Episode 215: Kim Gruenenfelder, Author

For this episode I got to catch up with my friend Kim Gruenenfelder. You may remember her from the podcast when her book, Hangovers and Hotflashes came out. Well she has a brand-new book that I have bought and will be reading over Thanksgiving called, My Ex’s Wedding. I was a fan of Kim’s long before I ever met her, so this is a real treat for me. And also, she’s hilarious. Some of her other titles include A Total Waste of Makeup, Misery Loves Cabernet, There’s Cake in My Future, Keep Calm and Carry a Big Drink, and Love the Wine You’re With. I mean, come on. Give yourself a treat. Heads up, our kids went to high school together so we may refer to them a bit as they are both navigating college online.

Episode 211: Austin School of Film, Faiza Kracheni and Carrie Cates

For this episode, I got to meet Faiza Kracheni and Carrie Cates of Austin School of Film, which for nearly two decades has provided alternative education programs and workshops for all ages interested in the arts & film. Faiza Kracheni is the Programs & Education Director, and Carrie Cates is the Artist & Community Director. These women have taken their passion for filmmaking and created a completely accessible space for a growing community of creators, breaking down barriers inherent in our society.  

They launched their newest program Play At Home as a direct response to the ongoing pandemic. Play At Home is an online/offline interactive experience featuring live workshops, events, screenings, and talks by artists and filmmakers from around the globe. Since the launch of Play At Home in April 2020, it has hosted 40 workshops and events with over 900 participants in 14+ countries. 

Episode 210: Kelli Miller, Co-Founder And/Or Studio

Kelli is the co-founder of creative studio And/Or, and has worked in motion design and branding for 15 years with brands like MTV, Netflix, and Amazon. She is a graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art and has taught and lectured at the College for Creative Studies, Pratt, NYU, SVA, Yale, and RISD.

Kelli has directed show titles for FX, HBO and Paramount’s Lip Sync Battle, as well as designing title sequences for a number of films and documentaries including The Assistant, Certain Women and critically acclaimed drama Never Rarely Sometimes Always.

https://and-or.co/

Episode 209: The Wolf of Snow Hollow: Riki Lindhome, Chloe East and Natalie Metzger

For this episode, I spoke with a producer and two stars of Jim Cummings’ much anticipated new film The Wolf of Snow Hollow, which opens October 9th in theatres around the country and streaming in the comfort of your living room.

Natalie Metzger, whom you will remember from an earlier episode of this podcast, Produced this movie under her shingle Vanishing Angle where she also produced Jim Cummings’ Thunder Road that won the SXSW Grand Jury Award along with about a million other awards. Riki Lindhome plays Officer Julia Robson in the film. You may also know her from Duncanville, Knives Out, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and the comedy musical duo Garfunkel and Oates, just to name a few. And finally, we also have Chloe East who played the role of Jenna Marshall in the film. Chloe made her TV debut in True Blood, playing Sheriff Andy’s daughter. Lately, she has been shooting Generation for HBO, Next Level, and Kevin (Probably) Saves the World.

Natalie, Riki and Chloe joined me from three different locations in this time of covid, so the audio is what it is, but have a listen to what it takes to actually make a film in tricky conditions, and how it is to work with Jim Cummings, then go out or order in and see this film tomorrow.

Episode 208: Stephanie Sanditz, Actor, Writer, Director

Stephanie Sanditz is a writer, director, actress and producer from BROKEN HEART, MO - the name of her feature screenplay that won a Tribeca Film Festival All Access Award for New Voices in Screenwriting. She recently optioned feature film DANCE PARTY, a body-positive dance comedy she co-wrote, with Queen Latifah set to star.

Recently, Stephanie wrote, starred and produced her pilot, THE HIGH LIFE pilot, starring opposite Amy Landecker, Linda Purl, Ron Perkins and Jesse Garcia then won BEST PILOT and BEST ACTRESS in the IMDB Independent Shorts festival, and the We Make Movies International and Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festivals and Dances With Films. She has just been hired to adapt an edgy female boxing feature, the PERFECT ADDICTION, with Constantin Films.

As an actress she is currently co-starring in 37 PROBLEMS, which you may remember from when I interviewed the writer Lisa Ebersole. It was just bought by Amazon Prime, Xfiniti, and Elizabeth Banks, Whohaha, and was accepted in the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival New Media category.

