Directing Magic Podcast

In this episode of Directing Magic; Lee Broda, Executive Producer of the award-winning film, THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER, (featuring Maggie Gyllenhaal) talks about what inspired her to get involved with the film. They discuss Lee’s journey to becoming a successful executive producer and why investors trust her to bring films to life as well as her creative process as a poet and her book Whispers from the Moon Related Links: http://www.directingmagic.com/ https://leebroda.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Tamara Kotevska, director of Oscar-nominated documentary, HONEYLAND, talks about what inspired her to share this story. They discuss Tamara’s creative process and how she and her team overcame language barriers to create a visually stunning work of culture and art. Related Links: http://www.directingmagic.com/ https://honeyland.earth/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Rosser Goodman, director of the short comedy film PEA POD, her inclusive casting choices and breaking into the competitive field of television directing. They discuss Rosser’s winning experience with the Easter Seals Disability Film Challenge and breaking into television directing through shadowing programs. Related Links: http://www.directingmagic.com/ https://rossergoodman.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Bridget Stokes, director of the feature film BOY GENIUS, returns to the podcast to talk about how her latest film came to fruition. They discuss what its like to make a family friendly film, choosing the right title for your film and how to make the magic (realism) happen. http://www.directingmagic.com/ http://www.bridgetstokes.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Julie Harris Walker, founder and host of The Other 50% Podcast, joins Marquette for a special joint episode of their respective shows. They discuss how they met, as well as their podcasts, how one can be an ally, and they how have managed to keep the faith throughout their careers.  Related Links: http://theotherfiftypercent.com http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of #DirectingMagic; Cheryl L. Bedford the producer of DARK GIRLS and founder of the JTC List / Women of Color Unite organization joins @Marquette_Jones. They discuss Cheryl's motivation for starting the flourishing nonprofit organization that supports diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry and her vision for getting more women of color hired in Hollywood. Related Links: https://wocunite.com/ http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; the director of the feature film POMS, Zara Hayes joins Marquette. They discuss the making of POMS, working with legendary actresses Diane Keaton and Pam Grier, and finding the fine line of humor in a comedy movie. www.directingmagic.com

In this episode of Directing Magic; the director of the upcoming feature film LITTLE LYING WILD, Samantha Aldana. They discuss her short film THE MELANCHOLY MAN and her experience shadowing a television director for the NBC / Universal Diversity Directors’ Program. www.directingmagic.com

In this episode of Directing Magic; the director of the documentary MR. SOUL!. They discuss her collaboration process and partnership with award-winning filmmaker & editor Samuel D. Pollard and how she managed so much archival footage in the editing room.

In this episode of Directing Magic; the co-writer and lead actress of the Sundance Film Festival movie PREMATURE. They discuss her collaboration process with Rashaad Ernesto Green, creating characters that feel like our younger selves and how she managed being both the co-writer and actor of the film.

In this episode of Directing Magic; the filmmaking team Mary Harron and Guinevere Turner that brought us American Psycho joins Marquette to talk about their latest film collaboration as the writer and director of CHARLIE SAYS. They discuss their short hand as collaborators and how they were able to capture a pivotal moment in the film.

In this episode of Directing Magic; Alexandra Cuerdo, director of the documentary ULAM: Main Dish, joins Marquette. They discuss Alexandra’s mission to raise awareness about Flipipino culture through food and how to get your new documentary idea off the ground. Featured Links: http://www.directingmagic.com/ http://www.alexandracuerdo.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Tchaiko Omawale , writer and director of her debut feature film SOLACE, joins Marquette. They discuss Tchaiko’s 15-year filmmaking journey of making this personal film about overcoming eating disorders and self-harm, how to gain actors’ trust as a first time director, and what it was like to work with veteran actors Lynn Whitfield and Glynn Turman.

