2026 NJSCA Individual Artist Fellowship

Photo: Prospect Photography.

Deeply grateful to have received an individual artist fellowship for my film directing work from NJ State Council on the Arts. Being a working artist/parent/human in New Jersey continues to be a wonderful experience and I am very appreciative to receive this additional support for my work. I have loved getting to know the work of our film cohort and feel very blessed to be among such talented and compassionate artists. It’s been really fun to check out the other categories as well— we have a lot to really incredible painters out here! Congratulations to all the grant recipients.

America is a tough place to be an artist, in general, and New Jersey is making so many meaningful investments in arts and entertainment. This state has really put extraordinary support behind the film industry. Please feel free to reach out if you want to know what it’s like to live and work here, as I am a self-deputized completely-unofficial ambassador :)

Complete press release about the fellowship and NJ State Council on the Arts here.

Full list of the 2026 fellows in all disciplines is here.

Ballroom Dance Film, RHYTHM OR SMOOTH, Wraps Production

Had a wonderful time overseeing production for Tony-winning producer, Nathaniel Rothrock, on his company Film FiftySix’s first feature, Rhythm or Smooth, set in the world of competitive ballroom dance. Nathaniel is also a talented actor and dancer himself and began his producing career in theater on shows like 2025 Best Musical Tony winner Maybe Happy Ending and Smash. It was a joy supporting his transition to film alongside my wonderful production office team, line producer Camille Workman, production manager Jennifer Mara, and production supervisor Alexis Lancer.

This film also represented the feature debut of former Ailey dancer and actress, Kiree Brooks, and it was extra special to support the beautiful work of so many talented dancers.

See You On the Other Side!

Production is underway on See You on the Other Side, a charming and grounded rom-com produced by one of my favorite people, Amy De Paola, the wonderful Adam Gold, and co-produced by Josh Sathre (who, as a side note, was on the team for another special rom-com I love, John Patrick Shanley’s Wild Mountain Thyme). I’m thrilled to support See You on the Other Side as production manager.

The film is writer/director/actor Ari Frenkel’s feature debut and stars Ella Stiller, Judy Gold, and Richard Masur. It effortlessly weaves themes of grief and identity into a delightfully moving script. Excited for all the wonderful things ahead for this project.

Outrage - Team Announced!

What a ride and what a team. I could not have been more honored to work with the phenomenal cast, crew and creative team that brought all their talent, dedication, joy, and good will to the making of OUTRAGE (f/k/a Contempt for anyone following closely).

Article here.

This film came together quickly and I am ever grateful to the epic talents who spent their July/August bringing to life this timely, taught script (written by Marc Weinberg and Victoria Fraser). My producers Katie Maguire and Ellyn Vander Wyden made miracles happen, as did Stavroula Toska our co-producer/line producer. When I looked around the room on day 1, I saw people from over a decade worth of projects in New York, as well as some new faces that I hope to work with for decades more! Katie hired me on my first commercial. Reed was once my acting teacher ages ago (before he won every award under the sun). Ellyn managed a stage I had shot at many times (and where we made this film), Stavroula and our AD Rachel Wolak had worked together throughout COVID sometimes masked, sometimes totally remote! Production designer Lauren Helms and DP Ryan Jackson-Healy are both THE BEST and they’ve been my first call on so many projects since this film. 1st AC Steve Franchek and I had met in DC on a travel job filming Morgan Freeman while I was super pregnant and our HMU head Magda Buczkowska had bravely glamped with me on a short I directed (we had campfires at night, that were attended by skunks on one occasion). I’ve had her on every set I’ve been able to and she even did my makeup when I did a promo to announce a series I had created. Our safety coordinator Christian B. Leadley was my fight choreographer in a production of Electra I did years earlier, and I have more stories beyond this. I am still so very humbled that they shared this film with me. Our post team also was just incredible - editor Vee Pinot’s instincts were jaw-dropping and her diligence elevated the film enormously. Composer Michelle Sudduth’s score is so perfect— I mean every cue, and I am pretty specific about music. Weixin Zhuang poured so much attention and care into the sound design and mix, and colorist Denny Cooper at Unit in London brought such beauty to the film’s look. Having the input and guidance of an EP like Adam Kersh has been a true gift. We were also awarded the Reframe Stamp for gender-balanced production, although I will admit— about 75% of our HODs were women.

I could really give a small speech about every person on this set. Here is the full list of people on our team. I highly recommend hiring all of them!

