Episode 100: Sherry Lansing, Filmmaker, Executive, Philanthropist

Sherry Lansing is the subject of the biography, ”Leading Lady - Sherry Lansing and the Making of a Hollywood Groundbreaker,” by Stephen Galloway, out in paperback today. Sherry has had a long and successful career as a filmmaker, Studio Head, and philanthropist. She was Chairman and CEO of Paramount Studios for 12 years, after being the President of 20th Century Fox. Some films made under her watch include Forrest Gump, Braveheart, Titanic, The Accused, First Wives Club…and the list goes on.

She is the founder and CEO of The Sherry Lansing Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cancer research, health, public education, and encore career opportunities.

She is also a co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer, an initiative which funds multi-institutional cancer research “dream teams.”

In addition, she serves on the University of California Board of Regents and on the boards of the Broad Center, the Broad Museum, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, the Carter Center, Encore.org, the W.M. Keck Foundation, the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Among her awards and honors are…

National Women’s Hall of Fame

Stem Cell Action Leadership Award, World Stem Cell Summit

Patron of the Arts Award, Screen Actor’s Guild

American Association of Cancer Research Humanitarian Award

Big Brothers and Big Sisters Legacy Award

Outstanding Woman in Film, Women In Film

Economic Equity Award, Women’s Equity Action League

Horatio Alger Humanitarian Award

Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, 79th annual Academy Awards

In this episode, Sherry talks about coming up through the ranks, the keys to her success in the midst of a lot of “noise”, and her secret meeting with Jimmy Carter.

Episode 94: Heidi Philipsen, Actor, Writer, Director

Heidi is an actor, director and producer, and is currently releasing her feature film called “Darcy,” that is making its rounds on the film festival circuit and will be screening at the Socially Relevant Film Festival in NYC as the Closing Night Film on Thursday, March 22nd, 8 p.m.

Heidi has a very interesting story that takes her to Germany after college, where she got her start in television before coming back to the United States. Now a gentle word of warning. We do talk about adult themes in this episode in the #metoo genre, so if you usually listen in the car with your kids, perhaps you listen with your headphones in.

To find out more about Heidi:

www.heidielizabethphilipsenmeissner.com

www.personaeentertainmentpictures.com

Episode 77: Women in Entertainment Summit 2017

Patty Jenkins talks with WIE Co-Founder Gretchen McCourt  

On November 2nd, I went to the third annual Women In Entertainment Summit.  I love this event.

The day started out with Geena Davis. The Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media Studies has provided a heap of data surrounding women and girls in media. She presented some data on the day, and as usual, representation of women on screen and behind the scenes are still dismally small.  There are some very easy fixes however, and this is a point that really resonated with a lot of people.

She told us that Media can actually fix the problem is has created.

There was a also a lot of talk at the conference about the parts that we own - namely, confidence and advocacy. 

On the side, we talked about #metoo.

During the lunch break I caught up with McKenna Koon and Dana Kelly who both work at FullScreen, and I talked with Shirley Davis, EVP of Production at Alcon Entertainment.

On this episode I share a lot of the high points and inspiration from the day – from women such as Geena Davis, Victoria Mahoney, Dee Rees, Jordyn Wieber, Christine Simmons, Gabrielle Carteris and Greta Gerwig.

It was a great day, and this is but a tip of the iceberg.

And my must see films list from the summit: LadyBird, Mudbound, Fear Us Women

Episode 67: Ramaa Mosley, Director, Activist, Entrepreneur

Ramaa is an accomplished Commercial, Music Video and Film Director, an Activist and an Entrepreneur. Her career as a Director started around age 16, and she now has a company she founded called Adolescent Content which represents young content creators and Directors to national brands and distributes professional content by very young creators.

She wrote and directed the film The Brass Teapot and also worked on a beautiful film called Girl Rising that speaks to the vital importance of educating girls around the word.

As an activist, she was vital in creating worldwide awareness with the #BringBackOurGirls campaign about the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping in Nigeria. She learned many things with that campaign, not the least of which was about unintended consequences even with the purest of intentions.

Find out more about Ramaa Mosley and Adolescent Content here:

www.adolescentcontent.com
www.splendidandco.com
www.ramaamosley.com

Episode 56: Anabella Casanova, Producer, Director

Anabella is a Producer and Director and she owns a production company with her husband called Vacation Theory.  Her eyes were opened young to socio-economic differences and social justice issues.  She realized early that real change happens with the people and what shapes people is the stories we tell and the art we consume. She wanted to be a part of the storytelling.

Here is some great advice: develop an artisan skill to leverage against the thing you want to do. That means learn a craft to get into the room to gain the influence to get the job you want. In other words, your day job should be on set, not at a coffee shop.

Serious, smart and curious goes a long way. Soak up everything you can from that first job.  You are getting way more out of it than what are you being paid.

And Anabella’s driving priority – be a good human first and create a life.

As for feminism, let’s bring femininity back to feminism – we’ll unpack that.

And my cat makes a cameo. Welcome to my home studio.

You can see some of Anabella's work here:  That's What She Said and That's What He Said. And her company is here:  www.vacationtheory.com.

Episode 49: "Group," the writer, director, and actors

Group is a play that explores people participating in group therapy for sufferers of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder).  I was joined by (pictured left to right) Marjorie Lewit, the director (who we met on Stronger than Pretty), Lesley Gouger, the writer,  Barbera Howard and Jasmine Pierre, both actors.  It was such a joy to spend time with this group.  We had a real talk about some real things.  We laughed a lot, we cried a little, and they were fearless in sharing with me.

The play opens this Friday, June 16th, at the Avery Schreiber Playhouse in North Hollywood. Click here to find out more and buy tickets: http://www.defiancetheatrecompany.com. I will be there, and I hope to see you, too.

