DR. LESLIE KREINER WILSON
Dr. Leslie co-founded AMI Films, a producer of many award-winning media projects. The shows from their edit bays have earned such honors as film festival prizes, top Billboard rankings, the Lumière Award, the Emmy, and many more. They have been theatrically released as well as broadcast on such diverse platforms/networks as DIRECTV, PBS, Amazon, Netflix, VH1, and AXS. Her consulting work has ranged from mentoring student MFA projects to working with well known Hollywood directors such as Garry Marshall.
A tenured professor, Dr. Leslie teaches fiction, screenwriting, and film history at Pepperdine University in Malibu where she also directs the MFA Program in Writing for Screen and Television; co-directed the Institute for Entertainment, Media, and Culture; as well as produced a documentary web series on the art of screenwriting. A scholar-activist, her research, writing, and publishing focus on women and leadership in early Hollywood.
She has served as a judge for Prize Americana, the University Film and Video Association, the Social Impact Media Awards, the Sudreau Global Justice Institute — All for Humanity Alliance Anti-Trafficking Film Competition, as well as the Television Academy college television and internship competitions.
Dr. Leslie is the Executive Director of the nonprofit Press Americana and Americana: An Institute for American Studies and Creative Writing. She also volunteers with WriteGirl, inspiring underprivileged teens in Los Angeles to write their way into college and a stellar career.
A member of the Television Academy, the University Film and Video Association, the Screenwriters Research Network, the Association of Writers & Writing Programs, and the Broadcast Education Association, she holds a Ph.D. in American Literature and Film Studies from Claremont Graduate University.
Her current projects include the nonfiction book Madame Movie Mogul: Women and Leadership in Early Hollywood as well as the adaptation of a popular YA series for television/streaming. Whether working in Hollywood or academia, she remains steadfastly committed to empowering women and girls.
You can read her blog on Women and Leadership in Early Hollywood here.
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