Gatekeepers and Gatecrashers

Elle Johnson is a writer, producer and showrunner. Most recently, she served as a co-showrunner on Netflix’s limited series Self Made: Inspired By The Life Of Madam CJ Walker starring / produced by Octavia Spencer. In addition, Johnson is an Executive Producer and writer on the Amazon original series Bosch, based on the Michael Connelly detective novels. The seventh and final season of Bosch will be released in 2021. She has also written for/produced various shows, such as CSI: Miami, Law & Order, Ghost Whisperer, Saving Grace, The Glades, Finding Carter, and The Fosters.

Lesli Linka Glatter is a director of film, network, and premium cable television drama, with both pilots and episodes to her credit. Lesli’s TV work includes Homeland, The Newsroom, The Walking Dead, Justified, Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex, True Blood, Mad Men, The Leftovers, The Good Wife, The West Wing, NYPD Blue, ER, Freaks and Geeks and Twin Peaks. Lesli has also directed numerous pilots including Gilmore Girls, Pretty Little Liars and SIX. Her films include Now and Then, The Proposition and for HBO, State of Emergency. Lesli is currently the Executive Producer/Director of the award winning series Homeland. She began her directing career through the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women, in which her film Tales of Meeting and Parting was nominated for an Oscar. Lesli just received her 8th Emmy nomination for directing the Series Finale of Homeland, 7 Directors Guild Award nominations, winning twice for Mad Men and Homeland, as well as a Humanitus Award nomination for HBO’s State of Emergency. Lesli is currently developing projects for Netflix, Amazon, Showtime, Epix and her next project is The Banker’s Wife, an 8 part mini-series for Amazon. Lesli serves as the 1st Vice President of the Directors Guild of America, is on the DGA’s Western Directors Council, serves on the Executive Committee of the Directors Branch of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is also an advisor at the Sundance Institute’s Director’s Lab. Lesli has been committed to mentoring for many years and most recently helped develop the successful NBC program, Female Forward. Lesli has received the Caucus Foundation Award, the Dorothy Arzner Directing Award from Women in Film and the Franklin Schaffner Award from the American Film Institute and most recently, an Honorary Degree from the American Film Institute. Prior to her work as a director, Lesli was a modern dance choreographer who worked throughout Europe, Asia and the U.S.

Sarah Gertrude Shapiro is the Emmy-nominated co-creator and executive producer of UnREAL, which she developed and sold based on the SXSW award-winning short film she wrote and directed, Sequin Raze. Starring Shiri Appleby and Emmy-nominated Constance Zimmer, UnREAL gives a fictitious behind-the- scenes glimpse into the chaos surrounding the production of a dating competition program, Everlasting. UnREAL garnered rave reviews in its first season, and was included on Best of 2015 lists ranging from The New Yorker to Time Magazine. The series received an AFI Award, and was nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award, along with three Critics’ Choice Awards, with Constance Zimmer winning the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her role on the show. UnREAL was also honored with two Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series for the pilot episode written by Shapiro and co-creator and executive producer Marti Noxon. Shapiro directed the seventh episode of the second season and also wrote and directed a series of shorts, The Faith Diaries, which follow UnREAL’s beloved season one contestant, Faith (Breeda Wool). After her deal at A+E, Sarah landed a multi year over all deal at ABC Studios where she has two shows in development at Hulu and Fox. A stalwart supporter of women, Shapiro was one of the early faces of the Broad Focus initiative at A+E and Lifetime, and announced a commitment to hire female directors at The Hollywood Reporter’s Women in Entertainment Breakfast, giving a portion of her TED Talk chronicling her own journey in Hollywood. Next, Shapiro will make her feature directing debut for J.C. Chandor and Amazon on a story about the 100-plus female army fighting ISIS. Originally from Santa Barbara, CA, Shapiro started writing when she was five years old, and discovered that she was a director at 16. After seeing Fellini’s 8 1/2 and shooting a roll of black and white Super 8 film, she was a goner and knew filmmaking was her calling. She has devoutly pursued it ever since. Shapiro graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in Fiction Writing and Filmmaking. She came of age in New York indie film, interning at Killer Films with Christine Vachon, and cutting her teeth in the experimental film scene with the likes of Miranda July. After accidentally landing a job in reality TV, and subsequently fleeing to the wilds of Oregon, she finally returned to Hollywood with her series UnREAL.