Film & TV, The Creative Process: Acting, Directing, Writing, Cinematography, Producers, Composers, Costume Design, Talk Art & Creativity

Max Stossel is an Award-winning poet, filmmaker, and speaker, named by Forbes as one of the best storytellers of the year. His Stand-Up Poetry Special Words That Move takes the audience through a variety of different perspectives, inviting us to see the world through different eyes together. Taking on topics like heartbreak, consciousness, social media, politics, the emotional state of our world, and even how dogs probably (most certainly) talk, Max uses rhyme and rhythm to make these topics digestible and playful. Words That Move articulates the deep-seated kernels of truth that we so often struggle to find words for ourselves. Max has performed on five continents, from Lincoln Center in NY to the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney. He is also the Youth and Education Advisor for the Center for Humane Technology, an organization of former tech insiders dedicated to realigning technology with humanity’s best interests.

"I need a balance of light and dark. It can't be just one thing. I want you to be laughing one minute and by the end I want you to be crying. For me, character study is what is the most important. It all comes down to the characters. It's less about action or things like that, which you can have some of that, but it tonally, has to be female-centric and you have to be crying and laughing. There's so many interesting shows that walk that line of light and dark. I want to always live in the gray area with characters. Always. Nothing is ever black or white. It's always a weird gray area.”

"I like to say that Ginny & Georgia is a show about women by women for everyone. And I will say women in charge, they do things differently. I think that women, we tend to do relationships differently than men do. It's very, very important to me - and I'm not saying that men don't do this - but as a woman, as a female showrunner, it's very important for me to uplift young up-and-coming writers."

Debra J. Fisher is a writer, producer, and director. She currently serves as the showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the Netflix series Ginny & Georgia.  Season one of the hit series was watched by over 52 million subscribers in its first month on the platform, gathering a devoted fan base. The highly anticipated second season premiered on January 5th. Ginny & Georgia is Debra’s first time in the showrunner’s seat.  Through her long and varied career, she has worked her way up the ladder on numerous beloved TV shows including Alias, The O.C., Charmed, and Criminal Minds, among others. With a wealth of experience from her own professional journey, she works to pay it forward by mentoring the next generation of creatives.

www.instagram.com/debrajfisher
www.tiktok.com/@debrajfisher

www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/ginny-and-georgia-season-2-release-date

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Debra J. Fisher is a writer, producer, and director. She currently serves as the showrunner, writer, and executive producer of the Netflix series Ginny & Georgia.  Season one of the hit series was watched by over 52 million subscribers in its first month on the platform, gathering a devoted fan base. The highly anticipated second season premiered on January 5th. Ginny & Georgia is Debra’s first time in the showrunner’s seat.  Through her long and varied career, she has worked her way up the ladder on numerous beloved TV shows including Alias, The O.C., Charmed, and Criminal Minds, among others. With a wealth of experience from her own professional journey, she works to pay it forward by mentoring the next generation of creatives.

"I need a balance of light and dark. It can't be just one thing. I want you to be laughing one minute and by the end I want you to be crying. For me, character study is what is the most important. It all comes down to the characters. It's less about action or things like that, which you can have some of that, but it tonally, has to be female-centric and you have to be crying and laughing. There's so many interesting shows that walk that line of light and dark. I want to always live in the gray area with characters. Always. Nothing is ever black or white. It's always a weird gray area.”

"I like to say that Ginny & Georgia is a show about women by women for everyone. And I will say women in charge, they do things differently. I think that women, we tend to do relationships differently than men do. It's very, very important to me - and I'm not saying that men don't do this - but as a woman, as a female showrunner, it's very important for me to uplift young up-and-coming writers."

www.instagram.com/debrajfisher
www.tiktok.com/@debrajfisher

www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/ginny-and-georgia-season-2-release-date

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

"For me, there is something about art, it's not a monologue. When I do a video dance for a Japanese audience or a sci-fi comedy for a French audience then I do try to think about if I want to shock the audience at a certain moment. I think that the same things that would shock a French person would not necessarily shock an Israeli or a Japanese person, you know? I think that what's funny is that for a lot of people, the fact that my TV show The Middleman (L'Agent Immobilier) is very extreme, but in Israel when they watched it, they never thought it was extreme. They said it was very funny, but because the Israeli reality is much more extreme, so the idea of people shouting at each other or breaking a wall or punching each other or doing weird stuff, the French said, 'Oh, it's over the top.' In Israel, they felt that it was just like the way things are. So it's very, very interesting."

