Member Panels & Events
UPCOMING HIFILM EVENTS
Bridging the Gap: What Filmmakers Need to Know About Managers in Today’s Industry
Breaking into the film and television industry can be overwhelming—especially if you’re outside major hubs like Los Angeles. This panel is tailored for emerging creatives from smaller markets (i.e. Hawai‘i) or international backgrounds who want to better understand the role of a manager in launching, navigating, and sustaining a career in the industry. Hear directly from working managers as they break down what they do, how their role is evolving in a post-strike, post-streaming-boom era, and how remote talent can secure meaningful representation and opportunities through managers. Whether you’re just getting started, preparing to find your first manager, or considering changing managers, this session will demystify the process and provide actionable strategies to help you build a successful career—no matter where you’re based. There will be opportunities for direct questions to our manager panelists during the Q&A portion of the panel.
All HIFILM members are invited to attend this virtual event moderated by HIFF Artistic Director, Anderson Le and featuring the following panelists:
Andrew Ooi
CEO and Founder
Echelon Talent Management
Raquelle David
Lit Manager
Authentic Talent & Literary Management
Tuesday, June 17th, 2025
4-6pm Hawai‘i Standard Time
BRYSON CHUN
Oanh Ly
Nic Wegener
Bryson Chun is a Native Hawaiian screenwriter who wrote on the Disney+ series DOOGIE KAMEALOHA MD and the upcoming MOANA 2 for Disney animation. He has produced award-winning short and feature films in Hawai‘i that have gone on to screen for PBS, The Smithsonian Institution, The Criterion Collection, and at festivals all over the world. He was a writing fellow for Sundance, CAPE, imagineNATIVE, LA Skins, and ‘Ohina Labs where he developed his Greenlight award-winning short OTHER PEOPLE under the mentorship of THOR RAGNAROK writer Eric Pearson. He’s a two-time blacklist Indigenous fellow for his pilot script POI DOGS and the feature film DON’T FREAK. He’s a proud graduate from the IAIA MFA program and is represented by Verve Talent and Literary Agency.
Oanh Ly (pronounced “Juan Lee”) was born in Sài Gòn, Việt Nam. Her family left the motherland as boat refugees. They stayed at Pulau Tengah Refugee Camp in Malaysia for a year before finally immigrating to Galveston, Texas.
She grew up in Houston, then attended the University of Texas at Austin where she studied playwriting as a recipient of a James Michener Playwriting Fellowship. She started her TV writing career on the hit CBS crime show Criminal Minds. Other broadcast network credits include the Bad Robot/NBC show Revolution, The Messengers for CW, Black Box for ABC, and The Catch for Shondaland/ABC. Streaming credits include The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Sweet Tooth on Netflix. She is currently developing TV shows for Disney + and Tomorrow Studios.
Every year, she mentors young writers at the Blank Theatre Young Playwrights Festival where she got her start in Hollywood. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and daughter. Her favorite TV show of all time is X-Files.
Nic Wegener has been a writer on American Dad for the past 11 seasons, now serving as an Executive Producer. Hailing from the world of live comedy, Nic is a member of the world’s greatest sketch comedy group, The Midnight Show, who performed 10 straight years of sold-out monthly shows at the UCB Theater in LA. He is also easily recognizable from his standout single-line performances on “Key & Peele” and “Criminal Minds.” He began comedy at Arizona State University with the groups “Farce Side Comedy Hour” and “Barren Mind Improv.” During that time, he was named one of the Top 5 Funniest College Comedians in the country at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen for his standup. An episode of American Dad he wrote that involves solar panels was nominated for an Environmental Media award, but he is yet to be nominated for an Emmy, Tony, Hugo, ESPY, or even an Oscar.
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