Sifter

Deb Freeman is an award-winning writer, specializing in Black foodways throughout America, particularly in Virginia. She also hosts Setting the Table , a critically-acclaimed podcast that explores Black culinary history. Deb is now working on a documentary about famed influential Black chef Edna Lewis. It’s starting as a series of shorts on VPM’s YouTube channel and will evolve into a...

Vivian Owen has been a screenwriter, script supervisor and producer for several years and is currently working on 2 features, both thrillers. We’ll get into some of the specifics of these on-set jobs while looking at her new projects, including: – Frenchy Waters & Booger Sugar – The responsibilities of a script supervisor – Difference between Executive Producer, Produce...

Alan Sader is best known for his 23 years as the spokesperson for Christian Children’s Fund (later renamed ChildFund). He’s also had an extensive career on stage and screen.  We talk about his past adventures and his plans for a future series of staged readings with actors he’s never had an opportunity to work with. It’s titled “A Few More For the Road—Alan Sader’s Bucket L...

Remembering Gene Wilder looks at the comic actor’s films, including interviews with Mel Brooks, Alan Alda and Harry Connick, Jr. It played Richmond as part of the Weinstein JCC’s Israeli & Jewish Film Festival last January. Since it just dropped on Netflix, I’m “remembering” my interview with Ron Frank (billed as the director) & Glenn Kirschbaum (writer). Topi...

Paul Serwitz has made his career as a film buyer, including 25 years for Regal Cinemas and most recently, President and COO of Landmark Theatres. He’s now consulting as a distributor for Roadside Attractions and has lots of interesting insights into the biz of buying and distributing films, including. – Outlook for 2025 and beyond – Upcoming films from CinemaCon – Musical t...

Donald Silverman spent his years in Richmond as a producer/director for numerous commercials and videos. He recently published a book titled Oddball Thoughts , a collection of random thoughts and observations. We’ll look back at the flush days of the production industry plus: – How he happened into directing commercials – Creating spots for Howard Stern – Going to school with Bil...

In UNFROSTED Bailey Sheetz is discovered by Jerry Seinfeld’s character in a dumpster eating what would become a Pop-Tart. This young actor has a funny part in the new Netflix hit that was written, directed and stars Jerry Seinfeld. Our lively interview covers much more than any of the local print stories, including: – His relationship to the gas station/restaurant with the same last na...

Paul Serwitz has made his career as a film buyer, including Regal Cinemas for 25 years and most recently, President and COO of Landmark Theatres. He’s now consulting as a distributor on a new comedy opening this weekend called Summer Camp. Paul will talk about that movie, but he’s also got lots of interesting insights into the biz of buying and distributing films. – The differenc...

DANVILLE 1963, LEGACY OF A MOVEMENT is a documentary featuring first-hand accounts of the peaceful Civil Rights protest in Danville on June 10, 1963, that was met with shocking violence by the local police department. It became known as Bloody Monday and was an event that would shape Civil Rights history. There’s a free screening at the Library of Virginia on June 6 from 5:30 to 8:30pm with...

Pine Grove School served Black students in Cumberland County from 1917 to 1964. Since then, it’s being restored, but is now being threatened by a proposed mega-landfill nearby. Janelle Proulx and Tyler Kirby from Departure Point Films worked with Muriel Miller Branch from the school’s Board of Directors and UVA’s School of Law to create a short documentary about the school’...

Mark Lambert got his break in special effects when he developed proprietary rendering software for Pixar. He went on to create visual effects for numerous movies. More recently, he’s pivoted to work in virtual reality, which has taken him around the world to shoot incredible footage. Our discussion is crammed with interesting info, including: – Creating “flying type” for Op...

Al Underwood teaches a class called Thespian Equestrian, which helps actors learn how to handle horses. He pairs up with Liquid Talent for these classes and there’s a link to the next session below. Our discussion includes: – How the concept came about – Getting into horses in the Army – Parading with William Shatner – Getting a dog to ride a horse (see foto) –...

Sina Khani is a Tehran-born filmmaker and a VCU grad student who’s already made his first feature film, TELL THE WIND TOO. He’ll be presenting it on May 3 as part of the First Features Screening Series that showcases emerging filmmakers at the ICA. We’ll talk about: – How he went from math to movies – Why he chose to shoot in black & white – How color gradin...

