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Talkhouse

DGA Award-nominated director Traci Hays’ new feature, the dark comedy <a href="https://tubitv.com/movies/100000963/blood-sweat-and-cheer" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Blood, Sweat and Cheer</a>, is now streaming on Tubi. The film follows a suburban divorcée (Pretty Little Liars’ Tammin Sursok) masquerading as her teenage daughter (Monroe Cline) in a twisted attempt to make the dance squad at a local high school. Traci’s directorial debut, Tangled, a romantic comedy based on the series by New York Times best-selling author Emma Chase, premiered in 2022 and was named a “must-see movie to watch on Valentine’s Day” by The Hollywood Reporter. An alumna of Chapman University’s film program, Traci was awarded an apprenticeship with Randal Kleiser, who continues to be an active mentor in her career. When she’s not directing, you’ll find Traci hiking in the Glendale mountains, listening to classic jazz and making mouth-watering cheeseboards.

Traci Hays

Film

Making the Leap

W. Kamau Bell’s new documentary <a href="https://www.hbo.com/movies/1000-me-growing-up-mixed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed</a> airs on HBO on May 2. He is a stand-up comedian and the director and executive producer of the four-part Showtime documentary, We Need To Talk About Cosby, which premiered at Sundance. He also hosts and executive-produces the Emmy Award winning CNN docu-series United Shades of America with W. Kamau Bell. His new book, Do the Work: An Antiracist Activity Book, co-written with Kate Schatz, came out in 2022. His most recent stand-up comedy special, Private School Negro, is available on Netflix. Kamau’s first book has an easy-to-remember title, The Awkward Thoughts of W. Kamau Bell: Tales of a 6&#8242; 4&#8243;, African American, Heterosexual, Cisgender, Left-Leaning, Asthmatic, Black and Proud Blerd, Mama&#8217;s Boy, Dad, and Stand-Up Comedian. He’s the ACLU Celebrity Ambassador for Racial Justice and serves on the board of directors of Donors Choose and the advisory board of Right To Be (formerly Hollaback!). (Photo by Aundre Larrow.)

W. Kamau Bell

Three Great Things: W. Kamau Bell

Jimmy Akingbola currently stars as the Geoffrey in Season 2 of <a href="https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/bel-air" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bel-Air</a>, the dramatic re-imagining of the &#8217;90s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. His documentary <a href="https://www.peacocktv.com/watch-online/movies/handle-with-care-jimmy-akingbola/e511b912-3ac3-324c-b4c8-70dd60a179ee" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Handle With Care</a>, a deeply personal story which traces his own journey with adoption and uncovers the truth about growing up in the care system in England, is now streaming on Peacock. Jimmy’s other recent credits range include the Emmy-nominated Most Dangerous Game, the Emmy-winning Ted Lasso for Apple TV+ and the CW’s Arrow, in which he played arch-villain Baron Reiter. His previous television includes BAFTA-winning comedy REV., which also starred Olivia Colman and Tom Hollander, and Cheat. (Photo by TriForce Productions.)

Jimmy Akingbola

When Art Imitates Life

Alison Star Locke moved a lot as a kid with her single mother, growing up mainly in San Antonio and Oakland. She earned a B.F.A. in Filmic Writing from USC, where she won the Jack Nicholson Screenwriting Award. She began her writing career as a story producer for reality TV and has written, directed and produced numerous shorts. Her favorite, Shhhhhhh&#8230;, was laureled-up by the Los Angeles Film Festival and the Denver Film Festival. Her script The Projectionist won second place at Slamdance in the Horror/Thriller category. Her scripts have placed in numerous contests, including the BloodList, Nicholls, Screamfest, Women in Horror Film Festival, Scriptapalooza and Fright Night. After staying home to advocate and care for her daughter, Bethany, who was diagnosed with autism, she returned to work this year to make The Apology, her first feature as a writer-director, starring Anna Gunn, Linus Roache and Janeane Garofalo. She lives with her husband and daughter in the Los Angeles area.

Alison Star Locke

On Bad Sisters: Fighting Back Against Being Smaller and Quieter

Ron Hill is a self-proclaimed giant nerd hailing from a farm in New Hampshire. His first job out of college was a night assistant editor at World of Wonder. At one point someone thought letting him edit on UNHhhh was a good idea and the world has been suffering the consequences ever since. His work includes serving as the international writer and producer of Morning T&amp;T with RuPaul&#8217;s Drag Race UK talent The Vivienne and Baga Chipz, as well as playing the Cowardly Lion in his middle school&#8217;s production of Wizard of Oz.
Originally from Baltimore, Jeff Maccubbin arrived in L.A. with nothing but his car and a film degree. He quickly entered the comedy scene, horrifying audiences across Los Angeles with his so-called &#8220;jokes.&#8221; Under the pseudonym “Evil Jeff,” he started his own YouTube channel that garnered millions of views before joining the World of Wonder family. Jeff is one of the main editors of the award winning YouTube show UNHhhh starring Trixie and Katya. He has also worked on dozens of other WOW productions including The Vivienne Takes on Hollywood and his latest show, <a href="https://www.wowpresentsplus.com/why-r-humans" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Why R Humans?</a>

Ron Hill and Jeff Maccubbin

Short Attention Span vs the Robot Apocalypse

Nathan Willett formed Cold War Kids in 2004. Writing, recording, touring and performing has consumed him ever since.

