Benjamin Flaherty is a filmmaker and photographer with over 15 years of experience spanning documentary, fine art, and commercial work. He has collaborated with renowned artists such as Lou Reed and Julian Schnabel and directed campaigns for leading brands including Humana and KFC. His short-form public service announcements have been honored at Cannes, D&AD, One Show, and the Clios. Flaherty’s debut feature documentary, SHUFFLE, received the Grand Jury Prize at the 2025 SXSW Film & T...
Join LFS Board Member Rachel Annette Helson as she sits down with Tamlin Hall to talk about his new film, Red Camellia, film here in Louisville. Tamlin Hall is an Emmy Award-winning filmmaker who's films have won top prizes at Dances With Films, Atlanta Film Festival, and the Breckenridge Film Festival. Hall's work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Hall received his MFA from UCLA. Support the show
Dylan Query is an independent filmmaker from Southern Indiana. His short film, She's On The Run, screen at the 15th annual Flyover Film Festival. His first feature film "Gun Fight at Cold Cross" acquired a distribution deal with Wal-Mart in 2023. An alum of Ball State University, Dylan has taken his production company Query Productions full time and serves the commercial market of Southern Indiana and Kentucky with high end digital media production. Support the show
Veronica Radaelli is a filmmaker and producer that has made seven feature films in Kentucky. Her most recent projects in the Commonwealth include The Revisionist starring Dustin Hoffman and Alison Brie and Gus Van Sant's biopic of Tony Kiritsis, Dead Man's Wire, starring Bill Skarsgård and Dacre Montgomery. A native of Milan, Italy Veronica splits time between Los Angeles, Las Vegas... and Louisville. Her body of work includes films like Ghost House (2017), Disturbing the Peace (2020), Desp...
Join Derek and Max from the LFS Board as they sit down with writer/director Tyler Savage and producer Javier Gonzalez as they discuss production of their new indie feature "Oddities" filmed in Louisville in May 2025! Tyler Savage: A graduate of NYU Tisch, Tyler worked as a Story Editor at Warner Bros before going on to work for Terrence Malick on four back-to-back features. Savage's first feature (Inheritance, 2017) was lauded by genre critics after premiering at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival...
Join Stu as he sits down with art director, designer, painter, and all-around animation-guru Carol Wyatt. Originally from Louisville, Carol begin her artistic trajectory at the Otis / Parson School of Design where she initially aspired to become an ad-exec but became enamored with the artistic process and ended up with a BFA in Communication Design and Illustration. Listen in as she fills Stu in on her working process on such shows as Rick and Morty and explains why AI might not be as terrify...
Join Stu as he sits down with art director, designer, painter, and all-around animation-guru Carol Wyatt. Originally from Louisville, Carol begin her artistic trajectory at the Otis / Parson School of Design where she initially aspired to become an ad-exec but became enamored with the artistic process and ended up with a BFA in Communication Design and Illustration. Listen in as she fills Stu in on her working process on such shows as Rick and Morty and explains why AI might not be as terrify...
Join Stu as he sits down with Academy-Award-nominated documentary-filmmaker, Elaine McMillion Sheldon to talk about Elaine's new film KING COAL which premiered at the 2023 Flyover Film Festival to immediate acclaim. Listen in as Elaine and Stu talk about her documentary filmmaking style, her life and family in West Virginia, and what it's like to work alongside her husband and direct her children. Elaine's Website: https://www.elainemcmillionsheldon.com Heroin(e) Trailer: ht...
Join Stu as he sits down with film, television, and musical multi-hypenate Ben Daughtrey. An experienced editor of reality, scripted televison, and film; Ben recounts his quixotic journey in entertainment from working as Allen Ginsberg's assistant, to forming the lounge pop band Love Jones, and ultmately finding a niche role as a go to editor for scripted and documentary feature films. Love Jones - Paid for Loving https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze0GcDwJpFU 100 Proof https://www.imdb.co...
Join Stu as he sits down with actor and Louisville native William Mapother. An alumnus of both Saint X and Notre Dame University, William is known for his work as a character actor creating memorable roles in both film and televison over a 30 year career. You may know William as Ethan Rom in the iconic TV show LOST or as the dark and menacing Richard Strout in Todd Fields' best-picture nominated film IN THE BEDROOM. Listen in as Stu and William discuss the keys to maintaining a career in Holl...
