NYFA
Faculty Directory

Faculty Directory

Debra Dragotto Acting for Film Instructor

MFA in Screenwriting, UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film, & New Media; BA in Drama, Hofstra University. Debra has studied Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts, Acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and Film Production at the School of Visual Arts, as well as private study with some of the leading names in the acting world. She has won numerous Drama-Logue Awards for stage directing, as well as the Jack K. Sauter Award for Artist Merit from UCLA, where she was also selected to direct her film after a year-long elimination process. Debra has credits in Acting, Directing for stage, film, and television, as well as for Casting Director, and Television Producer.

Frederic Durand

Frederic Durand graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs and studied for a year at NYC’s Cooper Union while earning his Master’s degree. He has worked on both animated and feature films in addition to his commercial work for over 20 years and has served at such companies as Disney Animation, Sony Imageworks, DreamWorks, Jim Henson’s Workshop, MPC, the Mill, and Digital Domain. He also co-founded Noroc Studio and is the lighting and shading supervisor at the Los Angeles company Mousetrappe. His prior film work includes Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Tomb Raider 1 and 2, SharkTales, Speed Racer, 2012, Beowulf, Monster House, Chicken Little, and many more.

Having authored a number of educational DVDs that instructed viewers in the subject of computer-generated illumination, Durand is an expert lighting artist employing a methodology that is as creative as it is technical and utilizes core elements of cinematography. In addition to teaching at NYFA, Durand also serves on the faculty the Gnomon School of Visual Effects, the Global Cinematography Institute, the Otis College of Design, and the University of Southern California.

Akil DuPont

Through the course of his career as a storyteller in theatre and film, Akil DuPont has earned 31 awards in 44 film festivals including 2 Student Emmys! His films have played in over 60 countries and in 2014, he was named #7 of the top 100 indie filmmaker in the
world.

Akil was born and raised in Tallahassee, FL. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Florida A&M University (FAMU) and a MFA in Film Production from Florida State University (FSU).

Akil has worked in the film/television industry in the Atlanta and New York area. He taught for 8 years with Clayton State University and the Georgia Film Academy and is currently a Professor with Pace University and an instructor at the New York Film Academy.

Bill Einreinhofer

Created Emmy Award winning nonfiction content; from traditional documentaries and news reports, to narrative driven “real-life” stories and magazine-show segments. Developed and produced programming for PBS (“PBS NewsHour,” “INNOVATION,” “China Now”), ABC (“Good Morning America”), CBS (“60 Minutes”), Discovery (“Spacewalkers,” “Cathedrals of the Sky”) and HBO (“Diary of a Red Planet”).

Producer/Director/Writer/Host, “China: Frame by Frame,” one-hour 2023 documentary tracing his 30+ years of making stories in and about China. Seen on 250+ Public TV stations, and the PBS App. Historic and original footage gathered for this project is the basis of the Bill Einreinhofer China Archive, at the University of Southern California’s East Asian Library. Past co-production partners include the ABC (Australia), Globo (Brazil), CCTV (China), SMG (China), ZDF (Germany), NHK (Japan), KBS (Korea) and SVT (Sweden).

Veteran educator. Chair, NYFA Broadcast Journalism department 2013-2022. Prior adjunct appointments: Parsons School of Design, Rutgers University, Saint Peter’s University. Lectured at United Nations and East China Normal University.

Honors include three Emmy Awards; Judge – National News & Documentary Emmy Awards; Judge – International Emmy Awards; two CINE Golden Eagles; two Telly Awards; Gold Medal, New York Festivals; Golden Gate Award, San Francisco International Film Festival. Member, Directors Guild of America.

