Breaking In: A SeriesFest Podcast

For this episode, Randi and the SeriesFest team traveled to Berkeley, California for a special live taping on the University of California campus. Our special guest, Terry Washington, brought his unique perspective on both the television and music industry to the students, staff, and audience. This special program is presented in partnership with Xfinity.Having grown up in the industry, Terry Washington inherently has a passion for music and entertainment. That passion has led him to manage and oversee tours around the world with platinum recording artist like Chris Brown, Eric Benét, and The Fugees. He has produced films in remote locations and managed the legacy of music and fashion icons. He is known for his creative visualization, ability to stay connected to trending media platforms and a rolodex for which CEOs would pay millions. His skill set has translated into lasting management in the entertainment industry for over 20 years.

On the season finale of Breaking In, Kaily sits down with Writer, Director & Executive Producer, Jessika Borsiczky. Jessika talks about her industry path, upcoming projects, and the unique challenges she faces as a creator.Jessika Executive Produced ABC's "Flash Forward," and has run television programs including Showtime's "House of Lies," starring Don Cheadle and Kristin Bell—where as Executive Producer, she both wrote and directed on the series. She Executive Produced and directed season four of Hulu's critically acclaimed "UnReal, and in addition she has directed on Marvel's "Cloak and Dagger," Netflix's "Lucifer," and Netflix's "What/If." Most recently Jessika created and Executive Produced "The Thing About Pam" on NBC starring Renee Zellweger and also wrote, directed, and Executive Produced on Netflix's "Sex/Life.' She is also a Consulting Producer on the upcoming Netflix series "On The Verge."

In a special SeriesFest Insiders episode, Kaily chats with Krista Vernoff about how she came to Shondaland, and the challenges of showrunning for both "Grey's Anatomy" and "Station 19." Actor, Jay Hayden also joins the conversation as a special guest.Krista was Head Writer and Executive Producer of “Grey's Anatomy” for the first seven seasons and returned as Showrunner in season 14. She currently serves as the Showrunner and Executive Producer of both “Grey's Anatomy,” and "Station 19." Prior to that, Krista served as a Writer and Executive Producer of Showtime's “Shameless” for five seasons, and has written for a broad variety of television shows, including NBC's “Law & Order,” CW's “Charmed,” and Fox's short-lived cult phenomenon “Wonderfalls.” As an executive producer, she has been nominated twice for an Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for “Grey's Anatomy,” and In 2005, Vernoff won a Writer's Guild of America Award as well as a Golden Globe® for Best New Television Series and was nominated for an Emmy® for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for her episode of “Grey's Anatomy:” “Into You Like a Train.” Actor Jay Hayden, star of "Station 19," is well known for his role on the Hulu dramedy series “Battleground," as well as his recurring roles on the CBS series “Seal Team” and “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” for the CW. In addition, he was a series regular on the ABC series, "The Catch.”

Today, Kaily and Randi sit down with Chris Wagner, Founder and CEO of White Label Productions. Chris chats about the void he found in the industry for creating his own production company and some of the popular shows he produces, including "The Masked Singer," and "Savage X Fenty Show, Volume 3."With 20 years of experience, Chris has overseen more than $2.5B in TV budgets and has helped run companies, as well as starting three of his own, focusing on production services.  As the Founder & CEO of White Label Productions, Chris has overseen series such as "The Masked Singer" for FOX, "Celebrity Show-Off" for TBS, "Miss Universe 2019," "Savage X Fenty Show" for Amazon Prime Video, and "Encore!" for Disney+. His work has received Emmy nominations for Season 3 of "The Masked Singer," and the syndicated edition of "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?"

On today's episode, Kaily sits down with renowned musical theatre director, and founding member of Black Theatre United, Schele Williams. Schele breaks down her industry path, as well as her latest projects, including the children's book, Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History.Profiled as "Variety's 2020 Top 10 Broadway to Watch," Schele is a director committed to cultivating new musicals and devised work with authentic representation onstage and off. She has directed at regional theaters and festivals across the country and has a long history of work on Broadway in Rent, Aida, and Motown: The Musical. Schele is currently directing the upcoming Broadway revivals of Aida and The Wiz as well as the premieres of Mandela the musical, Indigo and the recently announced Hidden Figures the musical which is currently in development. Passionate about pairing social justice with the arts, Schele is a founding member of Black Theatre United, has been a member of Broadway Inspirational Voices for over two decades and serves on the board of Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. Schele is the author of the children's book Your Legacy: A Bold Reclaiming of Our Enslaved History, which was recently published by Abrams Books for young readers and is currently in development to become an animated series, co-executive produced by Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade.

