Diablo Cody
After completion of her book, Cody was encouraged by Mason Novick to write her first screenplay. Within months she wrote "Juno", a coming-of-age story about a teenager's unplanned pregnancy. The Jason Reitman-directed comedy stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera.
José María Cabral (director)
Cabral started making films when he was 16 years old, making private screenings of short films to family and friends in local movie theaters, one of them "Excexos" got national distribution in 2008. His first feature film, "Jaque Mate" (2011), was screened at a high number of film festivals and selected as the Dominican entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist. "Arrobá" and "Despertar" followed in 2013 and 2014, also making it into the festival circuits. In 2015 he released "Detective Willy" a comedy adventure film. Cabral premiered his last film, Carpinteros, in January at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, a story about the realities and relationships of prisoners in Dominican jails.Screened in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section of the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Woodpeckers was the first Dominican feature film selected by Sundance.