Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa

Samantha Housman dreamed of making John Hughes type of films for her generation. That wish took her on a journey west to Los Angeles when she was 16 years old. She came solo and without knowing a single soul in the business. The City of Angels quickly became her playground and it was by juggling a job a record store and playing the drums that she found her in to the business. When a golden opportu...

Dan Seaver is the Executive Director and a co-founder of ManifestWorks. After a career in journalism and government, Dan spent a decade as a youth advocate while volunteering with kids incarcerated in Los Angeles County. ManifestWorks is a response to that experience, a solution to the problem of system-impacted people blocked from their potential. ManifestWorks is an incredible immersive program...

Rishi Rajani is a voracious book reader and creator of protest art. He is President of Film/TV at Hillman Grad Productions , Lena Waithe's production company. Born in London and raised in Upstate NY and Portland, Oregon, Rishi discovered his love for producing while studying at NYU. He got his start as an intern at 20th Century Fox's book to film division. Realizing that he needed to be in LA to a...

Mel Jones is a multitalented producer and director. A Howard University graduate, she earned her MFA at the American Film Institute in Producing. Jones worked in development at Participant Media under producer Jonathan King and marketing guru Ricky Strauss. A Project Involve Fellow, Jones assisted veteran producer and LA Film Festival director, Stephanie Allain – a gig which turned into a five-yea...

Bronwyn Cornelius is a Sundance and SXSW Grand Jury Award-winning producer. She is also a fellow list maker and paper store enthusiast. A champion of diverse storytellers, she is currently developing Kenyan political thriller  The Czar ; a feature adaptation of the YA novel  When We Collided , starring Laura Marano; comedy sketch series  A Brief History of Misogyny  in partnership with Nina Tassle...

Sarah Anthony is a dear friend and an award winning documentary producer. She produced the Netflix film Bikram: Yogi, Guru, Predator . She was the lead Producer on the Grammy-winning HBO documentary series, The Defiant Ones , and on The Price of Free (formerly titled Kailash), a documentary about child slavery which won the 2018 Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize. Sarah began her documentary caree...

Dejan Poletan is a producer and creative director in the world of fashion and print. Growing up near Frankfurt, Germany, he knew at a young age that he wanted to become an agent of change. Dejan graduated from the London College of Fashion with a degree in branding. In London, he intensified his creativity while working with prestigious brands such as Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Karla Otto, Ralph La...

Jacqueline Dalunde is the founder and Executive Producer of apparentlyjack , a production and development company based in LA. I've known Jack for quite some time and feel fortunate to consider her a friend and ally. She was one of my first interviews when I started the pod. I was a HOT MESS. Talk about mistakes. I had major technical issues, the room we chose was echo AF. I felt really embarrasse...

Stacey Feinberg is a producer and investor who is extremely passionate about supporting women. She came into my life recently, and when a mutual contact mentioned she was an investor and producer on JAGGED LITTLE PILL on Broadway, I knew I had to talk to her. Especially after my last episode with Tony Award nominated producer Rachel Sussman. Stacey sunk her teeth into business while assisting her...

Rachel Sussman is a Tony Award-nominated theater producer who believes in hope, not optimism. Rachel has been on my radar for a while and our interview was almost a year in the making. She got busy, then I got busy, and then the universe finally carved out a time for us to record last Saturday, after Covid-19 turned our world upside down. She also happens to be in quarantine with her BFF, the Marv...

"What happens right now is that everybody wants to, you know, not get the coffee. Everybody has to pay their dues, and in paying your dues, it's about learning. That's what so important to me. It's like, you will get there. but you know, it's slow and easy and you don't want to be the person who goes in and basically gets the job in a year, year and a half but doesn't have the knowledge." - Merri...

Cory Bennett Lewis is the Head of Physical Production at Bad Robot, J.J. Abrams' production company. Nestled inside a beautiful glass box lovingly referred to as "Sugar Shack" (behind it's quintessentially J.J . headquarters ), Cory gives us the three key ingredients for her recipe for success. Ready? Deep breathing (generous portions) Visualization (to taste) Naps (as often as needed) Cory began...

Britt Robertson and Wesam Keesh are two faces you may immediately recognize. As actors, they have built impressive careers for themselves. Hungry to explore other sides of their creativity, however, they recently produced their first project together. This dynamic duo met on the set of Shondaland's FOR THE PEOPLE on ABC , which unfortunately only lasted two seasons. I have personally known Wesam f...