On today's special SeriesFest Insiders episode, Randi discusses "Impeachment: American Crime Story" with Head Writer, Showrunner & Executive Producer, Sarah Burgess.Sarah is a New York playwright and screenwriter. Her play Dry Powder won the 2016 Laurents Hatcher Prize, was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and was nominated for an Olivier Award in London. It premiered at the Public Theater in a production directed by Thomas Kail, starring Claire Danes, John Krasinski, Hank Azaria and Sanjit De Silva. Burgess' additional plays include Kings (Public Theater world premiere) and Camdenside (Ground Floor selection, Berkeley Rep), and she has been a writer-in-residence at SPACE on Ryder Farm and the Cape Cod Theatre Project.

On today's episode, Kaily sits down with David Person, Director of Original Programming & Production at IFC. David talks about his interesting path through the industry and the fine art of pitching projects.David currently co-oversees IFC TV's linear originals in development and current programming, and he recently joined AMC Studios where he develops, packages, and strategizes selling original television shows to the marketplace. Before venturing into television, David produced documentary feature films, several dramatic narrative feature films, and animation projects for Brain Zoo Studios like Microsoft Screensavers and LEGO Star Wars commercials. David was on our SeriesFest Digital Shorts jury in Season 4.

Today Randi is sitting down with Tamir Muhammad, producer of film & television, and Founder of Populace. Tamir discusses his fascinating career while also talking about his love for working with new stories and artists.Tamir previously oversaw OneFifty at Warner Media (formerly Time Warner Inc.), including developing & producing the original slate. Under his direction, OneFifty incubated several boundary-pushing projects before positioning them in the company's divisions (Warner Bros., HBO, & Turner). Prior to joining Warner Media, Muhammad was VP, Content Development, for Tribeca Enterprise's Digital Studios, overseeing development. He also previously served as VP of Film, TV and Online Programming at the Tribeca Film Institute, overseeing funding and development.  Current credits include the critically acclaimed HBO series Random Acts of Flyness as well as the graphic novel The New World which he's developing as a feature with Warner Bros. Pictures.

This week, Kaily sits down with SeriesFest Director of Programming, Claire Taylor. Claire talks about exciting opportunities at the nation's premiere episodic festival as well the important value festivals still hold for content creators.A proud member of SeriesFest since 2015, Claire currently serves as the Director of Programming where she oversees all programming for the annual festival, including the independent series competitions, as well as all of year-round initiatives and professional development opportunities. Before joining the SeriesFest team, Claire focused on applying her passion for storytelling through producing theater and television for Triptyk Studios based in New York City.

On today's episode, Randi chats with Producer/Writer/Comedian Nick Morton. Nick lets us in on the process of creating and shopping two independent pilots, while also maintaining a career as a comedian and podcaster.Nick Morton is a writer, producer and stand-up comedian. He wrote the recent pilot “Cooper's Bar” which stars Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul) and Lou Mustillo (Mike and Molly) which premiered at SXSW and SeriesFest: Season 6 in 2020 and was picked up by AMC Networks this spring. He also wrote the Sundance pilot, "Halfway There," that stars Matthew Lillard and Blythe Danner that went on to win best pilot at SeriesFest: Season 4. He has produced many movies including Ray starring Jamie Foxx, Afternoon Delight directed by Jill Soloway, Fat Kid Rules The World, Band of Robbers and many more. He has written for many online magazines including Mr. Porter and The Scoop. He hosts the popular podcast The Drunkalogues.

On this episode, Kaily & Randi are speaking with Lisa Ammerman, Executive Producer and Partner at Treefort Media. Lisa discusses her path through the industry, from late night television to embracing the unique and new challenges in the world of podcasting and audio storytelling.Lisa Ammerman has more than 20 years of experience as a producer, journalist and booker. As a senior producer at "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," she earned a Peabody Award for a special featuring Archbishop Desmond Tutu. More recently, she was vice president of talent booking at CBS Entertainment, where she was responsible for booking top-tier talent across network platforms. Launched in 2018, Treefort Media has a mission to expand imagination through narrative audio storytelling. The company has produced hits such as the true-crime investigative series "Fatal Voyage: The Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood," which was #1 on Apple Podcasts, garnered more than 20 million downloads and was named a 2019 Webby Honoree for Best Series.

Today, Kaily chats with television and film director, Sherwin Shelati. Sherwin carves a unique path through the industry by helming one of the very first successful webisodic series', leading him on a path to directing episodes for "Lucifer," "Trinkets," and "Riverdale."By the age of 23, Sherwin had worked on hit television series, "Lost" and directed the award winning comedic short film "I Kicked Luis Guzman in the face," and went on to direct the award winning web series "merrime.com."  Sherwin's feature film debut, People You May Know was released by The Orchard in the fall of 2017. Since then Sherwin has directed episodes of television for WB's Lucifer, CW's Riverdale, ABC's Manifest and multiple episodes of the Emmy nominated Netflix series, Trinkets.

