Instructors

Adrian A. Cruz is a showrunner, writer, director, and producer working in television, film, and theater. He’s a published comic book creator and novelist. Having graduated USC with dual degrees in Film and Theater, Adrian has created and sold pilots to nearly every major studio and network, but is perhaps best known for co-creating the stylish science-fiction mini-series, ASCENSION, for the Syfy Network, Universal Television and Blumhouse — as well as for directing the divisive, critically acclaimed, indie film, EAT ME. He maintains an active presence in the LA Theater scene as playwright, director, and producer. Adrian is a proud WGAw member and graduate of their esteemed SHOWRUNNER TRAINING PROGRAM. He created Hardfun: Writing — to offer to others the lessons it took him nearly 25 years to learn, not only about the art and craft of wiring in all it’s forms, but about being a fully expressed person and artist.

A California native, Rachel earned a bachelor’s degree from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts before defecting to New York to earn her MFA at Columbia University. She’s been a producer on six feature films, such as Space Station 76,Super Dark Times, and Beats, Rhymes and Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest, which was nominated for a Grammy and won the Producer’s Guild Award for Best Documentary in 2012. After two decades of producing she turned her focus to screenwriting, and was awarded the Science in Cinema Fellowship from SF Film and was a quarter-finalist for the Nicholl. Her teaching experience includes being a mentor at Columbia, a lecturer at Fairfield University, and an adjunct professor at USC, where three of her students went on to win Academy Awards.