Welcome to NYWIFT Talks, a weekly series to bring updated news and vital information about the impact of COVID-19 and current events on the media and entertainment industry. Industry professionals will be in conversation discussing what you need to know about theatrical releases, digital advances, virtual tools, festival opportunities, production updates and more.
NYWIFT Talks are free for all to attend.
In this week’s NYWIFT Talks, we discuss podcasting with NYWIFT Board President Jamie Zelermyer (I Was Never There, premiering at Tribeca 2022), Enid Zentelis (How My Grandmother Won WWII), and Jessica Bendinger (Mob Queens). We’ll get a perspective from women filmmakers who have found a new home in audio storytelling.
Moderated by The NY Times journalist Alexis Soloski.
Date: Monday, June 13, 2022
Time: 12:30PM ET
Cost: Free
Panelists
Jamie Zelermyer has been a New York based Producer and Production Executive for the past 20 plus years. Currently, she is the co-host and creator of I Was Never There, a serialized eight episode non-fiction podcast, made in collaboration with Wonder Media Network. Jamie also teaches group and one on film and television pitching sessions giving attendees practical strategies and practice before they pitch to outside companies. She was the VP, Physical Production at Focus Features / Rogue Pictures. Prior to Focus Jamie was a Line Producer and Production Manager working on films such as Igby Goes Down, Boys Don’t Cry and You Can Count on Me. Jamie is the President of the Board of Directors of New York Women in Film & Television, and is an adviser on NYWIFT’s The Writers Lab, a program for female Writer’s over 40 funded by Meryl Streep and Nicole Kidman.
Enid Zentelis is an award-winning director, screenwriter and podcast creator. In 2021, Zentelis released a podcast she created and hosts, How My Grandmother Won WWII, which was selected for Gotham’s inaugural Audio Hub and Film London’s invitation only, Upstream Market. Her podcast went on to chart around the world and garnered feature articles in major publications here and abroad. Zentelis sold her podcast last year and secured a development deal with Red Arrow Studio’s, Kinetic Content to develop as a scripted series. Zentelis’ first feature, Evergreen, was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, which also took home Best Director prize at Sonoma FF. Her feature Bottled Up, was nominated for The Nora Ephron Prize at Tribeca Film Festival, and stars Oscar-winner, Melissa Leo, Marin Ireland and Josh Hamilton. Other awards and festivals include: New York Film Festival, Tribeca, Seattle, Sao Paolo, Torino, Stockholm among others. She has written and directed many award-winning shorts, most notably, Dog Race (New York Film Festival) and an independent episodic scripted series pilot, Au Pair, which premiered at Geena Davis’ Bentonville Film Festival, Episodic Competition, 2017. She is a fellow of the Sundance Institute screenwriting and producing labs, an NBC-Universal Directing Fellow and a graduate of NYU Graduate Film School.
Jessica Bendinger’s movies have grossed over $500 million worldwide, and have spawned myriad sequels, TV shows and Jeopardy questions. Her original script for Bring It On touted as “Just as relevant as ever for its prescient themes,“ twenty years later. Her directorial debut Stick It (starring Jeff Bridges) had the highest per screen average its opening weekend, and was the #1 download on iTunes for seven straight weeks. A writer on the Emmy + Golden Globe award-winning Season 4 of Sex and the City, Simon & Schuster published the “The Seven Rays” and the Webby-nominated podcast Mob Queens is being adapted for TV. New How-To books The Bring It On Book and The Stick It Screenplay Book were Amazon’s #1 New Releases in Screenwriting in 2020-2021.
Alexis Soloski (moderator) is a culture writer for The New York Times, where she covers theater, television and podcasting, and a contributor to the Style section. She has taught at Barnard College and at Columbia University, where she earned her doctorate in English and Comparative Literature, and is a recipient of the George Jean Nathan Award for excellence in theater criticism. Her debut novel, Here in the Dark, is forthcoming from Flatiron Books next year.
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NYWIFT programs, screenings and events are supported, in part, by grants from New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
