The Hollywood Hang

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Music by Stevia Sphere.Roy Lee is a prolific Hollywood producer best known for bringing some of the most iconic genre films of the past two decades to the big screen. As the founder of Vertigo Entertainment, he has become a go-to name for high-concept horror and thrillers, producing modern classics like The Ring, The Grudge, It, and Barbarian, as well as major studio hits like The Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon. Known for his sharp eye for international adaptations and bold, audience-driven storytelling, Lee has built a reputation for delivering films that are both commercially successful and culturally impactful, making him one of the most influential producers working today.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Music by Stevia Sphere.Ben Semanoff is a TV and film director. Most recently, his work has been featured in episode 5 of season 2 of FX’s The Old Man, episode 9 of season 3 of Yellowjackets, and Netflix’s new drama Black Rabbit, starring Jude Law and Jason Bateman. Semanoff received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Direction For A Drama Series for his work on Netflix’s Emmy-wining drama Ozark. His other directing credits include season 2 of Showtime’s critically acclaimed Yellowjackets; Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone, for Paramount+; and Hulu’s Candy, featuring Jessica Biel. He transitioned to directing after a successful career as an A-camera operator. He was nominated for the Camera Operator of the Year for three consecutive years for his work on HBO’s The Night Of and the first two seasons of Netflix’s Ozark. His other credits as an A- camera operator include films such as Creed, Collateral Beauty, and The Upside, as well as TV series like The Leftovers, The Outsider, and The Affair. Semanoff is a graduate of Temple University. He currently lives in Doylestown, PA, with his wife Erica and two children.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Music by Stevia Sphere.Kit Lazer is a creator on Tiktok, Instagram, and YouTube, host of the Streaming Things podcast, writer, and life enthusiast that has a passion for stories. Follow him for TV and Film news, reviews, and bad jokes.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Music by Stevia Sphere.Jessica M. Thompson is an Emmy-nominated Australian-Maltese filmmaker who made her feature writing-directorial debut with "The Light of the Moon", which won the Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at SXSW. "The Light of the Moon", starring Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, In the Heights), enjoyed a limited theatrical release to sold-out screens and heralds a 97% Rotten Tomatoes score. Critics called the film "harrowingly effective" (Variety), "honest and complex" (The Hollywood Reporter), and Film Inquiry stated that "for any filmmaker, this would be an unmitigated triumph, but for a first-time filmmaker, this is revelatory." Jess was the lead director on the Sky/Showtime limited series, "The End", produced by the Oscar-winning See-Saw Films (The Power of the Dog, The King's Speech). The series received 5-stars from The Guardian & The Times.Her second directorial feature, "The Invitation" - a Sony Picture's gothic-thriller - premiered #1 at the worldwide box office and #2 when later released on Netflix, being streamed over 12 million times in its opening week. Jess founded Stedfast Productions in 2010.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Music by Stevia Sphere.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Music by Stevia Sphere.Originally from Rhode Island, editor Michael Shawver developed an early working relationship with director Ryan Coogler during their time at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Michael has edited all of Ryan’s feature films including “Fruitvale Station”, “Creed”, “Black Panther”, and most recently “Sinners”. His other credits include “A Quiet Place Part II”, “Abigail”, and the upcoming re-imagining of “The Thomas Crown Affair” with director Michael B. Jordan.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Music by Stevia Sphere.Alex Convery is a Chicago-born screenwriter and USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate best known for writing Air (2023), the critically acclaimed film about Nike’s pursuit of Michael Jordan. After landing on the Black List twice with his spec scripts Bag Man and Air Jordan, Convery gained recognition for his sharp, dialogue-driven writing style and ability to turn boardroom negotiations into high-stakes drama. Inspired by The Last Dance, he wrote Air during the pandemic, eventually attracting Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, with Affleck directing. The film launched Convery as one of Hollywood’s top emerging screenwriters.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Christian Gatica. Music by Stevia Sphere.Kyra Jones (she/her) is Black queer comedy writer, transplanted from the Windy City and currently based in Los Angeles. She is an alumna of Northwestern University, where she majored in Theatre and Gender Studies with a minor in Outrunning the Diversity Brochure Photographers. Her previous television writing credits include WOKE (Hulu) and QUEENS (ABC). She also co-created and starred in the award-winning comedy web series, THE RIGHT SWIPE. Her original scripts have won awards from Nashville Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, Screencraft, and more. She has developed multiple series with Lionsgate, ABC Signature, Freeform, Sony, and some of her personal heroes, including Rashida Jones, Gabrielle Union, and Elliot Page. Before becoming a screenwriter, Kyra spent many years working as a professional sex educator and social justice advocate at her alma mater (which sounds like a fake job, but it's not). When she’s not writing, you can find Kyra crocheting elaborate outfits and toasting marshmallows over the burning patriarchy.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Music by Stevia Sphere.Warner Bailey is the creator of Assistants Vs. Agents (AvA), a meme page-turned-media company he founded while an assistant at WME in 2018. AvA has secured partnerships with major brands and studios, including Amazon MGM Studios, Netflix, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, Warner Bros., Meta, Nike, SZA, and RCA Records. Bailey also writes The AvA Connection, a weekly newsletter that shares industry insights, open jobs, and the stories of entertainment executives. He is currently developing IP across multiple mediums under the AvA umbrella.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Music by Stevia Sphere.Colby Day is a filmmaker and playwright. Recently named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s “25 Screenwriters to Watch,” Colby wrote the screenplay for the Netflix film, SPACEMAN directed by Johan Renck (Chernobyl), starring Adam Sandler, as well as the upcoming Searchlight Pictures film IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, directed by Andrew Stanton. Colby was also a writer on the upcoming season of Apple TV's FOR ALL MANKIND. He writes the weekly newsletter Hollyweird, about living and working in Hollywood, which is a totally normal place. 