"Some people, it doesn't matter who they speak to, they will speak in the same way they would speak to a five-year-old or to an intellectual or to somebody who doesn't speak the language very well. They would speak the same way and they don't care because this is what they have to say, but I think that the natural thing in the dialogue is really to look into the eyes of the person you speak to and see when he understands or when she doesn't understand or when she's moved or when he's angry. And basically out of that, kind of create your own language. And I think the same way that people are excited about learning and speaking different languages - because I think each language has different merits and different aspects."

Author, Screenwriter, and Director Etgar Keret is a recipient of the French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, the Charles Bronfman Prize, and the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Jellyfish, which he directed with his wife Shira Geffen. Most recently, they created the TV mini series The Middleman (L’Agent Immobilier) starring Mathieu Amalric. His books include the short story collections Fly Already, Suddenly a Knock on the Door, and his memoir The Seven Good Years. Etgar’s work has been translated into forty-five languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review,The New York Times, and This American Life.
A frequent collaborator with visual and performing artists, an exhibition inspired by his mother called Inside Out is currently showing at the Jewish Museum in Berlin until February 5th, 2023.

www.etgarkeret.com
The Middleman www.imdb.com/title/tt11523800
www.jmberlin.de/en/exhibition-inside-out-etgar-keret
https://etgarkeret.substack.com
Jellyfish http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0807721

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast

Author, Screenwriter, and Director Etgar Keret is a recipient of the French Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, the Charles Bronfman Prize, and the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Jellyfish, which he directed with his wife Shira Geffen. Most recently, they created the TV mini series The Middleman (L’Agent Immobilier) starring Mathieu Amalric. His books include the short story collections Fly Already, Suddenly a Knock on the Door, and his memoir The Seven Good Years. Etgar’s work has been translated into forty-five languages and has appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review,The New York Times, and This American Life.
A frequent collaborator with visual and performing artists, an exhibition inspired by his mother called Inside Out is currently showing at the Jewish Museum in Berlin until February 5th, 2023.

"For me, there is something about art, it's not a monologue. When I do a video dance for a Japanese audience or a sci-fi comedy for a French audience then I do try to think about if I want to shock the audience at a certain moment. I think that the same things that would shock a French person would not necessarily shock an Israeli or a Japanese person, you know? I think that what's funny is that for a lot of people, the fact that my TV show The Middleman (L'Agent Immobilier) is very extreme, but in Israel when they watched it, they never thought it was extreme. They said it was very funny, but because the Israeli reality is much more extreme, so the idea of people shouting at each other or breaking a wall or punching each other or doing weird stuff, the French said, 'Oh, it's over the top.' In Israel, they felt that it was just like the way things are. So it's very, very interesting."

"Some people, it doesn't matter who they speak to, they will speak in the same way they would speak to a five-year-old or to an intellectual or to somebody who doesn't speak the language very well. They would speak the same way and they don't care because this is what they have to say, but I think that the natural thing in the dialogue is really to look into the eyes of the person you speak to and see when he understands or when she doesn't understand or when she's moved or when he's angry. And basically out of that, kind of create your own language. And I think the same way that people are excited about learning and speaking different languages - because I think each language has different merits and different aspects."

www.etgarkeret.com
The Middleman www.imdb.com/title/tt11523800
www.jmberlin.de/en/exhibition-inside-out-etgar-keret
https://etgarkeret.substack.com
Jellyfish http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0807721

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
IG www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast
Photo credit: Lielle Sand

"What I think made me want to pursue film or what started my fascination with film and cinema were definitely Fellini, Antonioni, and Bertolucci; the masters, if you will, that kind of make you dream - make you just go to a movie theater, enter this space, and just have a communal experience. I know looking at the screen and just being completely immersed and experiencing stories or experiencing things that make you understand life more - or make you understand life less - and create a dialogue between you and the rest of the world.