She has her hands in too many things to even list here, but a quick google search will lead you to many articles about her work.

Stephanie is prolific and busy, adapting to quarantine, and made some time to talk to me.

Episode 207: Deborah Sullivan, Executive Producer, Managing Director

As The-Artery’s Managing Director and Executive Producer, Deborah Sullivan channels her extensive background in advertising, production, design, and visual effects into each and every project that she brings to life. Formerly at DDB New York, FCB New York, Berlin Cameron & Partners, RadicalMedia, as well as PeepShow Post Productions (to name a few), her global body of work spans throughout feature films, television programs, commercials/branded content, and music videos.

Since joining The-Artery and helping to lead their team of artists, Deborah has partnered with some of the world’s leading brands including Pepsi, Under Armour, Verizon, Skyworth,  AppGallery, Johnnie Walker, Mercedes-Benz, Stella Artois, and more. She has also garnered an impressive roster of accolades across the Cannes Lions, Effie, Clio, AICE, AICP, D&AD, and The London International Awards.

https://www.the-artery.com/

Episode 206: Prathi Srinivasan, Writer, Actor

For this episode, I spoke with Prathi Srinivasan. Prathi is a talented writer and actress, known for “iZombie,” “A Girl's Guide to Her Early 20s,” and “Wasted.” As an immigrant who grew up in the bustling city of Chennai, India, moving to America was a culture shock for Prathi that resulted in her passion for characters who are stuck between where they come from and where they are going.

She is the co-creator of “Bollyweird” as both an immigrant story and as a complex and rich LGBTQ story, and, alongside frequent writing partner Joshua Levy, their credits include “Titans” (DCUniverse/Netflix), “iZombie” (CW), and the HBO pilot presentation “F**ked Up” (HBOGO, HBONOW). She graduated with a B.A. in literature from The University of Texas at Dallas, and she now resides in sunny California. Despite that, we still recorded this remotely, because pandemic.  

Also, this just in: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/natalie-morales-to-direct-plan-b-for-comedy-american-high-hulu

Episode 205: Michelle Amor, Writer, Professor

Michelle Amor. Michelle is a screenwriter and professor and last year she sold her show called THE HONORABLE to CBS. A one-hour drama about the city’s third elected Black mayor, a family woman of integrity, and a novice to politics, who rises from childhood poverty to the most powerful seat in the most politically corrupt city in the nation. Her other credits include PLAYIN’ FOR LOVE, OF BOYS & MEN, and TUPAC SHAKUR: BEFORE I WAKE, and this was all before finishing her degree.

She is also a passionate Clinical Assistant Professor of screenwriting at Loyola Marymount University, and she was honored in Variety’s Entertainment Education Impact Issue as a “top educator around the world”. She is also serving her fourth elected term as co-chair of the Committee of Black Writers in the WGA, whose mission is to empower, increase visibility, and create career and networking opportunities for Black writers in Hollywood. In June 2020, Michelle penned an open letter titled Dear Hollywood addressing systemic racism that went viral. We will talk about that too.

We talk all about her decision to move west to pursue her dream, raising a family while doing it, and what it means to be black in Hollywood and how the system needs to change.

Episode 202: Felischa Marye, Writer, Executive Producer, Creator

For this episode, I got to meet Felischa Marye, a graduate of the MFA screenwriting program at UCLA, who transitioned into the film industry after a successful career in public relations/integrated marketing in Chicago, where she was born and raised. While still in film school, she sold her first comedy pilot to HBO. She most recently created and produced a raunchy friends comedy series, set in Atlanta, called “Bigger,” for BET’s new streaming service, BET+, with Will Packer producing. Bigger Season 2 is currently in development. Felischa also wrote on two seasons of the hit Netflix series “13 Reasons Why.”

Felischa currently resides in Los Angeles, and is proud to have made LA her home, largely because of Chicago’s whether and its indiscriminate cruelty.

Episode 185: Kate Chamuris, Filmmaker

This episode is brought to you by:

Kate Chamuris. Kate is a producer & director who recently won a Gold, Student Academy Award and a BAFTA student award for producing the American Film Institute short film MILLER & SON. She also produced the AFI thesis films, BALLOON and IF THIS IS WRONG. For the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, Kate produced UNSPEAKABLE and BLOCKS.  

