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Talkhouse

Kimmy Gatewood is an Emmy Award-winning actor, writer and director whose latest feature as director, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descendants:_Wicked_Wonderland">Descendants: Wicked Wonderland</a>, premieres on the Disney Channel on July 16, and will be available to stream on Disney+ from July 17. She got her start as an actor, performing improv comedy at the UCB Theatre in New York City, and her first documentary feature film, Nerdcore Rising, about the rise of nerdcore hip-hop, premiered at SXSW in 2008. She went on to direct many acclaimed series like Girls5eva, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Single Drunk Female, Timeline, Ghosts, Up Here and The Big Leap. She won a 2021 Daytime Emmy for Best Directing for her work on Sesame Street, was nominated for directing Emmys for Baby-Sitter’s Club and Muppets Mayhem. Her feature directorial debut Good on Paper, starring Iliza Shlesinger, premiered in Netflix’s top 10 in summer 2021. She also directed Patti Harrison and Tim Hedeicker in Team Coco’s audio movie My Guy Died, streaming on Audible. She was most recently the producing director for Season 2 of Fox’s Going Dutch, starring Denis Leary. You may also recognize her from her on-screen role as Coach Crowley on Netflix’s series Atypical and Stacey on Netflix’s critically acclaimed series GLOW. (Photo by David Astorga / Disney.)

Kimmy Gatewood

Film

What I Learned Directing My First Franchise Film

Zachary Ray Sherman is an actor, director, writer, and producer from Portland, Oregon, whose new film <a href="https://tubitv.com/movies/100022519/all-that-fall" target="_blank" rel="noopener">All That Fall</a> is now streaming. After early success opposite Kirsten Dunst in Lifetime’s Fifteen and Pregnant, and as Jasper on the CW’s reboot of 90210, Sherman has gone on to build an impressive acting resume balancing television work (Netflix’s Everything Sucks!) with edgy roles in independent films (Archie’s Final Project, West Virginia Stories, Cuck). Sherman has also directed three feature films to date: Particular Crowd and Mar Vista’s upcoming Do You Hear What I Hear, the award-winning indie All That Fall and HBO’s Young Hearts, a sweet and touching coming-of-age film executive-produced by the Duplass brothers. He will soon be seen in the indie dramas The Send-Off, produced by Glenn Howerton, and Can’t Seem to Make You Mine, opposite Lindsay Burdge, and is currently starring in Hulu’s Under the Banner of Heaven starring Andrew Garfield, created by Dustin Lance Black from the book of the same name by Jon Krakauer, and executive-produced by Jason Bateman and Brian Grazer. (Photo by David Zaugh.)

Zachary Ray Sherman

When Art Finally Catches Up to You

Lily Lady is an artist from New York City. Lily&#8217;s journalism can be found in Office and Dirty Magazine and their feature film, <a href="https://www.factorytwentyfive.com/sams-world" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Sam&#8217;s World</a>, is available digitally on Tubi, Amazon Prime and more platforms via Factory 25. Lily’s full length poetry collections are quickie (2022), NDA (2024) and Blood Brother (2026). (Photo by Max Lakner.)

Lily Lady

Fear Factor’s Animal Problem

Benjamin Wagner’s new documentary feature, <a href="https://www.friendsandneighbors.mov/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Friends &amp; Neighbors,</a> which addresses the current mental health crisis by “looking for the helpers” in post-pandemic America, is now streaming on PBS and is also available on video on demand on Apple and Amazon. Made his Wagner Brothers filmmaking partner and brother, Christofer, Friends &amp; Neighbors was inspired by Benjamin&#8217;s <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/friends-neighbors/id1534821326" target="_blank" rel="noopener">podcast of the same name</a> in which he speaks with CEOs, artists, authors and athletes about cultivating depth and simplicity in complex times. Benjamin also researched, wrote, voiced, scored, produced and co-directed the brothers’ 2012 PBS documentary, Mister Rogers &amp; Me, which explores the roots of TV icon Fred Rogers&#8217; values, unmasks the forces acting against depth and simplicity, and helps viewers develop the means to lead deeper, simpler lives.

Benjamin Wagner

Why I Stopped Running Away (and Made a Documentary About It)

Baltasar Kormákur is an Icelandic actor and filmmaker whose work spans theater, movies and television. His latest film, Apex, starring Charlize Theron, Taron Egerton and Eric Bana, is now streaming on Netflix. He is the director of Icelandic films including 101 Reykjavik, The Sea, Jar City, The Oath and The Deep, the latter of which was shortlisted for the foreign language Academy Award. Since 2008, Kormákur has directed and produced several non-Icelandic features, such as Contraband, starring Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster and Kate Beckinsale; 2 Guns, with Denzel Washington and Wahlberg; the epic adventure movie Everest, with an ensemble cast featuring Jason Clarke, Josh Brolin, John Hawkes, Sam Worthington, Emily Watson, Keira Knightley, Robin Wright and Jake Gyllenhaal; the ocean survival tale Adrift, starring Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin; and the survival movie Beast, starring Idris Elba and Sharlto Copley.

