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An award-winning podcast featuring candid conversations about inclusion and social impact in Hollywood, hosted by Jared Milrad, who worked for President Obama and founded Movikarma, a nonprofit organization supported by Warner Bros. Discovery and Lionsgate that empowers underrepresented creative talent. Jared interviews acclaimed directors, writers, actors, producers and other changemaking creatives who are breaking barriers and overcoming adversity to have their stories told and voices heard. Join the conversation on Rewriting Hollywood to empower inclusive, impactful storytellers and harness the power of story for good.
147 Episodes
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Jared Milrad sits down with Muslim-German writer and journalist, Hilal Sezgin, to discuss her feature film, THE ALL IS ONE, winner of our 2023 A Show For Social Change Film Festival’s Social Impact Award. THE ALL IS ONE is a narrative feature film that encompasses the question of why humans still consume meat. The film follows the aftermath of an incident at the home of Slaughterhouse owner, Werner Haas, in which a ton of slaughter waste is dumped on his front lawn in the middle of the ...
Jared Milrad interviews directors and Ogden Honors students at Louisiana State University, Ria Salway and Claire Sullivan, about their documentary feature film, FENCELINE, winner of our 2023 A Show For Social Change Film Festival’s Best Non-Fiction Award. FENCELINE sheds light on Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, an 84-mile petrochemical corridor stretching along the Mississippi River, from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. The strip is characterized by high rates of cancer, which residents have conn...
Jared Milrad sits down with filmmaker and visual development artist Erica Travia to talk about her animated short film, ARCADE, winner of our 2023 A Show For Social Change Film Festival’s Creativity Award. ARCADE explores the topic of mental health through its protagonist, Milo (Gabe Richardson), a college student experiencing anxiety and panic, who is relentlessly pursued by a manifestation of his anxiety, Annie (Mackenzie Shaye Murray). When Annie overtakes the arcade, Milo’s only rep...
Jared Milrad speaks with film, television, and theater producer, Bruce Cohen, and film producer and co-head of Higher Ground Productions, Tonia Davis, about their new film, RUSTIN. Directed by George C. Wolfe, RUSTIN follows the life of Bayard Rustin (Colman Domingo), a dedicated civil rights activist and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Aml Ameen). The film pays particular attention to his work with Dr. King’s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and his termination from the organi...
Jared Milrad sits down with Tony Award-winning writer/director Matthew Lopez about his directorial debut, RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE, which tells the story of a transatlantic romance that develops between the son of an American President and Britain's prince. Matthew opens up about his filmmaking process for RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE (which is based on the novel of the same name by Casey McQuiston); the importance of LGBTQIA+ storytelling and diverse representation onscreen, an...
Jared Milrad interviews writer, director, and producer Clement Virgo about his new film, BROTHER, a poetic adaptation of David Chariandy’s novel of the same name. Elegiac in its unfolding, the film reveals the intimacies of Francis (Aaron Pierre) and Michael (Lamar Johnson), sons of Caribbean immigrants facing questions of masculinity, identity, and family amidst Toronto’s budding and buzzing hip-hop scene. Clement opens up about his return to feature filmmaking after a period of episodic dir...
Jared Milrad interviews director D. Smith about her directorial debut, KOKOMO CITY, a documentary feature that focuses on the lives and stories of four Black trans sex workers in Atlanta and New York City. The film, edited and shot by Smith in bold black and white, is a refreshingly unfiltered portrayal of Black trans life. Holding nothing back, the film vibrates with energy, sex, challenge, and hard-earned wisdom. Executive produced by Lena Waithe, KOKOMO CITY won the Sundance Film Festival’...
Jared Milrad interviews director Julie Cohen about her latest documentary feature, EVERY BODY, a revelatory exploration of the lives of intersex people. The film focuses on three intersex activists who have come out and embraced their authentic selves despite childhoods tainted by shame, secrecy, and non-consensual surgeries. Exclusive footage from the NBC News archives featured in the film detail an inconceivable case of medical abuse, providing context for the continued exploitation of inte...
Jared Milrad sits down with filmmaker Juan Felipe Zuleta about his award-winning feature film directorial debut, UNIDENTIFIED OBJECTS, which tells the stories of Peter, a jaded gay man with dwarfism, and his neighbor, Winona, a bubbly and imaginative sex worker, who form an unexpected friendship as they embark on a spontaneous, out of this world, road-trip to reunite with the missing parts of themselves. Juan opens up about his journey from Medellín, Colombia to Los Angeles and NYC, the...
