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.

EP 201 Lesli Linka Glatter

The Other 50%

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. 

EP 200 Saraswathi Balgam

The Other 50%

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

EP 197 Lorena Gordon

The Other 50%

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

EP 196 Paige Henderson and Nicole Murray

The Other 50%

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

 

EP 195 NAOMI MCDOUGALL JONES Part Two

The Other 50%

Episode 73: Karie Bible, Author, Tour Guide, Historian, Founder

Karie was born on Halloween night, has two different colored eyes and appears very much like she is from an entirely different era.  One of her jobs is as the Tour Guide at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery – a job she created when she saw there wasn’t one. Karie also created and runs the website Film Radar and has recently added Film Radar – Reel Women, which catalogs where and when to go watch films made by women.  A worthy endeavor.

She is a sought-after speaker, expert, and film historian. She co-authored the book Filming in Los Angeles with historians Marc Wanamaker and Harry Medved and co-authored Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays with Mary Mallory.

We recorded this interview weeks before the “Harvey” news broke, but we were already starting to discuss sexual harassment in Hollywood and the shift we are now experiencing.  Collective consciousness and all…

EP 73 KARIE BIBLE

The Other 50%

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/

EP 60 SUZANNE LYONS

The Other 50%

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?"

EP 43 TAJ PAXTON

The Other 50%

Episode 35: Jennie Lew Tugend, Producer

Jennie is a Producer. She has produced and co-produced some of the industry’s most memorable franchises:  Free Willy, Lethal Weapon and HBO’s Tales from the Crypt.  As she continues to develop and produce today, she is also sharing her experience by teaching film production at UCLA Extension and Columbia College Hollywood, and in 2016, she joined the faculty of AFI as a producing mentor. 

This episode jumps right into class and she talks about what makes a creative producer and what is the process of developing a film - it takes longer than you think, and sometimes the actor with a script in his back pocket turns out to be an amazing gift.

We eventually circled back to her history and how she came up through the ranks, all the way to a studio deal. Spoiler, she took a detour through a saloon.

And this: it’s not just who you know, it’s who you know and what they think of you.

EP 35 JENNIE LEW TUGEND

The Other 50%

Episode 29: Kathryn Leigh Scott, Actor / Writer

Kathryn is an actor and writer. She started her career in Dark Shadows and went on to act on television, in film and in theatre.  Some of her many credits include The Great Gatsby, The Turn of the Screw, Hawaii Five-O (the first one), Baretta, Cagney & Lacey, Knots Landing, Dallas, Matlock, Broadcasting Christmas…..I think you get the idea.  Here is a link to her IMDB if you want to see the whole list.

She is also a writer and started a publishing company.  Her books include Jinxed, Down and Out in Beverly Heels, The Bunny Years, Last Dance at the Savoy and the upcoming If Not Now, When?  You can read more about Kathryn on her website here.

We talked about the genesis of If Not Now, When? (my new mantra), how women must take control of their finances, and how close we all are to the edge. She discusses that period of life when women become invisible and have to come to terms with all the ticking clocks – not just the baby one.

And that time she took Gloria Steinem to task in the New York Times for giving up on romance after 50. I’m on Kathryn’s side on this one.  We must keep hope alive.

EP 29 Kathryn Leigh Scott

The Other 50%

Episode 25: Lia Dosik Carney, COO

Lia is the COO of the newly formed company, Topspin Content. She is also the former SVP of Production at Discovery Studios. She steadily worked her way up in the business, learned how to negotiate on her own behalf, and recently took a giant leap of faith. And she did it while raising twins.  No easy task. 

We talked about her journey, the benefits of coming from a long line of badass women, and how most things circle back to the need to be liked. And this: She who is brave is free.  That one got me.  Tattoo worthy, don’t you think?  

EP 25: Lia Dosik Carney

The Other 50%

Download

Episode 18: Andrea Ciannavei, Writer

Andrea is a television writer….and so much more. She’s also a rabble-rouser, New Yorker, Italian. My first impression of her was that she is a woman who lives “balls out.” Out loud.  Wide awake.  She feels all the feelings and tries to sort them out, while living with as much truth as she can muster. This is what makes an artist.

Some of her television credits include The Path, American Odyssey and Borgia. She has worked with Tom Fontana.  She works on the WWP Writing Workshops for the Writer’s Guild Initiative.  She did a lot of work with Occupy Wall Street.  She is an activist, a teacher, a badass.

We talked about being at Juilliard and having an imposter syndrome, being fired by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and how that was great, gaining 40 pounds in impoverished Africa, then losing 100 in LA.  And my new favorite phrase “the conspiracy of denial.”

I thought our talk was delicious and I hope you do too.  **We did it with a lot of f-bombs, though.  You’ve been warned.

EP 18 Andrea Ciannavei

The Other 50%

Episode 17: Kool Marder, AFI Mentor/Production Executive

Kool is currently a Faculty Mentor at the American Film Institute. Prior to that, she was a Production Executive, Producer, DGA UPM, Location Manager, Production Coordinator – name the production job, she has done it. Kool has overseen and/or made about 100 films.  How many people can say that, let alone how many women?

