EP 222: Women's Production Society Part 2 Cristen Carr Strubbe and Jeanette Volturno

This is part two in a series of interviews with  the leadership of the Women’s Production Society. The WPS is an organization of physical production executives across the industry. It started as a small cocktail party and has since grown to more than 100 members and is a powerful force of change within the industry with the purpose to fulfill their mission statement: To promote the hiring of women in leadership roles in Film, Television and New Media. 

In the last episode, I talked with the group’s founding members Dana Belcastro and Debra Bergman. And today I am talking with Jeanette Volturno, producer and entrepreneur,  and Cristen Carr Strubbe, producer turned physical production executive, who are the current leadership of the group. You can hear Jeanette’s origin story in episode 111 of this podcast  and Cristen is on episode 15.

In this episode we talk about where the WPS is now, how they weathered the covid of it all the last couple of years, and what the plan to do going forward.

EP 221: Women's Production Society Part 1 Dana Belcastro and Debra Bergman

I have a couple of really special interviews to share with you. Both are with the leadership of the Women’s Production Society. The WPS is an organization of physical production executives across the industry. It started as a small cocktail party and has since grown to more than 100 members and is a powerful force of change within the industry with the purpose to fulfill their mission statement: To promote the hiring of women in leadership roles in Film, Television and New Media. And this time we are in, where women are literally losing power over our very bodies, it is more urgent and important than ever that women take on leadership roles of influence and take deliberate action toward impacting our world.

This first interview is with the founding members Dana Belcastro and Debra Bergman. Both came up as producers and now both are executives. To get their full stories, I will refer you back to episodes 108 and 109 of this very podcast where we do a deep dive into both of their herstories. In today’s episode they walk us through the origin of the Women’s Production Society and what they are looking to do next as they hand the reins over to the next leadership of the group.

Episode 220: Donna: Stronger than Pretty

This episode is very special and very bittersweet. You may remember when I spoke with Jaret Martino and Pat Branch when they made the short called Stronger than Pretty. Well, they are back because the feature film version, Donna: Stronger than Pretty is about to have its worldwide release on February 23rd, after a great festival run. I also had the honor to talk to Donna Martino herself, Jaret’s mom, whose story the film tells. We recorded this last February on the weekend of its festival premiere, where it won basically all the awards. It was impossible to know at the time that Donna would be diagnosed with cancer very shortly afterward, and she passed away on September 3rd of 2020. As you will hear, Donna was a remarkable woman and mother and Jaret’s tribute to her in the form of this film will inspire you, as it has inspired me.

Pat and Jaret co-wrote the script, and Jaret directed it. I start out talking with Jaret and Donna, and Pat joins later on, fresh from an awards ceremony where she was collecting all the trophies. I’m so happy for them for the success of this film and what a beautiful tribute it is to Donna and her story of strength and perseverance.

Episode 62: Sophia Kruz, Documentary Filmmaker

Sophia is an Emmy award winning documentary filmmaker. We spoke about her current project, which is a gorgeous film called Little Stones. The film follows four women whose lives are dedicated to empowering survivors of gender based violence and eradicating the atrocities of domestic violence, human trafficking, extreme poverty and female genital mutilation. These women are therapists, activists, missionaries, and entrepreneurs. Their tools – art.

Sophia started realizing success while still in college, and quickly became an effective professional. Hers is a story of courage, initiative, and purpose.

As for the title….

"I always feel the movement is a sort of mosaic. Each of us puts in one little stone.” —Alice Paul, Women’s Rights Activist

You can find out more about the project here:  littlestones.org.  There will also be an academic program around this project.  I am introducing it to my kids’ school.  Go ahead and be a copycat.

And here is her Ted talk.  Watch that too.