2008 WINNERS AND FINALISTS

Jay Paramsothy

Jay Paramsothy

2008 Screenwriting Winner
Jay Paramsothy completed a BA in Film and Theater with an emphasis on directing at Trinity College in Hartford, CT. He also studied screenwriting and film production at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. After graduation, he worked on various independent and studio films as a production coordinator and producer. In addition, he wrote and produced on-air promotions for HBO’s Cinemax Channel and Comedy Central. His first directorial effort was “Blinding Goldfish”, which premiered at the Pan African Film Festival in 2005 and continued to play on the festival circuit. In April of 2008, Jay directed a stage reading of “The Emperor Has Arrived”, a feature length screenplay that he co-wrote with Catherine Torphy, at the Salaam Theatre in New York City. Jay and Catherine are currently collaborating on their next screenplay. He lives in New York City.

(See Catherine Torphy Bio)

Catherine Torphy

Catherine Torphy

2008 Screenwriting Winner
Catherine Torphy completed an MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Arizona in 2005 and received her BA from Colby College, where she majored in English with a creative writing concentration. She also studied film production and screenwriting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Art. She lived in Italy for several years, writing for Time Out and other publications, while continuing her work on fiction and screenwriting projects. Her stories have been published in various literary journals and have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Most recently, “The Emperor Has Arrived,” a feature-length screenplay that she co-wrote with Jay Paramsothy, was performed at New York’s Salaam Theatre in April 2008. Catherine and Jay are currently collaborating on their next screenplay, and she is also at work on a novel set in Italy. She lives in New York City.

(See Jay Paramsothy Bio)

Ken Cheng

Ken Cheng

2008 Television Writing Winner
Guam-born and Bay Area-bred, Ken Cheng moved to LA in 2008 to pursue his writing/filmmaking dream after finally realizing how indifferent he felt about his marketing career in the music industry. Hailing from a creative and loving Chinese-American family with roots in the Philippines, Ken's literary ambitions began writing and drawing his own comic books. His passion for movies and storytelling grew into college, where he trained as a journalist and filmmaker before taking a 6-year detour through Route: Corporate World. Ken explores themes mined from the entertainment unique to his life; the dynamics of his family, the hijinks of countless nights out with friends, the eye opening nature of travel (only 1/3 of which has been to Las Vegas). Each contribute to the voluminous missives (or e-mails) he pens about pop culture, his non-stop girl problems and the comedic misadventures of his friends in San Francisco. When not working on his many short, feature and TV scripts, Ken likes to rip through his Netflix queue, watch Sports Center and update his silly blog chronicling random thoughts, more girl problems and other assorted topics at CanIHaveAWord.blogspot.com
Joseph Yuan

Joseph Yuan

2008 Screenwriting Finalist
Joseph Yuan grew up in Texas, where he was one of ten Asian kids in his high school of two-thousand people. Joseph planned to be a professional violinist, but at the age of sixteen, neurological problems in his hands destroyed his rising career. Fortunately, Joseph realized he enjoyed screenwriting even more than playing the violin. “Ningyuan,” the script Joseph and Jeannette Manning submitted to CAPE, is based on Joseph’s ancestor Yuan Chonghuan, a famous Ming Dynasty general. Currently, Joseph and Jeannette have two additional scripts, “Mendelssohn” and “Angels of Bataan,” in the quarterfinals of the Nicholl Fellowships competition. Joseph is finishing his final year as an undergraduate screenwriting major at USC and has obtained representation for acting and modeling.

(See Jeannette Manning Bio)

Jeannette Manning

Jeannette Manning

2008 Screenwriting Finalist
Jeannette Manning, born two pounds and five ounces, grew up to be an impressive height of five feet and two inches. She spent her childhood studying improv at McCarter Theatre in Princeton New Jersey and writing plays and musicals. She was one of ten students selected statewide to attend the New Jersey Governor’s School of the Arts for film and screenwriting. Jeannette is finishing her final year as an undergraduate screenwriting major at USC. She has also renewed her interest in acting and is pursuing commercial and theatrical work on the side. In 2007, Jeannette won USC’s John Kearney Sandifer Scholarship for excellence in screenwriting. Currently, Jeannette and her writing partner Joseph Yuan have two scripts, “Mendelssohn” and “Angels of Bataan,” in the quarterfinals of the Nicholl Fellowships competition.

