Behind the Scenes at CineStory Foundation

The CineStory Foundation (www.cinestory.org) is a non-profit educational association dedicated to providing emerging screenwriters with opportunities to work with committed industry professionals on a personal basis through mentorship and writers retreats.

CineStory Feature Fellowship winners receive approximately $20,000 in cash and prizes, including $10,000 cash award, while the TV Fellowship winners receive approximately $9,000 in cash and prizes, including $1,000 cash prize. Fellowship Winners also get one-year mentorship with two working industry professionals, as well as a fully funded spot at the annual retreats.

CineStory Retreats take place over four days in Idyllwild, California. Attendees workshop scripts during three 90 minute one-on-one sessions with CineStory mentors and participate in numerous mentor panels about craft and how the industry works.

Lisanne Sartor gained early notoriety for:
1. Calling her fourth-grade teacher a female chauvinist for not letting girls play kickball
2. Teaching sex-ed seminars to her fifth-grade cohorts using Judy Blum’s FOREVER
3. Calling her eighth-grade teacher a bitch for unfairly penalizing another student
(While Sartor’s principal shared her opinion, he told her she should keep such opinions to herself. Lesson not learned).

Sartor’s outspokenness led her to become a Los Angeles DGA assistant director. After seven years, she had a bad back, nerve damage in her feet, and a Biblical appreciation for caffeine. She quit to write and direct. Since then, she’s worked with numerous production companies, received a UCLA Screenwriting MFA, and participated in the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, the WGA Feature Writers Access Project, and the AFI/Fox Bridge Program.

She is an alumna of Yaddo, Hedgebrook, Gullkistan and Storyknife residencies. She’s taught screenwriting at UCLA, Stephens College, the Disney Launchpad Shorts Incubator, and the AFI Directing Workshop for Women. She has been the Board President for the screenwriting educational non-profit, the CineStory Foundation, since 2009, and a board member since 2004. She’s written thirty + screenplays, penned a Lifetime MOW, and directed five successful short films. All her projects are drawn from her family history of secrets and lies and her vengeful, loyal nature. She’s never looked back.

In features, Patrick Tobin is currently developing an adaption of his original short story HYSTERON PROTERON as a film with Eric Heisserer attached to produce. His film CAKE was directed by Daniel Barnz, and starred Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington, and Jennifer Aniston, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for this role. Previously, the script for CAKE won the Cinestory competition in 2013, and was later awarded Best Screenplay at the Shanghai International Film Festival in 2015.

He’s recently finished writing a feature based on the true story MJB GOT FAITH for TriStar Pictures with Barry Josephson and DeVon Franklin producing. He previously adapted TAKING FLIGHT for MGM and Alloy, based on the bestselling memoir by ballet star Michaela DePrince. He also wrote an adaptation of the true story of DZI CROQUETTES for Fox Searchlight and Carlos Saldanha.

In television, Patrick previously sold a one-hour drama to CBS with Blumhouse and Kristin Hahn with Jennifer Aniston producing based on the book SEEING. He wrote the pilot for HAPPINESS MACHINE for Global Road, a series based on Katie Williams’ bestselling novel TELL THE MACHINE GOODNIGHT. He sold CAROLYN &  ROSE, a limited series based on a true crime, to TNT. He also set up a blind deal with WBTV where he developed COMPLICATED, a dramedy based on his real-life relationship with his con-man father.

Before his screenwriting career, Patrick published several short stories and essays in various literary journals, including Dave Eggers’ anthology Best American Nonrequired Reading. He also co-wrote a humor book about cat near-death experiences that can be found on Amazon for less than a dollar.