Nathan Willett

The Lying Life of Adults, a Coming-of-Age Story Turned on Its Head

Dylan Playfair&#8216;s diverse body of work in front of the camera includes the critically acclaimed comedy series Letterkenny and Disney&#8217;s reboot of The Mighty Ducks, as well as roles in Netflix, Syfy and a host of theatrical release productions. Behind the camera, Dylan&#8217;s directing experience includes broadcast commercials, music videos and narrative production. With director-producer Jen Araki, he owns a production company, Media Button, in Vancouver. (Photo by Kate Whyte.)

Dylan Playfair

My Love Affair with Attention Deficit Disorder

Best known as one half of the hilariously irreverent, satirical, counter-culture, no-holds-barred duo Cheech and Chong, Cheech Marin is an actor, director, writer, musician, art collector, and humanitarian, a man who has enough talent, humor, and intelligence to do just about anything. He can currently be seen in the romantic comedy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Shotgun-Wedding-Jennifer-Lopez/dp/B0B76RKBLJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shotgun Wedding</a>, also starring Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel, Jennifer Coolidge, Cheech Marin and Lenny Kravitz, which is now on Prime Video. His long-awaited memoir, Cheech is Not My Real Name…But Don’t Call Me Chong!, was released in 2017. (Photo by Gage Skidmore, via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cheech_Marin_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wikipedia</a>.)

Cheech Marin

Three Great Things: Cheech Marin

Emily Bennett is an award-winning writer, director and actor. Her most recent film, <a href="https://darkstarpics.com/alone-with-you" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alone with You</a>, which she stars in and wrote and directed with Justin Brooks, was released in 2022 by Dark Star Pictures. Her screenplay Ache placed as a quarter-finalist in the Academy Nicholl Fellowships in 2020. Bennett’s short film LVRS screened at Sitges and the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival, and won her best Director at the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival. Her short film Bed screened at Fantasia in 2021 and has already secured distribution on Gunpowder &amp; Sky’s horror platform prior to its ongoing festival run. In addition to her ongoing partnership with Justin Brooks and Untapped, Bennett has been hired to direct the upcoming horror film The Vineyard, with Daryl Freimark producing. (Photo by Keith Barraclough.)

Emily Bennett

Underrated/Overlooked: Emily Bennett on Men

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz is a writer/director working in New York and Los Angeles. She received her BFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she completed her thesis film Transit, starring Dakota Johnson. After graduating she assisted filmmakers Alejandro Iñárritu on The Revenant, Joachim Trier on Louder Than Bombs, and Cary Fukunaga on True Detective. Sarah was a Sundance Fellow in the 2017 Writer’s Intensive with her feature Good Girl Jane. She directed a proof-of-concept short film of the same name, which garnered interest and financing for the feature. Good Girl Jane recently premiered in U.S. Narrative Competition at Tribeca Film Festival 2022 and won the Founders Award for Best U.S. Narrative Feature as well as Best Performance in a Narrative Feature for Rain Spencer. The film is written by Mintz and is inspired by events in her own life. Sarah is interested in stories that explore the complexities of human nature and the beauty that lies in gray areas that are often overlooked.

Sarah Elizabeth Mintz

Underrated/Overlooked: Sarah Elizabeth Mintz on Sharp Stick

Melissa Lesh, with Trevor Frost, directed the documentary <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wildcat-Melissa-Lesh/dp/B0B6NWQ7JJ" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wildcat</a> – about a British soldier with PTSD and an American scientist who together raise an ocelot to release back into the wild – which is now available to stream on Amazon Prime. She founded the production company Emerging Earth Films as a way to bridge the gap between the arts and sciences, focusing on natural history and conservation stories. Her first award-winning documentary, James River Sturgeon, was a collaboration with scientists to uncover the uncharted migration of the endangered Atlantic sturgeon. Lesh is the co-director and editor of Person of the Forest and has worked for such clients as Nat Geo Wild, National Geographic magazine and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lesh was born in Mumbai, grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and lives in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo by Berkley Nestler.)

Melissa Lesh

To the Rainforest’s Credit

Deborah Goodwin is a writer-director-producer whose work in film and television began as a development executive for Sanford-Pillsbury Productions (Desperately Seeking Susan, River’s Edge, How to Make an American Quilt). Deborah’s Urbanworld Film Festival Best Screenplay win for her darkly provocative family drama Cherrys launched her filmmaking path. She has written for Emmy-winning and Independent Spirit Award-nominated producers, and for shows like the cult favorite horror series Tales from the Cryptkeeper. She is a Film Independent and IFP lab fellow and an ABC and NBC diversity showcase director, best known for her horror fable Vampires in Venice and her action/drama The Pastor, released by Fathom Events and AMC. Her Icelandic noir Snaeland, which she co-wrote and produced, premiered at the Vail Film Festival and screens in the Brooklyn Film Festival 2020. Deborah is a Sundance Collab advisor and screenwriting professor at Brooklyn College, and a newly minted co-creator and writer of the noir-crime-thriller series Hot Freeze, with Canadian producer Nomadic Pictures (Hell on Wheels, Van Helsing, Fargo).

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