On today's episode, Kaily and Randi sit down with the Founder & CEO of Seed&Spark, Emily Best. Emily shares her unique story of becoming an advocate for diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry.Seed&Spark's platform and national education program have helped thousands of bold storytellers raise millions to bring to life entirely new stories, and Seed&Spark delivers those stories into workplaces for employee training, engagement, and intelligence through their proprietary Impact Screening Platform. Prior to Seed&Spark, Emily produced and acted in theater in New York, which led to producing her first feature film in 2011 Like the Water (co-written by and starring Caitlin FitzGerald). Best was named a 2013 IndieWire Influencer, a 2014 New York Business Journal “Woman of Influence”, a 2015 Upstart 100 entrepreneur (Business Journals), received the Ivy Film Innovator Award in 2015 and 2016, and graduated from Techstars Boston.

In the season two premiere, Kaily sits down with actors, Katie Lowes & Adam Shapiro. The real-life couple discuss navigating the challenges for young artists trying to break in, and creating work that reflects who you are as an artist.Best known for starring as Quinn Perkins on the ABC hit series “Scandal,” Katie is a force on stage, screen and behind the mic. She has guest starred on other hit series such as “Grey's Anatomy,” “Private Practice,” and  “The Sopranos,” she made her Broadway debut in the Tony Nominated Musical Waitress, and she is currently airing the fourth season of her popular parenting podcast titled “Katie's Crib,” which is produced by Shondaland in partnership with iHeartRadio.Her husband, Adam Shapiro, is best known for his work playing “Mr.Shapiro” on Netflix's Never Have I ever, has acted on TV shows such as "The Affair," "The Good Lord Bird," "Room 104," "Grace & Frankie," "Scandal," and "Grey's Anatomy." He has appeared in films such as David Fincher's Academy Award winning feature Mank, Short Term 12, and Steve Jobs. He is also no stranger to the theater, starring in multiple plays including World Premiere's of Bachelorette and Canyon, and he made his Broadway debut playing Oggie in Waitress.Katie and Adam are the co-founders of IAMA Theatre Company in Los Angeles.

Today, Kaily chats with Jacqueline Pereda, creator of the HBO Latino short pilot "Generation Por Que?" Jacqueline talks about the challenges of being an independent creator and the path to her first TV pilot being picked up by HBO.Jacqueline has written, directed and produced over 20 comedic shorts and musical parodies in NYC and on her YouTube channel. Including her weekly satirical news show, The Ethnically Ambiguous News Hour. Her comedy has also appeared on TruTV, Funny or Die, Mas Mejor, WhoHaha, Brown Girl Magazine, the Women in Comedy Festival and Brooklyn Comedy Festival. She is a proud alum of the UCB sketch program and was a semi-finalist for the Sundance New Voices Lab in 2017. "Generation Por Qué?" was a 2020 Official Selection at SeriesFest and was licensed by HBO and HBO Max and began airing in May 2021.

On today's episode, Kaily and Randi talk with actor, Ian Duff. Ian discusses his education, philosophies on acting and the road that's led him to his roles on hit television series'.Ian Duff is an actor and Neighborhood Playhouse Graduate. He recently completed a recurring arc on NBC's hit show "New Amsterdam" and appeared on the big screen in Shaka King's Oscar-nominated film Judas and the Black Messiah. He currently can be seen starring as a series regular in The CW's "The Republic of Sarah," which debuted on June 14th.  Ian joined as back at SeriesFest Season 3 when he starred in Independent Pilot, "Up North," for which he received SeriesFest's award for Best Actor.

On today's conversation, Kaily chats with Shondaland's Senior Creative Production Advisor, Tom Verica. Tom discusses his unconventional path to directing television, as well as his desires and strategies for championing new directors into the industry.At Shondaland, Tom aids in the creative vision and production for all series' or films produced and acts as a liaison for talent and new showrunners. As an actor, you'll recognize Tom from his work playing Jack Pryor in the NBC drama "American Dreams" and Viola Davis' husband Sam Keating on ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder;" among others. As a director he's helmed over 100 episodes for numerous television shows including the popular Shondaland series, “Bridgerton”—the most watched series debut in Netflix history—on which Tom also served as a consulting producer. He is currently overseeing and co-executive producing the second season of the series, as well as the upcoming highly anticipated series “Inventing Anna.”

On today's episode, Kaily sits down with writer, director, editor, and producer, Sarah Adina Smith. Sarah discusses her pathway into the industry, and the differences between helming films, original TV pilots, and established episodic series'.Sarah Adina Smith has helmed multiple feature films including Buster's Mal Heart, which gave Academy Award winner Rami Malek his first lead role in a feature. Sarah also has directed pilots and episodes of television for Amazon, Hulu, HBO and FX.  Currently she is in post-production on a feature from a script she wrote called Birds of Paradise for Amazon Studios, and alongside her producing partner Jonako Donley, she's developing several TV concepts through their first look deal with Amazon under their banner, Everything Is Everything.  

