Nic and Tepper, two emerging screenwriters discuss their day-to-day lives working in Hollywood and invite their fellow friends and filmmakers to talk about all of the highs, lows, and hell nos of the film/tv industry.
Nic and Tepper, two emerging screenwriters discuss their day-to-day lives working in Hollywood and invite their fellow friends and filmmakers to talk about all of the highs, lows, and hell nos of the film/tv industry.
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.
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.Michael Waldron is an Emmy award-winning writer from Atlanta, Georgia. He created and served as head writer and executive producer for Marvel and Disney+'s LOKI series and wrote Marvel's DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS for Sam Raimi. He created and executive produced Starz' wrestling drama HEELS, starring Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig which is now available on Netflix. He is also the executive producer behind the Hulu comedy series CHAD POWERS starring Glen Powell. He began his career on Adult Swim's RICK AND MORTY, where he won an Emmy for his work as a writer and producer on Season 4. He co-founded a feature film and TV production company, Anomaly Pictures, in 2023 with Adam Fasullo.
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. Maggie Levin is a genre writer & filmmaker with rock n’ roll roots. Recently, she wrote & directed her debut feature MY VALENTINE (Hulu/Blumhouse) and an original segment for V/H/S/99 (Shudder) which premiered at TIFF in 2022. She also served as second unit director & title concept designer for Universal's THE BLACK PHONE and its upcoming sequel, BLACK PHONE 2. Maggie’s work as a screenwriter includes CASTER for Paramount Pictures. She’s currently adapting Clay McLeod Chapman’s GHOST EATERS for Sony Screen Gems. Awards include Best Director at Austin Indie Festfor the short film HEEL.
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.Reece Feldman, aka @guywithamoviecamera, has quickly become the Gen-Z authority and aficionado in all things film, TV, and entertainment. His TikTok account took off as he was working on-set as a Production Assistant for Amazon’s, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” and he has since been tapped across all major studios, streamers, and award shows (Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes, Critics’ Choice) to create content for titles in-production, new releases, and carpets/press events to share with his over 3 million total followers. Whether on a movie set, hosting a red carpet, or just casually chatting about his new favorite movie or TV show, Reece’s passion for the industry is unparalleled. Through his account, Reece has cultivated an audience that is highly interested in experiencing the world of entertainment through his unique lens, thus singlehandedly changing the relationship between film marketing and social media.
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.
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
Franklin Leonard is a film and television producer, entrepreneur, and cultural commentator. He's best known for founding The Black List, an annual survey of Hollywood's most popular unproduced screenplays. Since its inception in 2005, over 440 Black List scripts have been produced as films, earning 54 Oscars and grossing $30 billion globally. Leonard has also worked in development at Universal Pictures and production companies owned by Leonardo DiCaprio and Will Smith.
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.
Clara Sterling is a comedian, screenwriter, and certified yapper. You may have seen her performing stand up around Los Angeles or haunting your tiktok FYP with jokes, social commentary, and all things Strike Tea. When she's not writing, she can be found begging the local barista for a triple shot at 8am.
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.
Julia started her screenwriting career over a decade ago, as a staff writer on THE ADVENTURES OF PUSS IN BOOTS. Since then, she’s written over 40 episodes of kids animated television across a dozen shows, including TROLLS: THE BEAT GOES ON, SKYLANDERS ACADEMY, and STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE. In 2019, she sold an original, live-action, sci-fi show to Freeform, and her comedy feature, 1UP, was released on Amazon Prime in 2021. Julia currently has numerous feature projects in development with production companies and studios like Chernin, Netflix, BlackBear, and StarThrower. She is repped by CAA and RMG.
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.
Writer/Director Jennifer Harrington’s (DGA/WGA) most recent scripts, HELL’S BELLES (Hollywood Reporter), and THE END OF LIZ AS WE KNOW IT (Hollywood Reporter), were sold to Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures, respectively, with Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar attached to produce. Previously, she wrote and directed the horror feature SHOOK, acquired by the streamer Shudder and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal as a "guilty pleasure.” Her first feature, HOUSEKEEPING, was released by Lionsgate and After Dark Films. In the documentary world, she was co-executive producer and a director for the doc-series DEAR… for Apple TV+ (Variety) and RJ Cutler. As an editor, she has edited several award-winning documentary features and countless television shows: GAGA: FIVE FOOT TWO for Netflix which premiered at TIFF, the Emmy-nominated feature documentary BANKSY DOES NEW YORK for HBO, THE SOURCE FAMILY premiering at SXSW, and BOGALUSA CHARM premiering at Slamdance, on which she was credited as a writer for as well. She has two film degrees: a BFA from UCLA and an MFA from USC.
Tara Anaïse is an Indian American writer/director, a Sundance Feature Film Program Fellow, and an Emmy nominee. Her most recent work includes writing and directing on the season finale of Shudder’s Queer for Fear (from EP Bryan Fuller), a docuseries about the history of horror told through a queer lens, and producing all four episodes of the series. Queer for Fear was nominated for a 2023 Emmy for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, a 2023 GLAAD Award for Outstanding Documentary, and the winner of two 2023 Dorian Awards for Best TV Documentary and Best LGBTQ Documentary. Anaïse’s début feature, Dark Mountain, was released by Gravitas Ventures and peaked at number 8 in iTunes top horror. Anaïse also wrote and story produced on Dear… for Apple TV+ (nominated for a 2022 IDA doc award) and ran the story department on Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult for STARZ. Her upcoming projects include the features Bombay Blood, which she workshopped at the Sundance Screenwriters Intensive in Los Angeles, and Wildcats, a dark coming-of-age crime drama set in the California desert. She holds an MFA in film production from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts and a BA in English from the University of Pennsylvania. She lives and works in Los Angeles.
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.