(See Joseph Yuan Bio)

Christine Shin

Christine Shin

2008 Screenwriting Finalist
Born in Korea, Christine Shin moved to the United States by herself at the age of 16 to follow her dream as a filmmaker. She received her B.A. degrees in Communication Arts and English Literature from University of Wisconsin in Madison and her M.F.A. degree in Production from USC School of Cinematic Arts. She was selected to direct a commercial spot, Movie Date, as one of the ten national finalists for 2004 Coca Cola Refreshing Filmmaker's Award Contest. Her next film, Journey, has received Best Actress Award from 2004 Hollywood DV Festival and was screened at various festivals including 2005 Sedona International Film Festival and 2005 Los Angeles Korean International Film Festival. Her USC graduate thesis film, Janie, has been invited to over 40 festivals worldwide and received numerous awards such as Cine Golden Eagle Award. Janie had its TV premiere on KCET(PBS) as a part of Fine Cut Series in 2006, and it will be distributed online through Mini Movie Channel later this year. Christine has been chosen as one of the Honorees for 2005 Project Involve by Film Independent (IFP/LA) and was one of the finalists for 2007 Disney/ABC/DGA Directing Fellowship. Recently, she has been selected with her feature project, My Fake Husband, as one of the fellows for 2008 Filmmakers' Development Lab by Korean Film Council. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her cat, Clarence. She hopes to continue to tell stories that have heart by further pursuing her career in directing, writing, and producing.
Claire Yorita Lee

Claire Yorita Lee

2008 Television Writing Finalist

A former fellow of the ABC/Disney Writing Fellowship and the FOX Diversity Writer’s Initiative, Claire Yorita Lee has worked on a number of TV shows and pilots, including NBC’s Medium, ABC’s Thieves, and FOX’s Skin. She also wrote a short entitled “My Life Disoriented,” which received funding from an ITVS grant and premiered on PBS’s Independent Lens.

Currently Claire is producing a short she wrote entitled “Engaged,” which will premiere at CINERGY 2008, an event hosted at the Japan America Theater, and is working on a feature about her aunt who was the first Asian American porn star. Claire lives in Culver City with her husband, Ed, and one-year-old daughter, Alexa.

David Ngo

David Ngo

2008 Television Writing Finalist
David Ngo is an award-winning writer and filmmaker. His first independent feature, The Queen from Virginia, received the Best Documentary Feature Jury Prize at the 2006 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. In 2007, he directed the short BPS, which was named a Top 10 finalist at the 4th Annual 72 Hour Shootout. Overall, David's films have appeared in over eight film festivals nationwide. Also in 2007, David was awarded with the Armed with a Camera Fellowship through Visual Communications, the premier Asian Pacific media arts center in the United States. David is also a past honoree of Film Independent’s Project:Involve, a select mentorship program for young filmmakers. As a freelance writer, David has been published in “NHA Magazine,” “Hyphen Magazine,” “Yolk,” and “BN Magazine.” In addition to his writing and filmmaking career, David has over eight years of experience as a television programming executive.

PAST WINNERS AND FINALISTS

Christina Choe

Christina Choe

2007 Screenwriting Winner
Christina Choe is a filmmaker, video artist, TV editor and screenwriter. She has screened her short films, “Turmeric Border Marks” & “United Nations of Hip Hop” at numerous film festivals worldwide, including AFI Film Festival, Seattle International, and Palm Springs Int. Shorts Festival. In 2002 she received a prestigious New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) fellowship grant for video. For the past few years, she has worked as an editor/asst. editor for ABC, VH1, HBO and the History Channel. Her feature script, “Guess Who’s Coming For Kimchee” was selected as the winner of the 2007 CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) New Writers Award for Best Feature Screenplay. The same script was also selected for the 2007 KOFIC (Korean Film Council) Filmmakers Lab, 29th IFP Market Emerging Narrative Program, and most recently placed in the top 20 out of over 2700 scripts for the BlueCat Screenwriting Competition.
Chan Nguyen

Chan Nguyen

2007 Television Writing Winner
Chan Nguyen...I enjoy playing tennis, long walks on the beach, cool candle lit dinners and… oh wait, wrong kind of bio.