Yossera Bouchtia is a Moroccan-American filmmaker who teaches at VCU. Three of her shorts will be screened at this year’s James River Film Festival on Sunday, April 14 at the VMFA. This is the 30 th year of the Festival, which features foreign, indie and experimental films. It runs at various venues all over town from April 11-14 and finishes up on the 20 th . We’ll discuss: – Ho...

Even with the strikes, Virginia had some production activity in 2023. Andy Edmunds, Director of the Virginia Film Office, makes his annual visit to talk about last year and what’s coming up in 2024, including: – How we made it thru the strikes – The comedy shot here starring Melanie Lynskey – What a strike waiver involves – How our film incentives compare to other sta...

Tom Belgrey was born and raised in Richmond, but moved away for his career, which included numerous movies and TV shows. We discuss: – Acting on every soap opera but one – Auditioning in NYC and LA while living here – Making Spielberg laugh on the set of Lincoln – Using a variety of accents from German to Russian to Australian – Playing foreign villains so many times...

Donna Bailey runs ProPrompting, a company that provides teleprompting services for TV, movies and speeches. We talk about: – How she got into prompting – Those “sneeze guard” prompter for speeches – The one client she’d refuse to work for – Working with Tom Hanks, Rob Reiner, Julie Andrews, John Cleese, Dick Clark and Lily Tomlin – Turning down Matth...

PJ Sykes, Jeff Roll and Shane Brown have launched CinemaNiche, a film group that presents movies in the Studio Two Three’s newly occupied building in Manchester. Their next screening is March 8 with the documentary Sisters with Transistors , celebrating International Women’s Day with a look at the women who were involved in the early days of electronic music. Jeff and PJ talk about: &#...

Tom Sanchez Prunier lives in Richmond and works as a location manager or location assistant on films and TV series shot in the area. He’s also written and directed some film shorts, written poetry and created a YouTube channel that features diecast cars. Our discussion includes: – Getting into the business – Location scouting is more than finding a site – Protecting a $1mil...

Crissy Offutt worked in Richmond’s production community before heading out to LA, where she was involved with lots of shows and people. Most notably, she was an enjoyable side character in Denise Richards’ reality show. She’s got lots of dish (and a few expletives), including: – An office encounter with Rob Reiner – Buying guitars for the Naked Brothers Band – H...

Nikki Giovanni is one of the world’s best known Black poets. She became famous in the 60s as part of the Black Arts Movement and went on to write more than 2 dozen volumes of poetry and 11 illustrated children’s books. She’s received the NAACP Image Award seven times and has taught at Virginia Tech from 1987 until she retired in 2022. We talk about the new documentary about her t...

Driving Madeleine takes a charming cab ride with a 93-year-old woman headed to her nursing home. Christian Carion is the director of the film, which goes deeper into drama than expected. He talked with me from Paris: – Transitioning from being a farmer to a director – How the friendship of Dany Boon and Line Renaud helped during the shoot – Line sang “Relaxez-vous” wi...

Blair Underwood is the best known actor to come out of Petersburg VA. He started his career in local theatre, but went on to star in numerous movies, TV shows and Broadway productions. His latest role is in ORIGIN, Ava DuVernay’s powerful film based on the book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents.” Some of the things we discuss: – Getting his start in local theatre &#821...

This week’s podcast is the first Double Feature of the year. The Virginia Screenwriters Forum is a resource for aspiring writers that’s been around for 35 years. Robin Farmer (Director) and Rachel Weatherly (Assistant Director) will tell us about the organization (with a special surprise guest). The new Winter Horrorland Film Festival features movies viewed thru a mental health perspec...

REMEMBERING GENE WILDER looks at the comic actor’s films, featuring interviews with Mel Brooks, Harry Connick Jr, Alan Alda, Karen Boyer (his 2nd wife) and more. It’ll screen at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture on Sunday 1/21 at 2pm. Ron Frank & Glenn Kirschbaum, who created the documentary, discuss the stories and surprises that made this such a joyful project. This is o...