In Proximity

Kick off the new year with advice from industry pros: manager James Swoope on why you need “something to manage” before getting representation, actor/writer/producer Azie Tesfai on asking for what you want and crowning yourself, and designer Jeff Staple on balancing art with business. Part of our special "Prox Gems" holiday mini episodes. Learn more and read the transcript at ProximityMedia.com Sh...

Highlights from this season’s SINNERS episodes including: cultural consultant Dolly Li on Remmick’s infamous “licking” line, script supervisor Steve Gehrke on tracking continuity with Michael B. Jordan’s Smokestack Twins, and storyboard artist and EYES OF WAKANDA creator/director Todd Harris on storyboarding the surreal juke joint musical montage scene. Part of our special "Prox Gems" holiday mini...

Ammar Mohamed, filmmaker and assistant to Ryan Coogler, on how he broke into the industry, his infamous ID story, and a never-before-released story about a special day with Spike Lee. Part of our special "Prox Gems" holiday mini episodes. Learn more and read the transcript at ProximityMedia.com Shop our Prox Recs at Bookshop.org Watch/Listen to IN PROXIMITY on YouTube , Apple Podcasts , Spotify Fo...

Celebrate the holidays with IN PROXIMITY! Kicking off our series of holiday mini episodes, host Paola Mardo shares the best Prox Recs of 2025. Whether you’re looking for new books to read, films to watch, or advice to fuel your creative journey, this episode gathers this year’s pro recommendations on our podcast from Ryan Coogler, Ludwig Göransson, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Sev Ohanian, Steve Gehrke,...

From bookstore events to hosting the SINNERS Los Angeles premiere, what’s it like to start a film community from scratch? Armen and Mary Karaoghlanian, founders of Armenian Film Society, share how they turned their passion for cinema and community into a cultural hub that hosts major film festivals, galas, and premieres. They discuss their recent 10-year anniversary gala featuring a conversation w...

Step into the kitchen set with Courtney Storer, culinary producer and co-executive producer of FX's Emmy-winning series THE BEAR. In this special holiday episode of IN PROXIMITY, host Paola Mardo learns how to make Italian red sauce pasta while digging into what it takes to bring THE BEAR’S iconic food moments to life. Courtney shares exclusive behind-the-scenes stories from filming the intense ho...

You know that iconic SINNERS juke joint music montage? Todd Harris is the artist who helped bring that sequence to life. A veteran storyboard artist, Todd went from designing action sequences for blockbusters like BLACK PANTHER, AVENGERS, and JOHN WICK to creating, directing, and showrunning his own Marvel series and directorial debut, EYES OF WAKANDA. On this episode of IN PROXIMITY, host Paola M...

What can a $100K riot-inducing sneaker teach us about storytelling, design, and creativity? Jeff Staple’s 2005 Nike Pigeon Dunk didn’t just drop. It ignited a riot in the streets of New York City and helped rewrite the rules of streetwear, brand marketing, and storytelling through design. On IN PROXIMITY, Jeff joins host Paola Mardo to unpack how he built Staple into a global brand one shoe and co...

Azie Tesfai was on track to become a lawyer until a breakup led to an audition and a new career in acting, writing, and producing. She’s appeared on JANE THE VIRGIN, MATLOCK, and DC’s SUPERGIRL, where she starred as The Guardian and became the first Ethiopian and Eritrean person to portray a superhero on screen. She also wrote an episode of SUPERGIRL, working with mentor and executive producer Gre...

After a family tragedy landed her in foster care, Angelica “Angie” Nwandu turned to writing and poetry. Her first screenplay, NIGHT COMES ON, co-written with director Jordana Spiro, made her a 2014 Sundance Fellow where her mentors included Quentin Tarantino and Kasi Lemmons. The film starred Dominique Fishback and premiered at the festival in 2018 where it won the NEXT Innovator Award. But even a...

When Ryan Coogler needed someone to track every detail on SINNERS – including Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers Smoke and Stack – he called Steve Gehrke, the veteran script supervisor and longtime collaborator of Christopher Nolan. With credits that span MEMENTO, INCEPTION, THE DARK NIGHT, OPPENHEIMER, and the upcoming THE ODYSSEY, Gehrke shares what a Nolan set is like, how he keeps time st...

What’s a crafty run? Why wear a chest vest? What would you do if you lost your boss’ ID? Ammar Mohamed – assistant to Ryan Coogler, SINNERS associate producer, and filmmaker – joins IN PROXIMITY host Paola Mardo to share what it’s really like supporting one of Hollywood’s busiest directors today. From locking in on set to hard lessons learned on the job, Ammar takes us behind the scenes of SINNERS...

