Episode 162: Stavroula Toska and Eleni Yiovas of SWITCH

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I spoke with Stavroula Toska and Eleni Yiovas about their award-winning series SWITCH. Switch is the story based on Stavroula’s experiences of going undercover and working as a dominatrix in New York City. Now before you pre-judge this, as I did, let me tell you, you have never heard anyone describe the BDSM world before in this way. Stavroula is the creator, writer, actor – coming from a long career as a filmmaker, and Eleni is an Executive Producer and actor.

The series features no less than Olympia Dukakis, John Lindstrom, and Cady McClain, and episodes were directed by Cady McClain, Laurie Weltz, Katie Maguire and Stavroula.

Stavroula and Eleni sat down with me and spoke of this work with such empathy, compassion, and respect for humanity, vulnerability, and the ways in which we heal the world. Seriously, we brought up Brene Brown.

More about the series:

www.switchtheseries.com

Based on the true life story of creator Stavroula Toska, SWITCH follows Stella, an immigrant woman with a dark past who begins training as a professional dominatrix in New York City's most exclusive BDSM Establishment while battling PTSD and trying to build a better life for herself. 

SWITCH takes viewers on a journey to the riveting world of BDSM from a deeply benevolent, unorthodox and cerebral POV by following Stella and the main characters as they navigate leading a double life, the struggle for power, identity, ambition, love and family.  We explore the many aspects of human nature and conditioning that most people never discuss openly; the fantasies we have and why, the childhood trauma buried inside each one of us, the various masks we wear in order to survive in this world, the struggle to lead a decent life, the unspoken pain that is desperately looking for an outlet, the duality in us all, and the lengths we go to in order to connect with one another. 

The title refers to the switch we make when we explore our other side, when we go through the darkness in order to find our light, when we start listening to the parts of our self that were shamed to silence, when we hit rock bottom and start rising again.  Switch is also a popular term used in BDSM practice representing the power exchange between two consenting adults of the opposite sex. 

HuffPo story about Stavroula here

The Awards so far…

SWITCH was recently honored with the 2019 BEST STORY AWARD at the prestigious Santa Fe Film Festival, it has received the BEST SUSPENSE/ BEST ACTION AWARD at the New York Women in Film and Television & Go Indie TV / Roku TV competition, and Stavroula Toska received the OUTSTANDING ACTRESS AWARD category in the same competition. The series has also received the BEST PILOT / BEST NEW SERIES AWARD at the 2019 Calcutta International Film Festival and at the 2019 Los Angeles Independent Film Festival, the BEST PILOT AWARD at the 2019 Best Shorts Film Festival, the BEST WEB SERIES AWARD at the Global Shorts Film Festival. 

Cast: 

SWITCH features a most inclusive and stellar cast and crew (over 70% female), including Academy Award and Golden Globe winner Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck, The Infiltrator, Bored to Death, Steel Magnolias, Tales of the City, Look who’s Talking), two-time Emmy winner Cady McClain (All My Children, As the World Turns, Seeing is Believing: Women Direct, Law & Order), Emmy-nominee Jon Lindstrom (True Detective, BOSCH, NCIS: Los Angeles, General Hospital) Mark Borkowski (House of Cards, Boardwalk Empire, Blue Bloods), India Ennenga (The Irishman, The Orchard, About Scout, Treme), Bobby Daniel Rodriguez (Narcos, Central Park Five, Bel Canto, Orange in the New Black), Katie Maguire (Billions, Search Party, LI Divas, Blue Bloods), Catherine Chadwick (White Collar, Z: The Beginning of Everything, The Normal Heart).

Episode 157: T.L. Quach, Filmmaker

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T. L. is an independent filmmaker based in Los Angeles after studying Film Studies at UC Berkeley and working in production on major TV and Films in New York City.

Her short films have been all over the festival circuit and her short film, Rule of Threes, won an Award of Merit for Women Filmmakers at the Accolade Global Film Competition and an Award of Merit at One-Reeler Film competition.

