Biography
Heather Sheridan Ferreira, nee Karen Yvette McCoy, is an independent film director, screenwriter, and founder of El Camino Unreal Studios, America's first award-winning all-AI visual content major film and television production studio, and 1970's-style original content stream-net The Television Network (TTN), both based in Mountain View and Los Angeles. She invented the term "Qualiwood" on May 2, 2026. Ferreira's career began when she was selected as an extra on the NBC/United Artists production In the Heat of the Night, where ASC cinematographer Peter Salim recognized her talent and became her first mentor, teaching her cinematography in exchange for script development. On his advice she relocated to Hollywood, where she worked as a development executive before being hired as senior screenwriter at PM Entertainment, becoming the highest-paid writer in the company's history. Her representation included manager Lee Daniels and agent Vince Gerardis (executive producer, Game of Thrones). She studied film at NYU under the mentor-ship of ASC cinematographer Michael Chapman, Scorsese's longtime collaborator. In November 2019, Ferreira was engaged by Warner Bros. Pictures to develop features for their consideration, including a greenlit sequel to Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was developed by Ferreira and the Warner Bros lot exec who hired her to the level the pair were selecting shoot locations and a production designer together when Covid struck and the studio and all WB production schedules were disrupted. The future of the project is unknown, but says Ferreira, "I'd still love to shoot it. I'm honored they picked my screenplay, but its destiny is in turnaround, so I doubt it will ever be made."Warner hired me but never let me go, and hasn't shown an interest in letting me go, which is fine, but to move my life forward I created my own shingle, El Camino, and that, plus the agreement WBD signed prohibiting AI production on campus, prompted me to open a second, other, production company."If Warner indicates the 2001 production has resumed with me attached as director, I of course will consider it. I just hope we get to make it (using) AI, to reduce the costly risk of actor misconduct and achieve absolute homeostatic control of production and visuals, and because Kubrick was a proponent of AI anyway. We should not forget Stanley started a film about AI shortly before his death, which Spielberg completed."In Kubrick tradition human dialogue and acting are secondary to the 2001 sequel, as well, as in the original 1968 film; so there is no logical reason not to produce the film using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence. Stanley would have approved."In 2023 she won the prestigious Filmmatic Short Screenplay Competition. Her AI production company El Camino Unreal, operated with producer Rodion Phillips and agent Lee Mayer, produced The Fragrance of Petrichor (2024), honored at the AI International Film Festival and winner of additional awards, and among the first completed feature films made entirely with AI cast and crew. Her current feature film production, Atlantis: The Motion Picture, is scheduled for release on Independence Day weekend of 2026.
