A camera in the foreground is aimed at two laughing women, a filmmaker and her actor.

Production Program

This multifaceted program offers support and funding for short-form content, which includes mentoring for writers, directors, creative producers, and line producers, as well as resources to hire women-focused crew.

To be considered to creative work in entertainment it is essential to demonstrate your talent and ability. The Production Program offers critical opportunities and funding for emerging women creators to collaborate on short narrative content of their origination. Writers, directors, creative producers, and line producers who are accepted into the program are provided expert guidance through the process of development and production, with financial and practical support from WIF. Physical production is supported by crews made up of WIF members who also benefit from training, collaboration, and the opportunity to include these professionally produced projects among their credits.

Visibility for the filmmakers is elevated through a public showcase of these short films, presented by WIF with support from the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles.

Alumnae of the Production Program have gone on to have their work showcased at festivals including Sundance, Venice, Tribeca, SXSW, HotDocs, L.A. Shorts, and more.

For questions, please contact the WIF Programs Team at programs@wif.org.


This program is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.

Filmmaking Fellows

2020

2019

2018

Keep/Delete

• Writer/Director: Kryzz Gautier
• Producer: Corsica Wilson
• Producer: Maya Butler

Keep/Delete

• Writer/Director: Kryzz Gautier
• Producer: Corsica Wilson
• Producer: Maya Butler

Kryzz Gautier, Writer/Director
Kryzz Gautier is a queer, Afro-Latina writer/director born and raised in the Dominican Republic. Since transitioning from undocumented to permanent resident, she’s been a writer on HBO’s Gordita Chronicles, is a writer/creative consultant on the upcoming installment of 2K Games’ acclaimed franchise Bioshock, and her feature debut Wheels Come Off landed on the 2021 Black List. The last is being produced by Julie Oh at OhCo. She’s sold multiple shows and features to studios, some of which have her attached as director. Gautier has been a fellow in prestigious programs like NBC’s “Female Forward” for scripted TV directors, Ryan Murphy’s “Half Initiative,” Joey Soloway’s “Disruptors,” Sundance Institute, The Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship, and the DGA, among others. Her work has screened at multiple Academy Award, BAFTA, and Canadian Screen Award qualifying festivals. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Directing Narrative Fiction from Emerson.

Corsica Wilson, Producer
Corsica Wilson was born in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on the small island of Terceira into a Navy family. Growing up, she moved every two years until finally settling in Los Angeles in 2010 where she has been involved in all aspects of storytelling, from acting and writing to producing, with a love for historical fiction and the surreal. Credits include In A World… (Sundance), Sound of Violence (SXSW), Dead Season (SyFy), Hashtaggers (E! Network), Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman (History Channel), and L.A. Macabre (Amazon Prime). She is the co-founder of Lonely Child Productions which just completed production on their second short film, Maize, marking Corsica’s directorial debut.

Maya Butler, Producer
Maya Butler is an Israeli-English actress/producer and co-founder of Lonely Child Productions. After acting for a while, Butler found herself pulled towards producing as well due to her love for bringing creatives together. While she started out with commercials, she quickly realized film was where her passion lay and put her attention on producing female-led narrative projects. Her portfolio of work includes a range of genres—from westerns to sci-fi, and everything in between—but the common theme is that all her projects elevate the female voice. This has become Butler’s passion and continues to be her motivation when looking for projects to bring to life. Some of her notable credits include CBS’s NCIS, CW’s Dynasty, and Paramount’s The Offer, which recently came out starring Miles Teller and Juno Temple.

River Man

• Writer/Director: Laura Beckner
• Consulting Producer: Jesy Odio
• Producer: Jeremy Boros
• Producer: Kacie McManus

River Man

• Writer/Director: Laura Beckner
• Consulting Producer: Jesy Odio
• Producer: Jeremy Boros
• Producer: Kacie McManus

Laura Becker, Writer/Director
Laura Beckner is an actress and filmmaker who lives and works in Berlin and Los Angeles. Her short films (le) Rebound and Willing to go there have won awards, screened at top festivals across the U.S. and Europe, and are curated online at Vimeo Staff Picks and Short of the Week. Her screenplays have been official selections at The Austin Film Festival, The Female Eye Film Festival, and The Canadian Film Centre Development Lab. Laura is a recipient of the 2020 WIF Production Program grant as a writer/director. She is a graduate of the USC School of Theater BFA Conservatory and can be seen acting on the critically acclaimed Netflix series Unorthodox.

Jesy Odio, Consulting Producer
Jesy Odio is an independent film producer from Costa Rica. Her feature Every Day in Kaimuki premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival. She is also a 2021 Sundance Producers Intensive Fellow. Odio has been part of critically acclaimed films such as Black Bear (Sundance 2020) and Aviva (SXSW 2020). She also helmed the feature-length adaptation of Tao Lin’s breakout novel Taipei, which was released domestically with Showtime and worldwide through 20th Century Fox International. In 2017, Odio founded her production company, TEENAGER, which has produced numerous music videos for Megan Thee Stallion, Weezer, Common, Kali Uchis, Icona Pop, and Tegan & Sara, to name a few.

Jeremy Boros, Producer
Jeremy Boros is a producer and actor committed to supporting trailblazing creators in realizing their unique visions. He has experience working in narrative film, animation, digital, documentary, podcasting, theater, and virtual production. His film projects have been shortlisted for the BAFTAs and have played at Oscar-qualifying festivals across the U.S. and Europe. Boros has worked with A-list actors, casting directors, and several production companies including Big Beach, Good Banana / 1:26, and Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope. He is a graduate of NYU Tisch School of the Arts and USC’s Peter Stark Producing Program.