After that, Alfonso Cuarón, obviously the collaboration was incredibly important and I learned a lot and I carry a lot of that in me, undeniably. Then, I also had the very good fortune of working as a camera assistant, and a camera operator with other cinematographers, so I learned a lot from them. And they became mentors in a way. And it was kind of like a fortunate path to becoming a cinematographer myself.

The camera is my tool of choice. It's what I've been given to express what needs to be expressed, what needs to be told. So I'm definitely very particular about composition or lens choices or camera placement." 

Cinematographer Manuel Billeter has worked across a variety of iconic and groundbreaking shows and films including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Law & Order, Person of Interest, Orange Is The New Black, Lawless, and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también.  Most recently he has been Director of Photography on the HBO Max series The Gilded Age, starring Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski, and Netflix’s Inventing Anna, starring Julia Garner.

https://manuelbilleter.com

www.imdb.com/name/nm1193850/
www.imdb.com/title/tt4406178/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740976/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast/

Cinematographer Manuel Billeter has worked across a variety of iconic and groundbreaking shows and films including Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Law & Order, Person of Interest, Orange Is The New Black, Lawless, and Alfonso Cuarón’s Y tu mamá también.  Most recently he has been Director of Photography on the HBO Max series The Gilded Age, starring Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski, and Netflix’s Inventing Anna, starring Julia Garner.

"What I think made me want to pursue film or what started my fascination with film and cinema were definitely Fellini, Antonioni, and Bertolucci; the masters, if you will, that kind of make you dream - make you just go to a movie theater, enter this space, and just have a communal experience. I know looking at the screen and just being completely immersed and experiencing stories or experiencing things that make you understand life more - or make you understand life less - and create a dialogue between you and the rest of the world.

After that, Alfonso Cuarón, obviously the collaboration was incredibly important and I learned a lot and I carry a lot of that in me, undeniably. Then, I also had the very good fortune of working as a camera assistant, and a camera operator with other cinematographers, so I learned a lot from them. And they became mentors in a way. And it was kind of like a fortunate path to becoming a cinematographer myself.

The camera is my tool of choice. It's what I've been given to express what needs to be expressed, what needs to be told. So I'm definitely very particular about composition or lens choices or camera placement."  

https://manuelbilleter.com

www.imdb.com/name/nm1193850/
www.imdb.com/title/tt4406178/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740976/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram www.instagram.com/creativeprocesspodcast/
Photo credit: Sarah Shatz

"I think Riches has all the hallmarks of the things I've worked on before in terms of complex, slightly subversive women. At the heart of it, it is negotiating power dynamics. And at the heart of it, there are two very complex and yet vulnerable black women, but I've always loved family drama shows and particularly family businesses, whether it's fictional ones or in real life. I think whether you're talking about the Hiltons, the Kardashians, or the Royal Family, the dynamics of how, where power and money and blood merge is just such a potent and combustible mix that I've always been intrigued by them. I watched them growing up, whether it was Dallas or Dynasty or Six Feet Under, so it was a space which I was really interested in, and wanted to write a black family business show.

Myself and my producers, they knew my interest, and we talked around what would a black British business be, and they were interested in cosmetics, which I thought was a really good start because obviously, that's incredibly visual, but for me, hair was the piece that kind of tied it all together. A hair and cosmetics business because black hair is often so politicized, and it's such a way in which black people are sometimes policed in terms of having dreadlocks, having relaxed hair, whether they wear wigs. So it was a way in which we would have a glamorous visual for a show and an entertaining world that's aspirational, but still have a layer in which we get to tell substantive issues about black beauty, about black ownership, about how the spoils from a very lucrative industry often don't go back into the black community. So that's why I was interested in that. It could be glamorous and fun but also have slightly more in-depth issues to talk about as well."