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Music by Stevia Sphere.Adam Faze is the co-founder and CEO of Gymnasium, the studio behind viral short-form series like Boy Room and Keep the Meter Running. In just two years, the six-person team has generated nearly a billion views across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Music by Stevia Sphere.The Pierce Brothers’ horror film THE WRETCHED opened in drive-in theaters on May 1st 2020 by IFC Midnight and was the #1 movie in the US for six consecutive weekends, making it the first film to hold that record since the release of AVATAR in 2009. At a time when thousands of theaters were shut down, major news outlets churned out headlines that credited Brett & Drew’s film as “forever redefining how we measure box office success” (Forbes) and “leading the drive-in resurge” (Variety). The film is now available to stream on Netflix where it is currently ranked in the Top 10 Most Watched Films in the U.S and continues to release internationally.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Music by Stevia Sphere.Dawson got her break as a writer on two Mindy Kaling series, Champions and Four Weddings and a Funeral. She most recently was a Co-EP on Everybody Still Hates Chris, the reimagined animated version of the Chris Rock live action series for Comedy Central. On the feature side, Dawson is attached to direct her romantic comedy, When Carrie Met Michael and Other People with Paul Feig producing. She is currently adapting Stacey Abrams novel "Rules of Engagement" with Stacey and Kerry Washington producing for Universal.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Music by Stevia Sphere.Reagan is a director / content creator who translates major studio film productions to social media through behind the scenes footage and personal interviews. Reagan and her co-director, Jillian Smith, also run a production company together called S&Q film where they both direct and bring online audiences along every step in a project green-light format.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Social and Promotion by Rodrigo Caraveo.Carolina Groppa is an Emmy nominated producer. She was previously the Executive in Charge of Production at Issa Rae’s HOORAE Media and ColorCreative. She was born in São Paulo, Brazil and moved with her family to the US when she was a child. Her immigrant upbringing inspired her to work hard to build the career of her dreams.Carolina produced the ⁠2017 Emmy nominated feature documentary⁠ AUTISM IN LOVE, which explores how adults with autism find and navigate romantic relationships. Other documentaries include HYSTERICAL (2020) for FX and ⁠THE HONORABLE: SHYNE⁠ (2024) for Hulu. Passionate about supporting female filmmakers, she was a co-producer on Netflix’s MISS VIRGINIA, starring Uzo Aduba and IFC’s THE FEMALE BRAIN, Whitney Cummings' directing debut feature film. She was a physical producer on Amazon’s ⁠SYLVIE'S LOVE⁠ starring Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha. She was also the UPM/EP on Adamma Ebo’s 2022 Sundance hit HONK FOR JESUS. SAVE YOUR SOUL⁠, starring Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown.She is also the creator and host of the hit podcast ⁠Angle on Producers⁠. With 150+ episodes, the show dives deep into the journeys of producers and magic makers in our industry. Recent guests include the Ali Loewy (⁠Executive Producer, THE SUBSTANCE⁠), Sev Ohanian⁠ (Producer, SINNERS⁠),and Alex Coco (⁠Producer, Academy Award winning film ANORA).

