Highlights - JANE ALEXANDER - Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress, Conservationist, Author

Highlights - JANE ALEXANDER - Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress, Conservationist, Author

/

Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress · Conservationist
Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts 1993-97

I did not seek out these roles like All the President's Men. I know that I was very interested in social and political issues from childhood. I don't know whether there was something in me that translated that I was politically and socially conscious when I was a young actress because these roles came to me. I didn't go out begging for them. And I was so grateful to have them because I thought they had a depth to them.

JANE ALEXANDER- Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress, Conservationist, Author

JANE ALEXANDER- Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress, Conservationist, Author

/

Tony & Emmy Award-Winning Actress, Conservationist, Author
Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts 1993-97

I did not seek out these roles like All the President's Men. I know that I was very interested in social and political issues from childhood. I don't know whether there was something in me that translated that I was politically and socially conscious when I was a young actress because these roles came to me. I didn't go out begging for them. And I was so grateful to have them because I thought they had a depth to them.

Highlights - Etgar Keret - Author - Cannes Film Festival Award-winning Director of “Jellyfish”, “The Middleman”

Highlights - Etgar Keret - Author - Cannes Film Festival Award-winning Director of “Jellyfish”, “The Middleman”

/

Cannes Film Festival Award-winning Director
Author of Fly Already · Suddenly a Knock on the Door · The Seven Good Years

For me, there is something about art, it's not a monologue, it's a dialogue. 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.

Etgar Keret - Author - Cannes Film Festival Award-winning Director of “Jellyfish”, “The Middleman”

Etgar Keret - Author - Cannes Film Festival Award-winning Director of “Jellyfish”, “The Middleman”

/

Cannes Film Festival Award-winning Director
Author of Fly Already · Suddenly a Knock on the Door · The Seven Good Years

For me, there is something about art, it's not a monologue, it's a dialogue. 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.

Highlights - Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” - Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

Highlights - Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” - Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

/

Creator of the Amazon series Riches
Writer/Producer on Inventing Anna · The First Lady · How to Get Away with Murder

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. 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.

Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

Abby Ajayi - Creator of “Riches” Writer/Producer “Inventing Anna” “The First Lady”

/

Creator of the Amazon series Riches
Writer/Producer on Inventing Anna · The First Lady · How to Get Away with Murder

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. 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.

Dean Craig - Writer/Director “The Estate”, “The Honeymoon”, “Death at a Funeral”, “Love Wedding Repeat”

Dean Craig - Writer/Director “The Estate”, “The Honeymoon”, “Death at a Funeral”, “Love Wedding Repeat”

/

Writer/Director of The Estate starring Toni Collette, Kathleen Turner, David Duchovny
The Honeymoon · Death at a Funeral · Love Wedding Repeat

"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.

Highlights - Jack Horner - Renowned Paleontologist - Technical Advisor, Jurassic Park/World Films

Highlights - Jack Horner - Renowned Paleontologist - Technical Advisor, Jurassic Park/World Films

/

Renowned Dinosaur Paleontologist
Technical Advisor on all Jurassic Park / Jurassic World Films

I found my first fossil when I was six years old. And I found my first dinosaur bone when I was eight, my first dinosaur skeleton when I was 13. When I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be a paleontologist, and I didn't think there was much hope for it, though. I was doing very poorly in school. I think I was always a pretty positive kid. And so even though I wasn't doing well in school, I was really happy about the fact that I was finding all these cool fossils, and I was making collections. I don't know when it came to me that I would do this, but I think I just was born this way.

Jack Horner - Renowned Dinosaur Paleontologist - Technical Advisor, Jurassic Park/World Films

Jack Horner - Renowned Dinosaur Paleontologist - Technical Advisor, Jurassic Park/World Films

/

Renowned Dinosaur Paleontologist
Technical Advisor on all Jurassic Park / Jurassic World Films

I found my first fossil when I was six years old. And I found my first dinosaur bone when I was eight, my first dinosaur skeleton when I was 13. When I was a kid, I knew I wanted to be a paleontologist, and I didn't think there was much hope for it, though. I was doing very poorly in school. I think I was always a pretty positive kid. And so even though I wasn't doing well in school, I was really happy about the fact that I was finding all these cool fossils, and I was making collections. I don't know when it came to me that I would do this, but I think I just was born this way.

