Our mentors
All Writers Boot Camp mentors are alumni of our sessions and are trained specifically to carry out the unique goals and implement the specific tools that are the core of Writers Boot Camp. Founder Jeffrey Gordon personally oversees the training process. During live sessions, phone office hours and via email, each mentor acts as a creative producer, providing individual support to each writer while reinforcing tools to empower the writer’s own authority. All materials and sessionwork are taught within the context of the highest professional aims of the entertainment industry.
Writers Boot Camp hires mentors primarily through its alumni ranks and based on their aptitude toward service, not necessarily on screen credits. Writers Boot Camp live class sessions are focused on a Socratic method of interaction and teaching by analogy, meaning that creative notes are designed to be prescriptive about tools and stages of work rather than story notes.
David Baugnon
Basic Training, New York
David is a native of New Orleans currently living in New York. A filmmaker and screenwriter, his directing credits include the recently completed feature documentary Art in the Face of War, the short documentary Matisyahu (screened in over 47 film festivals and winner of the Grand Prize at AOL Moviefone Short Film Festival, 2006; the 3rd Prize at the Tribeca Underground Film Festival 2005; and the Special Jury Prize at the God on Film Festival 2004), the short documentary White Bait (screened at the New Orleans Film Festival 2003) and the short comedies Born Slippery and Call Time (premiered at the New York Independent Film & Video Festival 2001). David also wrote and was the Creative Director on a Public Service TV campaign for United Cerebral Palsy Foundation produced by Give a Damn Films in 2002. He has two feature scripts, Code of Ethics and Echo Charlie, currently in development with Producer Jeff Apple (The Recruit, In the Line of Fire) at Emergent Media.
Jason Brown
Professional Membership, New York
Jason began his career in show business at the ripe old age of three while starring in a dog food commercial. A little later in life he was a finalist in the Young Playwrights Festival in New York, where his play was produced by Joe Papp at the Public Theater. The play went on to become a primetime special produced by Group W and won a New England Emmy and a Peabody Award. Jason received a degree in Film & Broadcasting from Boston University, and after moving to New York worked at organizations including the Dramatists Guild, MTV, VH1, and as a freelancer with numerous film companies. Jason is a graduate of Basic Training and Professional Membership.
Jason Graham
Professional Membership, Los Angeles
Jason began his career in the entertainment business as a talent representative, working first in an agency mailroom and eventually as a Talent Manager at a Management/Production company. He left representation in order to pursue a career as a screenwriter, and after almost three years as Writers Boot Camp’s Director of Development, he segued to writing full time while serving as an mentor. He and his writing partner, Haley Gilbert Fisher, also a past Writers Boot Camp staff member and alumnus, sold the first script, THE PRE-NUP, bought by the leading independent company at the time, the Film Department.
Max Timm
Professional Membership, Los Angeles
Originally from Delavan, WI, Max grew up in the epitomy of small-town America. After graduating from Columbia College Chicago with a BA in Producing and Screenwriting, he considered getting his Masters degree, but chose Writers Boot Camp’s Professional Membership instead and has since focused his career around screenwriting and supporting fellow writers. Max has not only worked as founder Jeffrey Gordon’s assistant, but is currently Writers Boot Camp’s Director of Development, overseeing the mentor corps. Writing his own fantasy feature project, Max also teaches the Tuesday night Project Group in LA.