In this episode of Directing Magic; Tonja Renee Stidhum, Los Angeles-based writer and director of the WINGCHICK webseries, joins Marquette. They discuss what it means to be the eternal wingchick in relationships, the value of writing groups, and what Tonja learned from giving crowdfunding a second chance. Featured Links: http://tonjareneestidhum.com/ http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Natalie Kingston, New Orleans-based cinematographer of LOST BAYOU, joins Marquette. They discuss how to craft a common creative language between a director and cinematographer, the different ways to approach shooting a documentary versus a narrative film, and what makes the Southern visual aesthetic so special (hint: it’s the energy with a dash of humidity!). Featured Links: https://www.nataliekingston.com/ http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Tomeka Winborne, writer & director of the foster care awareness short film AGED OUT, joins Marquette. They discuss Tomeka’s networking strategies and the importance of being willing to volunteer when starting out in the entertainment industry, what to negotiate in advance when working for clients, and her upcoming move to Los Angeles. Featured Links: http://www.tomekawinborne.com/ http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Anne Hu, writer & director of the daring short film CAKE, joins Marquette. They discuss her brave choice to cast herself as the film’s sex robot, her work as a senior producer & trailer editor for some of HBO’s top shows including Game of Thrones, and the ladies mutual love for Ohio. Featured Links: http://www.annehu.com/ http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Tamika Guishard, writer & director of RHYTHM IN BLUES (formerly D-Days / currently in development) joins Marquette. They discuss her filmmaking journey of getting her first feature completed, how to build your creative team and working with actors. Featured Links: http://www.bgoodproduct.com/ http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Amanda Verhagen, Canadian producer of THE DEVOUT joins Marquette. They discuss her team's nomination for their first Canadian Screen Award, her work with comedian Blake Anderson and some of the differences between Canadian and American production sets. OTHER NOTE In this episode of Directing Magic; Amanda Verhagen, Canadian producer of THE DEVOUT joins Marquette. They discuss her team's nomination for their first Canadian Screen Award, her recent work with comedian Blake Anderson and some of the differences between Canadian and American production sets. Featured Links: http://www.amandaverhagen.com/ http://www.directingmagic.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Victoria Negri, director of GOLD STAR (featuring the last performance of Robert Vaughn), joins Marquette. GOLD STAR explores the inner-life of a young woman who becomes the primary caregiver of her father after he suffers a debilitating stroke. They discuss hiring the right casting director for your project and how she knew this was THE film she had to make. More information at http://www.directingmagic.com

In this episode of Directing Magic; Morgan Dameron, director of DIFFERENT FLOWERS and former assistant to J.J. Abrams (Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Trek, et. al), joins Marquette. They discuss what if was like to produce and direct your first feature while working full-time and returning to her showcasing her hometown Kansas City, MO through her film. Featured Link: https://differentflowersmovie.com

In this episode of Directing Magic; Camille Brown, director of THANK YOU FOR WASHING and the independent thriller feature film, joins Marquette. THE NTH WARD, follows a woman haunted by the childhood disappearance of her parents in the lingering wake of the Hurricane Katrina. They discuss her journey from being an engineer to filmmaking and her DIY approach to producing and distribution. Featured Link http://www.thenthward.com

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Paige Morrow Kimball, director of the award-winning PLAY DATE, ENDING UP and director of short films for Sesame Street. They discuss her collaboration with Tami Roman in Play Date and her successful application for the 2017 DGA Director Mentorship Program. Featured Links Makazan Films Guest Information GUEST NAME: Paige Morrow Kimball GUEST BIO: Paige Morrow Kimball is an award-winning director, writer, and producer. Originally from New York City, Paige began her production career in the unscripted television arena, and later she established herself in the scripted world. Currently Paige is producing and directing short films for Sesame Street. In 2016, she co-ep’d and directed comedic web-series, Exiled Out East. In 2015, Paige’s socially conscious short film, Play Date garnered seven awards at film festivals, won a prestigious $2,500 award from The Hendricks Foundation, and is now being developed into an educational program for middle schools. Paige’s 2014 festival favorite comedy short, Ending Up, earned distribution by ShortsHD and ZPTV on Roku. Paige was selected as a participant in the highly prestigious 2017 Inaugural DGA Diverse Directors Initiative Mentorship Program. She was also a participant in the 2016 SONY TV Directors Program, and a finalist in the 2017 CBS Directors Program. As a writer, Paige’s feature screenplay, Late Bloomer, reached the final round of consideration at the 2017 Sundance Screenwriters Lab and placed in the top 15% of the Nicholl competition. Paige is a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post and to Women’ s Voices for Change, writing articles about Gender Parity. As an actor, Paige has appeared in films, television and commercials bringing her acting experience to everything she directs. Paige’s extensive directing and producing credits in unscripted TV, include: HBO’s Project Greenlight, ABC’s Oprah Winfrey Show, FOX’s Boot Camp, FXs NASCAR Driver and many more. Paige’s production company, Makazan Films is committed to creating diverse, female-centric, meaningful stories and hiring as many awesome females in key positions as possible. The logo is an image of her two daughters Makenzie and SuZanna dancing together. She firmly believes, if girls can see it, they can be it! Guest Links TWITTER: https://twitter.com/paigekimball INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/paigemorrowkimball  

In this episode of Directing Magic; Sophia Kruz, director of the visually striking LITTLE STONES documentary, shares the story of women who use art to change the world, joins Marquette. They discuss Sophia’s technique for getting her documentary subjects to open up about their inner lives, how she chose them from around the world and her one regret in her film festival strategy for the documentary. Featured Link http://www.littlestones.org

