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Stacy Cochran
This up-and-coming screenwriter-director helmed two off-beat films in the mid-1990s. After deciding against a political science degree, Cochran took a job writing for a children's TV magazine. While earning her MFA in film from New York's Columbia University, she wrote and directed short films, including the well-received festival hits "Cocktails at Six" (1987) and "Another Damaging Day" (1990). Producer Michael Flynn was impressed enough to request a feature script from Cochran, who presented him with "My New Gun" (1992).