"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."

Dawn has achieved success both in-front of and behind the camera, as  well as on the page. She's won multiple awards in all three disciplines  and considers filmmaking a continuously evolving form. It's the act and art of creating that excites and challenges her.

Her first  biographical screenplay "Mary & The Moon" won The Alfred P. Sloan  Science Screenwriting award. This led to a writer-for-hire bio-pic (though she's not allowed to comment on the personality). 

Dawn has created a re-usable structure tool for  writers (any structure/any format) and expects to complete an instructional guide  to writing complex biographical stories - both tools will be available in 2023 . Dawn moderated the American  Screenwriters Conference for the Sacramento International Film Festival for five years, and is currently working with the Bradenton Film Festival and No Boundaries Film Arts Institute.

Dawn holds an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA, and an MA in  English/Creative Writing. She's taught at UCLA and University of the  Pacific, as well as workshop events. She worked with Hollywood legend Edward James Olmos' nonprofit Youth Cinema Project teaching year-long filmmaking programs to students from Title 1 schools. 

She's thrilled to watch her adult and youth students win screenwriting and filmmaking accolades, but more than that - she loves to inspire them and watch that transfer to the page and screen.  

She’s had the honor of working with, and learning from amazing  filmmakers -- Dustin Lance Black (MILK), Bobby Moresco (CRASH), Paula  Wagner (MISSION IMPOSSIBLE), and Wolfgang Petersen (THE PERFECT STORM).