The Firecracker Department with Naomi Snieckus

Our fifth spotlight is on actor, producer, director, writer, voice over artists, TINA HUANG. She's been onscreen in Rizzoli & Isles, Days of Our Lives, Grey's Anatomy, Shameless, The Office, Criminal Minds, and SO much more! She's been onstage in Revenge Porn, Cult of Love, Brain Problems, and is a founding member of Ammo, the Ammunition Theatre Company in Los Angeles. Tina was also a member of IA...

Our guest on the show this week is comedian, emcee, writer, producer, CORY MACK! Cory has been living in Calgary and performing stand up comedy now for over 30 YEARS! She was the producer and founder of the YYComedy Festival, and ran the festival for 7 years. Cory has starred in her own Comedy Now Special on the Comedy Network, performed at Just For Laughs International Comedy Festival, the Hubcap...

Our guest on the show this week is actor ENID-RAYE ADAMS! Enid-Raye has been working in the industry for over 30 years, most recently in You Me Her (which you can find on Netflix or Crave) and Hospital Show on Youtube. She's appeared on TV in Arrow, Lucifer, Riverdale, Van Helsing, and on the big screen in Good Boys, A Guy Thing, and Final Destination 2, to name just a few!    This is one of our l...

Our guest on the show this week is author, psychotherapist, radio broadcaster, former diplomat, and former Miss World, JENNIFER HOSTEN! S he represented Grenada at the Miss World Contest in 1970 and won (!!!) making her the FIRST woman of colour to take the title.    Jennifer has worked in radio broadcasting, earned two Masters' degrees, served as Grenada's High Commissioner to Canada, as a Canadi...

We have a brand new Reel Women's Network creator spotlight for you! our FOURTH Firecracker Department Spotlight is playwright, filmmaker, author, teacher, BROOKE BERMAN.    Brooke has written and directed shorts Uggs For Gaza and All Saints Day, adapted her play SMASHING for Natalie Portman (!!!) and has written features for The Mark Gordon Company, Vox Films, and Red Crown!    Beyond her filmmaki...

Our guest this week is writer/producer/director MELANIE OATS! She has written, directed, and produced five short films, a digital comedy series AND was also the Costume Designer for two features! Lately, Melanie is currently in development with her second feature film, Sweet Angel Baby.    Follow Melanie Oats! Twitter: @MelanieAHelena Instagram: @mel.anie.oates @bodyandbonesfilm   Follow Melanie's...

Our guest on the show this week is writer, podcaster, comedian REBECCA LEIB! Most recently, she's been working as a writer-producer on NatGeo's "Brain Games" reboot with Keegan Michael Key! Rebecca has also been a writer for Disney, CBS, NBC Digital, and Investigation Discovery! She's written hilarious and brilliant stuff online for VICE, Reductress, LA-ist, LA WEEKLY, The Rumpus, and more! And yo...

Our guest on the show this week, our ONE HUNDREDTH Firecracker, is writer, director, producer, founder of BIPOC TV & Film NATHALIE YOUNGLAI Natalie's gone from being a professional harpis t to reality TV Director, to Screenwriter! Right now, Nathalie's  working on a few projects in development and is a Writer/Co-Producer on CBC's Coroner, which you can catch new episodes of on Wednesdays at 8pm Ea...

Our guest on the show this week is filmmaker and Director of Programs and Partnerships for Women's Voices Now, Ariana Thielenhaus! Ariana oversees the entire Women's Voices Now film festival, plus their online film collection and the Girls' Voices Now youth program. She believes in the power of story and film to shift culture and accomplish positive change, and has a passion for womens and girls r...

It's that time of the month! We have a brand new Reel Women's Network creator spotlight for you! Our THIRD Reel Women's Network Spotlight guest is writer, director, editor, producer EMMALIE EL FADLI!    She made her directorial debut with the lesbian short film 'Seasons' (2016) which now has over a million views on YouTube! Emmalie co-wrote the 2018's "The Date," a lesbian short film which you can...

Our guest today is singer, voice & performance coach ELAINE OVERHOLT! She has worked with SO many incredible performers and is an incredible performer herself! From John Travolta, Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer on Hairspray, to Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renée Zellweger, and Queen Latifah for the Oscar-winning 'Chicago'.    She's also worked with Shawn Mendes, Jim Cuddy, Alannah Myles, Jully Black, Ja...

Our guest today is Emmy award winning actor, author, advocate, screenwriter, beautiful human, JO VANNICOLA! Jo has been acting in the industry for years, most recently in Slasher, Street Legal, Stonewall, and Being Erica. They sit as the chair of outACTRAto, the LGBTQ+ committee at ACTRA Toronto, and is the founder of Youth Out Loud, a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness about child abuse. J...

