BENNETT YELLIN Confirmed!
Artist & Mentor
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Bennett received his B.A. in Fiction from U.C.L.A. Still not ready to enter the real world, he enrolled at UMass in Amherst for an M.F.A. in fiction. It was there — on the first day of school — that he met and befriended Peter Farrelly. On a lark, they tried writing a comedy together and this spec script ultimately got into the hands of Eddie Murphy and the Zucker Brothers, creators of Airplane and The Naked Gun. Both Murphy and the Zuckers asked the duo to write movies for them, and their career was off and running.
Yellin wrote exclusively with Peter for years until they asked his brother Bobby to join them. The three went on to write a number of unproduced features together until they created Dumb and Dumber in 1994 and reunited in 2014 to co-write the official sequel chronicling the further idiotic adventures of Harry and Lloyd, Dumb and Dumber To.
In 2007, the Farrelly Brothers branched out on their own and Yellin partnered with James Robert Johnson to create a professional writing duo that has endured for sixteen years. Among the plethora of projects they’ve tackled during their career — some produced, others not — the two have co-written Let’s Scare Jessica to Death for Paramount Pictures, the Fox situation comedy Unhitched, the direct-to-DVD thriller Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead, Paramount Pictures’ Hotel For Dogs 2, the Anchor Bay action-thriller In the Blood with Gina Carano, the 20th Century Fox family film, Santa’s Little Helper, and the Warner Brothers re-boot of the Police Academy series, Police Academy: Takin’ it to the Streets. More recently, Yellin and Johnston have co-written a live action family stage show adaptation of the hugely popular Angry Birds IP, and the two are currently at work creating an original pilot for a new animated show.
Sara Norcott Confirmed!
Artist & Mentor
Sara is a professional writer, editor, story consultant, idea generator, and content creator with a B.A. in communications, and a M.F.A. in Writing for Stage and Screen. She currently works as an Idea Alchemist at Helm Creative Studio which leads the Story Factory in Philadelphia. With over ten years of experience in creating content for business and brands, including Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies, she approaches storytelling with editing precision, excellence, and an emphasis on how story and its characters resonate with an audience. She has provided script coverage and developed resources for writers, and developing content for Jen Grisanti, working with Jen for Writers on the Verge with NBC Universal. Sara offers personalized script coverage, story notes, proof reading and editing services, and personalized story telling for both film and television scripts. In October 2023, she will be releasing her first novel, I Love you in French.
Carley Smale Confirmed!
Artist and Mentor
Carley Smale is a full-time screenwriter who received her first writing credit when she was just twenty-four years old for the Lifetime made-for-tv movie entitled The Christmas Parade. She has since had over twelve of her scripts produced including three that premiered in 2023. In October 2023 she pitched and sold a movie to Netflix that will be coming out in late 2024. In February 2022, Midnight at the Magnolia was nominated for best made-for-tv movie at the Canadian Screen Awards. It spent over a month trending worldwide on the Netflix top 10 list. In 2014, Carley wrote and directed an indie feature entitled, “Cold Season” with the help of her friends from film school. It was the winner of the Jury Award at the Toronto Independent Film Festival.
She loves teaching and meeting new creatives and cannot wait to workshop with all of the writers at The Colourful Writers Retreat!
Takis Candilis
Artist in Residence
Producer, Director, and Screenwriter
Beginning in high school, Takis Candilis had already embarked on an exploration of the world of photography. With a passion for cinema, he launched into screenwriting and directing documentaries. His early works of fiction, selected by many festivals, his projects won awards and led him into the business of production. In 1988, he founded TARA PRODUCTIONS (Groupe Le Sabre).
In 1990, he became CEO of CAMERAS CONTINENTALES. From there, he managed Fiction for ELLIPSE (a CANAL+ Group) in 1994 and became CEO of HAMSTER PRODUCTIONS (AB Group) in 1995. In 1999, Etienne Mougeotte asked him to join TF1 as Director of Fiction, and then appointed him Director of Programs in 2006.
In 2008, he joined the Lagardère Group, where he holds the position of CEO and President (September 2010) of Lagardère Entertainment which combines the activities of production and audiovisual distribution for Lagardère Active.
Reinhild Steger
Artist in Residence & Owner of Les Terres des Gaïa
Reinhild Babsie Steger is an Austrian actress, dancer, singer and owner of Les Terres des Gaïa. At the age of eighteen she performed in ballets at the Vienna State Opera, including performances with Mikhail Baryirshnikov and Rudolph Nureyev. She soon moved to Paris where she worked as a dancer, a model, and studied at the Actors Studio with John Strasberg.
From 1989 - 1994, she played the role of Hilguegue on the French television series Salut Les Muscles, and continued to have a successful career as an actress appearing in French television shows and films, working with many well know French actors and directors. Her latest role was under the direction of her husband Takis Candilis in 2023 for The Child Who Measured the World, which is currently in post-production.
As a dancer, she understood the importance of physical well being and how to best nurture the body through food. It was this passion for good nutrition and wellness that led her to open a restaurant in Paris in 2003 and eventually a cook book of Austrian delights in 2011 titles Strudel, Kouglof et Cie.
Les Terres des Gaïa was founded by Reinhild and her husband Takis to provide a place for those seeking to nurture their mind, body, and spirit, offering a holistic approach to healing and creativity. This includes incorporating organic foods, cleansing, exercise, meditation, and body work as part of a regime that allows creativity to flow.
Reinhild and Takis welcome us to their beautiful estate in Gers, France.
Tripp Mills
Writer & Retreat Organizer
Tripp Mills is a writer and producer living in Los Angeles, California. He is a graduate of the Trinity Rep Conservatory where he studied under the tutelage of Larry Arrick, Barbara Damashek, and David Elliot. He spent several years in NYC singing lead and background vocals with a number of bands and underground artists before moving to California in the early 1990s. In the face of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, he became an avid LGBTQ activist and writer, writing for several publications including Art & Understanding. He has written several screenplays and his first book, The Rainbow God Box, is currently being edited for publication in 2024.
After attending the Rocaberti Writers Retreat in 2019, he was inspired to create an opportunity for underserved and underrepresented writers and formed Rainbow Rabbit Productions. The company will be launched in 2024 to create a platform for LGBTQ+ storytellers.
Disclaimer : All artists and mentors have committed to their attendance in good faith, but should issues arise that requires mentors to cancel for reasons out of The Colorful Writers control, such as business or personal related circumstances, we will endeavor to provide a suitable replacements of the same caliber of expertise.