Bob Eisenhardt

Bob Eisenhardt edited the Academy Award winner, Free Solo, is an Academy Award-nominated director, a four-time Emmy Award winner and two time winner of the coveted ACE “Eddie” (American Cinema Editors Award.) He has edited over 60 films which have garnered a BAFTA, additional Academy Award nominations, multiple Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, three Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Award nominations, and a Grammy Award nomination. Meru won the Audience Award at Sundance (2015) and was shortlisted for the 2016 Oscar. The Rescue was nominated for a BAFTA and won the National Board of Review Award and Cinema Eye Awards. HBO’s Everything is Copy premiered at the 2015 New York Film Festival and earned another two Emmy nominations. Additional editing credits include Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood, Valentino: The Last Emperor, Dixie Chicks: Shut Up & Sing, Wagner’s Dream and Living Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders, which was also shortlisted for the Oscar. Bob shares a director’s credit, and Emmy, IDA and DGA Awards with legendary documentarian Albert Maysles.

Andrew Eisenman Acting for Film Instructor

MFA in Theater Arts and Acting, Brandeis University; BA in Drama, San Francisco State University. Founding Company Member of Leviathan Lab and American Bard Theater. Directed at Leviathan Lab and Ma-Yi Theater Company in New York and Our Gang Teen Ensemble in LA. As an actor, Andrew has performed with various professional companies such as The Public Theater, New Group, Ma-Yi Theater, and the National Asian American Theater Company.

Josh Eiserike

MFA in Film Production, USC
Josh Eiserike is a writer/cartoonist who has written for television shows such as Legacies (CW), Warigami (CW SEED), and G.I. Joe: Renegades (HUB). Additionally, Josh has sold a show to POP TV and a couple of TV movies. He has also written and published several comic books, including The Very Final Last Girls from Darby Pop Publishing and Charm City from Scout Comics. Originally from Washington, D.C., Josh previously worked as a newspaper reporter, covering everything from Congress to the Warped Tour. Other writing credits include MAD Magazine. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, he teaches Sequential Art, Feature Workshops, TV Pilot, Elements of Screenwriting, Story Generation, as well as Online Screenwriting.

Kadina de Elejalde Acting for Film Instructor

Kadina de Elejalde is an actress and Acting teacher who has appeared in numerous films and television shows, most notably in HBO’s Indictment: The McMartin Trial, Richard the Second, and The Haunting. She has also worked extensively in the theater in both Los Angeles and New York; Her credits include “Another Part of the House” by Migdalia Cruz at Classic Stage Company, and “Bicycle Country” by Nilo Cruz at The Strasberg Theater in Los Angeles. She is committed to working on new plays, and was the recipient of a Dramalogue award for her work in The Padua New Playwright’s Festival. Presently, she is an Acting Instructor at New York Film Academy, but has also taught at Columbia College Hollywood and Woodbury University in Los Angeles. She recently was interviewed on a podcast series called Best In Fest which is titled “The Essence of Character.” She holds a Masters Degree in Acting from the Yale School of Drama.

Danielle Evenson

MA in Communication, USC
Danielle Evenson & Heather Huntington are two halves of one set of headphones. The podcast writers have been featured in Deadline, WhoHaHa, Podcast Delivery, PodFluence, Audio Drama Debut, Fiction Podcast Weekly, Pajiba and Broadway World. When they’re not knee deep in sound cues, they also write for TV and film, including The New Adventures of Old Christine, Noggin’s Tales From The Playground, PBS’s Frankenstein MD, MGM’s Craft, Cafe of Love, for Reel One and a Christmas series for Disney. Their audio series, Up a River for Aural Stories launched this summer, and their series A Midsemester Night’s Dream starring Bridgerton’s Charithra Chanran will be released this fall. They teach together (as they write together) for Screenwriting LA in classes like Podcasting and Storytelling with Purpose.

Herschel Faber

Herschel Faber has worked extensively in film and entertainment. He had a number of screenplays optioned and made, one being the cult hit Mac and Devin go to High School, (Anchor Bay) which stars Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa, and Mike Epps. Faber wrote, directed, and produced Cavemen, a feature-length romantic comedy starring Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect), Camilla Belle (10,000 B.C.), Chad Michael Murray (One Tree Hill), and Jason Patric (The Lost Boys). The film was released theatrically by Well Go USA in 2014 and on VOD in partnership with Warner Brothers. Faber relocated to Miami to make Florida-centric films under his Fascination Films production banner.