Jared Milrad interviews Bill Doan about his award-winning animated film, STICKS AND STONES, which tells the story of a man who sorts through the debris of his childhood, seeks help to untangle the differences between his own anxiety and depression, and confronts the impact of toxic masculinity. Bill opens up about his own journey with depression, anxiety, and toxic masculinity - and how drawing and creating art helps him process his trauma and mental health challenges. We depend on your gener...
Jared Milrad interviews Hunter Brockmann about his award-winning film, A MONTH. A DAY. A YEAR., which tells the story of Serge, a young man living with autism and dealing with ongoing depression. Serge lives on a schedule to try and keep his negative thoughts in check, but everything comes crashing down when he has to face his fears in a confession for therapy. Hunter opens up about his own experience with autism, depression, and the power of filmmaking to explore and process these personal ...
Jared Milrad chats with award-winning filmmakers Pei Lin Tan and Ee Ming Toh about their powerful documentary, LADY!, which tells the story of a devoted wife who wrestles with reclaiming her sense of self as early onset dementia eats away at her husband’s identity. The filmmakers open up about caregiving, dementia, and the stigmas attached to both, as well as why they decided to make this important project. We depend on your generous support of Rewriting Hollywood to empower new creative voic...
Jared Milrad interviews best-selling author Professor Evelyn Alsultany about her powerful new book, Broken: The Failed Promise of Muslim Inclusion , in which Prof. Alsultany argues that Muslims are only included through “crisis diversity,” an institutional pattern of crisis (such as high-profile Islamophobic incidents), response, and then inertia until the next crisis. Alsultany notably co-authored The Obeidi-Alsultany Test to help Hollywood improve representations of Muslims—what some label ...
In this special episode live from the 76th Cannes Film Festival, Jared Milrad interviews Oscar winning actors Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Sean Penn about their upcoming films MAY DECEMBER and BLACK FLIES. Natalie and Julianne discuss the portrayal of women in media, while Sean addresses healthcare inequity in the United States. These excerpts were taken from press conferences at Cannes used to promote both projects. We depend on your generous support of Rewriting Hollywood to empower...
Jared Milrad interviews Puerto Rican-born Sevier Crespo, p.g.a., an award-winning film, television and commercial producer who learned the ropes from Jerry Bruckheimer, Michael Mann and Ridley Scott. Sevier opens up about his upbringing and journey from acting to producing, how he's managed to build a unique career in Hollywood, his recent Rolling Stone article on cultural change, and his upcoming film “Billy Knight,” starring the legendary Al Pacino, Charlie Heaton (“Stranger Things”) and Di...
In this special interview from Movikarma's Rewriting Hollywood Summit, Jared Milrad sits down with industry leaders Bree Frank (former executive at Reese Witherspoon's production company, Hello Sunshine) and Kiana Madani (actor/producer who stars in an upcoming Apple TV+ series). Bree and Kiana open up about their personal journeys as underrepresented voices in Hollywood, their advice for folks looking to build a career in entertainment, and how to make Hollywood more inclusive, equitable, an...
Jared Milrad interviews directors directors Anne Alvergue and Debra McClutchy and producers Beth Levison and Judith Mizrachy about their Oscar-nominated short documentary, THE MARTHA MITCHELL EFFECT, which tells the incredible true story of a Republican cabinet wife who was gaslighted by the Nixon Administration to keep her quiet during the 1970s Watergate scandal. This all-female filmmaking team open up about why they decided to tell this forgotten story, why Martha Mitchell deserves our att...
Jared Milrad interviews award-winning filmmaker Joshua Seftel about his Oscar-nominated short documentary, STRANGER AT THE GATE, which tells the incredible true story of a a Marine who - while planning a terrorist attack on a mosque in a small American town - comes face-to-face with the people he is trying to kill, forcing him to confront his own actions. Joshua opens up about his personal journey in filmmaking, what drew him to this inspiring story, and how we can bridge cultural divides acr...
Jared Milrad sits down with award-winning filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmont about his Oscar-nominated short documentary, A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS, which tells the harrowing story of children and staff at a rundown halfway home in Eastern Ukraine - and the plight of vulnerable children who await court custody decisions about their future. Simon opens up about what drew him to this timely subject and his process for filming in such challenging conditions, how children adapt to living in war-torn ...
Jared Milrad chats with writer/creator Pam Ribon about her Oscar-nominated animated short film, MY YEAR OF DICKS, a hilarious and provocative work of animation thirty years in the making about an imaginative fifteen year-old who is stubbornly determined to lose her virginity despite the pathetic pickings in the outskirts of Houston in the early 90’s. Pam opens up about why she decided to turn her best-selling memoir, NOTES TO BOYS (AND OTHER THINGS I SHOULDN’T SHARE IN PUBLIC), into an autobi...
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