Minhchanh Nguyen, the 2007 CFNWA-winning television writer for The Office spec “IQ Test,” is a graduate from the University of Texas with a Communications degree in Radio/Television/Film. Born to the best Vietnamese parents in the world, Minhchanh has lived most of his life in Texas City, Texas. A place where the air is not particularly clean but livable. Going to Austin for college, he has written and worked on several student shorts. In the past year, he has moved to California from Texas to pursue a career in writing. After hitting a few bumps along the way, Minhchanh has been writing several feature length screenplays and worked on film productions. Currently submitting applications to several studio sponsored programs and working to further develop his skills as a writer, Minhchanh types thoroughly at his computer working while keeping an eye on the television.
Yueh Liu

Yueh Liu

2007 Screenwriting Finalist
Before immigrating to the United States in 1999, Yueh Liu worked as a director, screenwriter, and producer in China. Her many projects there include the television series “Time to Say Goodbye” (writer/director/producer), and the TV movie “Farewell Moscow” (writer/director), shot on location in Russia. Yueh also adapted two popular novels into TV series and directed them for Chinese television (“The Legend of Tea” and “Wealthy Family”). In 2003, Ms. Liu graduated Valedictorian with her Master’s degree in Motion Pictures and Television at the Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. For her thesis, she wrote, produced, directed, and starred in her first English language short film entitled “Andante Cantabile”, the basis for the feature script “Elegy in Paradise”. In 2004, Yueh completed the prestigious AFI Directing Workshop for Women where she wrote and directed her second short “Tea & Coffee”. Now residing in Hollywood, Ms. Liu is currently producing her first feature film entitled “The Dying Swan.”

(See J. Richey Nash Bio)

J. Richey Nash

J. Richey Nash

2007 Screenwriting Finalist
Upon graduating from Princeton University, J. Richey Nash moved to the ranks of professional baseball where he roamed the outfield for the Padres, Twins, and White Sox organizations. During his playing career he put his psychology degree to good use, analyzing opposing pitchers while waiting for his turn at the plate. After several years in baseball, Mr. Nash transitioned to show business and has enjoyed a steady career as an actor for over 12 years. A veteran of the New York theatre scene, Richey has performed in countless Off-Broadway and regional stage productions. He also cofounded the Tidemark Theatre Company in NYC, serving as its artistic director and managing producer. In Los Angeles, Mr. Nash has appeared in numerous films, on national network and cable television, and on many stages in Southern California. As a writer, he has penned numerous works, including the award-winning feature film script “Hitting the Cycle”, now in development for production in 2008. Mr. Nash also wrote, produced, and directed the short film “Universal Remote”, currently making the rounds on the film festival circuit.

(See Yueh Liu Bio)

Margaret Kerrison

Margaret Kerrison

2007 Screenwriting Finalist
Margaret Chandra Kerrison was born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore. She has enjoyed writing throughout her life, but it was only six years ago that she discovered screenwriting. During her work in a software company, Margaret enrolled in evening classes at Emerson College's Screenwriting Certificate Program where she won the Screenwriting Award of Excellence (2004). The following year she moved to Los Angeles to enroll at the USC School of Cinematic Arts to pursue a MFA in Screenwriting. In 2006, she was awarded The Multicultural Motion Picture Association Scholarship, won the Boulder Asian Film Festival Short Screenplay Contest, and was nominated by the USC Writing Division for the David and Lynn Angell Comedy Fellowship. In 2007, she won the prestigious Josh Schwartz Television Writing Scholarship at USC. After graduating from USC in May 2007, she began work as a Researcher for a new science education series “Wired Science” for PBS.
Oliver Saria

Oliver Saria

2007 Television Writing Finalist
Upon graduating from the University of California at Berkeley with a degree in Sociology, Oliver applied his social research skills in the areas of Marketing and Public Health. After several years, it donned on him that making stuff up about people is much more enjoyable (but a practice generally frowned upon in the Social Sciences). Eventually, he became a resident artist at Bindlestiff Studio and a fixture in San Francisco’s Asian American art scene as a musician, actor, and stand-up comedian. He moved to Los Angeles to pursue a writing career and currently works as a script reader for the Kennedy/Marshall Company. Last year, he was a finalist for the Walt Disney/ABC Writing Fellowship.
Isaac Ho

Isaac Ho

2007 Television Writing Finalist
Isaac Ho earned his MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA and was a semi-finalist for the ABC/Disney Writing Fellowship and is a recipient of the Stephen N. Gershenson Award for Screenwriting for his screenplay “Vacation Boyfriend,” a comedy about a recently divorced woman who goes on a cruise to rekindle her love life but gets mistaken for a terrorist. Isaac recently completed his historical drama, The Celestial, a feature about a Chinese sojourner who comes to California in 1870 to provide for his family back in China. However, he falls in with the Chinese mafia and soon must choose between saving his family or committing murder. As a playwright, Isaac's work includes "Claim to Fame," "1,001 Ways to Enjoy the Missionary Position" and "Along for the Ride" which received the SF Weekly Black Box Award for Outstanding Play. As a theater artist, Isaac has worked for Lodestone Theater Ensemble, National Asian American Theatre Company, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club and The Juilliard School.
Young Il Kim