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Katrina Nelson, emerging female comic and director of THE WAKE. They discuss Katrina’s transition from producing to directing and her new passion for comedy. What’s she’s most excited about is a showstopper – wait for it! Featured Link https://katrinanelson.com

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Sarah Moshman, director of THE EMPOWERMENT PROJECT and the Netflix hit documentary, LOSING SIGHT OF SHORE. They discuss Sarah’s innovative distribution of her work with Indieflix and how she was about to direct her documentary remotely while her subjects were out to sea. Featured Links The Empowerment Project Losing Sight of Shore Guest Links FACEBOOK: Facebook.com/losingsightofshore

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Rainy Kerwin, director of THE WEDDING INVITATION. They discuss how Rainy managed all the hats she had to wear as the writer, director, producer and actor of her first feature film and what inspired her to take charge of her creative career. Featured Links The Wedding Invitation

Marquette is joined by Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, director of the MANKILLER documentary, celebrating the life of Wilma Mankiller, the first woman to be elected Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. They discuss the film’s Los Angeles Film Festival premiere, her ongoing collaboration with PBS and the MANKILLER documentary's executive producer Gale Anne Hurd, and what she's most excited about these days – beach volleyball. Featured Links Mankiller documentary Guest Information GUEST NAME: Valerie Red-Horse Mohl GUEST BIO: Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, Director and Producer of MANKILLER, is of Cherokee ancestry and the owner/founder of Red-Horse Native Productions, Inc. Red-Horse Mohl and her company have become the preeminent collaborator with American Indian tribal nations to bring important Native stories accurately and respectfully to the screen. Valerie's body of work spans over two decades of film and television content creation and production; always providing insightful, sensitive and unique perspectives for both the historical and contemporary indigenous story. The Company's premiere feature film, NATURALLY NATIVE, was an official Sundance Festival selection, which Red-Horse wrote, produced, co-directed, starred in and distributed. Red-Horse Mohl followed this with the WWII PBS/ITVS award winning documentary, TRUE WHISPERS: THE STORY OF THE NAVAJO CODE TALKERS, co-produced with Gale Anne Hurd of Valhalla Entertainment. Red-Horse Mohl also produced/directed a follow-up program, again with Hurd, CHOCTAW CODE TALKERS (Vision Maker Media/PBS), in 2010.

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Amanda Micheli, director of VEGAS BABY. They discuss how Amanda approaches getting people to open up on camera about private matters such as infertility and medical procedures, how she was able to bring Morgan Spurlock on board as the Executive Producer of VEGAS BABY, and what she’s most excited about these days. Featured Links: https://www.facebook.com/vegasbabyfilm https://vegasbabyfilm.com/ http://runawayfilms.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Sharri Hefner, producer of AFTER THE JUMP. They discuss how being a single mom inspired her to continue her film career, the magic of WONDER WOMAN for the younger generation, her recent participation in the Women in Film and Sundance Institute Film Financing Intensive and her new feature film project, AFTER THE JUMP.  Featured Links: http://sharrihefner.com/ http://www.afterthejumpmovie.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Carmen Elly Wilkerson, director of THE REUNION. They discuss what it takes to push through to the next level in your film directing career, creating life balance and her new feature film project, #WHORE.  Featured Links: https://www.carmenellywilkerson.net/ http://www.thereunionshortfilm.com/

In this episode of Directing Magic; Marquette is joined by Shay Moore of Women In Film’s PSA program. They discuss how she got involved with the PSA Executive Board, the benefits of the program to local charities, and her new entrepreneurial venture with Bootsy Collins.  Featured Links: https://womeninfilm.org/psa/

Savannah Rodgers is a director, writer, and producer currently based out of Lawrence, KS. She creates short films, web series, and is developing her first feature film. In 2014, she founded Professional Amateur Productions, a company aiming to create quality, intersectional feminist content. Savannah received the Visionary Award from the Outlaw Film Festival and the Fred G. Andrews Emerging Filmmaker Award from Kansas City FilmFest in 2016. Her short film Sketches (2016) premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival; it has received multiple honors on the independent film festival circuit. Her directorial debut Politically Correct (2015) was named Cinema Constant's 2016 Best Comedy Short Film, and has garnered awards from Kansas City FilmFest, Kansas City LGBT Film Festival, and other festivals worldwide. Both Sketches and Politically Correct have received distribution at REVRY, the world's first LGBTQ+ streaming platform. Most recently, she was a Top 10 finalist for the 2017 Horizon Award. She was a semi-finalist for the Sundance Institute's Episodic Storytelling and YouTube New Voices labs in 2016. Her proposed web series, Poly, was an IndieWire Project of the Day. Her documentary work has been featured on Films for Action. She also serves on the Board of Directors for Kansas City Women in Film & TV. Savannah will also graduate from the University of Kansas in 2017. While attending KU, she has received multiple honors for her dedication to the film community, including the 2016 Bill Gilbert Award and the 2015 Loren Dolezal Community Service Award. She has also been nominated for 9 Tensie Awards through the University, winning two for Best Director (2016) and Best Screenplay (2015).

