Episode 201: Lesli Linka Glatter, Director

For this episode, I was lucky enough to meet Lesli Linka Glatter. Lesli is a director of film, network, and premium cable television drama, with both pilots and episodes to her credit. Lesli’s TV work includes Homeland, The Newsroom, The Walking Dead, Justified, Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex, True Blood, Mad Men, The Leftovers, The Good Wife, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, ER, Freaks and Geeks and Twin Peaks. Lesli has also directed numerous pilots including Gilmore Girls, Pretty Little Liars and SIX. Her films include Now and Then, The Proposition and for HBO, State of Emergency.

Lesli is currently the Executive Producer/Director of the award winning series Homeland. Lesli has received eight Emmy nominations, seven Directors Guild Award nominations, winning twice for Mad Men and Homeland, as well as a Humanitas Award nomination for HBO’s State of Emergency. Lesli is currently developing projects for Netflix, Amazon, Showtime, Epix and her next project is The Bankers Wife , an eight-part mini series for Amazon.

Lesli serves as the First Vice President of the Directors Guild of America, is on the DGA’s Western Directors Council, serves on the Executive Committee of the Directors Branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is also an advisor at the Sundance Institute’s Director’s Lab. Lesli has been committed to mentoring for many years and most recently help develop the successful NBC program, Female Forward. Lesli has received the Caucus Foundation Award, the Dorothy Arzner Directing Award from Women in Film and the Franklin Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute and most recently, an Honorary Degree from the American Film Institute.

Prior to her work as a director, Lesli was a modern dance choreographer who worked throughout Europe, Asia and the U.S.

Episode 200: Saraswathi Balgam, Director, Writer, Creative Producer

For this very auspicious episode, I sat down with my friend Saraswathi Balgam, aka Vani. She is a writer, director and creative producer with several award winning shorts and documentaries to her credit.  She is currently developing a slate of animation and live action projects based on her original stories. Under the banner of her production company, Dancing Atoms, Vani is also overseeing several hand picked projects conceived by creatives in the USA and India.

Previously, Vani served as the Head of Creative Management for DreamWorks Animation in Shanghai, where she championed Chinese storyboard artists to tell authentic Chinese stories designed for global audiences. Vani was also the Executive Director of Rhythm & Hues India, a multiple Academy Award winning Animation and VFX studio.  She started the studios in Asia, and managed the teams of artists and technicians that created the digital characters in “Life of Pi” “Snow White and the Huntsman” “Night at the Museum”, “The Golden Compass”  “X-Men”, and “The Chronicles of Narnia”. 

Vani, along with her husband Prashant Buyyala, who was instrumental in connecting Vani to Rhythm and Hues in 2000, led the Rhythm and Hues Studios International. Prashant worked with Rhythm and Hues for 18 years and Vani worked there for 12.

Vani is extremely passionate about supporting the artistic community.  She has volunteered tirelessly and served as the President of ASIFA India and Women In Animation India for 10 years. Through her efforts, she has become an indisputable icon in the history of Indian animation. 

Episode 197: Lorena Gordon, Filmmaker

Lorena is an award-winning writer-director. Hailing from Queens, Lorena began her journey working on sets at the age of eighteen with directors such as: Martin Scorsese, Sam Mendes, and Ben Stiller. The stories Lorena is most passionate about telling are about the human condition and the complicated facets of life. Lorena feels it’s her responsibility as someone who is a woman, Latina, and gay to be a voice to the disenfranchised.

She has directed and produced short films: including Fallen Hero, The Uninvited, The Cure, Alone, and Times Like These. Most recently, Lorena wrote and directed the short film At Last. Lorena has also combined her love for music by directing several music videos, and commercials

@atlastshortfilm

@lorenagordon 

Links: 

At Last: https://youtu.be/i3xwW_iIM1U

Times Like These: https://youtu.be/YNF2vLrfp8I

Episode 196: Paige Henderson and Nicole Murray, Creators

For this episode, I got to catch up with Paige Henderson and Nicole Murray. Together, they have Svelte Dog Productions, under which they wrote, produced, and star in the webseries called Dead Friends. They both are from the Seattle area and graduated from the University of Washington, and by a weird coincidence moved to LA at the same time, and became roommates and collaborators. We had a great time doing this, maybe because we recorded this last January, before the world went completely mad.

PAIGE HENDERSON

Paige graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Comparative Literature: Cinema Studies from the University of Washington. Amongst various film production jobs, she spent a year travelling the world.

Upon her return to the U.S. she set her focus on acting. Where she starred in feature film “Vellai Pookal”, as well as directed and produced her short “To Build a Forest”.

After moving to Los Angeles, she has frequented short film sets as actress, producer, director and art department. Paige co-founded Svelte Dog Productions, where she wrote and produced short films “Nacken” and “Josie’s Song.”

NICOLE MURRAY

Nicole has a Bachelor’s of Science in Biology from the University of Washington. She has years of research experience between an addiction and an individual differences laboratory, and continued research after graduation. All throughout her schooling, Nicole had quenched her passion for acting through plays and making films with friends.