Her directing work includes the comedic short A SARI FOR PALLAVI (winner, Best Comedy Short at Rhode Island International Film Festival).  

Prior to narrative filmmaking, Kate worked as an advertising account manager for ROLEX Global at J. Walter Thompson. While there she produced the branded feature documentary “Deepest Dive: The Story of the Trieste,” directed by Fisher Stevens that aired on National Geographic and BBC Worldwide. Kate resides in Los Angeles, CA and produces feature films for dir/writer Jeremy Merrifield and his production company, Dream Three Films.

You can watch her two Oscar Qualified Live Action Shorts at the links below:

BALLOON - http://bit.ly/Balloon_SOTW

MILLER & SON - http://bit.ly/MillerSon_SOTW

Social handle on Instagram & Twitter - @katechamuris 

Episode 184: Thérèse Plummer, Actor and Audiobook Narrator

This episode is brought to you by:

Today I spoke over the internet with Thérèse Plummer. Therese is an actor and award-winning audiobook narrator working in New York City. She has recorded over 400 audio books for various publishers. She won the 2019 Audie Award for her work on the multicast, Sadie by Courtney Summers for Macmillan Audio,  and was nominated for the Multicast, Any Man, by Amber Tamblyn for Harper Audio and her solo narration for The Rogue: Planets Shaken by Lee W. Brainard for Podium Publishing. 

The American Library Association (ALA) awarded her work on Sourdough by Robin Sloan as part of the 2018 Listen List: Outstanding Audiobook Narration for Adult Listeners. Thérèse has been nominated for 5 Audie Awards in 2018. She was named AudioFile’s Best Voices of the Year in 2015 for her work on Robyn Carr’s A New Hope.

Thérèse is the voice of Maya Hansen in the Marvel Graphic Motion Comic Ironman Extremis, Dr. Fennel in Pokemon and for various Yu-Gi-Oh characters. Television Guest Star Roles on The Good Wife, Law and Order SVU and Virgin River for Netflix.   

You can imagine how intimidating this was. She told me how she broke in – it was a series of preparation meeting miracles, and she spoke about what everyone wants to know – how do you voice those sex scenes?

Episode 183: Mary Rachel Gardner, Filmmaker, Heartist

This episode is brought to you by:

Today I sat down with Mary Rachel Gardner. She graduated from USC in 2013 with major studies in Acting, Business and Film Production; she also spent a semester abroad studying at a theatre conservatory in London.

Mary Rachel gained hands on experience and knowledge working at production companies, such as Steve Carell’s Carousel Productions and agencies such as William Morris Endeavor. She also worked as a PA on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she learned about the production and operation elements of running a live television show.

Since graduating from USC, Mary Rachel founded her own film company Kalliste Zoe Productions to explore, create and share original content through visual art and storytelling. Kalliste Zoe "Όμορφη Ζωή" means "A Beautiful Life" in Greek. She has developed many of her own independent projects including music videos, parodies, comedic sketches and short films. Mary Rachel has received honorary awards at film festivals, such as Audience Favorite and Best Screenplay, and successfully licensed some of her films overseas.

Under the Kalliste Zoe umbrella, she founded the Independent Cinema Showcase (ICS): to discover and share independent filmmakers’ visions from around the world as well as provide an opportunity for them to join a cinema family that connects and supports talented creators.

Episode 182: Elizabeth and Isabella Blake Thomas - Mother & Daughter Entertainment

This episode is brought to you by:

For today’s episode, there was a happy miscommunication. I was meant to interview Elizabeth Blake- Thomas, a director, via the internet, as I assumed she was in England. Well, she also assumed I was in England. Once we were on the phone, we realized we were actually down the street from each other. So, I jumped in my car and ran down to the Hollywood film festival, where I got to interview both Elizabeth, and her daughter Isabella Blake-Thomas. A very lucky two-fer! Together, Elizabeth (Director) and Isabella (Actor, Singer) have the production company Mother & Daughter Entertainment, whose film Unseen I caught while I was at the festival. It was an unnerving film about child trafficking. We walked out of the screening, and into an outdoor bungalow for this interview. Forgive the background noise, but try to soak up the ambiance.

