Bios
Rachel Eckerling is a director, writer, and producer.
For the past six years, she has worked closely with Director Francis Ford Coppola, helping him workshop various projects, including his current film YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH. Mr. Coppola also commissioned Rachel and the Tea Girls to write the film adaptation of the best-selling novel The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. Also with the Tea Girls, she co-produced The Grid, which played to sold-out audiences at Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center in New York. Rachel has also workshopped other new and old works.
Rachel co-directed Marco Jo Clate's original play, REAL! LIVE! AMERICA! in the New York Fringe Festival of 2001. In 2005, she led a screenplay-writing workshop with writer/director Paul Schrader for All-Story Magazine.
She received a B.F.A. with Honors from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.
Rachel has recently returned to New Jersey/New York—homesick for the East Coast and her theatre roots.
Jennifer Gandin Le is a screenwriter and freelance journalist. Director Francis Ford Coppola commissioned Jennifer and the Tea Girls' film adaptation of the best-selling novel The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank. Her current project is a feature-length screenplay titled Tuesday, a post-September 11th New York City love story.
Her non-fiction writing has been published in Wired Magazine, Time Out New York, BUST Magazine, The Village Voice, and ReadyMade.
Also with Tea Girl Productions, Jennifer co-wrote and co-produced The Grid, which had a successful, sold-out run at the Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center in New York City.
Jennifer graduated with honors from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in 2001. She serves on the Alumnae Committee of the Woodhull Institute for Ethical Leadership, a national organization of over 2000 women ethical leaders working toward social change. She has trained with Naomi Wolf and Kristen Kemp through the Woodhull Writing Atelier. In 2006, Jennifer was selected as one of the "REAL Hot 100" young women working for change in the U.S.
To read Jennifer's work, visit www.jennifergandin.com.
Heidi is a founder, producer, and writer for Tea Girl Productions, based in New York and California. Credits include The Grid, an original play by Tea Girl Productions (Clemente Soto Velez Cultural Center, New York, 2002), and the film adaptation of The Girl's Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank, a project commissioned by Francis Ford Coppola and America Zoetrope.
As a political journalist, Heidi was a former columnist at the Des Moines Register, and her work has appeared in Women's eNews, Alternet, The Iowa City Press-Citizen, The Ghanaian Times, and various news publications nationwide. Heidi's columns have been heavily syndicated and have been used in collegiate academic programs across the country.
Heidi is an honors graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and Playwrights Horizons Theater School. She also studied theater at the University of Malta, (Lija, Malta, 1999) the University of Ghana, (Legon, Ghana, 2000). From 1997-2003, Heidi worked on the Broadway productions of Annie Get Your Gun, Grease, and Chicago, as well as numerous Off-Broadway shows in New York.
Currently Heidi is completing an original screenplay, El Barrio del Sol, based on true stories of life in Spanish Harlem from the 1980s to the 1990s, which will be completed in 2007. Heidi is also working on an important non-fiction biography (release date to be determined). For more information on Heidi's current projects or to request a submission, please contact Waxman Literary Agency, or visit Heidi Schnakenberg's Homepage , Heidi Schnakenberg's Blog, or Heidi Schnakenberg on Myspace.
Lara Tal received a B.F.A. With Honors from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. With a focus in directing and acting, she studied at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School and The Stonestreet School for Film and Televison.
With the Tea Girl Productions: Director and Co-Producer, “The Grid” (NYC, March 2002); Co-Writer, Dramatic Adaptation of “The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing” (short story by Melissa Bank), commissioned by Francis Ford Coppola.
Lara worked as an Associate Casting Director at Johnson-Liff Casting for two years and is currently the Talent Coordinator for CBS Primetime Television.