In this special live broadcast, as part of SeriesFest Insiders, Kaily and a creative audience chat with Writer/Producer, Austin Winsberg, creator of "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist." Austin gives the live audience key insights on pitching, show-running, and how he broke into the industry.Winsberg's other television credits include "Gossip Girl" and "Jake in Progress," where he served as a creator and executive producer—the youngest showrunner in ABC history.  Winsberg is the book writer of the Broadway musical “First Date,” which began its run at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway in 2013. He currently has multiple active projects in  development at ABC, Apple, and Universal, and He has written numerous half-hour and hour long television pilots for ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Showtime, Amazon and Freeform.  

On today's episode, Kaily talks with director, Rachel Myers. Rachel discusses her career, the challenges women face in the industry, and how programs like the Shondaland Women's Directing Mentorship have helped give women like her a seat at the table.Rachel has been creating work, both in front of and behind the camera for over 20 years, collaborating on over 150 film, theater and television productions. Her short film “Wendy's Shabbat” premiered at the Tribecca Film Festival in 2018 and went on to qualify for the 2019 Academy Awards. As a production designer Rachel has worked on television series for HULU, Facebook, YouTube Red, and MTV, as well as working on feature films such as “Short Term 12,” Lionsgate's “Desperados” and Netflix,'s  “The Drowning,” among others. In 2019, Rachel was the winner of SeriesFest's Women Directing Mentorship program in partnership with Shondaland.

On today's episode, Kaily and Randi are sitting down with multi-hyphenate artists, James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti. James and Stephen discuss navigating the industry as independent creators, crowd-funding their project, and selling their show to Hulu.James Lafferty and Stephen Colletti, best known for their work on the popular television series “One Tree Hill," wrote, produced, and starred in "Everyone Is Doing Great," which screened it's pilot at SeriesFest Season 4, took home the award for Best Comedy writers and returned Season 5 to premiere their second episode. Colletti and Lafferty crowd-funded the first season of the series, achieving eight episodes. The comedy series premiered on Hulu in January of 2021.

For this episode, Kaily and Randi are speaking with producer, Valerie Stadler. Valerie discusses her humble beginnings in the industry, where they led her, and how she has grown into a champion for new storytellers.Valerie Stadler started her career as the co-founder of Fat Chance Films where she developed the play PREY FOR ROCK & ROLL, which was adapted into a feature film. She then went on to produce CAVE-DWELLER for Showtime starring Kyra Sedgwick and Aidan Quinn, LIFE OF A KING starring Cuba Gooding Jr, SUNSET STORIES—which also marked her debut as a screenwriter—and the feature documentary FALLEN STAR: FINDING HOME, which she also co-directed. Stadler was the head of Production and Development for Fluency, a multi platform studio under NBCU Hispanic Enterprises where she Executive Produced several films, including FAT CAMP which sold to BET. In winter 2017, Valerie along with partners Kyra Sedgwick and Meredith Bagby formed Big Swing Productions. Committed to celebrating new heroes and amplifying bold voices by focusing on stories with heart and purpose, they believe "we all deserve the chance to take a big swing."

For our second episode, Kaily sits down with director, writer, producer Emil Pinnock. Emil shares how he sold his original pilot after screening at SeriesFest, and how his production company, Unleashing Giants Studios, went on to develop new projects for Blumhouse Productions, Entertainment Studios, Radar Pictures, Atmosphere Entertainment, and more.Originally from Harlem, New York, Emil has been active in the film industry for over 20 years. As a writer/director, Emil has led over ten projects, including his breakout independent series, "Up North," which premiered at SeriesFest Season 3 and took home a number of significant awards, including Best Drama and the Audience Award. After SeriesFest, Emil went on to sell "Up North" to Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios.

For our inaugural episode, Kaily sits down with producer and executive, Jeremy Gold. Jeremy shares how his career unfolded from actor to theater producer to executive working in television, and gives his insight on auditions, the development process and pitches.Jeremy joined Blumhouse Television in 2016 and is currently serving as President of Production. Under Gold, the indie studio has produced such projects as "Sharp Objects," "The Loudest Voice," "The Good Lord Bird," and the new docu-crime series "Fall River" on Epix. Before Blumhouse, Jeremy served in leadership positions at Endemol Shine Studios, Twentieth Century Fox Television, and Fox Broadcasting Company where he developed numerous comedy series' including "Arrested Development," "The Bernie Mac Show," and "American Dad.”

Inspiring, educating and advising listeners on how to combat what feels like a closed-door system, "Breaking In" is an extension of SeriesFest's mission to champion and empower artists at the forefront of episodic storytelling. Guests include working professionals in television such as executives, producers, agents, directors, writers, actors, and independent content creators who share their insider knowledge.