Faber received his MFA in Film from Columbia University, where he won the “Zaki Gordon Award” for screenwriting and placed at the semi-finalist level in the prestigious Nicholl Fellowship and Austin Film Festival.

Tim Fannon Acting for Film Instructor

MFA in Acting, Brooklyn College; BS in Theater, Skidmore College; trained at the Royal National Theatre and the British Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Extensive stage experience and commercials; film and television roles include “Kidnap”, “Bar Flies”, “After I’m Dead”, and “Review with Forrest MacNeil”. Founding member/artistic director of Fovea Floods Theater, and company member of Moving Arts.

Robert F. Ferraro

Robert Ferraro is an Emmy award winning television news producer with extensive experience in both local and national news production at the NBC and ABC television networks. He earned distinction and numerous awards as a writer/editor, and long form and documentary news producer.

Currently also producing and narrating audio books, Mr. Ferraro is a published writer with magazine, online and newspaper credits.

Mr. Ferraro served in the U.S. Peace Corps in Panama, and has taught News Production at Purchase College, NY and currently at the New York Film Academy.

Mary Beth Fielder

Mary Beth Fielder is a filmmaker and teacher with over twenty five years experience in film and television.

Fielder has written screenplays for Universal Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros and directed the television drama, thirtysomething. She wrote and produced award-winning feature films Wild About Harry, named Best of Fest at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in 2009 and Togetherness Supreme, winner of Best International Feature Film at the 2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival and multiple African Movie Academy Awards. Fielder has taught film directing, screenwriting and acting at USC, Loyola Marymount University, Tel Aviv University, New York Film Academy and the Dodge College of Film and Media at Chapman University.

Adam Finer

MA in Film, Staffordshire University
Adam Finer served as Director of Market Research at Universal Pictures. He is the co-founder of Arpil Entertainment, a literary management and production company. He consults with individuals in career planning, as well as working with content creators, writers, directors, producers, and studio executives to design marketing plans, and business and branding strategies. He was producer on War of the Worlds: The Next Wave, The Day the Earth Stopped, and Megafault for Syfy. A former Associate Chair of Screenwriting, Adam currently guest lectures in Adaptation, Business of Screenwriting, and Transmedia.

David Fratto

Executive Producer, BBC Worldwide; Sr. Director of Development, Scholastic Inc.; Director of Development, Vivendi Universal Games, Executive Producer, Knowledge Adventure; Education: Harvard University, BA.

Colette Freedman

MAT in Drama, Colgate University
Screenwriter, playwright, novelist, and actress. Colette has written the Lifetime film Sister Cities (Jacki Weaver, Alfred Molina, Stana Katic) and twelve other made-for-television films with her writing partner Brooke Purdy. Her feature films include Meli (starring Wendie Malick), And Then There Was Eve (2017 LA Muse Jury Prize Winner at LA Film Festival) and Miles Underwater. Colette is an internationally-produced playwright with over 35 produced plays, voted “One of 50 to Watch” by The Dramatists Guild. Plays include Serial Killer Barbie, The Affair, and Blind Spots (Encore Award 2018 Hollywood Fringe fest) and the upcoming Mozart2 the Musical and Amelia the Musical. She has written ten published novels, including the thriller The Thirteen Hallows (Tor Publishing) with #1 New York Times author Michael Scott; the YA book Anomalies with Sadie Turner (Select Books); and the legendary Steve Dorff memoir I Wrote That One Too (Backbeat Books). Freedman has co-produced several independent films, including Quality Problems (Freestyle Media, 2017 Best Feature, Women Texas Film Fest), Dancer in Danger (Lifetime) and Dangerous Cheaters (Lifetime). As an actress, she has worked on many television shows, including That 70s Show, The Young and the Restless, and JAG, as well as several independent films. For the Screenwriting Department in LA, she teaches Feature Workshops, Storytelling With Purpose, Script To Screen, Playwriting, and Scene Study.

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