Behind the Scenes

Carrie Olsen is a voice actor, coach, wife, and mother whose ferocious marketing and networking techniques, combined with extensive training and study, landed her voiceover jobs with brands like Kmart, Taco Bell, Bank of America, REI and others. She shares her voiceover passion and expertise in her online courses and blog. When she's not in her voiceover booth, you can find her hiding out in a coffee shop in Kansas City with her husband and daughters. Through this podcast, Carrie provides information on how to obtain training and get involved in voiceover work. For more information on Carrie, please visit her website at: https://carrieolsenvo.com, She can also be found on the following social media pages: https://www.facebook.com/groups/voiceoverstartup, https://www.facebook.com/CarrieOlsenVO/ and, https://twitter.com/carrieolsenvo. You can connect with Laura Powers at www.laurapowers.net. You can also find her on facebook, follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers and on instagram @laurapowers44.

Emily Best is the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, a subscription video streaming and crowdfunding platform that gives filmmakers the power to take control of their careers. In 2011, she produced the feature film, Like the Water, starring Caitlin FitzGerald (Masters of Sex, Rectify). Since then she has served as executive producer on a host of film and virtual reality projects that have played at festivals from Sundance to SXSW to Tribeca and beyond. Most recently she created and co-directed the web series F*ck Yes!, which Refinery 29 called, "The sex education you wish you had in high school." Emily was named a 2013 Indiewire Influencer, a 2014 New York Woman of Influence, was included on the 2015 Upstart 100 list, and graduated from the 2016 class of Techstars Boston. She has raised millions of dollars in traditional funding, equity crowdfunding, and rewards based crowdfunding, and contributed to over 300 crowdfunding campaigns to date. For more information on Seed and Spark and Emily, please visit her website at: www.seedandspark.com. Seed and Spark can also be found on all social media sites: @seedandspark and on Twitter: @emilybest. You can, also, connect with Laura Powers at www.laurapowers.net. You can also find her on facebook and follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers.

Denise Meyers began her professional career at the William Morris Agency as an assistant to literary agent, Judy Scott-Fox after graduating from Oregon State University in 1982 with a degree in broadcast communications. After working as a freelance story analyst for independent film and distribution companies, Meyers became a screenwriter herself, but after twelve years in the film business with nothing but a handful of free options to show for her efforts, she moved to Utah to pursue a successful career as a full-time artist. When the economy bottomed out in 2009, Meyers returned to what she calls “the dream that wouldn’t die”. Principal photography was just completed on a short film she wrote in 2015 entitled THE DARK OF NIGHT (a Table Read my Screenplay Grand Prize Winner, Austin Film Festival 2015). The film, directed by Robin Wright, stars Leslie Bibb and Sam Rockwell, and was shot with the crew from House of Cards (including award winning director of photography, Dave Dunlap). In February 2016 she was named an Athena List winner at the Athena Film Festival in New York. Meyers is the only writer in the six year history of the festival to have two screenplays make it to the finals; RIDE THE WIND: The Bessie Stringfield Story, about the only African American woman to serve as a motorcycle dispatch rider in World War Two was an Athena List winner, and LUCKY 13, an Athena Finalist, is about the first American women to fly military aircraft in wartime and the significant role they played in training male pilots how to fly the B26 “Widowmaker” in advance of the D-Day attack on Normandy. Lucky 13 was recently chosen as one of three winners of the 2017 Atlanta Film Festival screenplay competition.
For more information on Denise, please visit her website at: www.delicateflowerfilms.com. You can, also, connect with Laura Powers at www.laurapowers.net. You can also find her on facebook, follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers and on instagram @laurapowers44.

Lynn Povich is an award-winning journalist who has spent more than 40 years in the news business. She began her career at Newsweek as a secretary. In 1970, she was one of 46 women who sued Newsweek for sex discrimination. Five years later, Povich was appointed the first woman Senior Editor in the magazine’s history. Her book on that landmark lawsuit, The Good Girls Revolt, was published by PublicAffairs in September 2012. A fictionalized 10-part series inspired by the book, Good Girls Revolt, has been running on Amazon Prime since October 2016. In 1991 Povich became Editor-in-Chief of Working Woman Magazine and in 1996, she joined MSNBC.Com as Managing Editor / East Coast. Povich has received numerous honors, including a 1976 Matrix Award from Women in Communications for Exceptional Achievement in Magazines and the 2006, Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award from Women in Periodical Publishing. For more information about Lynn go to her personal page at: www.lynnpovich.com. For more information on Laura Powers and her work you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net and you can find Laura on twitter @thatlaurapowers or follow her on instagram at laurapowers44.

