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Talkhouse

Alina Adams has worked for ABC Daytime, Procter &amp; Gamble Productions, and the Daytime Emmy Awards. Her tie-in novels, Oakdale Confidential (As the World Turns) and Jonathan’s Story (Guiding Light) were New York Times bestsellers, while The Man From Oakdale won a Scribe Award from the International Association of Media Tie-In Writers. She wrote the officially sanctioned continuations of Another World with Another World Today, and Guiding Light with Mindy’s Twitter. She currently writes for SoapHub.com, which originally serialized her May 2025 historical fiction novel, <a href="https://www.historythroughfiction.com/go-on-pretending" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Go On Pretending</a>, which is set in the 1950s world of radio soaps as they transition to television, and what that means for the show’s African-American leading man. Read more at <a href="http://www.alinaadams.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">AlinaAdams.com</a>.

Alina Adams

Film

Is It Time for Women to Reclaim the Soap Opera?

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

Jim Archer&#8216;s debut feature as director, <a href="https://www.focusfeatures.com/brian-and-charles/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Brian and Charles</a>, is out now in theaters and on digital through Focus Features. Jim cut his teeth shooting comedy sketches with friends before writing and directing his debut short film Intervention. He has since gone on to win gold at the Young Director Awards in Cannes, be awarded three Vimeo Staff Picks (one a &#8220;best of the month&#8221; Staff Pick) for his short films and earn plaudits for his television work. He directed the second series of the hit BBC sitcom The Young Offenders and most recently wrapped on new Channel 4 series Big Boys.

Jim Archer

Intelligent Stupidity: On Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace

Shaina Feinberg (she/her) is an award-winning American filmmaker and writer. She spent her twenties making a stoner, punk sketch show called The Spew. She has been on This American Life, was a resident at Space on Ryder Farms (2018) and Twenty Summers (2021), a Reel Families for Change grantee (2022) and a recipient of the Reboot Studios grant (2023). Her film My Mom&#8217;s Eggplant Sauce (2022) played festivals around the world, including Hot Docs, Rotterdam International Film Festival and Palm Springs, won her a Best Director award and is featured on Short of the Week. Her short doc A Brief History of Hating My Face (2023), was commissioned by the New York Times. Her film Cleo From 8:20 to 2:35 premiered at the Aspen Film Festival (2024). Shaina is the author of three books, has written for The New Yorker, The Washington Post and Tablet and writes regularly for the New York Times. Her films and books have been written about in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Bust, Broadly, Logo, THEM, Indiewire and more. She is currently working on a film about Joan Darling, the first woman to be nominated for an Emmy in directing. She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their two children.

Shaina Feinberg

Kindred Spirits: Shaina Feinberg in Conversation with Joan Darling

Alex Thompson grew up watching Humphrey Bogart films with his Popou and making movies, back when Coltneck Lane was still a cul de sac. He graduated from DePauw University and worked in casting before directing his first short, starring Olympia Dukakis and Rose Gregorio. He directed and produced Saint Frances, which won the Audience Award at SXSW in 2019. His second feature, Rounding, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022 while Ghostlight, which he co-directed with Kelly O&rsquo;Sullivan, opened the Sundance Film Festival in 2024. He has been nominated for the Bingham Ray Breakthrough Director Prize at the Gotham Awards and the Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. His latest feature, Mouse, which he co-directed with O&rsquo;Sullivan, premiered at the 2026 Berlin Film Festival.

Alex Thompson

Play It Again, Kim: Keeping Up with the Kardashians is the 21st Century’s Casablanca

Andrew Herr stars in the hilarious Hulu comedy series Letterkenny as the cocky but at times, dim-witted hockey player Jonesy. The series, which has been praised by critics and audiences alike and won the award for ‘Best Comedy Series’ at the Canadian Screen Awards in 2017, is now in its tenth season and is now streaming on Hulu. A Toronto native, Andrew made his acting debut starring as Mark Howe,’ a former NHL player and the son of legendary hockey player Gordie Howe, in the film Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story. A former junior hockey player for the Gananoque Islanders and the Napanee Raiders, Herr found an interest in acting after appearing in a high school production of the satirical play Never Swim Alone. Herr went on to attend the University of British Columbia (UBC), and upon graduation attended the Vancouver Institute of Media Arts.

Andrew Herr

My Biggest Failure (and How it Led to Where I Am Today)

Gianna Toboni is the director of the new three-part series Small Town Secrets: The Disappearance of Denise Pflum, which premieres on Vice TV on January 11. She is a multi-award-winning filmmaker with more than 40 films that have aired on HBO, Showtime, Hulu and VICE. She serves as a senior correspondent and producer for VICE News. Toboni was one of the first journalists in the world to interview ISIS fighters on the frontlines in Iraq. She’s covered escalating cartel violence and political corruption in Mexico, embedded with two Saudi sisters as they escaped their abusive family, forced marriages and country’s archaic guardianship system, interviewed the founder of Hamas in Gaza during the 2014 Palestinian uprising, tracked down Nigerian pirates at their illegal oil refineries, and interviewed an American death row inmate hours before his scheduled execution. Before joining VICE News in 2013, she worked as a correspondent for Al Jazeera and as a producer for ABC News. Toboni was named to Forbes&#8216; 30 Under 30 list for Media, is a TEDx Speaker and Peabody Finalist. She’s received an Emmy, GLAAD, Front Page, Gracie, and Webby Award for Best Documentary Series.

