This Year’s Judges

Ashley Williams and Kimberly Williams-Paisley

Ashley Williams is an actress, director and writer who has done over 200 episodes of television, a dozen pilots, a Broadway flop, and too many TV movies to count. She starred on THE JIM GAFFIGAN SHOW on Comedy Central, the series GOOD MORNING MIAMI and a longtime recurring role as Victoria on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER.  Ashley also directed, wrote, and stars in MEATS, a short that premiered at Sundance in 2020 and was selected for the prestigious Sundance shorts tour which played all across the world and played over 40 film festivals.

Kimberly Williams-Paisley has been starring in film, television and theater for over twenty-five years. Now a New York Times Best Selling Author, Williams-Paisley has garnered praise and admiration across the film, television and publishing arenas. Williams-Paisley first lit up the screen as the radiant young bride in the comedy feature film series Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride Part II. She went on to star in such films as How to Eat Fried Worms, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip, and had a recurring role on Two and a Half Men. In addition to her acting work. Williams-Paisley is an accomplished writer, with her first full-length book Where The Light Gets In landing on the New York Times best-seller list in 2016. Williams-Paisley has become a spokesperson for the Alzheimer’s Association, speaking at various fundraisers and events throughout the country over the last couple of years.

Marc Buckland

After working for many years with Steven Bochco ("L. A. Law," "NYPD Blue"), director and producer Marc Buckland found one of his biggest successes, not in the world of hard-hitting procedural dramas, but in comedy. Premiering in 2005, "My Name is Earl" followed the hapless quest of Earl Hickey (Jason Lee) to right the wrongs of his past. The single-camera series was notable for featuring multiple locations and highly original storylines not available to the usual sitcom plot-generators. Buckland won an Emmy Award for directing the show's pilot episode. Currently, Buckland is directing "Linda from HR" and is an executive producer for "Powerless" where DC heroes are actual characters with conflicts and motivations of their own.

Todd Lieberman

TODD LIEBERMAN (Producer) is a co-owner of Mandeville Films and Television where he is one of the leading producers in the entertainment industry today. Most recently, he and Mandeville partner David Hoberman produced the wildly successful Beauty and the Beast, the biggest live-action movie musical ever made.

Since its founding in 1995, Mandeville Films has produced feature films that have grossed more than $1 billion in domestic box-office receipts. Mandeville partners Lieberman and Hoberman produced the critically hailed Academy Award©-nominated feature “The Fighter,” starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Melissa Leo and Amy Adams, and directed by David O. Russell.   Recent movies include “Stronger,” the inspirational story of Boston marathon survivor Jeff Bauman and   “Wonder,” based on R.J. Palacio’s best-selling YA novel.

Under the Mandeville banner, Lieberman also produced “The Muppets" and the next “Muppet” installment, “Muppets Most Wanted.”

Aaron Brownlee

Aaron Brownlee is a four-time Emmy nominated producer for multiple broadcast programs including, ‘Today’ and ‘The Today Show with Kathie Lee & Hoda’. He has many years of experience in filmmaking, commercials, music videos, and photography to craft stories that are engaging, visceral, stylistic, and reflect the detailed truths of the human condition. A skilled producer, writer, director, filmer, and editor, he has traveled the world, sometimes armed with only a camera + laptop, in search of new stories and new ways to tell them.