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Social and Promotion by Rodrigo Caraveo.Helen Shang was most recently a writer on seasons 2 and 3 of Netflix’s upcoming AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER series. Previously, she worked on HBO's WELCOME TO DERRY and two seasons of RINGS OF POWER for Amazon. Helen was born in Beijing, China, and grew up in the Silicon Valley, California. She was a certified counselor for Crisis Text Line, a text-based mental health hotline, and enjoys hiking, karaoke nights, and being an amateur ethical taxidermist.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Social and Promotion by Rodrigo Caraveo.Nathan Ramos-Park is a half Filipino half Korean gaysian from Ohio. A former competitive pianist, vocalist, beauty pageant winner, and nationally competitive jump roper, as a Capricorn he’s oddly not competitive. He has staffed and developed at the following places: Sony, Amazon, Nickelodeon, Disney (Digital, Plus, Animation, SEA), Netflix (Animation/Live Action), Snap, Mainframe, Lion Forge, and NBC, and loves drawing inspiration from his love of Comedy, Genre, Music, and Coming of Age. He left a former life of teaching, performance (Off-Broadway/Regionally), and the service industry (Award winning NYC bartender, has worked with various Celebrity Chefs) to pursue writing in LA after winning a National Playwriting competition (written on an iPad mini). As an actor/singer he was nominated for a Webby and a Queerty for his song satires, ‘Woke Bois’ and ‘Gay Asian Country Love Song’, and his song 'When December Comes' was named one of the top 17 Christmas songs of 2017 by Seventeen. He participated in the 2020 CBS Showcase. Currently, he just sold a True Crime show to Sony, his Amazon RomCom Five Blind Dates spent 6 weeks on the top 10 chart, and the subsequent remake Picture This starring Simone Ashley was the #1 movie on Amazon Prime for 4 weeks. 

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Social and Promotion by Rodrigo Caraveo.Spencer Lackey made his name in the online horror world, where his unsettling videos earned him millions of followers. With YOU ARE HERE, his new short film, he's taken a clear step from the small screen to the big screen, bringing his stripped down style into a more cinematic space.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Social and Promotion by Rodrigo Caraveo.River Gallo (they/them) is a Salvadoran-American filmmaker, actor, writer, and intersex activist. Their feature PONYBOI premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in the U.S. Dramatic Competition. The film won the Grand Jury Award for Best US Feature at Newfest New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival and River won Best Performance at the Torino Film Festival. River wrote, produced, and starred in the film, making it the first narrative feature created by and starring an out intersex artist in cinema history. PONYBOI is based on their 2019 short film of the same name that was executive produced by Emma Thompson and Stephen Fry, and premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2023, River was the subject of the critically-acclaimed feature documentary EVERY BODY directed by Academy-award nominated director Julie Cohen. In the commercial space, River has directed advertising spots for Facebook, Maison Margiela, and MTV. For their work in the arts and on social justice issues, River was on the 2023 OUT 100 list and won a GLAAD Rising Star Media Award. River was named one of the 10 LGBTQIA+ Film and TV Creators on the Rise in 2023 by Indiewire. PONYBOI will be theatrically released June 27th by Fox Entertainment Studios.

Welcome to The Hollywood Hang! A podcast about the highs, lows, and hell nos of this crazy industry. Hosted by Nicolas Curcio & Kristen Tepper. Edited by Luke Hellyer. Rae Benjamin is a TV/film writer and proud LA native. She finds humor in awkward, uncomfortable situations. Things that might not seem funny at first, things you maybe shouldn’t laugh at... and ultimately, things that have the power to broaden perspectives and empathy. Most recently, she was a co-producer on THE WITCHER (Netflix) and served as co-writer and co-executive producer for THE WITCHER: SIRENS OF THE DEEP, an animated feature which debuted on Netflix in early 2025. In 2020, Rae founded In the Cut, an organization that provides education, training, and resources for BIPOC writers and filmmakers. Her company has partnered with companies such as Sundance Collab, NBCUniversal, Final Draft and more to produce more than 200 virtual and live events. She is represented by UTA.