Young Il Kim

2006 Screenwriting Winner
Young Il Kim spent his childhood in Seoul, Korea and his angst-ridden teenage years in New Jersey. In the six years between his BA in Economics from Harvard University and MFA in Screenwriting from USC Film School, Young ran four businesses (three dotcoms and a candy company)... into the ground. He is a member of the Independent Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America. His feature screenplay, Hyung's Overture, has been selected into the Film Independent's 2005 Screenwriters Lab. It was also a finalist for Sundance Filmmakers Lab, finalist in the Austin Screenwriting Competition, and semi-finalist in the Chesterfield. He also has written, directed, and produced 4 awful short films that will hopefully remain hidden for a long time.
 Lucy Wang

Lucy Wang

2006 Television Writing Winner

Lucy Wang is an award-winning, published and produced writer. She sold an original comedy pilot to Disney, cooked with Tyler Florence on Food 911, and is featured in Charlene Shih’s video installation “12 Steps to Success for Artists in Los Angeles.” Her short stories have appeared in literary journals and her plays have been produced all over the country and in London. Her awards include a grant from the Berrilla Kerr Foundation; Best New Play from the Chilcote Foundation; James Thurber Fellowship; Hewlett Honorary Fellow; artistic residencies at Djerassi, Atlantic Center for the Arts and MacDowell Colony; Roger L. Stevens Award, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays. Wang is a member of the DGA, PEN, LPWT, WGAW, and serves as a vice chair for the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights. Her papers are archived at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens.

Diane Seo

2005 Screenwriting Winner

Diane Seo is a former staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, where she covered local news and business in Los Angeles and New York. She also worked as a senior editor at the arts and news site, Salon.com.

Most recently, she served as the managing director of media for the ATP, which runs men's professional tennis worldwide. Aigoo! is her first full-length feature screenplay. She currently lives in Honolulu with her husband and 10-month-old daughter.

Albert Lee

2005 Television Writing Winner

Albert W. Lee moved back home to Orange County, CA in 2003,
after graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the
Arts, where he did a little writing for a network soap and befriended
an indie film director. Having allowed the summer to pass without
penning his Magnus Opus, Albert enlisted at Writer’s Boot
Camp where scripts were finished under the forced discipline of
highly trained instructors. He has since completed three spec
scripts: Smallville, Arrested Development, and Curb Your
Enthusiasm. Albert currently works as a high school English tutor,
college application advisor, and SAT Critical Reading and Writing
instructor.

Tonya Kong,Esq.

2004 Television Writing Winner

A Southern California native, Tonya grew up in Torrance. Realizing her phenomenal basketball talent was her ticket out of the 'burbs, Tonya ruled the South Bay girls' hoop scene until a vicious elbow to the head from future WNBA M.V.P. Lisa Leslie ended her athletic dreams. Not ready to give up on sports, Tonya went to California State University, Long Beach to study Kinesiology and Athletic Training. Four years and one worthless B.A. later, the time had come to give up on sports. Changing course, she embarked on a soggy new journey that was law school at the University of Washington in Seattle. After picking up a J.D. degree and a caffeine-addiction, Tonya traded in her umbrella and the Pacific Northwest for sun block and the South Pacific when she accepted an associate attorney position in Honolulu. After four years pitching her clients? stories, she longed to tell a few of her own. Realizing her creative cravings could lead to disbarment, Tonya bid aloha to law and returned to Tinseltown, where such tendencies are sometimes rewarded.

Tonya and Kanon joined forces when it became apparent their other classmates at the U.C.L.A. graduate program in screenwriting had no interest in making friends with a lawyer or an undertaker. Licking their wounds and the bottom of a pitcher of Guinness at the Westwood Brewing Company, the ostracized pair discovered they had many similar high-minded passions, such as the danceable ditties of the Pet Shop Boys, reading US Weekly/InTouch/Star magazines for free at the newsstand, oolong tea and the seminal 80?s movie masterpiece, "St. Elmo's Fire." And so a writing partnership, but more importantly, a beautiful friendship, was born.

(See Kanon Lim Bio)

Kanon Lim

2004 Television Writing Winner

Kanon was born and raised in beautiful Kauai, Hawaii. A near-drowning incident at the tender age of six left him with an acute fear of the ocean, a condition that severely limited his leisure options growing up on an island. A love of films and books emerged in place of snorkeling and surfing. Following stints as a guava harvester and a tourist gift shop sales clerk, Kanon left the Garden Isle for the mainland to attend film school at the University of Southern California. He earned his B.F.A. in Filmic Writing, which naturally led him to his current position as Night Supervisor at Forest Lawn Mortuary. When not tending to the needs of those no longer with us, Kanon relaxes at home watching reruns of "Six Feet Under."

