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Talkhouse

Ryan Spahn is an actor, filmmaker and writer. He has been published by Rotten Tomatoes, Metro Weekly, USA Today, IntoMore, and American Theatre Magazine. As an actor, he can be seen in American Horror Story, Succession, The Bite, Chicago P.D., and Modern Love. Ryan is a graduate of Juilliard and is based in New York City. Go <a href="https://linktr.ee/RyanSpahn" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> for more info.

Ryan Spahn

Film

That Time I Tried to Get the Stage Rights to My Favorite Film, Newsies (When I Was 12)

Jessica Dimmock is an award winning filmmaker and photographer based in Brooklyn, New York and the director of the new Hulu true-crime series <a href="https://www.hulu.com/series/captive-audience-a-real-american-horror-story-d840873f-211e-47a8-864b-8aa7c54d193c" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Captive Audience</a>. She is the recipient of numerous international awards including an Emmy for The Gallagher Effect (FX/Hulu), a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Inge Morath Award from Magnum and the Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography. Her directing credits include Flint Town (Netflix), Unsolved Mysteries (Netflix), The Weekly (FX/Hulu) and Home (Apple TV). When she is not working on her photography or film work, Jessica is leading a campaign to ensure that members of the Directors Guild of America retain their healthcare when they have a child.
Piper Weiss is a writer and the co-executive producer of Hulu&#8217;s Captive Audience. Her memoir, You All Grow Up and Leave Me, published by HarperCollins, was included in best books lists for Marie-Claire, CrimeReads and Vulture. She recently adapted the book into a feature-length screenplay for JAX Media.

Jessica Dimmock and Piper Weiss

“Truer Than Any Documentary”

Olympian turned writer-director Gigi Gaston’s latest film, the drama thriller <a href="https://screenmediafilms.net/film/3443/9-Bullets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">9 Bullets</a> starring Lena Headey, Sam Worthington, Dean Valesquez, La La Anthony and Barbara Hershey, is in theaters from April 22. Over the course of her accomplished creative career, she has directed music videos, features and an award-winning Sundance documentary. Gaston began pursuing Olympic equestrian show jumping at 11, and became the youngest rider ever to win an Olympic Competition when she took top honors at the Washington International Horse Show at 17. Continuing to ride competitively, she also began to pursue writing, selling her first script, Like a Lady, to Miramax and Drew Barrymore. Additional script sales followed, including Mockingbird, an action-sci-fi-love story based on the award-winning Walter Tevis novel of the same name, and a historical drama Madame Lupescu, which Universal purchased for director Ron Howard, and Unreliably Yours to director Garry Marshall. Gaston made her directorial debut shortly thereafter with Sundance Channel documentary The Cream Will Rise, showcasing Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, Sophie B. Hawkins. Since then she has directed countless music videos (including Olivia Newton John’s “I Honestly Love You”), as well the action heist Rip It Off, starring Nastassia Kinski, Alyson Hannigan and Jennifer Esposito. In 2014, she wrote and directed the stage play Room 105: The Highs and Lows of Janis Joplin, which starred Sophie B. Hawkins in the title role and was held over for an extended six-month run in Los Angeles to sold out audiences.

Gigi Gaston

Be Strong. Don’t Quit.

Jack Dunphy is a filmmaker, animator, actor and writer from Chicago whose short films Serenity and Chekhov have played at Sundance, AFI and festivals around the world. His latest short, Bob&#8217;s Funeral, won Best Nonfiction Short Film at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. His new podcast, Revelations with Jack Dunphy, premieres on October 15. His short film Revelations premiered at Slamdance and went on to play the Champs-Élysées Film Festival in Paris, France. His short film Brontosaurus played the True/False, Nashville, Florida, Philadelphia and Cucalorus film festivals. He starred in Assholes (directed by Peter Vack) which won the audience award at SXSW. He co-wrote Stinking Heaven, which premiered at the International Festival of Rotterdam, with Nathan Silver, and wrote, edited and produced Silver’s The Great Pretender, which played Tribeca, AFI and festivals around the world. (Photo by Shutterstock.)

Jack Dunphy

I’m Thinking of Ending Things — No, Really.

Ito Aghayere is currently playing young Guinan in Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard, taking on the role originated by Whoopi Goldberg. Ito is Nigerian, Canadian American and a former White House intern. Ito was recently seen in the sitcom Carol’s Second Act, starring opposite Patricia Heaton and Kyle McLachlan. Her other TV credits include: Instinct, The Blacklist, Elementary, Doubt, Braindead, Orange is the New Black, The Knick, Unforgettable and Forever. Her film credits include Logan Lucky and Goldie. She made her Broadway debut in Ayad Akhtar&#8217;s Tony Award-nominated financial thriller Junk at Lincoln Center Theater. In 2016, Ito starred Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in Danai Gurira&#8217;s critically acclaimed play Familiar in a role in which she was nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play. She was most recently seen on Broadway in Bernadette/Hamlet opposite Jane Lynch. Ito attended Duke University where she received her BA and then went on to Columbia University for her MFA. She currently resides in Los Angeles.