For more information:

http://www.elizabethblakethomas.com
http://www.motheranddaughterent.com/

IMDb link
Instagram:

@elizabeth_b_t

@isabella_b_t

Twitter: @Elizabeth_B_T

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethblakethomas/

Episode 180: Kathleen Courtney, UPM

This episode is brought to you by:

Kathleen has enjoyed working in the film and television industry for over 30 years. She has worked “on location” most of that time, shooting across this country as well as internationally. Over her career, she has served as Producer, Production Executive, Production Manager and Production Coordinator on feature films and most recently on TV. She is currently working on the Netflix hit 13 Reasons Why. Previous credits include Chance, Steve Jobs, San Andreas, The Boy Next Door, and Because of Winn-Dixie. At one point, she was the head of production at a company called The Film Department.

We talked all about her career, how she helped organize Production Coordinators, start the Frog & Frigate, and continue her career, even after moving out of Los Angeles. It takes effort, but it’s possible.

Episode 179: Jessie Levandov and Nina Reyes, Co Founders & Directors of Mala Forever

This episode is brought to you by:

Jessie Levandov and Nina Reyes are the Co-Founders & Directors of Mala Forever. Mala Forever is an award-winning, women-run film and digital studio based in LA and NYC.

They develop and produce films, new media, and commissioned work that centers unheard voices. They are redefining the future of filmmaking through equitable production practices, and their growing community-based platform is a cultural hub for the radical femme revolution. 

Jessie is an award-winning community-based filmmaker, creative director, and educator. Her queer documentary series Signified was presented by the Guggenheim Lab, and her short film The Greggs won the Spirit Award at Slamdance. Her work has been featured in publications such as Teen Vogue, Huffington Post and Them. Jessie is committed to storytelling as a tool for social justice, and served as the longtime program director of Youth Documentary Workshop at New York’s Educational Video Center.

Nina is a countercultural filmmaker and creative director whose work is grounded in her point of view as a mixed-race first-generation Mexican-American and Jewish woman. Her feature-length screenplay La Paz was a finalist for the 2017 Latino Screenwriting Project; her short films, Organism and Invisible Men, have won press and played at festivals around the world including Outfest, Frameline, and HBO: New York Latino Film Festival. They both are fellow NYU alums with BFA’s from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts – go violets.

You can follow them on the social media @_MalaForever_

Episode 178: Natalie Metzger, Writer, Director, Producer

This episode is brought to you by:

For this episode, I spoke with Natalie Metzger, who is the VP of Development and Production for Vanishing Angle. Natalie is a Spirit Award nominated producer whose credits include Jim Cummings’ newest film THE WEREWOLF, GREENER GRASS (Sundance, SXSW), THUNDER ROAD (Grand Jury Award - SXSW), THE ROBBERY (Sundance), MATPAT’S GAME LAB (Streamy Award), Lil Dicky’s FREAKY FRIDAY (over 506 million views), HYDRANGEA (Vimeo Staff Pick), THE ARRIVAL (Jury Award - Napa Valley Film Festival), THE STOP (Vimeo Staff Pick), virtual reality miniseries GLOBAL GAMER, among numerous others. 

Her directing credits include AT&T original documentary ALONE IN THE GAME (AFI Docs, Frameline, Outfest); healthcare documentary SPECIAL BLOOD (Best Feature Documentary - CWFF); PSA “Topless Women Talk NFL” (featured in Washington Post, Huffington Post, Vice); and numerous award-winning commercials and short films. 

Also an accomplished writer, Metzger won the Gold Prize at the Page International Screenwriting Awards for her sci-fi script IMMORTAL.

Metzger holds a Master of Fine Arts from California Institute of the Arts and a Bachelor of Arts from Emory University

Episode 177: Susie Singer Carter, Writer, Director, Producer, Actor

This episode is brought to you by:

Susie’s website bio says this: “If you asked five-year-old Susie what she wanted to be when she grew up, she’d have placed her hands defiantly on either side of her pink tutu and said, “Everything. Duh!” And that is what she has done. She’s a writer, producer, actor, musician. She sat down, we became immediate friends, and talked about everything – marriage, divorce, parenting, daughtering. She recently made an autobiographical short film about alzheimer’s called My Mom and the Girl, starring the great Valerie Harper, which she’ll tell us all about, and you can see her dancing hip hop on facebook all the time. She has the media company called Go Girl Media.

