Morgan Pehme is a film producer, screenwriter, script editor, and freelance reporter from Brooklyn, New York. After many years as a successful music reviewer and feature writer for such publications as URB, VH1.com, Where Paris and UR Chicago, Morgan turned to community journalism as editor-in-chief of the newspaper Manhattan Today. Having distinguished himself as an uncompromising and thorough investigative reporter, Morgan took the position of managing editor of The Queens Courier, the largest weekly newspaper in the borough and one of the largest in New York. In addition to marshalling all five editions of the Courier, Morgan co-wrote the paper's Behind Closed Doors, the most widely read political column in Queens.While at the Courier Morgan successfully championed the adoption of a "Freedom Trees" memorial honoring the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks, a tribute that he had originated in an editorial. In 2002, the New York City Council overwhelmingly approved the "Freedom Trees" resolution, praising Morgan and the Courier on the record and in the media for their efforts on behalf of the community.More recently, Morgan was invited to moderate a panel of distinguished civil rights leaders before the United Nations on the subject of the 1955 murder of Emmett Louis Till. For his work at the UN, international spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy recognized Morgan for "uplifting the world".Morgan became involved with film at an early age. His success as a National Scholastic Chess Champion brought him celebrity on camera. Morgan was featured prominently in the award-winning PBS documentary Chess Kids, and had his life dramatized as the character "Morgan" in the feature film Searching for Bobby Fischer.In 2002, Morgan founded The Southeast Queens Film Consortium (SQFC), a not-for-profit organization aimed at promulgating and inspiring film throughout New York City educationally, culturally, and economically. Today, he serves as chairperson of the SQFC.As co-founder and CEO of Merlion Entertainment, Morgan was one of the executive producers of Merlion's first feature film, Esther Bell's _Exist (2003) (V)_. Currently, Morgan is producing the feature "Nightmare" for Merlion based on a screenplay he co-wrote with the film's director, Dylan Bank.