Ito Aghayere

The Case for Empathy

Kelsey Peterson is the co-director, producer and subject of the new documentary <a href="https://www.movemedoc.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Move Me</a>, which world premiered at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and is currently steaming as part of the <a href="https://reelabilities.org/newyork/film/move-me/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ReelAbilities Film Festival</a>. She was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, and received her BFA in Dance from the University of Montana in 2008, and later, her yoga teacher certification from CorePower Yoga. Her previous path was interrupted when she sustained a spinal cord injury in 2012 and became paralyzed from the chest down. But Kelsey continues to dance, now from a wheelchair. She is a dancer, choreographer, writer, and filmmaker. She currently serves as co-director, choreographer and dancer on A Cripple’s Dance, a live music and dance production featuring inter-abled artists. (Photo by Mercedes Jelenik, courtesy of Submerged Film LLC.)

Kelsey Peterson

Undefined: A Lifelong Journey with Adaptation and Self-Love

Micaela Wittman is a Los Angeles-based actress, writer and director. Her feature debut, Clairevoyant, received international distribution with Gravitas Ventures/Myriad Pictures. She has also appeared in shows such as Teen Wolf, Modern Family and Sharp Objects. Her next film, Remy &amp; Arletta, will be released this fall. (Photo by Arthur De Larroche.)

Micaela Wittman

How Being a Failure Led Me to Making My Feature Debut

David Licata’s latest documentary, <a href="https://alifesworkmovie.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Life’s Work</a>, about people engaged with projects or research they may not see completed in their lifetime, is streaming now on Kanopy and is coming soon to the Boedecker Theater in Boulder, Colorado, and elsewhere. His previous film Tango Octogenario was broadcast on cable and PBS stations across the country, and screened at festivals internationally, including New Directors/New Films, the Tribeca Film Festival, and dozens of others from Yokahama to Krakow. David’s literary work has appeared in numerous journals, such as The Literary Review and Pilgrimage, he has written for ESPN, contributed articles and conducted interviews for Filmmaker Magazine, and written film reviews for the film compendiums The Blockbuster Video Guide to Movies &amp; Videos and Seen That, Now What?

David Licata

“When Will You Make an End?”

Erin Vassilopoulos is filmmaker based in New York. Her directorial feature debut, <a href="https://www.factorytwentyfive.com/superior" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Superior</a>, which she co-wrote and co-edited, premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival and opens theatrically at BAM on March 25 through Factory 25. Her short films have screened at Sundance, the Berlinale, BFI London Film Festival, and Tribeca, and have been featured at Vimeo Staff Picks and ARTE TV. She is now developing her next feature film, What We All Want, a mystery/psychological drama about characters whose lives intersect in a dying mall and also in post on Step into the Mattress, a short film supported by grants from the Future of Film is Female (2021) and New York State Council on the Arts (2019). In addition to filmmaking, she has directed music videos for Horsegirl, Parquet Courts, The Wants and NOIA. (Photo by Marie Constantinesco.)

Erin Vassiloupoulos

How the Elevator of Blood from The Shining and a Breakup Inspired My Film Superior

Patrick Forbes’ latest film, The Price of Truth, is playing this week at the <a href="https://prod5.agileticketing.net/websales/pages/info.aspx?evtinfo=369302~d5a11db3-b3ba-440c-a208-47197fa86ccd&amp;epguid=2cd910cc-5aa5-4eb1-bcb4-ce4c28f56d04&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sedona International Film Festival</a>. His previous documentary, <a href="https://greenwichentertainment.com/film/the-phantom/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Phantom</a>, a film about how the State of Texas knowingly sent an innocent man to his death and left a serial killer at large, is now streaming on Netflix. His career began as a very junior researcher on a BBC series, when he was arrested after discovering Britain had a (secret) spy satellite. At that moment, it was clear that documentaries offered a lot more excitement and interest than his previous career as an economist. He’s gone on to become one of Britain’s best documentary directors – winning the Best Director BAFTA for his Channel 4 series The Force, Best Series BAFTA for The National Trust (BBC), and having his documentary feature about Julian Assange, Wikileaks; Secrets &amp; Lies, premiere at SXSW, before being seen around the world.

Patrick Forbes

The Other F-Word

Rob Schroeder&#8216;s feature film directorial debut, <a href="http://www.magnetreleasing.com/ultrasound/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ultrasound</a>, is out now in theaters and on demand through Magnet Releasing. He began his film career as a music video director and independent producer. He co-founded Lodger Films in Los Angeles and currently produces and directs the Emmy-winning PBS series Variety Studio: Actors On Actors, now in its 14th season. (Photo courtesy Magnolia Pictures.)

Rob Schroeder

How My Local Comic-Book Shop Led Me to My Debut Feature

Wes Hurley was born Vasili Naumenko in Vladivostok, Soviet Union. After immigrating to the U.S. with his mother, Hurley studied drama, interdisciplinary arts and film at the University of Washington. His autobiographical dark comedy, <a href="https://www.potatodreamfilm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Potato Dreams of America</a>, premiered at SXSW 2021 in Narrative Feature Competition and is currently available on VOD and DVD. He has written, directed and produced dozens of award-winning queer shorts, three feature films and two seasons of Capitol Hill, a series he created for the Huffington Post which went on to be picked up for television in Europe and Canada. Hurley is a recipient of Creative Capital Award, Seattle Mayor&#8217;s Office of Arts and Culture Award, City Arts Magazine&#8217;s Artist of the Year and Advocate Magazine&#8217;s Person to Watch. His documentary short Little Potato won the Jury Prize at SXSW, along with 27 other awards around the world, and is currently streaming on Criterion Channel. (Photo by Bronwen Houck.)

film essay