WeForShe
A women's advocacy group that finds practical ways to bring about a gender-balanced landscape in television.
BOLA OGUN
Bola directed her first episode of television for the OWN Network's "Queen Sugar" and directed an episode of "Legacies" after completing the Warner Bros. Television Group's Directors' Workshop.
BOLA OGUN
Bola directed her first episode of television for the OWN Network's "Queen Sugar" and directed an episode of "Legacies" after completing the Warner Bros. Television Group's Directors' Workshop.
Jen was recently hired by Blumhouse Productions to direct an episode of their new drama "The Purge."
JEN MCGOWAN
SJ MAIN-MUNOZ
SJ Main-Muñoz was selected for the NBC Female Forward program. As a result she will be directing an episode of "Chicago Med" in the fall.
Since the second class of the DirectHer Program was announced in December 2018, four out of the nine participants have secured their first directing job. Bola Ogun directed an episode of "Queen Sugar" on OWN. Jen McGowan directed an episode of "The Purge" for Blumhouse Productions. SJ Main is slated to direct an episode of "Chicago Med" for NBC and Mo Perkins directed an episode of "Manifest" for Warner Bros. These incredibly talented women join the nine other female directors from the inaugural DirectHer Program class who directed their first episodes (listed below) and have gone on to direct over 70+ episodes of television thus far.
Marta Cunningham - "Pretty Little Liars"
Maggie Kiley - "Scream Queens"
Valerie Weiss - "Chicago P.D."
Vanessa Parise - "Beyond"
Anya Adams - "Blackish"
Rachel Goldberg - "American Horror Story"
Christine Lakin - "The Goldbergs"
Annabelle Frost - "Gotham"
Mia Lidofsky - "Strangers"
The DirectHer Program is anchored to shining a light on immensely talented women directors and helping them secure their first episode of television. Through our unique program working with experienced supervising directors, we then work alongside each directors' representation, their peers, industry diversity programs, executives, etc. to help create the directing opportunities all of these women and more so richly deserve. Below are the six directors remaining in our second class of the DirectHer Program. We are focused on their success and will be updating you with their first episodic television jobs soon!
MO PERKINS
Mo Perkins directed an episode of "Manifest" since completing the Warner Bros. Television Group's Directors' Workshop.
Mo Perkins directed an episode of "Manifest" since completing the Warner Bros. Television Group's Directors' Workshop.
LYNN D'ANGONA
paired with Jonathan Frakes
Lynn d’Angona is a filmmaker who has over 25 years experience working in film and television. As a 1st AD, Lynn has worked on both pilots and series including Shondaland’ GILDED LILLYS, multiple seasons of THE GLADES, CRIMINAL MINDS, CSI MIAMI, and SAVING GRACE. In 2013, d’Angona produced and directed “Promises Kept” an original web-based documentary series for Hologic, Inc. Supporters include Harry Bring, Nina Lederman, JoAnn Alfano & Gary Randall. In 2010, d’Angona produced and directed a short documentary for NASA chronicling Dr. Lynn Hatkle's groundbreaking work in the field of cancer research entitled, "R.I.S.K – Radiation In Space = Knowledge. D'Angona was one of seven women Directors in the DGA asked to participate in the Kodak 35mm short series "Moments to...Forget" with her short film, “Girl Talk” based on her original feature screenplay “Beach Towels”. She produced and directed the award-winning feature documentary, "Between the White Lines" In addition, directing 2nd Unit on Megiddo, The Omega Code 2, d’Angona was the uncredited co-director. Her directorial debut, "Lulu Askew" a short film, starring Lisa Eichhorn and Stanley Tucci won the "Audience Favorite Award" at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Los Angeles Women in Film Festival and New York.
Contact: Sean Barclay at The Gersh Agency
AMBER SEALEY
paired with Daisy Von Scherler Mayer
Amber Sealey is an award-winning director, writer, and producer who has made three feature films. She has been supported as an artist by Sundance, Film Independent, Women In Film, and is a current fellow of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women. She was selected for the Film Independent Directing Lab and their Fast Track program.
Her most recent film, NO LIGHT & NO LAND ANYWHERE, was theatrically released and won a Special Jury Award at LA Film Festival and IndieWire said the film could “further cement Sealey’s reputation as one of the most promising directors of female-driven stories working the U.S. today” and the NY Times said it had, “a zing not only of originality, but of daring.” Executive Produced by Miranda July, it won the Indie Vision Breakthrough Feature Film Award at TCFF.
Her second feature, HOW TO CHEAT, won Best Performance at the LA Film Festival, and won both Best Narrative Film and Best Acting at BendFilm Festival, and was released by FilmBuff. Her first film, A PLUS D, was released by IndiePix. She has directed content for AOL, Yahoo, and Oath, among others. Amber has shadowed various television directors, including Jill Soloway (Amazon’s Transparent), Jamie Babbit (Netflix’s Girlboss), and Daisy Meyer (NBC’s Reverie). As an actor she has worked with Gwyneth Paltrow, Simon Pegg, and David Schwimmer. She has been directed by Oscar-winner Andrea Arnold, and BAFTA-winner/Emmy-nominee Susanna White. Amber is also an acting coach and regularly works with Camera D’Or-winner Miranda July, Oscar-nominee Mike Mills, Martin de Thurah, and Josephine Decker.
