Maria is the Director of the feature films Manna from Heaven, Just Friends, and Temps, among others. She produced Julia Sweeney's Letting Go of God – and I forgot to ask her about that – I loved that piece! She is also part of Five Sisters Productions, which is the production company she has with her siblings.

She walks us through her independent filmmaking journey, the shock of not being in a post gender equality world, and how we are raising the next generation to have their eyes wide open.

There is an interesting segment about how men have to focus on directing the movie. Women have to focus on directing the movie, and on how they conduct themselves on set, and on finding the line between nice and direct, and on how they allow collaboration, and on how they earn respect, and on what they wear. Seems like a bigger hill to climb.

And sometimes, the Director has to pick up the donuts.

**SHOW NOTE:** We talked about John Landgraf being part of Fox. In fact, he is the CEO of FX and has made a big push for inclusion on his network. You can read all about it here: http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/fx-diversity-directors-hiring-ceo-john-landgraf-interview-1201831409/