Get Your Art On: Part 5

Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs

Stanley Kubrick for Look magazine, Rosemary Williams, Show Girl [Kubrick photographing Rosemary Williams], 1949 ©SK Film Archives/Museum of the City of New York

I have been a fan of Stanley Kubrick for nearly as long as I have been a fan of movies.  Dr Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Shining top the list for me in that I can watch them over and over and find some new delight in his dispassionate storytelling, dramatic soundtracks, and the aggressive symmetry of his composition.

Samantha Bee is a “Woman on Top”

Photo Credit: Getty Images for Turner / Monica Schipper

Earlier this month I attended the TBS-sponsored panel “Women on Top,” a discussion of how comedy is emerging as a power for change and how specifically Full Frontal with Samantha Bee is channeling this power.  Samantha Bee has managed to harness a rage that many women and men feel about current events, a perspective that women traditionally have not been allowed voice publicly.  Bee said, “Women have always been told that rational thought is the most important – not emotional intelligence.  Full Frontal pierces that and feels intimate and real.”

#metoo Full Circle

Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo speaks at the bill signing of the “Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act” at City Hall, May 9, 2018.

Yesterday was a full circle moment — to be present at City Hall for the bill signing of the “Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act,”  a comprehensive package of legislation strengthening New York City’s anti-sexual harassment policies and combating sexual harassment in the workplace.  Last month the City Council  passed 11 bills that will expand worker protections and improve transparency about harassment in city government— some of the toughest harassment protections in the country.

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio at the bill signing of the “Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act” at City Hall, May 9, 2018.

With the swiftness that the issue demands, the research and the passage of these bills has progressed rapid through local government in the wake of the #metoo movement to shine a light on sexual harassment and predation nationwide. The council members acknowleged that every new revelation of harassment and assault is a failure of the City to protect its most vulnerable residents.

Trailblazing Women in Film and TV

In Honor of Women’s History Month, Mellini Kantayya and I profiled some amazing women in television and film history for New York Women in FIlm and Television. This year’s theme—Trailbazing through the Decades.

Goodbye, Carl!

The Walking Dead, Season 8, AMC

The Walking Dead returned for the midseason premiere of Season 8 on Sunday and that means that Talking Dead is back!  8.3 million viewers said goodbye to Chandler Riggs whose character Carl finally met his demise.

Chandler grew up on the show, and this week Talking Dead aired never-before-seen footage of an interview that I shot with Chris Hardwick and Chandler on set in 2012.  They say that nothing measures time like children, so it was a special thrill for me to see this old footage from my first visit to the Walking Dead set.  Just a week earlier, I got the first call to direct interviews with Chris and cast. To prepare, I watched 8 hrs of episodes from the prison season and then got on a plane to Atlanta.  We arrived to scout during a night shoot. I can’t describe how creepy/awesome it was to have binged watched a show I love and then stand there on the prison set just a few hours later.  I love my job.

Watch Talking Dead every Sunday at 10pm ET on AMC. Check out exclusive interviews with cast & crew during my time on set in Atlanta.

A partial list of the imbalance of power that one woman has been subjected to during the first half of her life

Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway, The Daily Beast

1. You were my political science professor in undergrad who used to join me for coffee in the Student Union Building before class.  You asked for my phone number and then called my house to ask me out on a date.  I told you that I wasn’t comfortable with the fact that you were my teacher and that I hoped it wouldn’t affect my grade. You never talked to me again.  I earned an A.

2. You were a network executive who sat in a screening and ogled the daughter of one of our main characters in the show.  She was a blond young woman wearing a tank top, and even though she had nothing to do with the story, you joked about how she should get more screen time, especially from the waist up.

3. You were a government employee where I was an intern. You said lascivious things about me to the woman who shared the office. She laughed and said, “cut it out, she’s jailbait!”  You said, “jail would be worth it.”

True Crime: Relationships and Responsibilities

Death Row Stories, Bari Pearlman and Keith Davis. Photo credit – Bethany Dettmore.

I have been dying to write a blog about the growing demand for True Crime stories. From Serial, to The Jinx, to Making of a Murderer, nearly every outlet has an episodic investigative series. And now my friend Bari Pearlman and I have organized a panel discussion dedicated to the genre!  Bari, who has directed and produced two episodes of CNN Death Row Stories, will be joined by Kelly Laudenberg, creator of the Netflix series The Confession Tapes, and Stephanie Steele VP of current Production for Oxygen Media for an in-depth conversation about making crime stories that matter.  The panel will be moderated by journalist Andrea Marks. For more information about True Crime Stories: Relationships and Responsibilities on Wednesday Oct 25, 2017 at the Tribeca Film Center and to register, click here.    *This Q&A is published simultaneously on Huffington Post.