Matt Williams

Matt Williams is best known as the creator and Executive Producer of the hit series Roseanne and the co-creator and Executive Producer of Home Improvement. Williams started his television career when he joined The Cosby Show during its premiere season and worked as a writer/producer on the show for three subsequent seasons. He also co-created the series A Different World. During his time with The Cosby Show, Matt’s work was nominated for Emmy and Humanitas Awards and won a Peabody Award for Outstanding Achievement in Television Writing. 

In 1989, Williams formed the bi-coastal production company Wind Dancer Films with principals Carmen Finestra and David McFadzean. Williams’ projects under the Wind Dancer banner include the television programs Carol & Company, Soul Man, Buddies, and the PBS children’s program Ready Jet Go! In film, Matt wrote or produced Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, Firelight, Where the Heart Is, What Women Want, Bernie, and The Keeping Room. 

Matt has directed numerous productions in regional and Off-Broadway theatres. He directed the world premiere of Robby Benson’s musical Open Heart at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Along with Daryl Roth Productions and his partners at Wind Dancer, he co-produced the stage production of Camping with Henry and Tom. He and Wind Dancer co-produced The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin at Playwrights Horizons.

 Matt is a founding board member of The New Harmony Project and the Cherry Lane Theatre and is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts Theatre Program. He lives in New York with his wife, actress Angelina Fiordellisi, former Artistic Director of the Cherry Lane Theatre.

Angelo Pizzo

Angelo Pizzo (b. 1948) is a celebrated American screenwriter, producer, and director, best known for crafting iconic sports-dramas inspired by true stories. Born in Wilmette, Illinois, he grew up in Bloomington, Indiana, the grandson of a Sicilian immigrant. Pizzo earned a BA in political science from Indiana University Bloomington in 1971, where he joined Sigma Nu fraternity and met future collaborator David Anspaugh. After contemplating law school, he followed his passion for storytelling and attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

His early career included roles at Warner Brothers Television and TimeLife Films, eventually becoming Vice President of Feature Film Productions. Inspired by Indiana’s deep basketball culture, Pizzo wrote, then collaborated with Anspaugh to create Hoosiers (1986), nominated for two Oscars and later added to the Library of Congress National Film Registry. It has since been named the best sports film of all time by USA Today and ESPN.

Their next collaboration was Rudy (1993), where Pizzo portrayed the aspirational journey of Notre Dame hopeful Rudy Ruettiger. Overshadowed by doubts initially, the project eventually came to fruition and became a beloved staple of American cinema. In 2005, Pizzo wrote The Game of Their Lives, recounting the true story of the 1950 U.S. soccer team’s improbable victory over England. He expanded his role behind the camera with the 2015 feature My All-American, then penned the 2023 biopic The Hill. Most recently, Pizzo wrote and directed his most personal film, Someone Saved My Life (2024), shot entirely in Bloomington. 

After three decades in Southern California, Pizzo moved back to Bloomington in 2004 to raise his two sons and reconnect with his roots. There, he met his current life partner, Bobbi Bowden, in 2011. A dedicated Hoosiers fan, he holds season tickets to IU basketball. Over his career, Pizzo has received numerous honors—including Indiana’s Sagamore of the Wabash, Governor’s Arts Award, an honorary doctorate, induction into the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame (2013), and the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (2014).

Pizzo’s work resonates far beyond sports, touching on themes of redemption, community, and perseverance, making him one of the most influential storytellers in American film.

Aurin Squire

Aurin Squire is currently a Co-Executive Producer on the fall 2026 legal drama Cupertino and was a Co-EP/writer on Evil and The Good Fight, as well as a writer on This is Us and Braindead. He has been nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Drama Series, a BlackReel Award, and a WGA Award.

In theatre, Squire wrote the Tony-nominated Broadway musical A Wonderful World that premiered in October 2024 at Studio 54. His dark comedy My Favorite Sociopath is getting its premiere at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival in July 2026. His plays have been produced in London, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, and Dallas. Squire was awarded the Helen Merrill Prize for Emerging Writers, Fiat Lux Writing Award from the Catholic Church in New York, Toronto’s INSPIRATO’S prize for international plays, Seattle’s Emerald Prize for American Drama, and the Drama Desk Award.