Amber is originally from England and was raised in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and Modern Dance from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an MA from The Central School of Speech and Drama in London, as well as studying Shakespeare at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, also in London.
Contact: Cora Olson at MGMT
PAIGE MORROW KIMBALL
paired with Todd Holland
Paige Morrow Kimball began her production career in the unscripted television arena and later established herself in the scripted world, directing films for HBO’s iconic show, SESAME STREET. Her highly acclaimed social justice short film, PLAY DATE, won seven festival awards and is now a homelessness awareness arts-education program for middle schools. She directed a large budget comedy web-series, EXILED OUT EAST and wrote and directed an award-winning comedy short, ENDING UP, which was selected as ShortsHD’s Movie of the Week and distributed on ROKU’s ZPTV. Paige’s extensive directing and producing credits in unscripted TV, include: HBO’s PROJECT GREENLIGHT, ABC’s OPRAH WINFREY SHOW, FOX’s BOOT CAMP, FXs NASCAR DRIVER and many more. Paige was a participant in the CBS Directors Program, The Sony Directors Program and the inaugural DGA Diverse Directors Mentorship Program. She holds a BFA from NYU Film School and she has written articles about gender parity in media that have been published in The Huffington Post and other publications. Paige shadowed many veteran TV directors including: Ron Underwood THE GOOD FIGHT and KEVIN PROBABLY SAVES THE WORLD, Jaffar Mahmood YOUNG SHELDON, Melissa Kossar LIFE IN PIECES, Lee Shallat Chemel THE MIDDLE, Bob Koherr BUNK'D, Daisy VonSherler Mayer GOOD GIRLS REVOLT, and Millicent Shelton GIRLFRIENDS GUIDE TO DIVORCE.
Contact: Todd Feldman at The Feldman Company
EMILY MOSS WILSON
paired with Christine Gernon
Emily's directorial debut, the Twilight Zone-inspired short DRINK, premiered to rave reviews on the festival circuit and currently has over 2 Million views online. She has also produced two award-winning short films with her Paper Crane Productions team, Grande Drip and Knight to D7. Prior to directing Emily worked at various studios and networks where she honed her development and production skills. Her desire to direct led her to work alongside one of Hollywood’s most legendary creative forces – writer/director Garry Marshall -- who was both a friend and mentor. Emily has shadowed numerous veteran TV directors including Allison Liddi-Brown (Scandal), Joel Zwick (Girl Meets World), Helen Shaver (Heartbeat) and Mark Tinker (Private Practice). She was selected for Ryan Murphy's Half Foundation Directing Program where she was paired with the incomparable Jamie Lee Curtis and shadowed her on Scream Queens. Emily has directed three films for Lifetime - the thriller Nanny Seduction (2016), the heartwarming Christmas in Mississippi (2017), and the holiday dramedy Hometown Christmas (2018). She has worked with talent such as Kerry Washington, Henry Winkler, Melissa Gilbert, Faith Ford, Matt Lauria, Abigail Spencer, and Jaimie Alexander. She also currently serves as Creative Director for the ATX Television Festival in Austin, TX. Emily has several projects in development including a sci-fi anthology series, a female centric drama series, and an indie film based on the true story of her in-law's honeymoon.
Contact: David Rubin at The Gersh Agency
MELISSA OREN
paired with Tamra Davis
Melissa is an award winning writer/director. Her short film, THE BEST FRIEND, has been accepted to numerous festivals and won the Audience Choice Award at the Brooklyn Girl Film Festival. She has support from creative executives at Nickelodeon, 20th and ABC Studios. Melissa has shadowed on a number of series including MODERN FAMILY, HAPPY ENDINGS and WORK IT for ABC, LIFE IN PIECES for CBS, THUNDERMANS for Nickelodeon, and NO TOMORROW for CW. She recently wrapped directing a digital series for Parents.com. Beyond shadowing work, she has a great deal of on-set experience. She worked for showrunner, Jeffrey Richman, where she gained experience on multi and single cam shows such as FRASIER, JAKE IN PROGRESS, and YES, DEAR. Melissa also writes with her husband, Ben Oren, with credits including Alloy Entertainment’s series, FIRST DAY, a freelance episode of STATE OF GEORGIA for ABC Family/ABC Studios, a digital series for Fremantle Media, sketch material for Awesomeness TV, and a half hour pilot for Warner Bros. Their digital series, TWO WEEKS, was recently selected as the division winner for the 2018 CineStory Foundation competition. Melissa and Ben are currently developing a half-hour comedy with I’ll Have Another Productions.
Contact: Mikhail Nayfeld and Markus Goerg at Heroes & Villains
For information regarding the DirectHer Program participation and prerequisites, please visit our DirectHer Program Alumni page. For more specific information regarding participation or becoming a supervising director, please email us directly at directherprogram@weforshe.org