Episode 47: Ayser Salman, Writer/Editor/Producer

Ayser is an Editor/Producer/Writer. She is also a Muslim, Arab, immigrant woman living in America.  Apparently, all of those things together add up to an interesting set of experiences. So much so, she is writing her memoir.  After hearing her interview, you will want to read her book, The Wrong End of the Table: an Immigrant Love Story.

She told me lots of stories, such as when her sister was born in America and was nearly named Amanda, except Ayser was NOT HAVING THAT. In recent years, she has discovered that saying your real name to the barista is actually a radical political act that, though risky, is worth it. It is important to be seen and not hide in the shadows.

And no matter what, even at her own party, she always seems to find herself at the wrong end of the table.  Who doesn’t?

You can learn more about Ayser and read some of her work here:  www.aysersalman.com.

Episode 46: Stronger Than Pretty, Jaret Martino, Pat Branch, Marjorie LeWit

Stronger Than Pretty is a film about Jaret’s mother. She took her three children out of an awful situation and created a life for them all, despite everything she was expected to do as a nice Catholic girl in New York in the 70’s. In addition to that extraordinary tale, it is remarkable that her son recognizes the strength of her story and has created a piece to celebrate it. 

Jaret Martino is an actor and producer, with 10 films already under his producing belt, most of them with distribution. He is committed to hiring female crews on his projects to help counteract the dismal statistics for women in the industry.  He is a true feminist and is leading by example.

Pat Branch is a comedian, writer and teacher, and wrote the script for this project, with passion, humor and empathy.

Marjorie LeWit is an actor and director, who directed this film and the companion project Inner Warrior, which they tell us all about.

This is a master class in purpose driven content – purpose driven life. Their kindness, empathy and desire to bring people together drives their work and their lives. It is a joy to hang out with them, if only for an hour.

Remember this:  money is not what makes art.  Although, feel free to send the money anyway.  Strongerthanpretty.com.

Episode 44: Jennifer Freed, Owner/President Trevanna Post

Jennifer is the Owner and President of Trevanna Post.  Trevanna is a post production accounting firm focusing on film and television, with offices in New York and Los Angeles.  She tells us her story from being the young blonde out of Stanford who “would never make it in Hollywood” to having a successful and thriving business for more than 20 years. Take that, naysayers. 

She talks about the importance of her mentor, working hard and learning as much as you can, and balancing a thriving family life – for herself and for her employees. And for the artists out there, we can’t emphasize enough how important the business and accounting side of this business is. It helps to make better creative decisions.

Episode 43: Taj Paxton, Filmmaker, Executive

Taj is the VP of Documentary Films at Logo. She is an award-winning producer, writer and filmmaker. As one of few Black and openly LGBT film executives, Taj proudly stands on the front lines of diversity and representation.

She started on Wall Street and became a filmmaker and executive.  Along the way she produced films, ran Forrest Whittaker’s company, wrote and sold a pilot, traveled, worked as a production executive, served on the Board for Outfest, and became a yoga teacher. As you do.

And from her bio, which I cannot state better: Taj interests lie at the intersections of art and social change. Her journey is filled with life lessons that cannot be confined to the boxes of gender, race and sexual orientation. She hopes her work will continue to shape the conversation around the kinds of stories we tell and that those stories become a tool for greater cultural understanding and cohesion.

We talked about loaves and fishes, redefining masculinity, and your gut perception of a woman as competent. And can we replace "minority" with "underrepresented?"

Episodes 31 &33: The Women of Brothers and Sisters

This was my first panel, and I loved it.  I sat down with the following women who ran the show Brothers and Sisters which aired on ABC for 5 years:

Sarah Caplan – Executive Producer

Suzanne Geiger – Unit Production Manager/Co-Producer

Cynthia Pusheck – Cinematographer/Director of Photography

Sally Sue Beisel-Lander – 1st Assistant Director/Co-Producer

Denny Dugally – Production Designer

Ida Lee Henderson-Williams – Production Accountant

Melina Root – Costume Designer

We talked about everything from what it was like to work on a female team, the changing landscape of the business, sexual harassment, salary negotiation, and getting the band back together.  They were very forthcoming and I really felt like they let me in on something special.

And Sarah baked us a cake.  As you do.

It will be presented in two episodes. 

Episode 32: Shelly Bond, Comic Book Editor

Shelly Bond is a comic book editor and the creator of the project called Femme Magnifique.  Her name appears in over 900 comics and graphic novels from Neil Gaiman's beloved Sandman series to masterworks by Grant Morrison, Bill Willingham, Darwyn Cooke and Gilbert Hernandez.

Her latest project is FEMME MAGNIFIQUE, a Kickstarter book that she's editing and co-curating with Kristy and Brian Miller of HiFi Colour Design. This graphic novel anthology salutes 50 powerful women in pop, politics, art and science who take names and change the game. 

Here is the kickstarter link.  I encourage you to kick in and support this cool project. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hificolourdesign/femme-magnifique

Shelly lives in Los Angeles with her favorite comic book artist/husband, Philip Bond, and their favorite teal-haired son, Spencer.  Rumors that she wears five-inch platforms are completely unfounded. 

We talked about the world of comics, the role of the editor, a true love story, and of course, tap dancing. 

Episode 28: Nadja Rutkowski, Distribution Executive

Nadja is Senior VP, Sales, Marketing & Operations at Terry Steiner International. As such, she places films on airplanes and with the military. A worthy endeavor indeed, and yet perhaps the least interesting thing about her. She grew up in a divided Berlin and is still dealing with her immigration issues after being in the US for more than 20 years. She has a valuable perspective on immigration and on our current political climate.

This was recorded a couple of weeks after the election, but I don’t think much has happened since to assuage her concerns. Let me know what you think.