Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa

Dana Ledoux Miller ​is a shape shifting scribe. ​ S​he was PA'ing on Lost and The Descendants when she first said out loud that she wanted to be a writer. A decade later, she's co-written and co-directed  Moana 2 and written Disney's live-action Moana , in theaters July 10 — becoming one of the ​f​ew Pacific Islander writers steering a major Disney IP. In this episode, we trace ​h​er full arc: fro...

What does it take to hike 26 miles at 14,000 feet with no signal, no Uber, and two of the funniest people alive? We're about to find out.  Join me as I sit down with comedy legends Bob Odenkirk and David Cross at the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival to discuss their documentary Bob and David Climb Machu Picchu — a film about friendship, mortality, and what happens when Hollywood strips away and the moun...

Colby Day is a breath of fresh air who refuses to be performative. In an industry that runs on heat and carefully curated perception, he just gives it to you straight. Day is an Emmy-nominated writer whose credits include the Netflix film "Spaceman" starring Adam Sandler and "In the Blink of an Eye," which premiered at Sundance this past year. He also served as a writer and story editor on Apple T...

Post is where a movie becomes a movie. Where a TV show gets it's bells and whistles. The edit, the VFX, the color, the sound mix, the sound design, and everything in between. It's where everything comes together. And yet for years, California has had no standalone incentive to keep that work here. In this episode I sit down with Marielle Abaunza, President of the California Post Alliance and EVP o...

David Boxerbaum built his career the hard way, with no connections, no shortcuts, and a relentless belief that great stories still change everything.  He first fell in love with making movies as a young kid growing up in the Bay Area, camera in hand, directing his friends before he even knew what an agent was. After attending New York University , he realized the there was real power in understand...

This is a recording of a members-only Substack Live I hosted two weeks ago. If you're a paid subscriber, this is exactly the kind of access and conversation you're signing up for! Carolina Alvarez, writer-director and founder of Femme Regard, is the force behind  Sync — a self-financed sci-fi feature now streaming on Amazon Prime that received SIX distribution offers. In this special chat, she bre...

In this solo episode, I get candid. I open up about losing my father in January, what grief looks like when you can't afford to stop moving, and the complicated truth about showing up anyway — to the meeting, to the festival, to the mic. I also dig into eight listener questions from the year-end survey, covering: how I select guests, whether I'm still producing, how independent producers can find...

Pam Carbonero is a seasoned Latina director, producer, writer, and first AD with 15-plus short films, a 12-episode mini-series, and a one-and-a-half hour vertical series under her belt. When she's not directing, she's working full-time as a first AD across features, commercials, music videos, you name it. And she is a proud anti-gatekeeper.  But the thing I really wanted to bring her on to talk ab...

Marina Stabile is a Brazilian-born, Swiss-raised producer and line producer with over 20 years of experience in film, documentaries, commercials, and digital content. She is also one of my favorite humans and I'm lucky I get to call her a friend. She grew up in São Paulo, moved to Geneva at 10, attended an international school with 118 nationalities, and knew she wanted to produce after watching t...

*Brought to you in partnership with GreenSlate* Bucket list moment unlocked! 🎬 Our first-ever live episode from Sundance is here. I sat down with producer Gary Foster to talk about the seven-year journey of bringing "Bedford Park" to the screen—a deeply personal Korean-American story that almost didn't get made. We tackle:  How Gary met director Stephanie Ahn 12 years ago when she was an assistan...

Ever wondered how festival programmers decide which films make the cut? For our first episode of 2026, I'm joined by two incredible women who've been shaping the landscape of independent cinema for over a decade. Ana Souza has been with Sundance Film Festival for 10 years, working alongside some of the most exciting independent filmmakers in the world. Diana Cadavid is  currently Director of Indus...

When movie maestro and mixologist Paul Feig offers to teach you how to make a proper martini at 10a on a Wednesday, you say yes. It was thrilling to be tipsy before lunchtime. Almost as thrilling as it is to end 2025 with a conversation with the absolute icon that is director, producer, and comedy legend Paul Feig. Paul created the cult classic Freaks and Geeks, directed Bridesmaids, Spy, and A Si...