Highlights - Ken Cheng - Writer/Producer of “Easter Sunday” - Co-Founder - Crab Club, Inc.

Highlights - Ken Cheng - Writer/Producer of “Easter Sunday” - Co-Founder - Crab Club, Inc.

/

Writer & Executive Producer of Easter Sunday starring Jo Koy, Jimmy O’Yang, Tia Carrere, Tiffany Haddish
Co-Founder of Crab Club, Inc.

I think there's this belief that creativity requires our ability to think outward and extrapolate beyond our own experiences and think of the world in imaginative new ways - which is true in a lot of cases - but I also believe in creativity as the ability to access inward and look introspectively at our own personal experiences and mine those experiences in ways that aren't necessarily one to one copies of our lives, but that we can extrapolate themes and lessons, comedy, drama, humor...into new works.

Ken Cheng - Writer/Producer of “Easter Sunday” starring Jo Koy - Co-Founder - Crab Club, Inc.

Ken Cheng - Writer/Producer of “Easter Sunday” starring Jo Koy - Co-Founder - Crab Club, Inc.

/

Writer & Executive Producer of Easter Sunday starring Jo Koy, Jimmy O’Yang, Tia Carrere, Tiffany Haddish
Co-Founder of Crab Club, Inc.

I think there's this belief that creativity requires our ability to think outward and extrapolate beyond our own experiences and think of the world in imaginative new ways - which is true in a lot of cases - but I also believe in creativity as the ability to access inward and look introspectively at our own personal experiences and mine those experiences in ways that aren't necessarily one to one copies of our lives, but that we can extrapolate themes and lessons, comedy, drama, humor...into new works.

Highlights - Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz - “Gordita Chronicles”on HBO Max

Highlights - Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz - “Gordita Chronicles”on HBO Max

/

Claudia Forestieri (Creator) & Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Showrunner)
Gordita Chronicles

When you immigrate, it's kind of like you're going through adolescence because you're in a new place. You feel weird in your own skin. You're learning new things. Everything is changing. You feel awkward. So that also helped us connect the adult stories to the children's stories.

Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Creator - Showrunner) “Gordita Chronicles”

Claudia Forestieri - Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Creator - Showrunner) “Gordita Chronicles”

/

Claudia Forestieri (Creator) & Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz (Showrunner)
Gordita Chronicles

When you immigrate, it's kind of like you're going through adolescence because you're in a new place. You feel weird in your own skin. You're learning new things. Everything is changing. You feel awkward. So that also helped us connect the adult stories to the children's stories.

Highlights - Florian Hoffmeister - Award-winning DP, “Pachinko”, “Great Expectations”

Highlights - Florian Hoffmeister - Award-winning DP, “Pachinko”, “Great Expectations”

/

Florian Hoffmeister · Emmy & BAFTA Award-winning Director of Photography
Pachinko · Great Expectations · Official Secrets

Every time I ask, ‘What do you need? What do I want? What does the director want? How do we collaborate? What is generated during the collaboration? What ideas, questions come across? And then I can start constructing something like a look.

Florian Hoffmeister - Emmy - BAFTA Award-winning Director of Photography

Florian Hoffmeister - Emmy - BAFTA Award-winning Director of Photography

/

Florian Hoffmeister · Emmy & BAFTA Award-winning Director of Photography
Pachinko · Great Expectations · Official Secrets

Every time I ask, ‘What do you need? What do I want? What does the director want? How do we collaborate? What is generated during the collaboration? What ideas, questions come across? And then I can start constructing something like a look.