Are you a Hollywood assistant a.k.a. a rockstar with thick skin able to work in a fast-paced environment?! This is the episode for you! Assistants vs. Agents creator Warner Bailey joins IN PROXIMITY podcast host Paola Mardo to share how he turned his viral meme page into a community empowering the next generation of entertainment power players, and a business with a newsletter, job board, podcast,...

How did a documentary and Ryan Coogler’s Chinese family ancestry lead to a role consulting on the blockbuster film SINNERS? Journalist, documentary filmmaker, and SINNERS cultural consultant Dolly Li joins IN PROXIMITY podcast host Paola Mardo to talk about her work on SINNERS, her documentary THE UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICA’S SOUTHERN CHINESE, and why Remmick’s (Jack O’Connell) iconic lines about lic...

How do you get a manager? What’s the difference between a manager and an agent? James Swoope, talent manager at M88, breaks it all down with IN PROXIMITY podcast host Paola Mardo. From Cleveland to Hollywood, Swoope has built a career managing talent like Dominique Thorne (IRONHEART), actor and singer Coco Jones, designer and entrepreneur Jeff Staple, and athlete and podcaster Matt Barnes. In this...

Writer/Director Justin Tipping (KICKS, THE CHI) joins IN PROXIMITY podcast host Paola Mardo to break down the making of his new film HIM, produced by Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions. He reveals how grief and greatness shaped his bold mix of sports and horror, how Hitchcock and Busta Rhymes inspired the film’s genre-bending score, and how growing up Filipino (Ilocano, Visayan) and Scandinavi...

A voice memo from Ryan Coogler to Paola Mardo – writer, producer, Proximity Media’s head of audio, and the new host of IN PROXIMITY podcast! Starting Monday, September 22nd, catch weekly episodes with exciting guests pushing the boundaries of film, TV, music, art, and culture. Plus updates on Proximity’s latest projects like SINNERS, IRONHEART, EYES OF WAKANDA, and more. Available in video and aud...

From the Def Jam Poetry scene to the set of a major Marvel TV show, Oakland-raised writer, poet, rapper, actor, playwright, and screenwriter Chinaka Hodge knows how to tell an epic story. Her most recent project, the Marvel TV series IRONHEART, released to Disney+ in June. Starring Dominique Thorne, IRONHEART tells the story of “bad girl genius” Riri Williams on a mission to be the greatest invent...

Composer and executive producer Ludwig Göransson spoke with director, writer, and producer Ryan Coogler at his studio to talk about how the Delta blues and their family history inspired the film’s story and sound. They also break down the song “I Lied To You,” written by Ludwig and Raphael Saadiq, and performed by Miles Caton as Sammie in the film. Stay until the end for a special musical demonstr...

Cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw sat down with director, writer, and producer Ryan Coogler at IMAX headquarters to discuss their collaboration as director and DP, how they called Christopher Nolan and Hoyte van Hoytema for advice, and how they brought this movie to life on the biggest screen possible. With SINNERS, Autumn made history as the first woman to shoot a theatrical feature film in 6...

From FRUITVALE STATION to BLACK PANTHER, Rachel Morrison and Ryan Coogler are longtime friends and collaborators. Rachel is a groundbreaking director and cinematographer who made history as the first woman nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography for MUDBOUND and the first to lens a Marvel film with BLACK PANTHER_._ Her feature directorial debut, THE FIRE INSIDE, premiered at the Tor...

Veteran studio executive Courtenay Valenti began her career as an assistant at Warner Bros. in the 1980s, eventually rising to President of Production and Development. During her tenure, she championed major hits including BARBIE, THE COLOR PURPLE, and Proximity’s JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH. Today, Courtenay is Head of Theatrical and Streaming Films at Amazon MGM Studios where she oversees the co...

We took a trip to Gardena Cinema, one of the last family-owned, independent movie theaters in Los Angeles, to try and answer a simple question: What’s it like to own and operate an indie movie theater today? Proximity’s Head of Audio Paola Mardo talks with owner Judy Kim about how her immigrant parents built their business after they bought the single-screen theater in 1976, why she had to pivot a...

GMORNING, GNITE! everyone's a aliebn when ur a aliebn too. BOJACK HORSEMAN. GOODBYE, AGAIN. Jonny Sun is a film and TV writer, producer, author, and illustrator who has worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda and Damon Lindelof. His background is in architecture and engineering as a doctoral candidate at MIT and a creative researcher at the Harvard metaLAB. His writing career took off after he created the...

Jon Else is an award-winning documentarian, cinematographer, and MacArthur Genius grant recipient. Over 40 years before Christopher Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER, Jon directed THE DAY AFTER TRINITY, a documentary film about J. Robert Oppenheimer. For almost two decades, Jon led the documentary program at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism where he met then journalism student, now collaborator and f...