(See Tonya Kong Bio)

Simon Sun

Simon Sun

2004 Screenwriting Winner

Born and raised in mainland China, Simon moved to the U.S. at the age of 25. Prior to this he was an entertainment feature reporter in Beijing. He holds a Bachelor degree in Journalism from Fudan University, Shanghai, China and a MFA in Screenwriting from USC School of Cinema and Television.

"America On My Mind" was Simon's graduate thesis at USC and since its completion, it has won him a USC distinction award and was a finalist at Sundance Screenwriting Lab. In addition to screenwriting he has also authored two well-received non-fiction books in Chinese. Currently he is working on two TV projects for both the Chinese and American markets.

Shinho Lee

2002 Screenwriting Winner

Shinho Lee, born and raised in Korea, received his BFA in Film/TV and MFA in Dramatic Writing from Tisch, NYU. Currently he is enrolled in AFI's screenwriting program. He worked as a script reader and also interned at Law & Order. His short KIMONO was screened at Johns Hopkins Film Festival and his short BUTTERFLY is in process of post-production. Summer of 2001, his plays THE WATER MIRRORS (American Living Room with Lincoln Center) and BUTTERFLY (Director's Company's Don't Blink) were produced in NYC. His full length play DREAM OF NO WORDS was short-listed for Young Writers Programme, Royal Court, London, his monologue EMPTY HANDS was published in Monologues For Men By Men (Heinemann Press) and his screenplay THE RED SNOW was a semi-finalist for The Nicholl

Angie Suh

2002 Television Writing Winner

Angie Suh was born in Seoul, Korea, but grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, from the age of five. She attended Purdue University then Columbia College in Chicago where she studied all aspects of film production: writing, shooting, editing and acting. Her first screenplay was a Disney Fellowship Semi-Finalist in 1994. In her first starring role in a feature she received raves as "Grace," in Chris Chan Lee's "Yellow." In 2002 she won the Helen Fong Dare Scholarship in the Arts, based on her feature submission, "Mr. Lee and the Quadroon." She is currently finishing a comedy feature, developing reality show ideas, writing shorts for DV production, and auditioning.

Dennis Kao

2001 Television Writing Winner

Dennis Kao has worked in tv production for FOX and CBS, as an executive assistant to tv/film producer Bill Todman, Jr. at Warner Brothers (X-Men, Wild Wild West), and is currently the production manager at Time Warner Audiobooks, where he produces, directs, and supervises the production of audiobooks published by Warner Books, Little-Brown, and Talk Miramax Books.

He has previously optioned the screenplay HOW TO MAKE LOVE TO A WOMAN, was a finalist for the Paramount Studios children's screenwriting contest, a participant in Lodestone Theater's tv writing workshop, and is currently completing SWORDSMEN, an epic play of valor and loyalty in medieval China.

Alice Wu

2000 Screenwriting Winner

Alice Wu, 2000 CAPE Foundation New Writer Awards Winner "Saving Face" is a feel-good social satire that asks the question: What would happen if your 48-year-old widowed Chinese mother got kicked out of the Chinese community for getting pregnant, and you were forced to take her in and find her a husband? Set in New York City, the story is told from the viewpoint of a Chinese-American lesbian in her late 20's, and its humor arises from the clash of cultures that constitute modern-day life in urban America.

Cynthia Liu

1999 Screenwriting Winner

Cynthia is a writer-filmmaker and holds a graduate degree in English literature. She's written short fiction, novels, essays, and several screenplays. Her scripts have reached semi-finalist status or higher at the following contests: American Accolades, Austin Heart of Film, the Disney Screenwriting Fellowship, the Chesterfield Writers Film Project (twice with different scripts), and the Sundance Screenwriting Lab (twice, with different scripts). She was the first CAPE New Writers Award screenplay winner and has since directed and produced her own work.

In 2004, Pathfinder Pictures will distribute her award-winning short film, the all-Asian American romantic comedy RED THREAD. It's now completing a lengthy run on the festival circuit. Another short, A. EYE FOR THE WHITE GUY (a spoof of a similarly-titled, popular cable TV makeover show), is currently exhibiting in international film festivals. She's in pre-production on a documentary short and developing one of her feature scripts to direct.

Her fiction has also won numerous prizes. Her first novel will be published in 2005.