Kacie McManus, Producer
Kacie McManus is a producer working in documentary, commercial, episodic, and narrative film. She honed her production skills on feature films and series like Big Little Lies, NCIS: Los Angeles, and the Emmy award-winning Variety Studio: Actors on Actors. For the past three years she has been producing Brother From Another, a true-crime documentary series alongside Smokehouse Pictures. She also recently produced an environmental documentary series for PBS titled Off the Beaten Path. McManus focuses on bringing stories to life that speak to her on a personal level and collaborating on media that moves audiences in a powerful way.

BFFS

• Writer/Director: Elia Urquiza
• Producer: Elisa Lleras
• Line Producer: Danielle Suarez

BFFS

• Writer/Director: Elia Urquiza
• Producer: Elisa Lleras
• Line Producer: Danielle Suarez

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Your Monster

• Writer/Director: Caroline Lindy
• Producer: Amanda Mortimer
• Line Producer: Alexis Loya

Your Monster

• Writer/Director: Caroline Lindy
• Producer: Amanda Mortimer
• Line Producer: Alexis Loya

Starring Kimiko Glenn, Tommy Dewey, and Scott Michael Foster

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Just a Drill

• Writer/Director: Julianne Donelle
• Producers: Sabrina Stoll and Megan Kay Jordan

Just a Drill

• Writer/Director: Julianne Donelle
• Producers: Sabrina Stoll and Megan Kay Jordan

JUST A DRILL has won Best Director at the Global Impact Film Festival and Female Filmmakers Fuse, Best Drama at Female Voices Rock, and Best Scripted Short at Flicks 4 Change.

Logline:
Determined to follow the rules in an active shooter drill, an overworked teacher in an underfunded classroom battles the impossible choices a leader must make when the drill becomes a horrifying reality.

Cast:
Sally Pressman, Jackson Pace, Zoe Cipres, Michelle Farrah Huang, April Rock

1st A.D.: Arielle Zodak | 2nd A.D.: Monica Polk | Production Coordinator: Tanya Savard | Script Supervisor: Monica Polk | Cinematographer: Carole McClintock | 1st A.C.: Phil Doherty | 2nd A.C.: Luke Sargent | Camera Utility: Tim Vordtriede | Photography: Greg Cohen | Key Grip: Jamie Reed | Best Boy Key Grip: David Goold | Gaffer: Tom Morash | Best Boy Electric: Nick Almanza | Sound: Kevin Santiago | Prop Master: Tasha Moth | Hair & Make-Up: Maria Gomez and T’ai Rising-Moore | Costume Designer: Elena Flores | Production Designer: Sara Kugelmass | Set Decorator: Brenna Thompson | Editor: Arianna Tomasettig | Casting Director: Anna Mayworm | Location Manager: Ossey James | Set P.A.s: Tony Rosenthal, Trevor Slack, Mackenzie Lee

Julianne Donelle Bio:
Julianne Donelle’s award-winning short film, JUST A DRILL, is currently in competition at many film festivals throughout the U.S. including LA Shorts and Santa Fe Independent, winning Best Drama at Female Voices in New York, and Best Scripted Short at Flicks 4 Change. Donelle received Best Director awards at the Female Filmmakers Fuse Festival, and at the Global Impact Festival in Washington, D.C. She created, wrote, and directed the comedic webseries “No Pillowfights,” for which she received a Discovery Award nomination at the Raindance Film Festival in London. With a prominent theatre background, she has directed theatrical productions with Ovation Award-winning Coeurage Theatre Company including Assassins, Cannibal! The Musical, and Emilie: La Marquise Du Châtalet Defends Her Life Tonight. Most recently, Donelle has directed the short film SPLIT SECOND, starring Jessica Parker Kennedy, and the darkly comedic experimental short, THE MERRY MAN. She is currently writing and developing two new horror feature films.

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Signal

• Writer/Director: Chloé Hung
• Producer: Bo Shim
• Line Producer: Jes Anderson

Signal

• Writer/Director: Chloé Hung
• Producer: Bo Shim
• Line Producer: Jes Anderson

SIGNAL has screened at the 2019 San Diego Asian Film Festival and the 2020 Seattle Asian American Film Festival. Hung was selected by the Geffen Playhouse for the 2019/2020 cycle of “The Writer’s Room.”

Logline:
A couple surviving in a post-apocalyptic landscape reach a crossroads in their relationship and must decide whether to stay together or split up.

Cast:
Gabriel Brown, Sujata Day

Cinematography: Natasha Mynhier and Jeff Hammerton | 1st A.D.: Jenna Cerchota | Production Design: Bella Wattles | Production Sound Mixer: Dylan Lamm | Editor: Scot Sclaise | Set P.A.s: Siobhan Gilbert and Julian Alvarado

Chloé Hung Bio:
A Chinese-Canadian writer and director, Chloé Hung is a graduate of the M.F.A. in Dramating Writing program at NYU Tisch. Hung’s plays include All Our Yesterdays (Toronto Fringe, Next Stage Theatre Festival); Issei, He Say (world premiere at New Jersery Repertory Company); Three Women of Swatow (upcoming world premiere at Tarragon Theatre). She was awarded the RBC Emerging Playwrights Award. Her plays have been workshopped in Toronto, New York, Washington, D.C., Banff, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. In the world of television, she has written for “Cherish the Day” and “Queen Sugar” (both created by Ava DuVernay, for OWN). Her short film SIGNAL received funding and mentorship through the WIF Production Program. She is developing a television pilot, “Banana Kids,” with Insurrection Media. She workshopped her screenplay, A GLIMPSE OF SUN, with The Black List’s screenwriting lab. When she’s not writing, she’s likely baking pies and cookies.

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