Ethan Alter is an award-winning writer, reporter and editor who has been covering the entertainment space for over two decades at a variety of print and digital publications. He is currently the Deputy Editor and New York Bureau Chief at Gold Derby, and his past work can be found at outlets such as Yahoo, Adweek, Indiewire, The Daily Beast, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. In 2023, Ethan received five awards from the Los Angeles Press Club's National A&E Journalism Awards, including Online Journalist of the Year, and he has commented on major entertainment stories for Reuters, the Associated Press, NBC, ABC and CNN. His book, Film Firsts: The 25 Movies that Created Contemporary American Cinema, was published in 2014 by Praeger.

Eric Macy McClanahan is a writer and musician raised in a small town in Texas. He has been writing about film and culture for the past eight years, with over 200 interviews and bylines at Ain't It Cool News, Collider, Cinema Scholars, Nerd Initiative, and No Rest for the Weekend, where he is also a regular guest. He has covered conventions, festivals, and theater, helped edit and promote several self-published authors through his work, and currently lives in New Jersey with his wife Meredith and their cat, Bennie.

Sara Vahabi is a Los Angeles-based international film publicist and Awards Strategist with over 20 years of experience in special events, red carpets and public relations, with extensive experience in both Europe and the US. In 2010 she joined KAREN FRIED & ASSOCIATES (KFA), becoming part of the core publicity team garnering over 40 Oscar nominations and another 25 wins for such films as The Theory of Everything, Dallas Buyers Club, The Danish Girl, Kubo and the Two Strings, Nocturnal Animals and Loving, later being promoted to Vice President and working with Focus Features and Annapurna as key clients while spearheading international and short film awards campaigns for Helium, A Man Called Ove, Mustang, Timbuktu, The Insult and more. In 2018 Sara launched PHASE 2 PUBLIC RELATIONS with Netflix as its premiere client, working on its international and domestic film slate, including Train Dreams, Frankenstein, Left-Handed Girl, Society of the Snow, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Hand of God, Prayers for the Stolen, Girl and Roma, and expanded the roster to include B-REEL FILMS, Sola Media and the ACLU of Southern California, as well as campaigns for the international submissions And Then We Danced and Beanpole, and Emmy campaigns for HBO’s Euphoria and FX's Love Story. Born in Sweden and raised in Germany, Sara received her degree in International Relations from Tufts University in Boston and is fluent in Swedish, Farsi, German, English and conversational French.