New Directing Work for Paramount x Ghosts Upfronts

I had an amazing time co-directing a funny short film for the Paramount Upfronts with Ghosts star, dear friend, and brilliant filmmaker, Asher Grodman.

Asher also stars and is hilarious as always. I was honored to work alongside him— he is one of the funniest and all around best people I know— and alongside Ghosts writers, creatives, and showrunners, as well as the awesome Paramount team to make something that still makes me laugh after watching it dozens of times (well, probably more).

I love Ghosts and watch it every week. The cast is phenomenal and so is the writing, directing, and overall craft of the show. It’s a blast and I recommend the most recent episode in particular because I think Trevor would be a great dad, just saying. :)

I also recommend everyone watches Asher’s fantastic work for the Jaguars which won a ton of awards because he’s a comedic genius. Asher is the biggest Jaguars fan I know and this film is hysterical even if you only kind of sort watch football (sorry).

Production Starts on 109 Billion Followers

Read about this spectacular little film here.

Helmed by writer/director/producer Ela Thier and producer Nicholas Tabarrok, I am honored to be supervising physical production on this unique and special indie and serving as its co-producer.

Our incredible cast includes J.K. Simmons, Olivia Simmons, Nina Arianda, and Jake Ryan.

I guarantee you you won’t want to miss this one and I have loved helping bring it to life. Excited for it to find audiences next year.

Directing a New Feature

It’s been a dream to direct the inimitable Reed Birney and Elizabeth Masucci in a wrought and relevant little thriller CONTEMPT.

This film unites so many cast, crew, and creatives that I love dearly. One of the special aspects of being a freelance film worker is that we seem to “collect” incredible people over the years, from various projects and media, and getting to put them all together in a room to see what magic they create is one of the most rewarding parts of my job as a director and producer.

When I looked around the room on day one, I saw ten years of memories in this business in all the people that had come together to make this film. Producer Katie Maguire and I had worked together across at least five companies as freelancers and we were now friends. Co-producer Stavroula Toska and I had been on set during the height of COVID keeping people safe when the pandemic threatened livelihoods. Actor John Kroft and I had made a lovely short film together, directed by my dear friend Jack Marchetti. He had since generously volunteered on another film I directed and went on to act in wonderful projects like Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, and now here he was back on set with me, bringing his talents to this film. I had produced some commercial work that AD Rachel Wolak directed and now here she was supporting me as a director (she is fantastic at both these jobs). AC Steven Franchek and I had met in DC on a project with Morgan Freeman (though we are both from NYC). Magdalena Buczkowska and I have worked on SO many projects together— she glamped with me on Mohonk Mountain for a short I directed, was my choice for my own hair and makeup for the promos for the first TV series I created, and has done commercials, music, videos, and will join a J.K. Simmons feature with me. Reed was at once my acting teacher some ten years ago, and I have not missed anything he’s been in since— from his TONY-winning Broadways performances to his small indies. The list goes on but the point is—

Community is what makes New York filmmaking so special and I am grateful for everyone who worked on this film. And for the folks who are newer to me, I can’t wait to look back from three films from now and remember that we met on Contempt (Vee Pinot, Ryan Jackson-Healy, Lauren Helms, Weixin Zhuang… to name a few).

I am also thrilled to have welcomed Adam Kersh to our team as an EP. Adam has helped shaped some incredible films and careers and I can’t wait to bring this film into the world with his guidance.

Excited to head into post and find our audience in 2025!

Campbell's Spoonful of Joy awarded WARC Gold

Proud to have produced this very special six minute commercial for Campbell’s holiday.

The piece is based on a real experience of a mother with an autistic child and highlights a mother/son journey over the years through the bond of cooking. I was thrilled that The Light invited me to produce.

Starring Tatyana Ali, Aidan Cazzeau, Buddy Valastro, and some incredible child actors. Director: Kim Ferraro. EPs: Becky Morrison and Katie Maguire. Producer: me. DP: Fletcher Wolfe. PD: Wayne Neho. Gaffer: Alexa Hiramitsu. KG: Matt Tomko. Wardrobe: Bree Perry. Sound: Donny Tam. Hair: Brian Badie. MUA: Latisha Rankin. Casting: Rachel Reiss. PM: Merrily Holmes. AD: Chris Bicknell. Consulting Director: Siraj Jhaveri. Writer: Diana Davis. And an incredible crew that makes me wish commercials had credits because this set was a joy from start to finish and they were all phenomenal. Huge thanks to A+E and Spark Foundry for entrusting us to bring this vision to life.

