Interview

Director Producer

“Hawkeye” Director & Executive Producer Rhys Thomas Hits His Mark

Let’s say you’re a director, and you’ve been called in for a “general meeting” at Marvel Studios. A general meeting is a chance for studio executives to get to know a particular filmmaker, see what they’re like and what they’re interested in, but they’re not pegged to a specific project. Not yet. Obviously, a general meeting with Marvel is a big deal, and the number of Marvel projects percolating at any given moment is massive,

By Bryan Abrams  |  November 24, 2021

Interview

Actor Producer Screenwriter Showrunner

How The “Dopesick” Creative Team is Shining a Light on the Opioid Crisis

Hulu’s new limited series Dopesick is about the origins of the national opioid epidemic. No matter what you think you know, Dopesick will open your eyes to a new level of brazen overreach and hubris on the part of Big Pharma. The series, which stars Micheal Keaton, examines ways in which the drug company Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family made billions by introducing the highly addictive drug OxyContin, leading to an unprecedented nationwide struggle with opioid addiction.

By Leslie Combemale  |  October 12, 2021

Interview

Director Producer

“We’re Here” Director Peter LoGreco on Season Two of HBO’s Joyous Unscripted Series

“Drag heals the world!”

So declares drag queen Eureka O’Hara on the new season of HBO’s Emmy-nominated unscripted series We’re Here. Even the most diehard skeptic will find it hard to disagree with her.

Season 2 of We’re Here launches today and coincides with National Coming Out Day, which celebrates the act of coming out as LGBTQ and reassures those who cannot that they are loved.

By David Thorpe  |  October 11, 2021

Interview

Producer

Vietnamese Filmmaker Tran Thi Bich Ngoc on Her Country’s Emerging Talent

Independent Vietnamese producer Tran Thi Bich Ngoc was on a shoot in Dong Nai near Ho Chi Minh City in May when the latest wave of COVID-19 hit the country hard. She has since been working from home as the production, a local TV series directed by Phan Dang Di, had to halt. Another new project, Pham Ngoc Lan’s Culi Never Cries, which was scheduled to start filming in Hanoi in July,

By Silvia Wong  |  September 16, 2021

Interview

Producer Screenwriter

Writer/Producer Max Borenstein Delves Into the Human Cost of 9/11 in “Worth”

This September marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11. While many of the events that transpired that day have been captured on film, one lesser-known account of the tragedy just made its cinematic bow on Netflix. Worth chronicles the story of Kenneth Feinberg, the attorney charged with overseeing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund and, in so doing, putting a monetary value on the lives that were lost or suffered serious health issues as a result of the attack.

By Julie Jacobs  |  September 9, 2021

Interview

Director Producer

“Untold: Breaking Point” Creators Examine Tennis Star Mardy Fish’s Battle With Severe Anxiety

Mardy Fish knows that he and others benefit when he tells his life story. Still, he’s not quite ready to watch someone else tell it for him.

Breaking Point — the latest installment in Netflix’s sports documentary series Untold, which will be released September 7 — recounts Fish’s descent from his perch as the No. 1 American tennis player in 2011 into a years-long battle with severe anxiety disorder.

By David Thorpe  |  September 2, 2021

Interview

Producer Screenwriter Showrunner

“Doc McStuffins” Creator Chris Nee on The Future of Children’s Programming

There are few people on the planet who are in a better position to talk about what’s working, and what still needs work, in children’s programming than Doc McStuffins creator Chris Nee. Like so many great ideas, Nee came up with Doc McStuffins, a series about a six-year-old girl who is a doctor to her stuffed animals and toys, while in the shower. Yet the impetus for the beloved series was her own life and her son’s struggles with asthma.

By Bryan Abrams  |  June 25, 2021

Interview

Producer

Rod Roddenberry Reflects on His Father’s “Star Trek” Legacy for Centennial Year

Star Trek has beamed audiences to strange and mysterious worlds for more than half a century. The franchise is adventurous, exciting, and explores the promise of an unlimited future. The idea, however, was born in the heart of a man who looked to outer space for truths about the depths of the human soul. Through the eyes of aliens, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry hoped to gain greater insight into the potential of humankind.

By Kelle Long  |  May 5, 2021

Interview

Director Producer

Nick Stagliano Returns to Directing With Noir Thriller “The Virtuoso”

Mistrust reigns and true identities are questioned when an assassin, a waitress, a deputy, a loner, and a couple cross paths in an isolated, rustic diner one evening in the moody and suspenseful thriller, The Virtuoso. The story is cloaked in mystery from the start, with the highly skilled assassin, The Virtuoso, accepting an assignment from his boss, The Mentor, with little detail about the job other than the place, time, and one puzzling clue.

By Julie Jacobs  |  April 28, 2021

Interview

Producer

“Black is King” Producer Jason Baum on Beyoncé & the World of Visual Albums

Black is King, Beyoncé’s 2020 musical film that doubled as a visual companion to The Lion King, was lauded as dazzling, seductive, and, well, regal. Directed in tandem by Beyoncé and the directors Ibra Ake, Blitz the Ambassador, Emmanuel Adjei, and Kwasi Fordjour, the visual album dropped on Disney+ with very little fanfare, typical of the star’s preferred announcement style, or lack thereof.