Rachel Goldberg an award-winning director who helmed the short film, MUTED, starring Chandra Wilson (Grey's Anatomy) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner (The Cosby Show) which sold to HBO. As a director, she has been supported by the Sony Pictures TV Diverse Directors Program, We for She's Direct Her Program, the Fox Global Directors Initiative and the Ryan Murphy HALF Foundation. As a proud participant in AFI's Directing Workshop for Women, she co-wrote and directed the short film NEIGHBORS which was developed into the feature screenplay, "Transformation Awaits." This script was selected for the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab, was a quarterfinalist for the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship (placing it in the top 5% of over 7500 scripts), won a Grand Prize in Screenwriting from the Rhode Island International Film Festival and was supported by the Sundance Women in Film Financing Initiative. Rachel has won over 20 awards for her work in film and theater.

Bridget Stokes is a filmmaker who currently has several projects in development through her production company, Instant Pictures, including feature film Emmett, which she will direct, The Lost Husband, which she will produce, and a television adaptation of The Volunteer. Bridget recently completed production on a comedy web series pilot she directed titled Picked Up and post on a short drama she directed titled Think Fast. The Volunteer, a feature Stokes produced, won the Best Narrative Feature Award at the Urbanworld Film Festival. Prior to that, she wrote and directed the feature film Herman & Shelly, which was acquired by Cinetic, and she produced the short film Coffee, which was an official selection at SXSW Film Festival. She has shadowed directors on Amazon’s Transparent, ABC’s The Goldbergs and CBS’s Scorpion and has worked in film distribution at IFC Films, Elephant Eye Films and BEV Pictures, a company she co-founded. Stokes has worked in film production at Elephant Eye Films and as Research Coordinator on Jonathan Demme’s Untitled Bob Marley Project. She graduated from Brown University with a degree in Art Semiotics and Africana Studies and currently resides in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.

Jackie Stone is an award winning director/writer and a graduate of New York University's Tisch School of The Arts. Stone has a penchant for visual story telling, delivering poetic and precise work. Her films have screened at numerous festivals including the American Black Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, LA Film Festival Project Involve Showcase, Bermuda International Film Festival, Tallahassee International Film Festival, Durango International Film Festival, Langston Hughes African American Film Festival, Sistas Are Doin' It For Themselves Film Festival, BERC Film Festival, Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival, Cannes Short Film Corner, California African American Museum and HBO Network. Stone has won numerous awards and grants for her work including: the Jerome Foundation Filmmaker Grant in 2011 and 2015, New York State Council of the Arts, Warner Brothers Production Grant, Vague Production Grant, Kodak Production Awards and the Fotokem Post Production Grant. She received The Best Short Film Award for her short IF I LEAP from The Harlem International Film Festival 2013, and was an AICP finalist for her spec commercial work. She was both a screenwriting finalist for the Sundance Institute and the Nickelodeon fellowship. She was a Project Involve Directing Fellow 2012-2013 and now serves as CEO and Chief Content Creator of Enchant TV, a digital network.

Alberlynne Harris, affectionately known as Abby, is a native of Los Angeles, California. She continues to defy labels and categories while remaining active with and inspired by various civic and socially conscious organizations. As an A Better Chance alumna of the Harvard-Westlake School Abby received her Bachelors of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. She returned home to complete the JD/MBA program at the University of Southern California. She recently completed a long term project hire assignment as a Manager of Branded Integrations for Maker Studios (a Disney Company) where her clients included Disney Parks and Disney Interactive (Gaming). She is currently consulting for the BSIDE Agency, a service provider connecting African American Influencers with brands and advertisers. Her community involvement as immediate President of the Harvard-Westlake African-American Alumni Association Network and continued dedication to the Los Angeles Urban League Young Professionals as well as to the Black Public Relations Society of Los Angeles keep her busy. In addition to loving her growing family of three brothers, mom, dad, two nieces and three nephews, Abby spends time building a film and television production company, Quartermain Media, with her life partner, James Woods, Jr. She also enjoys wine and cheese tasting, live music performances, and cooking.

ALISON MAREK is an award-winning filmmaker with an MFA in directing from NYU. Her thesis short, “The Playground,” was sponsored by Showtime Networks Inc. and broadcast extensively on their channels. She also wrote and illustrated graphic novels that were published by Piranha Press (div. DC Comics). Her most current project is called “Play Me,” which takes place in 1957 and follows an inventive young housewife who tries to conquer a billion-dollar industry filled with corruption, greed and misogyny: the toy industry.