Cow Heavy and Floral - New Short Film in Production

What a joy it has been spending my late summer/early fall collaborating with writer/director (and friend!) Richa Rudola and my producing partner, Lela Meadow-Conner of mamafilm.

Poster design by Tavet Gillson

We have been overjoyed by the support the film has received from Panavision (New Filmmakers Grant), Jacki Zehner (Seed and Spark Patron’s Circle Grant), Elia Petridis of Filmatics, and the incredible cast and crew we assembled, who have poured their hearts into this film.

I have long been a fan of Richa’s and been looking for a project to share with her, so when she and Lela brought this short my way, I knew I wanted to join the fierce team of moms at the helm. Cow Heavy and Floral is a split-screen film about a postpartum writer struggling to make a deadline as she experiences an identity crisis between her various personas.

Starring Jessica Mendez Siqueiros, filmed by Kalilah Robinson, with the wonderful Simon TaufiQue attached to compose the score. We are excited to begin moving into post-production this winter.

Mina Finds Her Edge! Wins Runner-Up

Mina Finds Her Edge! took the runner-up spot in the Short Script Competition at Film Pipeline, behind Wendi Tang’s script Fishtank (which was also the winner of Tribeca/Chanel’s Through Her Lens this year!) The four finalists, chosen out of about 1700 scripts, can be found here. It was especially cool to see Stephen Nolly on the list—more and more lately, I’ve had the good fortune to share some of these shortlists with folks I know or recognize, and that always makes for good vibes of writer camaraderie. Looking forward to continuing to develop this short for production in London in 2023 with the wonderful team at Hawk Films!

Mina Finds Her Edge! Wins Hawk Films Screenplay Award

“Mina Finds Her Edge!” won the Hawk Films Screenplay award at HollyShorts.

Unfortunately, the production grant piece of this award did not materialize, so I’m returning to the drawing board to get the film made, but I am nevertheless honored that the script was chosen out of thousands of submissions.

Massive congrats to all the filmmakers at this wonderful festival (double congrats to those who became Oscar qualifiers). And triple congrats to Hallelujah for casting Bruce A. Lemon Jr. because I’m a little biased and I worked him back in our NY indie theater days :) - he’s a brilliant actor in a truly powerful film. Rooting for you guys all the way!!

Full list via Deadline here.

Thank you Peter Lee for accepting on my behalf and for capturing the moment :)

Producer's Guild, Google, and Powderkeg to EP New Film HAIDER, TX

Rabia Sultana and I co-directed a short I wrote called “Haider, TX” for Google and Powderkeg (Paul Feig and Laura Fischer’s production company) as part of the Short Film Project presented by the Producer’s Guild and Google. The film is additionally supported by a generous grant from Panavision, which allowed us to shoot on film.

We traveled to Houston, Texas to make the film, which is a fun, cross-cultural comedy based in the Urdu-speaking Pakistani community there, and found absolutely wonderful people who were so kind and helpful— both the local film workers and the Pakistani community, who were so supportive.

Very excited to move the film into post and share it with an audience.

https://deadline.com/2022/02/producers-guild-google-the-short-film-project-paul-feig-laura-fischer-1234924904/

Thank you to my students and alma mater!

It was a special fall creating and teaching a new course for NYU SPS’s new Film Producing certificate program. Budgeting, Casting, and Financing for Film and TV was a brand new offering this year and I was thrilled to join my longtime colleague Simon TaufiQue (who is the keystone of the program) as an Adjunct.

I love working with emerging and developing producers, and it was a special treat to get a glimpse into some bright futures!

Mala Sangre at the Producer's Guild PGA Create Lab

Congratulations (and huge thanks!) to my longtime friend and often-producing partner, Rabia Sultana, for becoming one of the ten producers selected for a year-long development lab at the Producer’s Guild!

Rabia is one of the most talented producers I know and I have loved working with her over the years on several films and commercials. I am honored that she chose my multilingual feature thriller — Mala Sangre (Bad Blood) — as her submission for the lab.

The Monster That Stayed

I am humbled and honored to serve as a writer on Anne Leigh Cooper’s film, The Monster That Stayed. Produced by Rabia Sultana and Santosh Govindaraju, the film is a dramatic thriller based on a true story of sexual assault from a survivor’s point of view. I am proud to have collaborated on a piece that marries art and advocacy, and I am eternally gratefully for the trust that was bestowed upon me.