Happy Friday, Dear Listener!

Recently, I’ve been marinating on the concept of time. Before adding the role of Mom to my resume, I measured time in increments.

• Seconds ticked by clocks.

• Minutes marked by schedules.

• Years defined by achievements. 

But motherhood has re-written this equation. Time is now fluid, mercurial—a living, breathing entity that pulses with new rhythms.

It’s wild to think that it was a little over a year ago when I was trotting the streets of Belize capturing verité with my director and crew for the THE HONORABLE SHYNE. This documentary tells the the remarkable story of Moses “Shyne” Barrow, the Grammy Award-winning musician turned politician. The film premiered on Hulu at #1 last month! I plan to share more about the making of and behind-the-scenes soon.

It’s even wilder to reflect on the fact that I blinked and my son is now six and a half months old. Time has always been precious but now I’m reminded of it daily as I get to witness this tiny human, who is currently obsessed with hands and feet, figure out how to use them.

And while I’ve been doing the podcast for over 5 years, it somehow feels like I’m just beginning.

Amidst the challenges of this year, there have been tremendous opportunities as well. As I look towards my goals for 2025, I’m not waiting until January to begin. Time is flying by, so I’m starting now. Actually… I started in last month.

I returned from my self imposed maternity leave with some bangers! Ted Hope. Alice Brooks. And we will be dropping new episodes with exciting guests, including the Executive Producer of THE SUBSTANCE, in the coming weeks. 

In case you missed it, highly recommend checking out my chat with the revered indie film producer Ted Hope. He has produced over 70 films and also launched Amazon’s foray into feature film production, leading them to 19 Oscar nominations and 5 wins. His films have received 25 Oscar nominations, with 6 wins.

He brilliantly explains  the failures of the current industry model, pinpoints what missteps may have led us to this period of stagnation, and leaves us to ponder a question close to Ted’s heart: is there still Hope for Film?

I also invited fellow producer and friend Bobbi Sue Luther to catch up and hear her takeaways from our Ted talk (see what I did there!). Coincidentally, Ted was the executive at Amazon who acquired the 2020 film we produced called Sylvie’s Love starring Tessa Thompson.

This town is so tiny.

Last Friday, I was lucky to snag an hour with the wizard behind the lens of WICKED and fellow mom, Alice Brooks during the LA press tour. She previously shot TICK TICK …BOOM directed by Lin-Manuel Miranda and IN THE HEIGHTS, which was directed by her frequent collaborator Jon M. Chu. 

It’s incredible to see how much love (and how many nominations!) she is getting for her mastery on WICKED. A gentle reminder to all that this moment in Alice’s career is 30 years in the making… 

I genuinely loved every second of this conversation, but what I cherish most is hearing about her daughter’s experience of being immersed in Oz over the two years it took to make both films. Can you imagine how empowered she must feel to have spent a few years of her childhood wandering down the yellow brick road? Or how affirming it was to know that her opinion on details that ended up in the film matters to her (male) elders?

It absolutely gives me hope for film.

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

UPCOMING HAPPENINGS

Learning the CA Tax Credit Workshop - Jan - TBD We’ve invited someone special from the commission to breakdown the nebulous application process. Let’s make filming in CA sexy again.

AOP Mixers -  Back by popular demand, we will be doing more mixers in 2025! More soon.

PRODUCER’S CORNER

• READ | Martyr!: A Novel by Kaveh Akbar - A highlight of my year has been meeting likeminded women who love babies and books in equal measure. So much so that we started a book club and Martyr! was this month’s pick. The brilliant Emmy and Tony-nominated actor Arian Moayed narrates the Akbar’s poetic words beautifully. It’s a great reminder of the power of story to help us understand and see ourselves in another person’s culture. Link

• LEARN | Creating Original IP - Cheat code on how to create our own IP by showrunner Kit Steinkellner Link

• GROW | Antigravity Academy Short Film Studio - This grant is giving away $35k towards your short film. Deadline 1/3/2025 Link

• WATCH | The Last Showgirl by Gia Coppola - Pamela Anderson is transcendent in this role of a lifetime and I hope she goes all the way to the Oscars. Link