Erica Kay is a badass UPM and Producer with over 20 years of experience in studio films and television. A life long New Yorker who started in production right after graduating from Colby College, she recalls not knowing anyone in entertainment and discovering producing by accident. It was via an internship on CENTRAL PARK WEST , the 90s drama created by Darren Starr, (yes, the mastermind behind SE...

Academy Award nominated producer Chelsea Winstanley fell into producing. Her career actually began as a writer/director almost 20 years ago. Producing accidentally became a means for allowing her to direct. And then she found out she was quite good at it. Google results also reveal that her husband is Taika Waititi. The writer/director/actor just took home the Academy Award for Best Adapted screen...

Fiona Walsh Heinz redefines multi-tasking. Prior to our interview starting, she juggled making snacks and getting her 21-month-old daughter ready for an outing with dad so we could record WHILE growing another human inside her. NO. BIG. DEAL. It was inspiring to witness a producer, a mom, a pregnant woman…in her power. Originally from the Bay Area, Fiona has 14 years of experience in feature films...

JENNIFER GLYNN is a film and commercial producer. She's had her hand in many indie films, including one of my favorites, SOUND OF MY VOICE written by and starring my girl crush, Brit Marling. We gush over how Brit was destined for greatness. A practical nuts and bolts producer, she explains why the UPM and line producer roles are often confused on smaller projects. This particularly chat was recor...

"You're not getting no's because your stuff isn't good. It's probably good, it's just not great. So how do you separate yourself from a lot of good material that is out there in the digital era? How do you cut through the noise?  You cut through the noise by trying to put something exceptional together and not stopping short of anything exceptional."⁣⁣ -Khaliah Neal -- Picking up where we left off...

Excited to kick off a new year, new decade, with the marvelous and inspiring Khaliah Neal ! She is an independent producer most recently known for producing THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO alongside Plan B and A24 which premiered in competition at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. The film won the Grand Jury Awards for Best Direction and Best Creative Collaboration and is in theaters now.  It i...

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Happy Holidays! A quick note that I'm taking a wee break for the holidays, but am excited to resume with more incredible guests and chats in 2020. Until then, this week I sat down with Emmy nominated filmmaker Xan Aranda . She's a producer/showrunner/director/writer who has been described as a unicorn: a producer with both the logistical and creative brain. We've been circ...

Zoe Jaeger is a senior in high school and aspiring producer. She is also going to be our intern for a few weeks on a school assignment. She's interested in learning how she can contribute to equality and inclusivity behind the camera. While she was born in Champaign, Illinois, she's spent most of her life moving around. Her mom, a pastor, and her dad, a retired film professor, eventually settled i...

Robin Hopkins is in the middle of a big life transition. She's been a producer for Spotify's "Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith" podcast since 2016. Now in it's 4th season, the show features Amy and her hilarious comic friends Rachel Feinstein (whom I adore and met thanks to the Women in Comedy doc I've been producing!) , Bridget Everett, and Keith Robinson dish about their lives, pop culture...

Bobbi Sue Luther  is a one-of-a-kind multifaceted human. She's loud, she's relentless, and she's a dear friend.   We've done two movies together MISS VIRGINIA starring Uzo Aduba which just premiered this year, and SYLVIE starring Tessa Thompson coming to a theater near you in 2020.   She has been a wonderful mentor and has taught me how to find my "inner Luther" aka fierceness. She doesn't care wh...

Mathew Ferrante is the VP of Physical Production at Paramount Pictures. Listening and editing this week's episode felt a bit like uncovering a time capsule. At the time of this recording way back in January of 2019, Mathew (yes, with one T because he's cool like that) had been at Paramount for 5 years. So, it's wild to think in a few short months he will have been there for 6 years. The bullet tra...

Stephanie Allain is a legend. She is the OG of what she describes as the "true badass bitch era of Hollywood", power suits and all. Not gonna lie, it was the highlight of my month to spent this hour with her. Through her production company Homegrown Pictures , she's produced Hustle & Flow , Something New , Beyond the Lights, Dear White People, Burning Sands, French Dirty, Leimert Park, Juanita and...