Happy Sunday, Dear Listener!

This was meant to reach you Friday mid-air on my journey home to Los Angeles, but the internet gods were not on my side, and I had to endure a 12-hour flight completely disconnected from the world wide web. Can you even fathom it!?

PS. Always reminds me of this hilarious bit about plane travel.

And just like that, a phenomenal week long whirlwind of Cannes has wrapped. She ate croissants while strolling La Croisette. She burned the roof of her mouth eagerly devouring what might have been the best croque monsieur her taste buds have ever encountered—worth every searing bite. And yes, she drank an average of five glasses of wine a day because, I mean, when you're perched above that view with rosé catching the golden hour light, who has the willpower to say no?

Being at the festival this year felt like stepping into a dream I'd been sketching in the margins for years. Also bumped into Anora’s Alex Coco on my way to dinner! While I wasn't there with my own film (yet!), I got to reconnect with some incredible women who remind you that while this crazy industry pulls at your soul, it’s still worth pursuing.

The Breaking Through the Lens action grant finalists left me genuinely impressed, ScarJo’s directorial debut Eleanor the Great swept me off my feet and Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value moved me in ways I'm still processing. He's outdone himself and really deserved the Palme d'Or.

It was an extremely special time for Brazil as it was the 2025 Country of Honour during this year’s festival. This holds special significance as it coincides with the Brazil-France Season, a year-long celebration marking 200 years of diplomatic and cultural ties between the two nations.

I’m so proud to have been in the Lumière theater for Kleber Mendonça Filho’s premiere of O Agente Secreto (The Secret Agent). He took home best director and the film’s lead, Wagner Moura, won best actor. A first ever for Brazil!!! 🇧🇷 

Did my mom’s brigadeiros inspire his performance? I’d like to thank so…

The main reason I traversed over to the French Riviera was to moderate a panel and help give an award for the Produced by Visionaries event at the Forbes Villa.

It was a treat to be in conversation Eva Longoria, Ro Donnelly and Sam Rocanelli of Dakota Johnson’s production company and Teatime Pictures.

Alongside WScripted and Callo, we had to make the difficult decision to choosing only one producer to take home the inaugural Emerging Producer Award, presented by Eva Longoria with a grant from the Golden Globes Foundation.

Huge congratulations to Apoorva Guru Charan, producer of Joyland, for being genuinely disruptive in your approach to the work! Here’s a fun recap.

And to everyone who applied—know that choosing just one person to publicly acknowledge felt impossible. We see you. I see you. And I appreciate the work you're doing. Keep going. Keep doing the damn thing.

I know it's tempting to look at moments like these and measure your own journey against them. This visible moment feels well-deserved because behind the scenes, I've been diligently keeping my head down and working—on my projects, my slate, and certainly on the podcast, which demands much time and care.

My expectations for myself and what I create have always run high. I certainly fall into the trap of comparing my show to those with full-time teams and proper budgets. I've generally flown solo with a few co-pilots along the way, and I'm beyond grateful for their support and enthusiasm.

It's so easy to fixate on what's not happening, what's not working—especially when so much of our daily experience in this industry is shaped by rejection. The "no's" pile up like unread scripts.

So I hope you take a moment to celebrate your wins, small and sweeping, because they all matter. They're what fill our sails with confidence despite the headwinds we face and that invisible horizon that always seems just out of reach…

Have a marvelous Memorial Day weekend!

As always, thanks for doing this life thing with me!

HIGHLIGHT EPISODE

I'm not one for Star Wars fare, but when I received a call from UTA to moderate a conversation with Andor Executive Producer Sanne Wohlenberg and Director of episodes 1-6, Ariel Kleiman, I knew I had to.

Not because I initially felt compelled to do so but simply because my husband said "Babe! You have to say yes. This is one of the best shows I've ever seen."

This convo turned me into a fan… I regret nothing.

Tony Gilroy, the mastermind behind Andor and the screenwriter who gave us the Bourne franchise, was also in the house that night. The show tells the story of Rebel spy Cassian Andor's formative years of the Rebellion and his difficult missions for the cause.

What struck me most wasn't just their craft, but their refreshingly honest approach to stepping into the Star Wars universe as relative outsiders—and how that outsider perspective became their secret weapon.

The conversation was filled with those behind-the-scenes war stories I absolutely live for. I mean, they literally grew wheat for 14 months just to have a three-week golden window to shoot, only to have it rot during the strike!)

But beyond the production tales, what emerged was a masterclass in how to honor a beloved franchise while bringing something genuinely fresh to it.

_{THREE TAKEAWAYS}

✔️ Being an outsider can be your biggest asset. Both admitted they weren't mega Star Wars fans and intentionally sought out department heads who hadn't worked on the franchise before. This fresh perspective allowed them to approach the material as storytellers first, not just franchise guardians—resulting in the grounded, character-driven drama that makes Andor feel so different.

✔️ Practical over digital creates authentic emotion. Their obsession with shooting everything in-camera and building real sets (even storing harvested wheat at Pinewood for six months) stems from an indie film mentality. As Sanne put it, "we would rather be creative about reusing a set rather than leaning into VFX." This commitment to practical filmmaking grounds even the most fantastical elements in tactile reality.

✔️ The human story must come first, always. Every creative decision—from Chandrilan wedding customs to Imperial family dinners—starts with the human drama. As Ari noted, these stories would hold up even if you told them "right now or in a few streets down the road." The galaxy far, far away is just the creative challenge layered on top of universal human experiences.

PRODUCER’S CORNER

• READ | Media Mogul Barry Diller - Tell All Memoir About Hollywood. Link

• INSPIRE | The Psychology of Magic - And What It Teaches Us. Link

• GROW | Former FBI Agent - Body Language and Success. Link

• WATCH | Female Captive - A short film by Brit Crawshaw and Josh Hayward that I executive produced is live on Omeleto! Link