And here are all the links:

MY MOM AND THE GIRL

TRAILER - https://vimeo.com/183072790

AMAZON VIDEO - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NDQPGXL

ITUNES - https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/my-mom-and-the-girl/id137275414

GOOGLE PLAY - https://play.google.com/store/movies/details/My_Mom_and_the_Girl?id=P6LORPD00no

Women writer documentaries

Women Who Wrote The Way - https://vimeo.com/207360299/bbbf9385e6

Breaking Good - https://vimeo.com/266981218

Music Video

Bad Dreams in Hollywood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF00Et4vHxE

Episode 176: Eline Mets, Writer, Producer, Motocross Racer

This episode is brought to you by:

Eline Mets is creating a series about women in motocross. She got tired of waiting for someone else to do it, so like a real badass woman, she’s doing it herself. Originally from Estonia, Eline is a motocross champion and the first woman in Canada to jump her dirt bike onto an airbag. Passionate about motorcycles and filmmaking, Eline is dedicated to telling stories of badass women. With a background in creating non-fiction content for years, Diaries of Badass Chicks is her directorial scripted series debut. She started a crowd funding for a webseries, and then realized it’s much bigger than that when she received videos and encouragement from women all over the world.
www.badasschicks.tv

Episode 175: Marquette Jones, Filmmaker, Professor, Podcaster

This episode is brought to you by:

Marquette Jones began her filmmaking journey in her hometown, Youngstown, Ohio. Marquette is an alumna of New York University’s Film and Television Production graduate program. Before becoming a filmmaker, Marquette was a public interest attorney and social entrepreneur in Oakland, California.  

Her feature film screenplay, AFTER THE JUMP, http://www.afterthejumpmovie.com/, which is currently in development, was recently selected for the Athena Screenwriting Lab in Los Angeles and was a finalist in the Vancouver International Women in Film Festival, Broad Humor Film Festival as well as a semi-finalist in the Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition. It was also selected to participate in the Women in Film/ Sundance Institute’s Film Financing and Strategy Intensive.

Her directing work includes FORGIVING CHRIS BROWN, ROUND ON BOTH SIDES, TUNK, HEROES WANTED and STREETS 2 SUITES (lensed by Bradford Young).  Her films have been featured on Amazon Video, PBS, Showtime, KweliTV, Aspire TV, BET, IFC, StreamPlix and other broadcast & digital outlets. She has also directed several commercial spots, which led to both a Telly Award and Aurora Award for excellence in storytelling.

As a producer, Marquette’s credits include Andrea Williams’ SPOONFUL OF SUGAR, Alrick Brown’s ADVENTURES OF SUPERN*GGER, and Tamika Guishard’s JACKIE. Her past filmmaking-related awards include: New York University’s Warner Bros. Production Award, Panasonic‘s “P2 for a Cause” Grand Prize Winner, Fotokem Film Processing Grant, Woods Hole Film Festival, Best Short Screenplay Winner for “Free’s Rain”, ProMotion Pictures / Heineken Branded Entertainment Shorts Competition Winner, Reel Sisters of the Diaspora Film Festival Best Short Narrative, and First Run Festival’s Producing Award.

When she is not busy writing, producing or directing, Marquette hosts the Directing Magic podcast,http://www.directingmagic.com/, and teaches creative media at The University of Alabama.

Episode 174: Leslie Belzberg, Producer

This episode is brought to you by:

Leslie is a producer, most notably working with John Landis, on all of your favorite things, such as Three Amigos, Beverly Hills Cop III, Coming to America, Trading Places, Thriller, Sliders, Dream On, Blues Brothers 2000, Honey I Shrunk the Kids series, Crazy Heart and the list goes on and on and on, before she transitioned to being a production executive in house.

At the time of this recording, she was at Gaumont, but has since transitioned to the Head of Production for Imagine Entertainment.

Leslie has always worked toward diversity, even and especially when she was the only woman in the room. She has incredible perspective and experience and it was such an honor to get to have this conversation.