Jonathan Lisecki (Gayby) Talks with Sarah Gertrude Shapiro (UnREAL) for The Talkhouse Film Podcast

The creator of the best new TV show of the summer chats about her (long-gestating) overnight success.

By Jonathan Lisecki and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro

2:00 AM EDT on August 7, 2015

On this latest episode of the Talkhouse Film podcast, Gayby's writer-director Jonathan Lisecki talks about the best new TV show of the summer, UnREAL, with Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, its co-creator, writer and supervising producer. The pair discuss Shapiro's background, her inspirations, how she turned an award-winning short film into a hit TV show in record time, getting over "the Lifetime of it all," and much more. For more filmmakers talking film and TV, visit Talkhouse Film at talkhouse.com/film.

The music featured in the podcast is as follows:
1. Intro / outro underscore: “Plastic Man vs. The Giant Red Phase Of The Sun” – Iced Ink

Episode recorded by Jonathan Lisecki and edited by Elia Einhorn

Jonathan Lisecki

Independent Spirit Award-nominated writer/director/actor Jonathan Lisecki made his feature film debut with the romantic comedy Gayby (2012), adapted from the award-winning short film of the same title. He lives in New York and Los Angeles with his husband, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross. You can follow him on Twitter at @jonnynyc.

Sarah Gertrude Shapiro

Sarah Gertrude Shapiro is the co-creator, writer and supervising producer of Lifetime's hit drama series UnREAL, based on her SXSW award-winning short film Sequin Raze. UnREAL won the Critics' Choice Award for Most Exciting New Series, and was called “summer's best TV show” by The Daily Beast and “one of the most interesting dramas in recent memory” by Vulture. In 2013, Shapiro was one of eight women chosen for the AFI Directing Workshop for Women.