She is currently developing a new screenplay and also producing her first screenplay, Crave, into a feature film. Which she will tell us all about. You can find more about TL here: http://www.tlquachfilms.com/

Episode 156: Liz Jenkins, CFO, Hello Sunshine

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Liz is the Chief Financial Officer of Hello Sunshine, the media brand founded by Reese Witherspoon. She tells us all about the company, their mission, and their culture. It’s as good as you imagined. Liz was formerly the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Strategy at Media Rights Capital. While there, she worked on the deal to bring House of Cards to Netflix, which was then written up as a Harvard Business Review business case, and she talks it about it here as well. Liz is very much one of the best and brightest, and I’m so happy to have her on the show.

Episode 153: Mari Meyer, Writer, Journalist, Filmmaker and Actor

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Mari is a writer, journalist, filmmaker and actor. She holds a BA in Journalism and completed the 3 Year Conservatory program at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York.

As a journalist, she has over ten years of experience in news, art and entertainment journalism, both in the Netherlands and in the U.S. She is producer and director of VAGILANT, a short documentary film about the Women's March on Washington and was the lead producer on music video project A Whole New World. She co-wrote, produced and starred in The Soothing System, an award winning narrative short film. In 2018, Female Filmmakers Fuse Film Festival in Los Angeles named her Filmmaker of the Year.

We talked about her new projects in development, her work within the prison system in New York and how finding your voice and telling your story, as cliché as that is starting to sound, is still imperative.

You can find more about Mari here.

Episode 152: Michelle Salcedo, Director/Writer

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Michelle directed a gorgeous short film called Piel Canela, that she shot in Cuba and which is screening at several film festivals this week. It will be premiering at the San Diego Latino Film festival March 23, as well as the Chicago Latino Film Festival March 29, and 31st, with a Miami screening happening first weekend in April at the Indie Pasión Film festival! So, if you are anywhere near any of those places, make a point of going to see it. I have seen the trailer and it is gorgeous. You can see the trailer here.

Michelle came up through marketing and editing at Miramax during the heyday, editing with Bunim Murray, and is now writing and directing full time. She tells us the whole story of scouting and then shooting in Cuba, counting all her cash in a bathroom stall at LAX to make sure TSA hadn’t taken any, and her Grandmother’s spirit yelling at her about all of it.

You can find more about Michelle and Piel Canela here.

Episode 151: Judy Jean Kwon, Creative

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Judy calls herself a Creative. She’s an actress, a comic, a writer, producer, podcaster, creator…she does all the things. Her webseries, MILFriend will be screened on March 22nd at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres at the Golden State Festival. She tells us all about it on the show, along with her very interesting personal story, and being perfectly poised to have great success during the United Colors of Benetton advertising era.

And this: it’s not enough to just have representation. She wants to hear narratives of the other point of view. She calls it “the other point of views.”

You can find more about Judy here.

Episode 150: Amanda Blumenthal, Intimacy Coordinator

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Today we have something new - new for the podcast and new for the industry. I sat down with Amanda Blumenthal who is one of a handful of people working in the new position called “Intimacy Coordinator.” She is currently working on the HBO show called Euphoria. She breaks down for us what that job really entails, how her unique background, education and work history prepared her perfectly for it, and the real need for this position on a set. It makes total sense and it’s one of those things that makes you hit your forehead with your palm and ask why haven’t we always had this!? You can reach Amanda via her website here: intimacycoordinator.com.

Episode 149: Jenny Buccos, Director, Producer, Explorer

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Jenny is a multi-award winning director and producer of the long running program called Project Explorer, and the founder of Project Explorer.org. which is a free multimedia website designed to educate kids about global cultures and histories. She has explored six continents, in over 500 episodes, and has met incredible people and seen amazing places.

She is currently working on a television show to bring this programming to an even wider audience. Jenny is incredibly purpose driven, an explorer, an entrepreneur, and is living her mission every day. I am very inspired by her and I’m sure you will be too.

Episode 148: Ayser Salman, Author

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Today I interviewed my friend, Ayser Salman, for the second time, because her book, The Wrong End of the Table: A Mostly Comic Memoir of a Muslim Arab American Woman Just Trying to Fit in is coming out on March 5th, so I wanted to have her on to talk about it. She was previously on episode 47, so that was awhile ago and if I am remembering correctly, it was hilarious, and maybe because we were having wine and cheese. So, if you want to hear her entire story, go listen to that episode, or more relevantly, buy her book. Which you can order here.