Join Stu as he sits down with Donna Lawrence. Donna is a documentarian, filmmaker, and all-around technical innovator whose work you have most likely already seen as her groundbreaking museum installations can be found all over America. From the “Greatest Race Show” at the Kentucky Derby Museum in Churchill Downs to the Statue of Liberty museum in New York, Donna’s multi-image displays broke ground when they were introduced in the 1980s and continue to inspire audiences today. Listen in on St...
Join Stu as he sits down with Merry-Kay Poe. Merry-Kay is a film producer who has, since 2009, worked tirelessly on Kentucky's Film Production Tax Incentive Legislation. Her work has ensured that countless independent films and major motion pictures such as Disney's Secretariat or Ides of March made Kentucky their filming location. As a producer Merry-Kay runs her own production company UNBRIDLED FILMS and has produced such films as DON'T TELL A SOUL starring Rainn Wilson and WHAT WE DO NEXT ...
Join Stu as he sits down with producers Max Neace & Chris Mangano. Max and Chris are producers working in the film and television industry. Together they have produced the thriller DON'T TELL A SOUL starring Rainn Wilson, Jack Dylan Grazer, and Fionn Whitehead as well as the emotionally charged thriller WHAT WE DO NEXT with Corey Stoll and Michelle Veintimilla. Listen in as Chris, Max, and Stu talk all things filmmaking including what its like to make a movie with a "show-hole." Lou...
Writer-director-producer Izzy Shill and producer Diana Irvine both star in the new indie comedy GOING NOWHERE (filmed right here in Louisville Kentucky). GOING NOWHERE is now available on all streaming platforms, and it definitely gets Stu's seal of approval! Listen in as Izzy and Diana sit down with Stu to talk about their journey in the industry and their time producing GOING NOWHERE in the Bluegrass, where they braved everything from a lost voice to a failed hard drive! Louisville Film Soc...
Louisville Native Meg Fister is a producer and director of development for QUINN'S HOUSE PRODUCTIONS. She also serves as a producer on NBC's reboot of QUANTUM LEAP. Listen in on Meg as she sits down with Stu to talk everything from her journey in this industry, her move to Los Angeles (and the biggest myths concerning the city of lights), and what it takes to make a marriage and childrearing work in the hectic world of film and television. Louisville Film Society https://www.louis...
Louisville native Jamie Buckner is a filmmaker who now resides in New York. The DeSales High grad has produced films such as CATCH THE FAIR ONE, DRIVEWAYS (along with Nicolaas Bertelsen), and RUST CREEK (along with Stu). He wrote and directed the 2016 bowling rom-com SPLIT which made a huge splash at the flyover festival. Listen in as Jamie sits down with Stu and talks about his path in this industry: from working at video stores to directing his first feature from his own script. As an added...
Nicolaas Bertelsen is a producer originally from Ames, Iowa. He has produced films such as DRIVEWAYS with Brian Dennehy and Raymond Lee and TOMORROW MAN with John Lithgow and Blythe Danner. Although Nicolaas is not a native of Louisville, his career has brought Nicolaas through both Louisville and Covington--producing films such as RUST CREEK, which Nicolaas produced alongside Stu. Listen in as Nicolaas sits down with Stu and talks about music (more specifically the drums), movies, and Nicola...
Jeremy Gold is the president of production at Blumhouse Television where he has overseen such TV shows as THE GOOD LORD BIRD with Ethan Hawke, THE THING ABOUT PAM with Academy Award winner Renee Zellweger, and THE LOUDEST VOICE with Academy Award winner Russel Crowe. Although Jeremy is not a native of Louisville or Kentucky for that matter, his successful and varied career took a very significant detour through the bluegrass where he was an actor at the Acting Apprentice Company in Louisville...
Ben Sollee is a composer with over 20 years of experience in the film and television industry (even though he's still only in his 30s). You might have heard his music on such TV Shows as WEEDS or PARENTHOOD, Robin Wright's 2021 directorial debut film LAND, or even at the beginning and end of the Kentucky Call Sheet podcast (Ben wrote and performed our podcast's theme!). Ben is an artist actively blurring the lines between music, tech, and activism and he was also born and raised in Lexington,...
Justin Giddings is an actor, writer, director, and producer with over 36 credits. You may have seen him acting on NASHVILLE or SHAMELESS or maybe you’ve seen him on the internet as THE KICKSTARTER GUY — where Justin, the crowdfunding guru that he is, has managed to help his clients raise over $9 million dollars for their independently financed film and television projects. Justin also calls Kentucky his home! Listen in on Stu and Justin as they talk about their mutual Kentucky-based roots and...