Storytelling Clubhouse

Vancouver-based director, writer, and actor Stephanie Izsak and Helenna talk about the horror genre, adding more creative career tools to her toolkit, her 3 short films featured for our 2025 book + film club, the importance of coffee, and so much more...

Stephanie's IG: ⁠⁠@stephanie_at_the_movies

Stephanie's website: stephanieizsak.com

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email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠⁠

Helenna goes "back to school" in this conversation with Celine Parreñas Shimizu, the new Dean of UCLA Theater, Film and Television and the highest-ranking Filipina American woman in the UC system. 

"So To Speak" film website: ⁠sotospeakfilm.com

Dean Celine’s IG: ⁠@uclatftdean

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email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠⁠

Helenna and author Andrew Boryga talk about his novel “Victim” and do a deep dive into their lived experiences regarding “mining trauma”, questioning what authenticity even means, and Andrew’s personal creative process. 

Andrew’s website: andrewboryga.com 

Andrew’s IG: @borywrites

Andrew’s Substack: DWELL

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email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠⁠

Helenna learns all about Wattpad from their Head of Content, Alessandra Ferreri. What is Wattpad you ask? Listen in to find out! 

ABOUT ALESSANDRA: 

Alessandra Ferreri is the Head of Content at Wattpad, a leading global webnovel platform and storytelling community from WEBTOON Entertainment. 

With nearly a decade spent accumulating her “fan-thropological” understanding of online communities and their evolving appetite for stories, she specializes in balancing both the art and science of uncovering adaptation hits on Wattpad for screens and bookshelves around the world.

Previously, Ferreri was the VP of Content at Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, an integrated studio and publishing business from WEBTOON Entertainment that has introduced webcomics and webnovels to new entertainment audiences around the world.

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Check out Wattpad HERE: https://www.wattpad.com/ 

and on IG: @wattpad https://www.instagram.com/wattpad/ 

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email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠⁠

Helenna Santos and Alexandra Boylan spill all the tea on how they made "At Your Own Risk" for only $5,000 ALL IN. Now, ten years later, that film made it onto the "most popular" list of movies on TUBI. This is one that filmmakers do not want to miss!

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Watch "At Your Own Risk" on TUBI HERE.

Watch the trailer HERE.

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Check out Alexandra's indie filmmaking class/Producer's mentorship program HERE.

Follow Alexandra on IG at @alexandramboylan

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email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠

A quick bonus episode to introduce to you "Audrey Is All Alone" from our host Helenna Santos.

Find "Audrey Is All Alone" exclusively on Amazon worldwide, and visit AudreyIsAllAlone.com for more info!

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email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠

Author and Bad on Paper podcast co-host Olivia Muenter sits down with Helenna to talk about her journey from fashion & beauty editor, to influencer, to author, and the way cultural and societal beauty standards have played into her experiences. They also discuss Olivia's bestselling book “Such A Bad Influence” and her upcoming novel “Little One”.

LINKS:

Olivia’s Website: oliviamuenter.com

Olivia’s IG: @oliviamuenter

Olivia’s Substack: oliviamuenter.substack.com

“Little One”: order via any place you find books! 

“Such A Bad Influence”: ditto! 

Bad on Paper podcast: badonpaperpodcast.com

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email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠

Helenna sits down for some coffee &  tea (literally and figuratively), in this frank conversation about career, life, aging, and the wisdom that comes with 2 decades in the entertainment industry with actor and filmmaker Lynn Chen.

Lynn stars in “Saving Face” (2004) which was the Storytelling Clubhouse film club pick for August. The film just had it’s 20 year anniversary of release and it was also recently added to the prestigious Criterion Collection. 

LINKS:

Lynn’s Website: lynnchen.com 

GenX Taste: genxtaste.substack.com

Watch "Saving Face": find a viewing platform

email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠

Helenna and author Matthew Norman talk all about his novel "All Together Now" which was the Storytelling Clubhouse book club pick for July. They walk through his career thus far, and his amazing ability to turn life's often bittersweet quality into heartfelt, grounded, & gripping novels.

LINKS:

Matt’s website:  thenormannation.com

Matt’s IG: @thenormannation

"All Together Now": BUY here

"Grace and Henry's Holiday Movie Marathon": PRE-ORDER here

email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠

Helenna speaks with historian, host, producer, and influencer Malia Miglino. The discuss her role as a content creator in our current social & political climate, the importance of studying and teaching history, the logistics of the influencer/creative economy, and more!

LINKS:

Malia's LinkTree: all things Malia

Malia's IG: @macabremalia

Malia's TikTok: @la_history_girl

Malia's website: ⁠⁠lahistorygirl.com

email Helenna at: [email protected]

follow us on IG at:⁠⁠⁠ @storytellingclubhouse ⁠⁠⁠

follow Helenna at: ⁠⁠⁠@helennamsantos⁠⁠⁠

join our book + film club at ⁠⁠⁠storytellingclubhouse.com⁠⁠⁠

Thank you to our advertisers/friends/sponsors:

⁠⁠⁠D Studios Productions⁠⁠⁠

&

⁠⁠⁠Reading Glasses Podcast⁠⁠⁠ / ⁠⁠⁠Reading Smut ⁠