Mike Ellis
Festival judge
In television, Michael is proud to have worked as a writer/consulting producer on the Netflix smash-hit show *Insatiable* for two seasons. His first smash hit was *The Wedding Planner*, starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, which was number one at the box office for two weeks running. Most recently, Michael and his writing partner, Sybil Villette, sold their female-driven, sports-themed feature dramedy, *Seeing Faith*, to Hallmark in 2023.
They are currently in the final stages of development with the producers. Just prior, the duo created the half-hour comedy *Raising the Bar*, on which Denis Leary and his Amoeba Films, through his deal with Fox, are on board as producers. Bill Cunningham (*Scrubs*, *The Goldbergs*) is showrunner, with David Hayter (*Warrior Nun*, *X-Men 1* and *2*, *Watchmen*) as EP.
Mike began his career with his former writing partner, Pam Falk, after attending AFI graduate school and earning his M.F.A. in screenwriting. Mike and Pam sold their first script, *Let Them Eat Cake*, to Disney. After that, they sold projects to Fine Line Films, Savoy Pictures and Destination Pictures.
They then sold TV pilots to ABC and The CW and worked on the Disney animated feature about singing cows, *Home on the Range*. Mike and Pam went on to sell movie pitches to DreamWorks, Working Title, Revolution Studios, Warner Brothers, Skydance Pictures and Universal. They’ve written movies for Lindsay Doran, Anne Fletcher, Jason Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Sarah Jessica Parker, Vin Diesel, Salma Hayek, Meg Ryan, Dwight Yoakam, Elliot Page and America Ferrera, and sold a salsa dancing movie with Sandra Bullock attached to produce and star.
Other credits include working as consulting producers on the ABC show *Jake in Progress*, adapting the YA novel *The A-List* for Alloy Entertainment and Universal Pictures, and producing an independent movie from their script based on the acclaimed Aimee Bender novel *An Invisible Sign of My Own*, starring Jessica Alba, Chris Messina and J.K. Simmons. They wrote a sequel to the hit movie *Valentine’s Day*, called *Super Sunday*, about people finding love and happiness at the Super Bowl for Warner Brothers. Next, they sold two TV pilots in the same season: *American Marriage*, a drama with Ellen Pompeo, to ABC, and a comedy, *Marsha Goes to Jail*, with Adam Shankman, to FOX.
Not long after, Pam and Mike parted ways in 2021. After that, Michael started writing with Sybil.
They are currently in the final stages of development with the producers. Just prior, the duo created the half-hour comedy *Raising the Bar*, on which Denis Leary and his Amoeba Films, through his deal with Fox, are on board as producers. Bill Cunningham (*Scrubs*, *The Goldbergs*) is showrunner, with David Hayter (*Warrior Nun*, *X-Men 1* and *2*, *Watchmen*) as EP.
Mike began his career with his former writing partner, Pam Falk, after attending AFI graduate school and earning his M.F.A. in screenwriting. Mike and Pam sold their first script, *Let Them Eat Cake*, to Disney. After that, they sold projects to Fine Line Films, Savoy Pictures and Destination Pictures.
They then sold TV pilots to ABC and The CW and worked on the Disney animated feature about singing cows, *Home on the Range*. Mike and Pam went on to sell movie pitches to DreamWorks, Working Title, Revolution Studios, Warner Brothers, Skydance Pictures and Universal. They’ve written movies for Lindsay Doran, Anne Fletcher, Jason Moore, Ashton Kutcher, Sarah Jessica Parker, Vin Diesel, Salma Hayek, Meg Ryan, Dwight Yoakam, Elliot Page and America Ferrera, and sold a salsa dancing movie with Sandra Bullock attached to produce and star.
Other credits include working as consulting producers on the ABC show *Jake in Progress*, adapting the YA novel *The A-List* for Alloy Entertainment and Universal Pictures, and producing an independent movie from their script based on the acclaimed Aimee Bender novel *An Invisible Sign of My Own*, starring Jessica Alba, Chris Messina and J.K. Simmons. They wrote a sequel to the hit movie *Valentine’s Day*, called *Super Sunday*, about people finding love and happiness at the Super Bowl for Warner Brothers. Next, they sold two TV pilots in the same season: *American Marriage*, a drama with Ellen Pompeo, to ABC, and a comedy, *Marsha Goes to Jail*, with Adam Shankman, to FOX.
Not long after, Pam and Mike parted ways in 2021. After that, Michael started writing with Sybil.