Novels,
stories and books adapted into screenplays. Screenplay rewrites, ghostwriting
and script doctoring.
The Hollywood
Writers Studio was launched in 1992 as a division of Joda Productions,
Inc.,
a Los Angeles based
motion picture development and production company.
THE DIRECTORS
David Sheldon, a busy writer-director-producer, with
nine motion pictures scheduled for production in 2012 and 2013. He has written,
directed and/or produced twelve feature films of his own and has worked in
various capacities on over 50 others. He produced, co-authored and directed
"The Legend of Dark Mountain" which was screened at the Cannes Film
Festival. He co-authored the screenplay "Predator: The Concert" which
stars George Clooney, Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern, Louise Fletcher, Deborah
Raffin and John Rhys-Davies. He wrote and produced "Secrets of a Small
Town" for Twentieth Century-Fox Television.
David has been in business with most of the Hollywood studios. One of his first feature films,
"Grizzly," which he wrote and produced, is one of the most
financially successful independent films in motion picture history, earning 50
times its cost worldwide. He wrote,
directed and/or produced "Lovely But Deadly," "Just Before
Dawn," "The Guardian," "The Evil," "Day of the
Animals," "The Manitou," "Sheba Baby," "Devil
Times Five," and "Abby."
He started out in Hollywood as Director of Screenplay Development for
Lawrence A. Gordon ("48 Hours," "Field Of Dreams,"
"Die Hard," etc.) at American International Pictures. He supervised
various aspects of productions such as "Dillinger,"
"Sisters," "The Reincarnation of Peter Proud," "Futureworld,"
“Amityville Horror,” and "Walking Tall." He subsequently went into
partnership with producer Phil Feldman (“Blue Thunder,” “The Toy,” “A Star is
Born,” “The Getaway.”).
Sheldon earned an MFA degree in writing and directing at the Yale
University School of Drama and has been a member of the Director's Unit of the
Actors Studio in New York. During his college years and thereafter, he produced
and directed over 100 Broadway plays and musicals at the Gateway Playhouse in
Bellport, Long Island, owned by his family. He subsequently became director of
the Columbia Pictures Talent Farm developing new writers and actors under the
supervision of Columbia Pictures talent scout Joyce Selznick. His outstanding
work has been acclaimed in Newsweek, Life Magazine, the New York Times and
other publications.
Joan McCall
One
of the most prolific writers in Hollywood, Joan McCall has written over fifty
screenplays on assignment and has nine screenplays scheduled for production
over the next two years. Her feature film, "Predator: The Concert,"
which she co-authored with David Sheldon, was filmed in Europe starring George
Clooney, Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern, Deborah Raffin, Louise Fletcher and Deborah
Foreman. Her first screenplay,
"Shirley," about the racecar driver, Shirley Muldowney, was developed
and produced as a successful motion picture under the title "Heart Like a
Wheel."
In addition to her screenplay writing, Joan
has written over 150 scripts for network television. She was a staff writer for NBC's "Santa Barbara," for
New World Television, and has written many scripts and stories for " Days
of Our Lives" (NBC). As a contract
writer for "Another World" (CBS), Ms. McCall wrote two scripts a
week. She was a continuing writer for
"Capitol," and she wrote a bible (a six-month story projection) for
"Search For Tomorrow" (CBS).
Joan McCall has also had a successful career
as an actress. She has starred on
Broadway in several hit plays by writers such as Neil Simon, Woody Allen and
Evan Hunter, in a number of national tours of Broadway shows, and in several
Hollywood motion pictures. Her first
film was Devil Times Five in 1974, a starring role at the age of 18.
A
native of Kentucky, Joan graduated from Berea College with a B.A. degree in art
and theater. She trained for the
theater in New York and studied with Lee Strasberg and Charles Conrad. A novelist as well as a screenwriter, she
just completed two new books, "Maggie” and “When I Knew Al,” a biography
of Al Pacino. A practitioner of
metaphysics, she is the pastor of Creative Arts Center for Spiritual Living in
Los Angeles. Speaking fluent French,
she is a member of the French Circle in Los Angeles and has served as President
of the prestigious Salon Francaise.






