Clark Barclay
Title: Adjunct Instructor
Degrees: M.F.A., Screenwriting, UC Riverside; B.A., Spanish, CSU Chico
Teaching Experience: Since 2018
Career Highlights: Former screenplay coverage writer for actor Ryan Reynolds. 17 years' experience working in branded content (MTV, adidas, Ray-Ban, Yours Truly, Vimeo, Pitchfork, Oakley, Amazon Music, Reef, Teva, Arnette) and music videos (J. Cole, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Kurt Vile, Grimes, FKA Twigs, Chromeo, Freddie Gibbs, Miguel, Kid Cudi, The Head and The Heart, Caitlin Rose, Local Natives, Twin Shadow, Nathaniel Rateliff, Mac DeMarco, Cults, The Kills, Danny Brown, One Be Lo, Gentleman). Mentee of cinematographer Dean Cundey, ASC (Jurassic Park, Halloween, The Mandalorian) and screenwriter Stu Krieger (The Land Before Time, Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century). Social documentary artist supported by the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, U.S. Veterans Affairs, HBO, and PBS. Official selections include: Cannes Short Films Corner, Dances With Films, Toronto International Film Festival, Cinequest, Legacy Film Festival on Aging, Silicon Valley Asian Pacific Filmfest, New York Latino Film Festival, and Oaxaca International Film Festival.
Hobbies: Producing music and DJing under the alias The Bins; rock climbing; skiing and snowboarding; travel; coffee education. Host of Critical Cinema, a weekly AANHPI film series in Oakland, CA.

Brianna Cox
Title: Professor
Degrees: M.F.A., in Film and Media Art, Emerson College; B.A., Africana Studies and Theatre Arts and Performance Studies, Brown University
Teaching Experience: Since 2018
Career Highlights: Wrote, directed, produced, and starred in multiple award-winning featurette-length films including a dramedy called Sidewalks (2018) and an Afrofuturist experimental proof-of-concept-for-series called 18 Years: A Letter to Zora (2022). Official Selections include the Boston Women’s Film Festival, Detroit Black Film Festival, Charlotte Black Film Festival, Afrofuturist Femmes Film Festival, and Roxbury International Film Festival, which screened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Selected by the Television Academy Foundation as a 2023 Alex Trebek Legacy Fellow. Hosted events including an Ivy Film Festival talkback with Daveed Diggs and a panel featuring the Emerson College alumni at the Sundance Film Festival. Featured in the Boston Globe and Emmy Magazine. Published “Ungrading Film School: Building Self-Confidence in the Community College Media Production Classroom” in the 2025 Journal of Cinema and Media Studies. Awarded multiple grants across academic and artistic work. Directed stage productions of A Raisin in the Sun and Dreamgirls. Interned with the CNN Documentary Unit and worked as a Production Assistant on the Emmy Award-winning CNN Heroes broadcast. Produced viral social media and video for FiveThirtyEight/ABC News.
Hobbies: Singing, reading, yoga, watching reality TV, photography, traveling, and learning new things

Tamara Perkins
Title: Assistant Professor
Degrees: M.F.A., Vermont College of Fine Arts
Teaching Experience: Since 2008
Career Highlights: Founded Apple of Discord Productions in 2006, connecting media, activism and healing through programs such as the Wisdom Project and San Quentin Media Project – which trained at-risk youth and incarcerated men in filmmaking as a tool for transformation. Directed three feature films (Life After Life (2018), Rebound (2021), Clarissa’s Battle (2022)) – each inspired by a personal connection to the subject matter, they provide an often overlooked proximity in storytelling. Awarded 2022 Stowe Story Fellowship for SARA, Perkins’ recent feature speculative fiction script that melds present-day social, moral, and ethical questions with a Queer Woman and Family-driven SciFi Thriller. As a national speaker, Perkins’ repertoire spans filmmaking to prison reform and human rights at agencies, universities, and organizations such as Equal Justice Society, USF Law, and Stanford Law, and serving as media keynote for the Houston Institute’s Conference on Race and Inclusion. Perkins was also tapped to present the TEDx talk ‘Life After: Embracing our Common Humanity’. A recipient of Evident Change’s Media for a Just Society Award, Perkins’ work provides a catalyst for learning and advocacy for some of our nation’s most misunderstood and overlooked issues.
Hobbies: Reading and writing science fiction, learning languages (Mandarin, French), travel, and hanging out with my daughter

Erin Persley
Title: Assistant Professor
Degrees: M.F.A., Cinema, San Francisco State University; B.A., Film & Media Studies, Women & Gender Studies, University of Florida
Teaching Experience: Since 2008
Career Highlights: Worked with the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs to design and teach 10 workshops on scriptwriting, digital filmmaking and post-production in Nairobi, Kisumu, Mombasa (Kenya) and Kampala (Uganda). Her documentary films have screened in 17 festivals, covering 11 countries from Oklahoma to Singapore. Wrote and produced for three true crime television series on Investigation Discovery.
Hobbies: Traveling around the world, hiking, cooking, watching movies (especially documentaries) and playing bocce ball

Ingrid Schulz
Title: Assistant Professor
Degrees: M.F.A., Cinema, San Francisco State University
Teaching Experience: Since 1996
Career Highlights: Ingrid has worked in the editorial departments at Pixar, DreamWorks, Laika, KQED Public Television and a number of independent films. She has taught cinema courses at UC Berkeley, San Francisco State University, City College of San Francisco and Tallinn University in Estonia. Her award-winning work has been screened worldwide.
Hobbies: Volunteering at the local animal shelter, art organizations, and spending time in nature

Jennifer Van Sijll
Title: Assistant Professor
Degrees: M.F.A., USC School of Cinematic Arts; Certificate Program, the Sorbonne, Language and Literature; L'Institut d'Études Politiques, Political Studies; M.A. Coursework, University of Toronto, History; Honours B.A., Queen's University, History
Teaching Experience: Since 1990
Career Highlights: Scripted 100 documentaries for venues like China Central Television (CCTV) and the Computer History Museum. Most recently wrote Ballerina, winner of multiple awards globally. Authored international best seller Cinematic Storytelling, which nears 250,000 in book sales, translated into 12 languages and adopted at film schools worldwide. Featured speaker at Pixar, Google and Nestlé's “I Dare You” series as well as Screenwriting Expos including those in Beijing, Toronto and Los Angeles. Frequent speaker and script consultant. Currently consulting for PJ Haarsma, Netflix and Emmy Award-winning producer. Earlier, script reader for Universal Studios, Assistant Producer on the Care Bears, union prop master for NABET. Jennifer lives in Los Angeles.
Hobbies: Cross-country skiing, hiking and Scrabble