Abby Ajayi is a British Nigerian writer and director who serves as a show creator, executive producer, and writer on the Amazon Series Riches, which is currently on Amazon Prime and premiers on ITVX in the UK on December 22. She has previously worked on the shows Four Weddings and a Funeral, How to Get Away with Murder, Inventing Anna, The First Lady, and Eastenders. As a result, she had the opportunity to learn under the likes of Shonda Rhimes, Pete Nowalk, and Tracey Wigfield. Abby’s next project is the Onyx Collective on Hulu’s limited series The Plot with Mahershala Ali. She is adapting the eight-episode series from Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel of the same name.

www.imdb.com/name/nm2184926

www.amazon.com/Riches-Season-1/dp/B0B8MTCYVM

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram @creativeprocesspodcast

Abby Ajayi is a British Nigerian writer and director who serves as a show creator, executive producer, and writer on the Amazon Series Riches, which is currently on Amazon Prime and premiers on ITVX in the UK on December 22. She has previously worked on the shows Four Weddings and a Funeral, How to Get Away with Murder, Inventing Anna, The First Lady, and Eastenders. As a result, she had the opportunity to learn under the likes of Shonda Rhimes, Pete Nowalk, and Tracey Wigfield. Abby’s next project is the Onyx Collective on Hulu’s limited series The Plot with Mahershala Ali. She is adapting the eight-episode series from Jean Hanff Korelitz’s novel of the same name.

"I think Riches has all the hallmarks of the things I've worked on before in terms of complex, slightly subversive women. At the heart of it, it is negotiating power dynamics. And at the heart of it, there are two very complex and yet vulnerable black women, but I've always loved family drama shows and particularly family businesses, whether it's fictional ones or in real life. I think whether you're talking about the Hiltons, the Kardashians, or the Royal Family, the dynamics of how, where power and money and blood merge is just such a potent and combustible mix that I've always been intrigued by them. I watched them growing up, whether it was Dallas or Dynasty or Six Feet Under, so it was a space which I was really interested in, and wanted to write a black family business show."

"So, in terms of going into the UK as a first-time showrunner. Of course, the UK and the US systems are quite different. Really the showrunner model is very much the American system. While the UK historically has a much more lead writer who then hands over the scripts to the producer who then hands them over to the director.

But I was clear that I do feel that if one has the desire and the ability to be a much more big-picture showrunner, I think that's to the best. That benefits the show because there's a creative voice running all the way through. This isn't a movie, where it's a director's medium. It is the writer's medium, so I think the writer should be across producing and also empowering the director, but there is a clear vision."

www.imdb.com/name/nm2184926

www.amazon.com/Riches-Season-1/dp/B0B8MTCYVM

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram @creativeprocesspodcast

Writer/director Dean Craig's film career took off in 2007 when he wrote the hit UK comedy, Death at a Funeral, starring Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes and Peter Dinklage, and directed by Frank Oz. The film won several audience awards for Best Film, and was remade in the US starring Chris Rock, Zoe Saldana, Martin Lawrence, and Tracy Morgan.

In 2020, Craig turned his attention to directing as well as writing, with his debut film Love, Wedding, Repeat. Craig went on to write and directed The Honeymoon, with Maria Bakalova and Asim Chaudhry, and The Estate, starring Toni Collette, Anna Faris, Kathleen Turner and David Duchovny.

Craig’s other writing producing credits include the feature films Caffeine, A Few Best Men as well as creating the comedy series, Off the Hook with Jonathan Bailey, and Hit the Road, starring Jason Alexander. 

"So, you have my rhythm on the page, and then David Duchovny brings his rhythm and his attributes. And then you get this sort of hopefully wonderful collaboration between writer and director and actor. The Estate is the film that I directed most recently, and that's with Toni Colette, Anna Faris, David Duchovny, Kathleen Turner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ron Livingston, Keyla Monterroso Mejia. Some really wonderful actors and I think a very fun ensemble that we were able to do there. I had a very strange year where I got to do The Honeymoon and The Estate pretty much back to back with no break in between, which was challenging, but also amazing to be one minute in Venice with these fantastic actors. Really, I can't tell you how much I loved working with Maria and Pico and Asim and Lucas. They were all totally different people and personalities, but all fantastic in their own way. And then I jumped onto the set and had those fantastic actors to work with. So it's been quite a year, I have to say."

www.imdb.com/name/nm1918877/?ref_=tt_ov_dr 

www.creativeprocess.info
www.oneplanetpodcast.org
Instagram @creativeprocesspodcast