Some credits include, Blue Valentine, Halloween, Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Casual Sex, Fried Green Tomatoes, American Pie, Erin Brokovich, The Fast and the Furious, and Bourne Identity.

We talked about the early days, when cell phones were in briefcases and coordinators prepared call sheets on typewriters. You think it’s hard to make movies now….

EP 17: Kool Marder

The Other 50%

And now for Kool's Tales from the Trenches.  Is it a federal crime to receive cocaine via fedex? From UPM to Expert Witness in the Big Easy.

EP 17a: BONUS Kool's Tales from the Trenches

The Other 50%

Episode 11: Maria Giese, Director/Writer/Activist

Maria Giese is a Film Director, and directed the films When Saturday Comes and Hunger. She is also an activist on behalf of women directors in the United States. She was the person who agitated the ACLU to pressure the EEOC to investigate Hollywood for discriminatory hiring practices of female directors.  This investigation is currently underway, as Jennifer Warren spoke about in Episode 3. We talked about why the EEOC investigation is only focused on directors, the history of the DGA and its diversity program, and the importance of separating the label of WOMEN from that of DIVERSITY.  Turns out, women are not a minority.  And, when is the last time you talked about Title VII?

To find out more about Maria and her work, click here.

EP 11: Maria Giese

The Other 50%

Episode 10: Tara Miele, Director

Tara Miele is a film Director and Writer, having done such projects as Starving in Suburbia, Lost Boy, and the recent viral video project, Meet a Muslim. She is very clear on who she is and where she is headed. We talked about the hero’s journey, shooting while pregnant, migrant film workers and whiskey. She is kind of rad.

Episode 10 Tara Miele

The Other 50%

You see her video Meet a Muslim, HERE. And view her other work HERE.

Episode 9: Cynthia Kanner, Post Production Executive

Cynthia is currently the Vice President of Post Production at HBO. She started in a big accounting firm in New York, working on audits, mergers and acquisitions as a CPA. Realizing that was not her cup of tea, she took a risk, moved to Los Angeles and started working in production. She worked her way up, learning everything she could, until she found her home at HBO, where she has worked for 22 years.  We talked about everything from toe cleavage regulations, staying up all night making the Valentine cookies for her daughters’ classmates, and how her corporate women’s leadership group evolved from naming themselves “The Tiaras” to the more appropriate “The Badasses.”  There is also a lot of juicy talk about negotiating your deal.

Episode 9: Cynthia Kanner

The Other 50%

Episode 8: Andie Rice, Production Finance Executive

Andie Rice is currently the Vice President of Production Finance at Viacom Media Networks. She started in production and worked her way up the path of production finance at the network.  We talked about her big plan to hitch a ride to LA on a cruise ship, how she will never regret not working in a beer factory in Milwaukee, and how if we really believe in this whole gender equality thing then we have to be ok being the primary breadwinner.

EP 8: Andie Rice

The Other 50%

Episode 7: Amy Lemisch, Executive Director, California Film Commission

Amy Lemisch, Executive Director, California Film Commission

Amy spent 18 years at the right hand of Penny Marshall, a pioneer female director.  It was her first job in the business, and became a career. She learned a thing or two there, and became a producer - League of Her Own, Riding in Cars with Boys, Awakenings…. Once she started having children, she exchanged her jeans and sneakers for grey suits and sensible heels and went to work for the state of California at the Film Commission.  We talked about how when a woman is at the very top, it does change the culture and changes the experience for other women in the room. And, how do you time a family and manage a career in production…when it seems pretty much impossible.

EP 7: Amy Lemisch

The Other 50%

Episode 5: Linda Burstyn, Writer/Producer

Linda had several careers in her life before her current one as a Writer for television dramas.  She has been a political writer, a TV news producer, a journalist and a feminist activist.

(She wrote a powerful article about female genital mutilation in America, which you can read here: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1995/10/female-circumcision-comes-to-america/306051/.)

Some of her TV writing/producing credits include The Education of Max Bickford, State of Affairs, In Plain Sight, NCIS and Chasing Life.  We talked about her journey to television writing (via a train ride with Seinfeld), her mothering, and her philosophy for achieving your dreams and having a happy life. 

We also talked about quid pro quo vs hostile work environment laws, and how the latter can sometimes be detrimental to women – by actually creating the hostile work environment it was meant prevent.

Epidosde 5: Linda Burtsyn

The Other 50%

Episode 4: Yolanda Cochran, Production Executive, Producer

Yolanda Cochran, Production Executive, Producer

Yolanda started out as a CPA with KPMG and a production auditor at Disney. Not too many years later, she was Executive Vice President of Physical Production at Alcon Entertainment, where she oversaw a ton of movies – Point Break, Dolphin Tale 1 & 2, The Blind Side and my favorite, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. We dug deep into the important issues….like exclusively breastfeeding while being a badass at work.  Believe us when we say, it is not easy!  We also talked about the notion that for women to be more successful they need to behave like men.  Is that true?  Or can we shift the paradigm?

Episode 4: Yolanda Cochran

The Other 50%