Lynn Povich is an award-winning journalist who has spent more than 40 years in the news business. She began her career at Newsweek as a secretary. In 1970, she was one of 46 women who sued Newsweek for sex discrimination. Five years later, Povich was appointed the first woman Senior Editor in the magazine’s history. Her book on that landmark lawsuit, The Good Girls Revolt, was published by PublicAffairs in September 2012. A fictionalized 10-part series inspired by the book, Good Girls Revolt, has been running on Amazon Prime since October 2016. In 1991 Povich became Editor-in-Chief of Working Woman Magazine and in 1996, she joined MSNBC.Com as Managing Editor / East Coast. Povich has received numerous honors, including a 1976 Matrix Award from Women in Communications for Exceptional Achievement in Magazines and the 2006, Exceptional Woman in Publishing Award from Women in Periodical Publishing. For more information about Lynn go to her personal page at: www.lynnpovich.com. For more information on Laura Powers and her work you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net and you can find Laura on twitter @thatlaurapowers or follow her on instagram at laurapowers44.

Tom Frank lives a magical life. For over 35 years he has escaped the monotony and hum drum of the real world. He began working at Haines House of Cards as a 12 year old helping manufacture and sell trick decks in the shop and at Magic Conventions. At 15 he landed his first steady gig at Kings Island Amusement Park where he worked for two seasons. At 18 he dropped out of high school, moved to New York City to pursue a career as a street performer. (His parents were very proud. . . ) After New York he moved to Atlanta, New Orleans, Boston, then off to LA for two years where his roommate was none other than Sylvester the Jester! In 1986 as a 21year old, Tom would present his first Magic Lecture in Tokyo, Japan as well as working the Magic Castle for the first time. After his adventures in LA, working the Magic Castle and performing at private events he decided to move back to Cincinnati and plant some roots. For the last decade Tom worked 5-7 nights a week at the Universal CityWalk in Hollywood banging out street shows and selling trick decks as well as being a regular featured performer at the World Famous Magic Castle! Connect with Tom Frank on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/tfrank8176?ref=name. For more information on Laura Powers and her work you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net and you can find Laura on twitter @thatlaurapowers or follow her on instagram at laurapowers44.

For years, Steve Kaplan has been the industry's most sought-after expert on comedy. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other top universities Steve created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan's Punch Line Theatre. Steve has consulted with Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Aardman Animation, HBO and others, and has taught his seminar in LA, New York, London, Paris, Kiev, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. In this segment Steve discusses his book The Hidden Tools of Comedy, and his upcoming book, The Comic Hero’s Journey, as well as providing more information about his live workshops and script consulting services. For more information on Steve Kaplan can be found on Twitter: Twitter: @skcomedy, Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/KaplanComedy/ or oh his website at: www.KaplanComedy.com. For more information on Laura you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net and you can find her on facebook and follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers.

For years, Steve Kaplan has been the industry's most sought-after expert on comedy. In addition to having taught at UCLA, NYU, Yale and other top universities Steve created the HBO Workspace, the HBO New Writers Program and was co-founder and Artistic Director of Manhattan's Punch Line Theatre. Steve has consulted with Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Aardman Animation, HBO and others, and has taught his seminar in LA, New York, London, Paris, Kiev, Canada, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. In this segment Steve discusses his book The Hidden Tools of Comedy, and his upcoming book, The Comic Hero’s Journey, as well as providing more information about his live workshops and script consulting services. For more information on Steve Kaplan can be found on Twitter: Twitter: @skcomedy, Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/KaplanComedy/ or oh his website at: www.KaplanComedy.com. For more information on Laura you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net and you can find her on facebook and follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers.

Troy Devolld is the author of Reality TV: An Insider’s Guide to TV’s Hottest Market. Troy DeVolld is widely regarded as a leading authority on the reality television storytelling process, and regularly speaks to students and media groups from Los Angeles to London to Tel Aviv about what it takes to create engaging content. We discussed reality tv, and what to do and what not to do if you are interested in reality television. For more information on Troy, you can go to his website realitytvbook.com. For more information on Laura, you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net. You can also find her on and follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers.

Troy Devolld is the author of Reality TV: An Insider’s Guide to TV’s Hottest Market. Troy DeVolld is widely regarded as a leading authority on the reality television storytelling process, and regularly speaks to students and media groups from Los Angeles to London to Tel Aviv about what it takes to create engaging content. We discussed reality tv, and what to do and what not to do if you are interested in reality television. For more information on Troy, you can go to his website realitytvbook.com. For more information on Laura, you can go to her website www.laurapowers.net. You can also find her on and follow her on twitter @thatlaurapowers.