In November, we announced our partnership with Reel Women's Network, a new online streaming service that showcases films, series, documentaries, podcasts, and digital content created by women filmmakers and content creators. Our second Reel Women's Network Spotlight guest is two-time Emmy Nominated Actor, Documentary Filmmaker, ANDREA EVANS! She has starred on four different soap operas on three d...

Our guest this week is TV writer EMILY SCHMIDT! Emily was the Writers' Assistant for Netflix's "Girlboss," staffed on the Netflix multicam "No Good Nick"and an on-set joke writer for Kay Cannon's "Blockers." When she's not writing or trying to write, Emily is usually watching "The Golden Girls" and baking!   She's currently writing for a new series on FOX called 'This Country," led by Jenny Bicks...

This week on the podcast, our guest is sound designer and composer Nainita Desai! Nainita's worked on documentaries, film, tv,  commercials, musicals, video games... her credits are amazing and so is she! She's the first composer we've had as a guest! She has scored countless BAFTA, Oscar, Emmy acclaimed productions including 2020's FOR SAMA. Her most recently released project is the Sundance Doc...

Our guest on the pod this week is one of my favourite people, DANIELA KELLOWAY! Daniela runs CLUTCH PR in Toronto and is an amazing publicist. We spoke when she was just starting her amazing new Book & Brunch event series, co-founded with her sister Zuzanna! She hosts these awesome events with - you guessed it, books AND brunch, and it's now in FORTY CITIES!   Follow Daniela @thekelloway , @clutch...

Our guest on the podcast today is actor, writer, MARY SOHN! You've seen Mary on TV in Teachers, Comedy Bang Bang, Superior Donuts, Bajillion Dollar Properties, Work in Progress on Showtime, and A.P. Bio on NBC. You may remember her from the Work in Progress panel we hosted back in July, with Abby, Celeste, Kate, and Mary herself!    Stream A.P. Bio on Peacock! Stream Work in Progress on Crave or S...

We're officially launching a monthly Spotlight Series with the Reel Women's Network! Our first Reel Women's Network Spotlight guest is Emmy winning actor and producer Crystal Chappell! Crystal, along with Linda and Jessica Hill, launched the Reel Women's Network in April of this year. She's a longtime soap star and the creator and star of the Emmy-winning Venice the Series! It debuted in 2009 and...

This week Veronica Martin joins Naomi, Emily and AJ to chat about Molly McGlynn's Episode. They discuss her confident approach to directing, hiding the internal chaos and how to identify and normalize failures. Enjoy! Catch up with firecracker core members Naomi @Naomi Emily @emchurchill AJ @atotheje and core member Veronica Martin the newest Firecracker Aftershow now! If you haven't yet heard thi...

Our guest this week is writer, director, Molly McGlynn! Molly has directed a ton of TV, from Speechless and Bless This Mess on ABC to Grownish on Freeform, Workin Moms and Bad Blood for Netflix, the Emmy-nominated web series How To Buy A Baby! Her first film Mary Goes Round, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2017, was nominated for AND won a bunch of amazing awards!...

For the July Spark Chat, I caught up with director Renuka Jeyapalan! She's directed episodes of Kim's Convenience, Workin' Moms, Murdoch Mysteries, and film too! We talk learning guitar and baking in quarantine, family lockdown routine, remote post production, and more! @rjeyapalan  Every first Sunday of the month, I talk to a past guest about what's going on with them now, and we release it as a...

Naomi, AJ, Emily and guest Core Member Sarah Beaudin got together to talk about the one and only Erin Karpluk! All four could not get over her humility, kindness, and genuine excitement for the work she gets to do! Catch up with firecracker core members Naomi  @Naomi  Emily @emchurchill AJ @atotheje and Sarah Beaudin on the newest Firecracker Aftershow now!  If you haven't yet heard this week's ep...

Today's guest on the pod is actor, ERIN KARPLUK! She played the titular role on Being Erica, and you can see her soon in a recurring role on A MILLION LITTLE THINGS on ABC!  She's been on your TVs for years in Being Erica, Slasher, Rookie Blue, Masters of Sex, Saving Hope, Supernatural, and a TON of other shows. Her role as Pepper is the first crossover character to be featured in both 911 and 911...

Our guest today is cinematographer TAMI REIKER! Tami is best known for her work on HBO's Carnivàle, and with Gina Prince-Bythewood on The Old Guard and Beyond the Lights. Most recently, Tami worked with Regina King on her feature directorial debut One Night In Miami. She was the first woman to win an American Society of Cinematographers Award AND the first woman to ever be nominated! We talked abo...

Naomi, AJ, Emily and guest Core Member Anna Gustafson got together to talk about the hilarious panel Naomi hosted at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival in 2019. On the panel were history-making comedians: Marla Lukofsky, Monica Parker, Gay Claitman and Rosemary Radcliffe. What a wild conversation they got into and the Firecracker team had a blast talking about the dedication, the fearless desire to...