Highlights - Isabel Sandoval - Director of “Under the Banner of Heaven”

Highlights - Isabel Sandoval - Director of “Under the Banner of Heaven”

/

Director of Lingua Franca & Under the Banner of Heaven

Before coming on board Under the Banner of Heaven, I had very little knowledge of Mormonism, but having read the script by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who is also the showrunner for the show, I resonated deeply with Jeb Pyre (played by Andrew Garfield) when it comes to his growing ambivalence and his crisis of faith. And the more he learned about the gruesome, grisly history of the founding Mormonism, and also about the case that he was investigating, the more disillusioned and disenchanted he was becoming. And that resonated with me because I was raised Catholic in the Philippines, but as I grew older, actually went to Catholic schools and universities from kindergarten until college, and then the more I learned about the history of the Catholic Church and the atrocities and the injustices that it has committed, especially in the name of colonialist and imperialist pursuits in the Middle ages, the more I questioned its control over me and my life.

Isabel Sandoval - Director of “Lingua Franca” - “Under the Banner of Heaven”

Isabel Sandoval - Director of “Lingua Franca” - “Under the Banner of Heaven”

/

Director of Lingua Franca & Under the Banner of Heaven

Before coming on board Under the Banner of Heaven, I had very little knowledge of Mormonism, but having read the script by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who is also the showrunner for the show, I resonated deeply with Jeb Pyre (played by Andrew Garfield) when it comes to his growing ambivalence and his crisis of faith. And the more he learned about the gruesome, grisly history of the founding Mormonism, and also about the case that he was investigating, the more disillusioned and disenchanted he was becoming. And that resonated with me because I was raised Catholic in the Philippines, but as I grew older, actually went to Catholic schools and universities from kindergarten until college, and then the more I learned about the history of the Catholic Church and the atrocities and the injustices that it has committed, especially in the name of colonialist and imperialist pursuits in the Middle ages, the more I questioned its control over me and my life.

(Highlights) Ellen Rapoport · Creator, Exec. Producer & Showrunner of “Minx” for HBO Max

(Highlights) Ellen Rapoport · Creator, Exec. Producer & Showrunner of “Minx” for HBO Max

/

Creator, Executive Producer & Showrunner of Minx
starring Ophelia Lovibond & Jake Johnson

What drew me to the time period of the 70s was the real story of these magazines Playgirl, Viva, Foxy Lady, all the magazines that existed in this period. So it was a natural outgrowth of trying to tell a story that was inspired by, to some extent, real-life events. When I started developing Minx, what struck me about the 70s, in particular, is just how similar it was to our time. It seems like the magazines were covering all the same issues that we're now talking about. Obviously, we all saw with the leaked decision in Roe vs. Wade just how close we are to that time period and how far we haven't come.

Ellen Rapoport · Creator, Exec. Producer & Showrunner of “Minx” for HBO Max

Ellen Rapoport · Creator, Exec. Producer & Showrunner of “Minx” for HBO Max

/

Creator, Executive Producer & Showrunner of Minx
starring Ophelia Lovibond & Jake Johnson

What drew me to the time period of the 70s was the real story of these magazines Playgirl, Viva, Foxy Lady, all the magazines that existed in this period. So it was a natural outgrowth of trying to tell a story that was inspired by, to some extent, real-life events. When I started developing Minx, what struck me about the 70s, in particular, is just how similar it was to our time. It seems like the magazines were covering all the same issues that we're now talking about. Obviously, we all saw with the leaked decision in Roe vs. Wade just how close we are to that time period and how far we haven't come.

(Highlights) PETER WELLER

(Highlights) PETER WELLER

/

Peter Weller is a renowned theater and Hollywood actor. His performance in films such as Robocop and Naked Lunch garnering him much critical and commercial success over the years. Unbeknownst to most, Weller has spent much of his time over the decades, honing his appreciation for the visual and musical arts through his studies of the Renaissance era. Earning a Masters in  Roman architecture from Syracuse University before moving onto a PHD in Renaissance art from UCLA, Weller has even penned numerous academic papers covering the era’s influence on modern art. Recently, Weller has even returned to the setting of RoboCop in Detroit, Michigan to deliver a lecture on “The Crisis in Beauty”. Peter has also contributed an essay to a music anthology The Creative Process has co-curated for Routledge Press. Weller’s essay details his memories of the late Miles Davis, who was both a friend and an inspiration.

Peter Weller · Actor, Art Historian, and Director (Highlights)
The Creative Process Podcast