Fear(ful)less: Filmmaking from the Edge

This week Naomi interviews her husband, Stephen McDougall Graham, about his long and now quickly blossoming journey towards becoming a professional violinist (hint: he took a highly unusual decade-long detour through non-profits and international family planning services). Stephen talks about what it’s like to return full-time to your passion after years doing something else,… Continue reading Necessary to Blossom; feat. Stephen McDougall Graham (classical violinist)

Naomi dissects what the fundamental role of stories are in a society and how streaming content, social media, and that eastern European guy with the hydraulic press may have fundamentally changed our roles as artists. Interview: Ira and Carol Williams – Ira and Carol are an insanely delightful retired couple living in Missouri. Naomi talks… Continue reading The Role of Story Today; feat. Ira and Carol Williams (film/tv viewers)

Naomi talks about the challenges of structuring and balancing her days and weeks when working as an independent artist and the ways in which she’s cracked the mental health code of this for herself. Interview: Peter Lalish – musician (multi-instrumentalist and songwriter): currently of the massive indie breakout band Lucius (if you haven’t heard of them, you’ve… Continue reading Time; feat. Peter Lalish (musician)

Naomi reports back after spending three days at the Women’s Media Summit in Provincetown – a serious gathering of those 102 women (and 3 men) working dedicatedly to bring more women into film. The goal of the gathering? To devise a coordinated, nuts-and-bolts action plan for bringing about real change. Interview: Maria Giese – a film director… Continue reading Report from Women’s Media Summit; feat. Maria Giese (director and women in film superhero

Naomi breaks with the show’s format for one week to talk about the surprising pain, depression, and isolation she experienced in the wake of the success of Imagine I’m Beautiful and how she has found a way to reconnect to the joy of the work. As always, the work of this podcast is for Naomi to… Continue reading The Unexpected Complications of Getting What You Want and Re-Locating the Joy in the Aftermath

Naomi talks about how global trends in the macro-economics of the film industry are affecting what kinds of films are being made and how completely bonkers it is, on a practical level, for filmmakers not to have access to viewing or monetary data from Netflix, Amazon, and, iTunes. Interview: Rene Bastian – a prolific indie film… Continue reading The big black box at the center of the film industry; feat. Rene Bastian (founder of Cinelytic)

Naomi talks about the latest developments with Bite Me and how, sometimes, when the bomb you most fear goes off, the biggest thing that remains is gratitude. Interview: Sarah Wharton – a beautiful soul, actress, writer, producer. Sarah is one of the producers of Bite Me and also the star/producer of the gorgeous micro-budget indie That’s Not Us (available on Netflix) and The… Continue reading Every little thing is gonna be all right; feat. Sarah Wharton (actress, producer, writer)

Naomi talks about the exhilarating and terrifying moment of “trust fall” they are in with Bite Me, which may be a critical moment of most indie films. Interview: Jack Lechner – the producer extraodinaire of Blue Valentine, The Fog of War, The New Yorker Presents, former executive at Miramax, HBO, and Film Four, and much else. He’s an Associate… Continue reading Trust Fall; feat. Jack Lechner (producer)

Naomi talks about losing their longtime director this week for her feature film Bite Me, which is slated to go into production in two months – so…yeah – but then also how they managed to pull things back on track and, somewhat miraculously, find a new director within a a matter of days. It was just another… Continue reading And some weeks…you lose your director; feat. Meredith Edwards (our new director)

Naomi laments the complete lack of women represented in the directing, editing, and writing categories of this year’s Oscars and talks about why, despite 50% of film school graduates being women, that women only direct 18% of even micro-budget films. She explores the ways in which women themselves can work to improve that number. Interview: Marilyn Chinitz, a lawyer… Continue reading #OscarsSoMale; feat. Marilyn Chinitz (lawyer and master negotiator)