In Conversation: Screenwriting with Maya Perez and Shia Shabazz Smith

Torch Literary Arts is proud to present this special installment of our In Conversation series featuring award-winning screenwriters Maya Perez and Shia Shabazz Smith. 

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This event is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated.

Television producer and screenwriter Maya Perez is currently developing a pilot with Berlanti Productions and an independent sci-fi TV series. She was a co-producer on a romantic drama series starring Joshua Jackson and Lauren Ridloff and produced by Ava DuVernay for Starz, an executive story editor on Showtime’s American Rust S2, and an executive producer on EMMY Award-winning Austin Film Festival’s On Story on PBS for eleven seasons. Her feature screenplays have been optioned for production and recognized by fellowships from SFFILM/Westridge, Sundance Institute, and NY Stage & Film.

Shia Shabazz Smith is a screenwriter, poet, and educator who strives to ensure that her art and service represent her varied communities at large. An educated and experienced screenwriter, Shia honed her skills in wide-ranging screenwriting classes and workshops by Robert McKee, Reggie Rock Bythewood, Bonnie Orr, David Freeman and others. Shia has written five TV pilot scripts, tens of shorts, and ten feature-length screenplays… and counting. Her feature scripts have earned finalist placement in the Moondance and Tribeca All-Access competitions and three-time, stage two advancement in the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab competition. Her directorial debut film, “Kids and Caffeine on a Mundi,” ranked in the top ten in Austin CineMaker’s “Make a Film in a (M.A.F.I.A.) Weekend” contest and screened at the Austin International Super 8 Film Festival. Shia’s short film, Curdled – a hilarious glimpse of what a prenatal support group of women over 40, might look like- has screened internationally at eight film festivals. The film stars Keke Palmer, Robinne Lee, and Chenoa Maxwell.

Torch Literary Arts is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization established to publish and promote creative writing by Black women. We publish contemporary writing by experienced and emerging writers alike. Torch has featured work by Colleen J. McElroy, Tayari Jones, Sharon Bridgforth, Crystal Wilkinson, Patricia Smith, Natasha Trethewey, Elizabeth Alexander, and others. Programs include the Wildfire Reading Series, writing workshops, and retreats. 

This event is made possible with support from the City of Austin Cultural Arts Division, the Burdine Johnson Foundation, the Poetry Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.