Get the book

Episode 147: Matt Birch, Agent

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I took a detour into male ally-ship and spoke with Matt Birch. Matt is a partner at the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA) and is a co-head of the physical production department. He came up through production, reluctantly became an agent in 2009, and makes sure to bring a little something different to the art of agent-ing.  I met Matt while recording for the soon to launch podcast called Catch A Break – which is the insider’s guide to breaking into and navigating Hollywood (which you’re going to want to know about, click here to subscribe so you will be notified when it launches.)

During that interview, Matt mentioned he was on the men’s committee of #TimesUp, which as you can imagine made my ears perk up and I immediately booked him for this show to dig a little deeper. This corresponds with the feeling I have been having that it is time to start bringing men into the conversation and engaging them in the process toward equality. And Matt is one of the men who are actively evolving and trying to be part of the solution. We talked about #MeToo/TimesUp and harassment, hiring practices, the wage gap, how men are talking to each other, and a little bit about how men can hold each other accountable in ways that will be effective.

Episode 145: Eden Young and Catherine Natale, Creators

I got to speak with the creators of the webseries called All About Manos – Eden Young and Catherine Natale. Eden is an actor and stand-up comedian turned creator and Catherine is also an actor and writer turned creator. They will tell us all about the show and how they came to do it. You can find All About Manos at allaboutmanostv.com and on a bunch of digital platforms including Amazon Prime. They are killing it on the festival circuit also.

We recorded remotely, and it must have been during Mercury Retrograde, because it took us several tries on several platforms before we got something to work. So, the audio quality could be better, but this conversation couldn’t be. They are a delight.

Episode 144: Susanne Preissler, Executive Producer

Susanne is the Owner and Executive Producer at renowned production company Independent Media. She has been in the entertainment and advertising industries for over 15 years and worked with some of the feature filmmaking world’s biggest names. This success has also built a knowledge and awareness around the massive gender biases and struggles intertwined within the female entrepreneurial world.

We talk about her journey, the world of commercials, and the ongoing struggle for gender equality in the business.

Episode 143: Lisa Ebersole, Talented Multi

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For today’s episode I sat down with creator Lisa Ebersole. Lisa created and stars in the webseries called “37 Problems,” which you can find on Amazon Prime and Who Ha Ha. The series is a comedy about a woman facing the end of her fertility and what she is going to do about it.

She is also a playwright, whose plays have been produced off-broadway and regionally, and a screenwriters coach. We talked about what it takes to raise the money and produce a webseries and get distribution. It’s a whole thing.

check out the BRIC Foundation Summit here: https://bricfoundation.org/2019summit/

Episode 139: Anne Kenney and Lane Allison, Writer and Director, Last Call

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Anne Kenney, a television writer known for Outlander and Switched at Birth among many others has written a play. It’s called Last Call and it’s being put up at the Open Fist Theatre company, directed by Lane Allison, who you will remember from this podcast, episode 52. I was lucky enough to have them both in studio to talk about it. And by in studio, I mean at my dining room table. We talked all about the play, and Anne’s career as a tv writer. This is a goodie.

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Episode 138: Julia Camara, Filmmaker, Writer

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To kick off this year, I sat down with writer and filmmaker Julia Camara. Originally from Brazil, Julia has made several award-winning shorts. She has also written the feature films Area Q, Open Road, and Occupants. She recently released her experimental feature film called In Transit, which won Best Experimental film at the Glendale International Film Festival and is available to rent or buy on Amazon Video.

We talked about her career, her films, and spent a minute unpacking the Kavanagh hearings, as we recorded during that week. Somehow, we kept our sense of humor, because we laugh a lot about the absurdity of gender inequality.

Episode 137: Paulina Lagudi, Filmmaker

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Paulina Lagudi is a filmmaker who just released Mail Order Monster, which is available on all the streaming services. I gotta tell you, this woman is an inspiration. She’s an artist, a savvy business person, and a force to be reckoned with.

We talked about her film and its distribution, female empowerment of the “right kind,” setting boundaries, martial arts and growing up the only girl in a family of men with a single father and how instrumental her step mother turned out to be.