Baltasar Kormákur

Three Great Things: Baltasar Kormákur

Steven Knight is a prolific writer for film and television whose latest movie, <a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81319485" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man</a>, is out on Netflix on March 20. Before becoming a screenwriter, Knight worked in television and was one of the creators of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. His films as a screenwriter include Dirty Pretty Things (directed by Stephen Frears), Eastern Promises (directed by David Cronenberg), Allied (directed by Robert Zemeckis) and Spencer (directed by Pablo Larrain), and he directed his own screenplays for the films Locke starring Tom Hardy, Redemption with Jason Statham, and Serenity, starring Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. On the small screen, he has created and written many TV shows, including Peaky Blinders, SAS: Rogue Heroes, A Thousand Blows and House of Guinness. (Photo by Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Netflix.)

Steven Knight

Three Great Things: Steven Knight

Mary Houlihan is a standup comedian, writer, and artist based in Brooklyn &amp; Los Angeles whose newest project, The Mary Houlihan Show, is now streaming on <a href="http://youtube.com/maryhoulihan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">YouTube</a>. She has appeared on The Chris Gethard Show, Broad City, Danny’s House, Billy On The Street, Rachel Dratch’s Late Night Snack, and Jimmy Kimmel Live. She writes for The New Yorker and McSweeney’s, and made the artwork for Joe Pera Talks With You on Adult Swim.

Mary Houlihan

Walden, But Good

David Moscow is the co-creator, executive producer, and host of <a href="https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/tv/from-scratch/8466767356134323112" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From Scratch</a>. David made his feature film debut at age 13 in Big, starring as the young Tom Hanks; years later, he starred with Christian Bale in Newsies. He has appeared in over 40 films, television shows, and theater productions in his 40-year career. Most recently, David founded the production company The Hubris. He has executive produced more than 20 feature films, including Under the Silver Lake, To Dust, Strawberry Mansion and Wild Nights with Emily. David also develops mixed-income sustainably green apartment buildings. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Karen Moscow, and two children.

David Moscow

As a Creative, Sometimes You Have to Start From Scratch

Jon Stahl is a writer and producer operating at the intersection of traditional media and the creator economy. He worked in the writers’ room on the final two seasons of HBO’s Veep and wrote on FOX’s animated sitcom HouseBroken. He is the author of <a href="https://substack.com/home/post/p-153332382" target="_blank" rel="noopener">How Not to Be a TV Writer</a>, a Substack newsletter discussing creative work and industry change, and the creator of the comedy micro-series <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@CasenPointe" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Casen Pointe: True Crime Detective</a>, which premiered on Jan. 20th, 2026. He is the Chief Creative Officer of Pointfake Media, where he focuses on comedy-forward storytelling, and the CEO of Prolog, a creative development software platform which was acquired in 2025.

Jon Stahl

From Newsletter to Pilot: How I Accidentally Rebuilt My Writing Career

Nick Dawson talks with filmmakers, musicians and comedians whose work he loves, avoiding the mundane, predictable questions they&#8217;ve heard numerous times and instead asking substantive, thoughtful questions that get to the heart of who they are.

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That

Podcast

Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That: Sarah Sherman

Walker Kalan is a filmmaker based in New York. <a href="https://www.inylseries.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I Need Your Love</a>, the comedy series he co-created with pop singer Camille Trust, premiered at Tribeca, won a jury award at Slamdance, and is now available on YouTube and Spotify. Walker’s previous work has won jury awards at Brooklyn Film Festival, HollyShorts, and Ventana Sur. He’s currently developing a drama series set at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships and training his rescue hound, Snoopy, for her on-camera debut.

Walker Kalan

How to Bribe a Priest, and All the Illegal Things We Had to Do to Make Our Series

Cooper Raiff is a filmmaker-actor from Dallas, Texas, now based in Los Angeles. His innovative drama series <a href="https://mubi.com/en/us/series/hal-harper" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hal &amp; Harper</a>, starring Lili Reinhart, Mark Ruffalo and Raiff himself, is now streaming on Mubi. His debut feature, Shithouse, had its world premiere at the 2020 SXSW Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature, and his second film, Cha Cha Real Smooth, starring Raiff, Dakota Johnson, Vanessa Burghardt and Raúl Castillo, premiered at Sundance in 2022.

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