Mentors on the Mic: Your guide to pursuing a career in the Entertainment industry

Ken Girotti has had a hand in the creation of hundreds of hours of television episodes, pilots, television movies and film and received multiple award nominations. His television movie MAYERTHORPE garnered the best director award from the Director’s Guild of Canada.

Recently Ken has been Executive Producer/Director on FBI MOST WANTED (CBS). He served the same role on ANNE WITH AN E (Netflix). He Executive Produced and Directed both

s...

Scott McCormick, has been an audiobook director, adaptor and narrator for over 10 years. In that time he has directed and adapted over a hundred books and narrated and provided voices for well over a thousand book. He has played many characters through the years including the lead roles in Sir Apropos of Nothing by Peter David and The Ishmael Jones by Simon R. Green. He has also lent his voice to dozens of audiocomic book character...

Khaya Fraites is a voice and film actor based in New York City. She has narrated books such as the full cast versions of Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from GraphicAudio and has performed in video games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo 4, and Blumhouse games’ first release: Fear the Spotlight. You can also catch her in animated shows such as Pokémon Paldean Winds, Quantum Heroes Dinoster and Rainbow High. Khaya is also a filmmaker and...

Joshua: Joshua is a diverse, singing actor who has worked on Broadway and regionally at esteemed theaters such as Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Arena Stage, Theatre Under the Stars, Folger Theatre, Triad Stage, and Signature Theatre. His television appearances include "FBI," "Law and Order," "Law and Order: Organized Crime," "Law and Order: SVU," "Lincoln Rhyme," and HBO’s "Paterno." Joshua co-founded and served as Artistic Direc...

A graduate from Aberystwyth University, BEN THOMPSON left Wales and London to settle in New York. Soon after arriving he joined the Tribeca Film Festival where he is currently the VP of Shorts Programming. From the start of his career as a filmmaker Ben has always had a keen interest in short form storytelling and discovered while at Tribeca a passion for programming and presenting short films to new and engaged audiences. He is fa...

Presenting... Part 2 of my Filmmaker Roundtable at the Hampton International Film Festival.

In this episode, we talk to the filmmaking teams of four short films. We delve into the process of creating their films and their experience at the festival.

Including:

• Director Jack Kendrick and Producer Taylor Ervin for TORNADO: A struggling contractor risks his young sons’ wellbeing to cut a sweet deal.
• Director Geneva Peschka and ...

Tom Nesher - Director & Writer

Born in Los Angeles in 1996, Tom Nesher is a graduate of the Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School. She directed four award winning shorts, and has created dozens of unique freeform documentary pieces as a journalist at one of Israel’s most prominent networks. Come Closer is Nesher’s debut feature film.

Logline:

When Eden’s beloved brother suddenly dies, she takes desperate measures to fill the void...

Presenting... Part 1 of my Filmmaker Roundtable at the Hampton International Film Festival.

In this episode, we talk to the filmmaking teams of two feature narratives and one documentary. We delve into the process of creating their films and their experience at the festival.

Including:

• Delaney Buffet (Director, Lead Actress, Writer) and Katie Corwin (Lead Actress, Writer) for Adult Best Friends. Nothing holds a mirror up to y...

Carol Baum has produced thirty-four movies, seventeen of them independently. Before becoming an independent producer, Baum was co-president of Sandollar Productions, Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin’s production company, for ten years, where she produced such hits as Father of the Bride; the Academy Award-winning HBO documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt; Tidy Endings; I.Q.; Jacknife; True Identity; Buffy the Vampire Slay...

Cara Cusumano has been with Tribeca since 2008, during which time the festival has become a globally respected showcase for film and TV premieres, live music, talks, interdisciplinary events, and talent discovery. During her tenure as Festival Director, Tribeca has been called “an annual powerhouse” (Time Out), “reliably and inarguably excellent” (Village Voice), and “one of the most prestigious festivals of the new millennium” (Pl...

Bryan Smiley is President & Chief Content Officer of Hartbeat, the global multi-platform media company founded by Kevin Hart.

Named to Variety’s 2022 “New Leaders” and Hollywood Reporter’s 2018 ”Next Gen” and “Rising Executives 35 under 35” lists, Smiley oversees Hartbeat production, financing, and development, including the company’s 70+ projects in development and more than 20 projects released in 2022 across top tier partne...

ROB DECINA - In December of 2018, Rob Decina was named VP, Casting in NY for CBS Studios. He has contributed to the casting of many shows across several broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms, including: Your Honor, The Comey Rule (SHOWTIME), Nancy Drew & The Dynasty (CW), Diary of a Future President (Disney+), Guilty Party & The Game (Paramount+) and Swagger ( Apple TV+).

At CBS, he developed two programs: a Casting Fe...

With 15 wins and 76 nominations, Bernard Telsey is one of the premier Casting Directors in the industry. Casting our favorite films, television shows, and Broadway shows, Telsey Casting is well known for excellence in casting. From the original production of RENT to NBC's This Is Us to Only Murders in the Building to Wicked (both the upcoming movie and the show), their office is constantly busy.

In this episode, we talk about:

...

LIVE on the Red Carpet of the World Premiere of the film "All That We Love."

Starring:                      

MARGARET CHO (Cast)

JESSE TYLER FERGUSON (Cast)

KENNETH CHOI (Cast) (Halloweentown, Captain America, Ironside, American Crime Story, The Wolf of Wall Street

ALICE LEE (Cast)

ATSUKO OKATSUKA (Cast)

DEVON BOSTICK (Cast) (Pppenheimer, Saw 4 and 5, Diary of a Wimpy Kid movies)

YEN TAN (Writer, Director) 

Missi Pyle (Ju...

LIVE on the Red Carpet of the World Premiere of the film "Sacramento."

Starring: Michael Cera, Kristen Stewart, Michael Angarano, and Maya Erskine

Written by: Michael Angarano and Chris Smith

Interviews including Michael Angarano, Chris Smith, AJ Mendez, and Iman Karram

Logline: Ricky, an energetic and free-spirited young man convinces Glenn, his long-time friend who's settled into domestic life, to go on an impromptu...

Video Available on Spotify.

This year, I achieved one of my goals of covering a Film Festival for my podcast.

I interviewed big actors, incredible filmmakers, Tribeca programmers, and enjoyed myself immensely.

In this special 4th Anniversary episode of Mentors on the Mic, I share:

• What made me feel more confident and relaxed at this Film Festival in comparison to others

• How I booked red carpets and big interviews with Lisa Edel...

Susanne Scheel is a New York-based casting director with a Bachelor of Science in Film and Television from Boston University. Susanne has won three Casting Society of America Artios Awards for Excellence in Casting and has been nominated for nine more. Susanne has had the honor of collaborating with several visionary creatives including Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand, Barry Levinson, George Clooney, Kasi Lemmons, Ryan Mur...

I had the opportunity to go LIVE on the RED CARPET at Tribeca for three movies. The first was interview the Duplass family for their film "Oh, Christmas Tree."

This 11 minute short film was shot in their cabin in upstate NY. It truly was a family affair, written by Mark Duplass to star in with his daughter Ora Duplass, and directed by Katie Aselton, Mark's wife and Ora's mom.

I asked them a couple of questions abo...

Nicole Frail is a senior editor at Skyhorse Publishing, a traditional publishing company based in New York City. She has been with the company more than a decade and currently works on both adult and children's titles in both fiction and nonfiction categories. She has worked with debut authors and illustrators, as well as New York Times bestsellers, James Beard Award winners, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musicians.

In this ep...