Episode 136: Megan Woeppel, Showrunner, Producer, Director, Writer

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Megan started out as a cinematographer and then transitioned to being a producer and a writer. She is currently the Showrunner on Gears Pro Circuit All Access, and is gearing up to shoot her feature film called Nightmare Mansion which is set and will be filmed in Kansas city.

She shares some amazing tales from the trenches, including barreling down a road in the Republic of Georgia at 100 miles an hour while being forbidden to wear a seatbelt. Honestly, it’s a miracle she’s alive.

Episode 135: apparentlyjack, Jacqueline Legan and Katie Koeblitz

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Jacqueline is a veteran Director of Video Production, and currently the Founder and Executive Producer at apparentlyjack. Jacqueline’s background spans almost every aspect of the filmmaking process from development to delivery, in both the branded and Independent film spaces with films and commercials starring well known Directors and Talent.    

With over ten years producing Independent Film, Katie is currently the Head of Independent Content at apparentlyjack. Katie’s production background includes work on both narrative and documentary feature films. Most recently, Katie produced documentaries G-Funk, A More Civil War, and The Untitled MMW Documentary. On the narrative side, Katie co-produced The Land, Galveston, and also had a hand in the coming-of-age film The Kings of Summer, which premiered at Sundance.                      

After many years in the advertising and film  industries, Jacqueline decided to go out on her own to form the content studio, apparentlyjack. apparentlyjack’s mission is to bring cinematic storytelling and storyline driven content to brands and independent film in a variety of formats.               

apparentlyjack champions equality, diversity, and inclusivity both behind and in front of the     camera. They have dedicated a portion of the company to empowering and mentoring other   women in entertainment and are working with various organizations to reach gender parity   by 2020.  For more information about apparentlyjack, visit www.apparentlyjack.com.     

Episode 134: Julia Lynn Huffman, Storyteller, Filmmaker, Coach

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Julia started out in broadcast journalism and acting, and then transitioned to working behind the camera. Having worked in the television industry for over two decades and cutting her teeth as a coordinator, writer, producer, shooter and editor for companies like E! Entertainment, Steven Bochko Productions and HGTV, Julia went on to direct, write and produce her own feature film and become one of a handful of female directors to win multiple awards in the film festival circuit and secure world-wide distribution for her first feature film, endorsed by Dr Jane Goodall, Medicine of the Wolf.

Julia just finished her short film WOLF SPIRIT starring world renowned National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg and will be using the film as a tool for education about the value of wolves and their necessary place on the north American landscape.

We talked about her passion projects, tenacity in the business, and the state of women in the world. As we do.

You can reach Julia via LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-h-30a7734/

Episode 131: Monique Sorgen, Writer, Director

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Monique is a writer and director of TV and film. After graduating from UCLA, Monique worked as a director’s assistant in television dramas and comedies. She then made a short film, Pants on Fire, which garnered international distribution and led to writing jobs such as “Blind Date,” and for variety and alternative shows on Comedy Central, and VH1; after which she landed a staff position at ABC in a development think tank.

Monique has also written the feature films The Babymaker, a Chinese remake of the film Love Stinks, Rock n’ Roll Princess, and All the Way Down. In 2014, she was selected as a finalist for the ABC TV writing program. During this time, Monique also completed her first novel, How Long You Should Wait to Have Sex.

Her most recent directing work includes several music videos, a web series pilot, and 3 unscripted series for the international network Fashion One, which she produced in the Philippines.  

There is more, but I will let her tell it in the interview. Also, she has many stories about being the only woman in a writer’s room. Let’s just say it wasn’t awesome, but it does seem to be getting better.

Now, a brief disclaimer. We conducted this interview outside in a park. So, there is plenty of ambient noise of children, traffic, and an ill-times roofer across the street. Pretend you are on a nature walk and having this conversation with Monique. It will be worth it, I promise.

You can reach Monique here:

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/moniquesorgen 

Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/moniquesorgen

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

Website: https://sorgenm.wixsite.com/moniquesorgen

New Short Film website: https://sorgenm.wixsite.com/sorrynotsorry

Short film twitter: https://twitter.com/NotSorryFilm 

Book: "HOW LONG YOU SHOULD WAIT TO HAVE SEX" on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/How-Long-Should-Wait-Have-ebook/dp/B00CCH4VIQ