Barbara Muschietti is the phenomenal producer behind IT Chapter One & Two (combined $1.17B worldwide), The Flash, and the new Max series IT: Welcome to Derry. We actually met 5 years ago during my early podcast grind when I cold-emailed Barbara inviting her on the show. She said yes! She invited me to the Warner Brothers lot, to her office, and generously gave me almost 3 hours of her time. It was...

This week, I sit down with Alan Morales, co-founder of Civil Coffee, to explore the unexpected intersection of specialty coffee and film production in Los Angeles. Given LA's production crisis, I wanted to hear from someone on the ground—a small business owner in Highland Park who sees tons of filming and has thoughts on what producers and the city need to understand. Alan shares the espresso shot...

Hannah Lux is a powerhouse music video and commercial director who's created iconic visuals for Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Doja Cat, Nicki Minaj, and Lil Wayne. But her path to the director's chair wasn't traditional. Hannah shares her 20-plus-year journey in LA—from working as a makeup artist on set to directing Lil Wayne, Drake, and Future on "Love Me," which now has over 620 millio...

Happy Tuesday! Today is 11/11, a series of numbers that many see as a symbol of spiritual awakening, synchronicity, and alignment with the universe. I'm not too superstitious about these things, but when I catch it, it brings a smile to my face. Is it divine intervention or coincidence? And does it matter? In thinking about alignment, it feels very apropos to be sharing this particular conversatio...

Today's guest is Adrin Nazarian—former California State Assemblyman who helped triple the film tax credit from $100 million to $330 million during his decade in Sacramento, and now an LA City Councilmember who's fought to get that credit up to $750 million. Back in March, Adrin filed a motion with ten specific permitting reforms that passed city council unanimously unanimously to direct the Chief...

*Today's episode is brought to you by InkTip, a trusted cornerstone of the independent film industry, connecting talented filmmakers with visionary screenwriters. Head to InkTip.com to learn more.* What does it take to transition from behind the camera to the director's chair? In this inspiring conversation, Jihane Mrad Balaa shares her remarkable 20-year journey from Lebanese immigrant to working...

To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, we recorded a special roundtable episode to amplify three powerhouse Latina executives reshaping Hollywood: ✨ Erika Kennair - Head of Scripted for Mediapro Studios. Created NBC's Writers on the Verge, which helped launch many including Lauren LeFranc, showrunner of the Emmy award winning series The Penguin. ✨ Sonia Almanza Gambaro - Producer and President of...

Delighted to share this chat with Maryam Mehrtash, an entertainment executive specializing in global marketing and brand partnerships. Her journey embodies the American dream - from fleeing Iran as a refugee at age two to becoming a key player behind one of the most successful streaming platform launches in recent history. Maryam helped traditional media companies pivot from linear to digital duri...

Madelaine Petsch has a penchant for divisive female characters. You may know her best as from her role as Cheryl Blossom in the CW's hit series Riverdale," which ran for 7 seasons. She's recently been evolving into one of Hollywood's most promising young producers. She's currently starring in and producing the next installment of "The Strangers" horror trilogy for Lionsgate, which hits theaters th...

Jamal Watson's journey from South Central to Hollywood executive exemplifies the power of storytelling to transform lives. After finding inspiration in film during his youth, he started at Sony Pictures as a tour guide in 2003, building industry connections that would prove invaluable. His career accelerated through roles at Deluxe Film Services and a pivotal 2010 internship at Overbrook Entertain...

This week, we hear from Donna Washington, FilmLA's VP of Permit Operations. After the June 20th Board of Public Works hearing in Los Angeles, I was taken aback by the outrage and frustration permeating the halls of City Hall. So many folks I've grown up on set with voiced their extreme concern with the permitting process and costs in LA - one of the main blockers keeping productions from coming or...

Six months ago, Stay in LA co-founders Sarah Adina Smith and Alexandra Pechman came on the show to explain why their grassroots movement was desperately needed to keep film production in Los Angeles. Since then, they've racked up a good amount of wins —from helping secure California's $750 million tax incentive to advocating for permitting reform across LA County. Today we're joined by two other l...

Kicking off the new season with the spirited Adria Arjona for what was, incredibly, her first solo podcast ever. As someone whose face is literally on billboards outside my place currently, I found this fact both shocking and oddly kismet. It's a special treat to share this unexpected and refreshing punk rock side of her with you all. What you'll discover about Adria is that beyond being gorgeous...