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  February 22, 2021

Interview

Producer

“To All the Boys” Producer Says Goodbye with “Always and Forever”

What began with a letter is poetically set to end with one too. Okay, probably an email, but you get the idea. Netflix’s hit To All the Boys series will premiere its final installment on February 12. As the trilogy concludes, Lara Jean (Lana Condor) and Peter (Noah Centineo) are simultaneously coming to the end of their high school career and awaiting their college acceptance letters.

We met the adorable couple in 2018’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.

By Kelle Long  |  February 12, 2021

Interview

Producer

Translating the Untranslatable: The Impossible Art of Subtitling “Taco Chronicles”

Subtitle translation is a fascinating, complicated, and often overlooked part of the filmmaking process. It’s a delicate dance of literal translation and cultural interpretation, all the while practicing a serious economy of words. Most subtitles are capped at only forty-four characters (less than this sentence). Plus, the eye reads much slower than the ear hears.

My own up-close experience with the art form came with Netflix’s Taco Chronicles (Las Crónicas del Taco),

By Hallie Davison  |  January 5, 2021

Interview

Producer

Producer Monica Levinson on “Borat 2” & “The Trial of the Chicago 7”

Producer Monica Levinson might have been able to call 2020 a banner year were not for the fact such a sentiment would be in poor taste considering how atrocious 2020 was. Yet two of her films factored into the larger conversations we were having in ways that would have been unthinkable at the start of the year.

One of those films was Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7

By Bryan Abrams  |  January 4, 2021

Interview

Actor Producer

Best of 2020: A Conversation With Laverne Cox

We put together our annual “Best Of” list with an eye towards the conversations that weren’t just about our particular area of interest—how films and TV shows are made and the people who make them—but delved into broader discussions that were unavoidable in this historic, often heartbreaking year. These conversations include our chat with Laverne Cox about her role in Netflix’s Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen,  Lovecraft Country cinematographer Michael Watson on filming during a pandemic,

By Bryan Abrams  |  December 24, 2020

Interview

Producer

Welcome to Studio Babelsberg’s Rainbow Stage—A Tribute to Lana and Lilly Wachowski

“Ill show these people what you dont want them to see. A world without rules and controls, without borders or boundaries. A world where anything is possible.” Neo (Keanu Reeves), The Matrix, 1999

To honor the groundbreaking filmmakers Lana and Lilly Wachowski and simultaneously promote a message of tolerance, respect, and diversity, Germany’s Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam recently renamed its largest sound stage the Rainbow Stage (its previous title was number 20 of 21).

By Susannah Edelbaum  |  November 24, 2020

Interview

Producer Screenwriter

Writer/Producer’s Ron Leshem on His Groundbreaking HBO Max Series “Valley of Tears”

Writer/producer Ron Leshem has gained international recognition as the creator of the Israeli TV series Euphoria and executive producer of its U.S. adaptation. Along with his longtime collaborator Amit Cohen, Leshem is also known for creating the series The Gordin Cell, Allegiance, and No Man’s Land. But for a decade, the Israeli-born duo have been wanting to produce a story about one of the most important moments in their homeland’s history — the Yom Kippur War.

By Chris Koseluk  |  November 23, 2020

Interview

Producer

Producer Brad Feinstein Moves Audiences With Dramas “Jungleland” and “Dreamland”

Although only a few years old, Romulus Entertainment already boasts an admirable slate of what founder and CEO Brad Feinstein describes as “socially conscious prestige dramas and action thrillers” — City of Lies, Driven, and American Woman, to name just a few. The roster is also a lengthy one: At the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, Feinstein noted in an interview that the company had produced 12 films in just 24 months.

By Julie Jacobs  |  November 12, 2020

Interview

Producer

“Raised By Wolves” Line Producer Cheryl Eatock on Building Ridley Scott’s First TV Series

As one of film’s most innovative directors, Ridley Scott is a master at transporting us to worlds unlike any we’ve seen before. So it comes as no surprise that Raised by Wolves, his first foray into directing episodic television, promises to be a unique, multilayered vision as ambitious in theme and scope as Alien, Blade Runner, and The Martian.

Unspooling in 10 installments on HBO Max,

By Chris Koseluk  |  September 3, 2020

Interview

Producer Special/Visual Effects

“Brave New World” VFX Supervisor & Producer Thomas Horton on Peacock’s Ambitious New Series

For visual effects supervisor Thomas Horton, Peacock’s new series Brave New World, which premiered on July 15, presented a serious challenge. Horton was tasked with overseeing the streaming channel’s ambitious adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s legendary sci-fi novel, which despite being published in 1932 still contains so many unkillable themes and foundational science fiction tropes it remains fresh today. Huxley’s vision of a futuristic dystopia ordered by an intelligence-based hierarchy is equaled only by George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four in terms of cultural impact.

By Bryan Abrams  |  September 1, 2020

Interview

Director Producer

“Cursed” Director/Producer Zetna Fuentes on Remixing Arthurian Legend for Netflix

Cursed, which premieres today on Netflix, reframes the King Arthur legend to center on the mysterious Lady of the Lake and fae, Nimue, played by Katherine Langford. The show is created by Tom Wheeler and Frank Miller, based on their illustrated novel. The Credits spoke to Zetna Fuentes, who executive produced and directed the pilot and second episode of the series. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

By Leslie Combemale  |  July 17, 2020