Salon Recap

By Ellie Austin

Journalist, Radio Times

It would have been difficult to come up with a more apt title for the most recent See Jane salon than Women of Action; not only did the evening discuss the crucial role of women in the traditionally male-dominated world of onscreen superheroes, it also featured a panel of five of the most dynamic and creative women working in the genre today. Read More…

Malina Saval, Moderator

Associate Features Editor, Variety

Malina Saval is an as associate features editor at Variety. She’s also the author of the non-fiction book The Secret Lives of Boys: Inside the Raw Emotional World of Male Teens and the YA novel Jewish Summer Mafia. Her essays and articles has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, Glamour, Huffington Post, LA Weekly, the Jerusalem Post, Forward, Tablet and other leading periodicals and she has appeared as a guest on NPR’s Talk of the Nation, the Tavis Smiley show on PBS and the Patt Morrison show. A graduate of both Cornell University and USC School of Cinematic Arts, she has written screenplays for Touchstone Pictures and Tapestry Films. She is currently working on a memoir.

Ali Adler

Writer and TV Producer

Ali Adler is a writer and TV producer.  She has most recently developed and is currently executive producing the CBS series, Supergirl. Previously, she co-created and executive produced NBC’s award winning The New Normal. She has also worked on Glee, Chuck and Family Guy.  She has recently completed her first book for Weinstein Books, How to F*ck a Woman: An Insider’s Guide to Love & Relationships. Adler currently resides in Los Angeles with her fiancee, Liz Brixius, and her two very cute kids.

Victoria Alonso

Executive Producer

Executive Producer Victoria Alonso is currently executive producing Peyton Reed’s Antman for Marvel Studios, where she serves as Executive Vice President of Visual Effects and Post Production. She executive produced writer/director Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Joe and Anthony Russo’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Alan Taylor’s Thor: The Dark World, Shane Black’s Iron Man 3, as well as Marvel’s The Avengers for Joss Whedon. She also co-produced Iron Man and Iron Man 2 with director Jon Favreau, Kenneth Branagh’s Thor, and Joe Johnston’s Captain America: The First Avenger. Alonso’s career began at the nascency of the visual effects industry, when she served as a commercial VFX producer. From there, she VFX-produced numerous feature films, working with such directors as Ridley Scott (Kingdom of Heaven), Tim Burton (Big Fish) and Andrew Adamson (Shrek), to name a few.

Lauren Hynek

Writer

Lauren Hynek writes with partner Elizabeth Martin. The two met in high school when they both worked for the same New England Shakespeare Company. After graduating from Brown University and Stanford University respectively, they worked in non-profit theater before transitioning to screenwriting, though always maintaining a presence in the theater world. Two of their plays have been produced by Know Theatre of Cincinnati. Recently they rewrote an adaptation of a Grimm fairy tale at Amazon Studios. Recently they sold their spec script, The Legend of Mulan, to Disney. It is their first feature sale. Lauren and Elizabeth are represented by Mike DeTrana at Anvil Entertainment and Amy Wagner at Abrams Artists Agency.

Famke Janssen

Actor

Famke has successfully balanced her career between studio features and independent films. She has worked with such notable directors as Woody Allen and Robert Altman on independent films, and has also starred in succesful studio franchises, such as the Taken trilogy, opposite Liam Neeson, and as Jean Grey aka Phoenix in the X-Men franchise. She recently wrapped the third and final season of the Netflix series, Hemlock Grove, executive produced by Eli Roth.

Lauren Shuler Donner

Film Producer

Lauren Shuler Donner is a Film Producer with such credits as Mr. Mom, Ladyhawke, St. Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, Dave, Free Willy 1-3, You’ve Got Mail, Hotel For Dogs, The Secret Life of Bees and all 7 X-Men movies. Next up: Broadway musicals based on her films Dave, and Secret Life of Bees. Also in development for HBO TV: God Save Texas, and Laughs Unltd.