ICON-VERSATIONS

Your Story Will Save You brings together AWD Icon Members Lesli Linka Glatter and Jen McGowan for a deeply candid conversation about instinct, craft, resilience, and building a life as a director.Presented by Alliance of Women Directors, a nonprofit advancing women and nonbinary directors in film, television, and new media, Icon-Versations captures the unfiltered moments that happen when accomplished directors connect as peers.In this episode, Glatter and McGowan discuss the paths that shaped them, from dance and choreography to film, television, and production. They explore how story becomes a director’s anchor, why preparation creates freedom, and how to trust your instincts when the pressure is high. They also reflect on mentorship, community, leadership, choosing the work that matters, and creating sets rooted in excellence, kindness, and collaboration.Featuring Lesli Linka Glatter, acclaimed director of Zero Day, The Morning Show, Homeland, The Leftovers, The Walking Dead, Twin Peaks, and former DGA President, and Jen McGowan, director of Rust Creek, Star Trek: Discovery, The Twilight Zone, and The Purge.

This Is The Content brings together AWD Icon Members Mary Lou Belli and Anya Adams for a candid conversation about directing craft, career longevity, and the realities of leading a set.Presented by Alliance of Women Directors, a nonprofit advancing women and gender-expansive directors in film, television, and new media, Icon-Versations captures the unfiltered moments that happen when accomplished directors connect as peers.In this episode, Belli and Adams discuss their paths into television directing, working with ADs, managing time and budgets, reading story priorities, pitching, development, visual decks, AI tools, and knowing when to fight for the shot. They also reflect on mentorship, the Television Academy, creative sustainability, and building a career rooted in curiosity, collaboration, and passion.Featuring Mary Lou Belli, 3x Primetime Emmy-noimated television director and co-author of Directors Tell the Story, and Anya Adams, NAACP Image Award-winning director known for Yellowjackets, Black-ish, Ginny & Georgia, and The Good Place.

Find Your Tribe brings together AWD Icon Members Morenike Joela Evans and Hanelle Culpepper for a candid conversation about building a directing career, navigating set leadership, and finding the creative community that sustains you.Presented by Alliance of Women Directors, a nonprofit advancing the careers of women and nonbinary directors in film, television, and new media, Icon-Versations invites accomplished working directors into raw, unfiltered conversations with one another.In this episode, Evans and Culpepper discuss the realities of episodic directing, from multi-cam comedy to single-cam drama, sci-fi world-building, pilot pitches, shadowing programs, trusting your instincts on set, and learning when to fight for the shot. They also reflect on mentorship, preparation, word of mouth, and the importance of finding your tribe at every stage of your career.Featuring Morenike Joela Evans, Emmy-nominated director of Act Your Age, The Neighborhood, iCarly, Grey’s Anatomy, Legacies, and Quantum Leap, and Hanelle Culpepper, award-winning director of Star Trek: Picard, The Acolyte, and more.