Nicole began pursuing film acting in tandem with research in Seattle, starring in shorts and a pilot entitled “Vashon”. She moved down to Los Angeles, to hit her dream full-force, where she starred in various short films alongside producing, directing and writing. She co-founded Svelte Dog Productions and currently works at a Renewable fuels facility.

Watch their series here:

https://www.youtube.com/c/DeadFriendsWebseries?sub_confirmation=1

Episode 195: Naomi McDougall Jones, Actor, Writer, Director, Producer, Activist

I first spoke with Naomi for episode 57. I recently caught up with her to see what she has been up to in the last couple of years, and it is a lot. She has written a book called THE WRONG KIND OF WOMEN: INSIDE OUR REVOLUTION TO DISMANTLE THE GODS OF HOLLYWOOD, and toured with her movie called BITE ME. She's also teaching online filmmaker classes that you should check out: naomimcdougalljones.com/class

 

Episode 123: Chelsea Rivera and Taylor C. Baker, Showrunners, Actors

This episode brought to you by:

Chelsea and Taylor have a series on Seeka TV called Female Friendly, about two unemployed friends who decided to start a female friendly porn production company. They are Writers, Producers and Actors, and we had a great time chatting at my table. They tell me all about their journey finding their way in Hollywood and all the creeps that have offered to sleep with them to help their careers. And spoiler alert, you don’t need to sleep with creeps to make it in Hollywood.

And what does sexy mean, anyway?

You can find their series here: http://www.femalefriendlyseries.com/

Episode 102: Carina Chocano, Writer

Carina is a Writer and wrote the book called You Play the Girl - On Playboy Bunnies, Stepford Wives, train wrecks, and other mixed messages. Carina has written for tons of magazines and was a film critic at the LA Times, Entertainment Weekly and Salon.

She is whip smart and we had a fiery conversation about feminist cultural theory. We deconstructed the system that promotes discrimination, and the subtleties that make us question ourselves for decades before looking outward. Hold on to your hats.

After all, if you can't talk about the system without getting offended or taking it personally, how are we ever going to talk about anything?

Episode 90: Lynelle White, Writer, Director

This episode is brought to you by: 

Lynelle is a Writer and Director, whose first writing job was on Army Wives. Her first actual job was as a pilot in the Air Force. She flew the plane that refuels other planes while IN THE AIR. She is currently one of six participants the Film Independent Episodic Writers Lab.

Originally, she wanted to be a space pirate. Like Han Solo.

She has a BS in Engineering and an MFA in Screenwriting.

She was already a grown up while the rest of us were trying to figure out who we were in our 20s.

Not to brag, but this is a really good conversation.

Episode 85: Amy Spies, Writer

Amy wrote on 90210 and Melrose Place (the OG) among many other shows, but those are what made me fangirl. She comes from a Hollywood family - her parents were moved out to Los Angeles by Desilu Studios. (As you do.) And although she resisted joining the family business, she eventually did, going on to write “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”

I loved hearing her stories and her journey and I think you will too. She’s a writer, a teacher, a mentor and is deeply into mindfulness. She teaches a mindfulness writing program which helps people, especially women, find their voice. This is the time that we all need to find our voices.

This is a Master Class.

Episode 84: Amanda Upson, Producer

Amanda is an Attorney turned Film Producer, whose first film Magnum Opus is available now on Amazon Prime. Amanda is incredibly determined, and when she puts her mind to something, she gets it done. Everything can be figured out.

And here is something we should impart to all of our children, especially our girls – take opportunities to fail. It is so important. If you are too afraid to fail, you won’t take chances and do the things that really scare you. And that is where the real success lies.

Magnum Opus is streaming everywhere, including on amazon prime (http://amzn.to/2zbuTqY), iTunes (http://apple.co/2ybu0zy), google play, etc.  Please follow and share on social at:

 https://www.facebook.com/MagnumOpusMovie

 https://twitter.com/MagnumOpusMovie 

and you can find the trailer here: http://www.magnumopusmovie.com/trailer/ (sharing is caring, and every time a person shares or clicks buy, an attorney saves her soul). 

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.

Episode 60: Suzanne Lyons, Producer, Author, Teacher

Suzanne is a film producer, author, speaker, teacher and inspiration. You may remember the Flash Forward Institute in the early 2000’s.  She started that. She is the Co-Founder of Snowfall Films. She wrote Independent Film Producing: The Craft of Low Budget Filmmaking.

From humble beginnings in Canada, where she was told she could be a teacher, a nurse or a secretary, she quickly realized she was as smart as the men running things and might just have a go at that. At 29 she was the first female VP at a TV Network.

She is all about accountability and going for it. In this business, the key differentiator is who has actually done the work?

“In what other industry on planet earth do people relinquish their power in running their own lives to someone else (i.e. agents and managers?)”

And this: we are living on earth to experience joy and expansion. No limits.

Grab a cup of tea and settle in. Then, find more here:  http://www.suzannelyons.net/

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 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.