Gianna Toboni

To My Fellow True Crime Fans

Ebonée Noel is currently starring as the lead of OWN’s <a href="https://www.oprah.com/own-thekingsofnapa/kings-of-napa-coming-to-own-january-2022" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Kings of Napa</a>, a drama series centered on the power struggle between wealthy vineyard-owning siblings which premieres on January 11. Her additional television credits include series regular roles in FBI and Still Star Crossed, along with work on TBS&#8217;s Wrecked, Law &amp; Order: SVU and Eye Candy for Jason Blum, and her feature credits include I Love You Daddy and Long Nights, Short Mornings. Ebonée grew up around the world attending school in Cambodia, Croatia, Ethiopia, and Israel. She is a graduate of New York University&#8217;s Tisch School of the Arts and trained at the prestigious Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. She resides in New York. (Photo by Emily Assiran.)

Ebonée Noel

Five Essential Truths About Performing I Learned From Watching Wrestling

William Horberg executive produced The Queen’s Gambit and is currently an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics for penning the lyrics for the show’s original song, “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ3VSFStd6w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I Can’t Remember Love</a>”. He is the founder of Wonderful Films, an independent film and television production company, and recently produced the noir thriller The Burnt Orange Heresy and Flag Day, starring and directed by Sean Penn. Previously, Horberg was the President of Production at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, producing Paul Greengrass’ United 93 and executive-producing such films as Billy Ray’s Breach, Kasi Lemmons’ Talk to Me, Craig Gillespie’s Lars and the Real Girl and Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York. Horberg was also an executive producer on Milk, starring Sean Penn and directed by Gus Van Sant and the producer of The Kite Runner, based on the best-selling novel by Khaled Hosseini. Prior to forming Wonderful, he was partnered for 12 years with Academy Award-winning filmmakers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella in their film and television production company, Mirage Enterprises, where he produced such films as Minghella’s Cold Mountain, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, Phillip Noyce’s The Quiet American, Tom Tykwer’s Heaven, Peter Howitt’s Sliding Doors and Steven Zaillian’s Searching for Bobby Fischer. Horberg was formerly a Senior Vice President of Production at Paramount Pictures. He is the Chair Emeritus of the Producers Guild of America, East.

William Horberg

The Hand Double

Best known for his portrayal of Walter “Flynn” White Jr. on Breaking Bad, RJ Mitte is an actor, advocate and philanthropist who has carved out his niche in Hollywood by breaking down stereotypes and changing people’s mindsets with his easy going demeanor and positive outlook. He currently stars in the inspirational wrestling drama Triumph, also Terrence Howard. At the age of three, Louisiana native Mitte was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, but that has never deterred his drive to succeed in television and film. A chance encounter with a casting director led to his move to Los Angeles and Mitte quickly landed roles on various shows such as Weeds, Vegas, Everybody Hates Chris and co-starred on ABC Family’s primetime hit show Switched at Birth, before being cast in his life-changing role on Breaking Bad. Mitte has since made his way to the big screen, starring in multiple indie films in the past few years, including Dixieland, starring in his first non-handicapped leading role, and Time Share, winner of Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Screenwriting in 2018. (Photo by Bobby Quillard.)

RJ Mitte

Three Great Things: RJ Mitte

With more than 100 film, television and stage credits to his name, Joe Pantoliano is a prolific American character actor who has played many diverse and memorable roles, from his breakthrough as Guido in Risky Business, to Eddie Moscone in Midnight Run, Cosmo Renfro in The Fugitive, Cypher in The Matrix and Teddy in Memento (2000). Joe has worked with many of Hollywood&#8217;s brightest talents, both on-screen and off, including Richard Donner, Steven Spielberg, Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, Harrison Ford, Tommy Lee Jones, Wesley Snipes, Christopher Nolan and many others. He is a winner of a primetime Emmy for his work on The Sopranos (1999), for which he also received two SAG Award nominations. His latest film, Sean Cisterna’s <a href="http://www.samuelgoldwynfilms.com/from-the-vine/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">From the Vine</a> – in which he plays a downtrodden CEO who experiences a moral crisis, travels to Italy and discovers new life by reviving his grandfather&#8217;s old vineyard – is now on VOD and all digital platforms. He will also be hosting new podcast, No Kidding, Me Too, with co-host daughter Daniella Pantoliano, on which the two will have conservations with noted celebrities and other high-profile professionals regarding mental health and how we all deal.

Joe Pantoliano

Best of 2020: Joe Pantoliano on Schitt’s Creek

Jim Hemphill is the writer and director of the award-winning film <a href="https://www.facebook.com/troublewiththetruth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.facebook.com/troublewiththetruth/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567688259834000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEfdWVn5INQ2VaFYkDfqCAJ1hDMVw">The Trouble With the Truth</a>, which is currently streaming on <a href="https://amzn.to/2Q20O6F" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://amzn.to/2Q20O6F&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567688259834000&amp;usg=AFQjCNE0fujkM407hiTH5e2ZBjQK8VSaCA">Amazon Prime</a> and other platforms. He has written about movies and television for Filmmaker magazine, American Cinematographer and Film Comment, and is the author of The Art and Craft of TV Directing: Conversations with Episodic Television Directors. He also serves as a film historian at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and has contributed audio commentaries to DVDs and Blu-rays for Indicator, Shout Factory, the BFI, and other home video labels. His website is <a href="http://www.jimhemphillfilms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.jimhemphillfilms.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1567688259834000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHaS2u3V0GTADaZ-lbaGzXANhioeQ">www.jimhemphillfilms.com</a>.

Television