his web site

Full Time Faculty

Van Flesher
Professor - Cinematography

M.F.A., Florida State University Conservatory of Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts, Directing.

B.A., Marshall University, Writing. M.A., Marshall University, Medieval English Literature.

Cinematographer for several feature films, on various formats, including 2001's The Visitors, an HD video feature. Flesher directed the feature film, Burning Annie, and also served as producer on several projects, including Amy Everhart, shot in Nashville. Professor of cinematography at The Rockport Motion Picture Workshops, The Los Angeles Film School and the University of Southern California.

Andrew Newell
Assistant Professor - Directing

M.F.A., Florida State University Conservatory of Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts, Directing.

B.A., College of William and Mary, History.

A writer and director of independent films, including the feature-length drama Looking for Truth, as well as several shorts. He studied the Meisner Acting Technique under John Ulmer, and served as Mr. Ulmer's assistant for three years. He has worked for the TNT cable network and as a free-lance writer for Turner Classic Movies.

Denine Rowan
Assistant Professor - Editing

Over twenty years of professional post-production experience. Feature credits include: She Devil, Prince of the City, Ragtime, Honeysuckle Rose, Starting Over, The Wiz, Hair, The Last Tycoon, and Carrie. Before joining the Watkins faculty, she was a Filmmaker in Residence at the North Carolina School of the Arts School of Film-making and an Assistant Professor, Post Production Supervisor in the Graduate Department of Film & TV at New York University.

Valorie Stover Quarles
Professor, Producing

M.F.A., Florida State University Conservatory of Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts, Producing.

B.A., University of Central Florida, English/Education.

Founding Chair of the Watkins Film School and over twenty years as a filmmaker and educator. For her creative work she has received numerous festival awards as well as several production and cultural arts grants including the Tennessee Arts Commision Fellowship Grant innovative educational arts programs. Stover is the President of the Nashville Film Festival (nashvillefilmfestival.org), a member of the Nashville Screenwriting Coneference Advisory Board and the Film Nashville Board.

Adjunct Faculty

Holly Allen
Instructor - Acting For Directors

M.F.A., University of Idaho, Acting.

B.A., Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, Theatre Arts.

Holly Allen has been the in-house Casting Director for Film House, one of the largest production companies in Tennessee, for the past 8 years. She auditions and casts hundreds of actors from various cities including Nashville, Memphis, Atlanta, LA and Chicago for projects produced by the creative teams at Film House and on a free-lance basis. She casts commercials, industrials, music videos, reality shows and independent feature films.

She has been teaching acting classes adn workshops for over a decade at various schools and colleges. As a professional actor she has been a member of the Screen Actors Guild for ten years.

Sara Jane Hill
Instructor - Acting For Directors

M.F.A., California Insitute of the Arts, Theater.

B.A., Whitman College

Ms. Hill is an professional acting teacher and coach, specializing in on camara classes. She founded Mid-West Girls, Inc., a talent developing agency in Minneapolis and Los Angeles and has worked continuously in the industry since 1992.

J. William Myers
Instructor - Storyboard Design

B.A., The Harris School of Art, Illustration.

Artist and illustrator of posters, books, magazines, murals, and album covers, art for the film Nashville, storyboards and production art. Clients include NBC, ABC Paramount, CBS, RCA, The Franklin Library, and Mercury Records. His portraits include those of James Galway, Benny Goodman, Willie Nelson, Charlie Daniels, Dolly Parton, Robert Redford, Vanessa Redgrave, and Alex Haley. His numerous citations and awards include the Golden Pen, Addy Awards, and the SAPPI Gold Medal in Venice for 2002.

Diane Batson-Smith
Instructor - Production

M.A., New York University Graduate Film, Directing and Producing.

B.A., Hollins College for Women, Theatre Arts and English.

A.B.A., Art Institute of Chicago/Ft. Lauderdale division, Illustration and Design.

Certificate, New York University, Mediation and Conflict Resolution.

Worked with a range of entertainment and television companies as Director of Production and Promotion providing leadership and supervision regarding scheduling of special events, creation of budgets, agendas, and future planning for the entertainment divisions. Companies included: Walt Disney Studio, Home Box Office, DreamWorks SKG, Paramount Pictures, Turner Network Broadcasting, PBS, etc. Worked as associate producer on the well known independent feature, Tender Mercies as well as Unit Production Manager on Oliver Stone's Joy Luck Club and and Executive Production Supervisor on Mighty Ducks, Cemetery Club, Homeward Bound and more. Worked with Andy Warhol and Paul Morrisey on two art and movie oriented experimental Projects. Originated “The Womens's Playwright Initiative” in NYC to showcase new plays by Women. Designed advertising and video installations for NYC 57 th Street galleries and audio companies. She is a member of the Director's Guild of America and Producer's Guild of America and the British Academy of Film and TV.

Jeffry Stein
Instructor - Production, Adaptations

M.A., Stanford University, Communications.

B.A., Dartmouth College. M.A., Stanford University, English Education.

Vice president of development and production for such features as The Beastmaster, Evilspeak, Fade to Black, Dead Ringers, John and Norma Novak, and The Q-Secret. He is the publisher of Gentlemen of Decision, a political thriller, and the writer of some 20 screenplays and teleplays. His book, The American Family Unreeling on Film will be published in 2003. Stein has also taught at Tennessee State University and National University.

Robb Wenner
Instructor - Sound Design

Berklee College of Music. B.A., Illinois Wesleyan University, Education.

Rob Wenner has worked in the Audio Post Production community for 14 years as a composer, sound designer and audio editor/mixer on numerous high profile projects including the Peter and the Wolf CD-Rom game, Rhythm and Jam children's series for ABC Television and Bugs Bunny On Broadway, a live orchestral and video theatrical production that has toured the world, including Russia, Australia and England. He has also produced music and sound design for numerous commercial spots including Porsche, Home Depot and Oscar Meyer. Recent clients include Discovery/KIDS, Jim Henson Productions, FOX/SportsNet, Nortel Communications and the Nashville Symphony.

Visit his web site

George Yanok
Instructor - Writing for Television

Writer/producer for shows such as Welcome Back Kotter, Lily Tomlin, and The Ted Knight Show and has written numerous movies for TV. He has two Emmy Awards and a Writer's Guild Award.