From Deck To Domain

Olivia Klaus is an award-winning filmmaker and creative director dedicated to stories that shape culture, change laws, and demand action. Her widely acclaimed work has been celebrated at premier festivals, streamed on global platforms, featured in books, and permanently preserved in national archives.

Olivia’s directorial debut, Sin by Silence, captured millions of viewers and inspired historic California legislation that helped pave paths to freedom for nearly 7,000 incarcerated domestic violence survivors. She followed this with the exclusive narrative Life After Manson—which premiered at Tribeca and was featured as a New York Times Op-Doc—and has lent her vision as a producer and consultant to high-impact projects like the Netflix Original Lessons from a School Shooting, Newtown, and Us Kids.

Bridging the screen with the digital landscape, Olivia is also the Creative Director of Orange Static, designing digital campaigns for major partners like National Geographic, Netflix, Amazon, and AMC. Highlighting her lasting legacy, Orange Static’s work was recently selected for permanent preservation in the Library of Congress motion picture archives, cementing her digital campaigns as a significant piece of modern film history.

As a filmmaker and media producer with experience in academia and nonprofits, Cassandra Nicholson is dedicated to creating meaningful, high-quality content that serves as both an educational tool and a community service. Cassandra is a writer, producer, and director. She wrote the short film Dark Dignity and also wrote and directed I Could Today, and The Will of Zenia. Cassandra is also Director of Partnerships and Outreach at ShotDeck. ShotDeck is the largest library of fully searchable high-definition movie images in the world, a great resource for those who study, analyze, and create visual storytelling, from filmmakers and film students to designers and cinematographers seeking inspiration and reference material.

Cinder Chou is a Taiwanese American writer, director, and producer based in NYC. She creates original queer genre stories told through a comedic lens. Her work often blends genres to reflect intersectional identity. Chou’s debut feature film, Artist Unknown, is available to stream on Tubi and to rent on Amazon.

Born and raised in South Africa, writer and director Jean Barker creates genre stories rooted in identity, history, and dark humor. Her debut feature, Nobody Leaves ’til Jesus Comes, premiered at Dances With Films LA in 2024. She is also the creator of the Afro-futurist graphic novel Zana: Book One and is currently developing multiple film and literary projects.

Jeffrey Elizabeth Copeland is a writer and comedian based in New York City. Her work has been featured at the American Black Film Festival, UCB, The Big Apple Film Festival, and The Brooklyn Comedy Collective. An inaugural SNL/PIT Scholarship recipient, she regularly performs stand-up at the Harlem Comedy Club.

Jenny Mackenzie is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work explores social issues and inspires change. Her films have premiered at Sundance, aired on HBO, Hulu, PBS, and Amazon, and earned Emmy recognition while receiving coverage in The New York Times, The Hollywood Reporter, and Variety. She is an assistant professor of film production at Utah Valley University.