Episodic Television Prep

Bola Ogun is a first generation Nigerian-American Director, who recently finished the second season premiere block of Netflix’s Shadow & Bone from Arrival screenwriter Eric Heisserer and will be gearing up for the season three finale block of Witcher. She has previously directed the season finale of Raising Dion, episodes of Lucifer, Charmed, Siren, Walker, Legacies, Big Shot, Two Sentence Horror Stories and God Friended Me. Her launch into television began when she was tapped by Ava Duvernay to direct Queen Sugar after she watched Bola’s short film Are We Good Parents?. Ogun directed, co-produced, and co-wrote this short which stars Once Upon A Time’s Sean Maguire and Rent’s Tracie Thoms. It is frequently praised for its portrayal of panic progressive parents hoping to raise their child in a warm, accepting environment and enjoyed a successful festival run premiering at SXSW as well as winning Best Short Film and Best Emerging Filmmaker at the AT&T SHAPE Awards. Ogun is an alum of AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, the WB Directors’ Workshop, the Ryan Murphy Half Initiative, and the WeForShe DirectHer Program. Additionally, she was one of five filmmakers selected for Robert Rodriguez’s Rebel Without a Crew docuseries. Bola’s independent work has received a grant from the California Institute of Contemporary Art. She has also received positive reviews from publications such as Black Girl Nerds and Shadow & Act as well as being featured in SYFY Wire and Essence magazine. Growing up she was influenced by anime shows, fantasy role playing games, and TRL music videos. She maintains a passion for character driven genre films and television. Though she often travels to see family in Croatia, the UK, and Nigeria, Bola is LA based. She is currently represented by Gersh and Art/Work Entertainment and has recently been added to the Believe Media commercial directors roster which includes visionaries Zack Synder and Floria Sigismondi.

Christine Swanson has developed, written and/or directed movie projects for various companies including HBO Films, Magnolia Pictures, State Street Pictures, and Faith Filmworks, her own independent film company. Christine received an NAACP Image Award nomination for Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture for For the Love of Ruth. Christine also directed three original cable movie premieres for TVONE entitled, To Hell and Back, For the Love of Ruth, and Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story which broke network ratings as the most watched original movie in network history. Recently Christine directed The Clark Sisters movie for Lifetime. Christine’s work has won numerous awards and have played in many film festivals including, Sundance, Chicago International Film Festival, Heartland Film Festival, The Hampton International Film Festival, Cannes Festival du Film Panafricain, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and American Black Film Festival to name a few. Christine Swanson earned her MFA in Film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Christine also earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame double majoring in Communications and Japanese. Christine recently directed episodes of Chicago PD and FBI.

Valerie Weiss is an Award-winning filmmaker and scientist who has infused her signature blend of elevated and emotional storytelling into her four feature films and dozens of television episodes. Her work has been called “daringly light” for the way it embraces controversial topics in enchanting ways and spans the genres of action, thriller, drama, science-fiction and comedy. Valerie’s recently released feature film, Mixtape, which she directed for Netflix from a Blacklist-winning script, has scored a coveted 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and ranks as one of the best family films of 2021 according to The Washington Post and Common Sense Media. Mixtape, a nostalgic musical odyssey through the 80s and 90s follows 12-year old Beverly Moody as she seeks to learn about her late parents from a punk rock mixtape she finds in her basement. Valerie’s recent television work includes directing the finale of the upcoming limited series Echoes (Netflix) for showrunners Brian Yorkey and Quinton Peeples, two episodes of Fox‘s new Country Music Drama, Monarch, starring Susan Sarandon, and multiple episodes across all seasons of Netflix’s global megahit Outer Banks. Additionally, she has directed multiple episodes for several of television’s biggest producers including Shonda Rhimes, Dick Wolf, Greg Berlanti, and Marc Cherry. Valerie‘s third feature, The Archer, is a feminist coming-of-age action film best described as Thelma and Louise meets First Blood and premiered at the 2017 SXSW Film Festival. Her other films have played at a multitude of film festivals and won various awards including the Audience Award at the Mill Valley Film Festival and Best Director at the Whistler Film Festival. A proud member of the DGA, Valerie was recently elected Director Category Representative of the DGA’s Women’s Steering Committee and appointed to the DGA’s new Eco-Committee by President Lesli Linka Glatter. In 2018, Valerie won the top honors in the Fox Filmmaking Lab for her pitch of a female-centric sequel in the Maze Runner franchise called True Maze. She participated in the WeForShe DirectHer Program, and the inaugural DGA Director Development Initiative. Valerie is on the Board of Advisors for the Paperless App Scriptation for which she recently won an Engineering Emmy. She is an alum of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) Program and holds a Ph.D. in biophysics and a Masters in Medical Sciences from Harvard Medical School. She is repped by CAA and John Bauman Management. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two daughters and goldendoodle, Murphy.