Team Gallery

Matt Kirsch is an Emmy-nominated comedy writer and playwright currently based out of New York. He wrote on season 1 of Disjointed, produced by Chuck Lorre and starring Kathy Bates, for Netflix. He also wrote on Robert Smigel’s Triumph Election Specials for Hulu, earning a Writer’s Guild Award for Best Variety Special, and an Emmy nomination. Matt’s first tv gig was as a staff writer for Late Show with David Letterman where he worked for three years up until Dave’s retirement.

His plays “Mary Beth” and “Explosion Sound” have been produced at the Yale Playwright’s Festival and HERE Arts Center. Back in 2006, Matt created, Duder, one of the first scripted comedic series for the web. In 2011, Duder won Best Comedy at the New York Television Festival, was a Webby Honoree for Long Form Comedy series in 2009, and was included in the New York Times Magazine Year In Ideas issue in 2006. Matt's groundbreaking work in the digital space earned him an invitation as an inaugural member of the Writers Guild East Digital Caucus.

JULIE LAKE (SAG/AFTRA/AEA) played the iconic meth-head with terrible teeth, Angie Rice, on Netflix’s massive hit, Orange is the New Black. She is a creator, director, and performer based in New Orleans.

Julie attended Yale University and after graduation, she scored her first job in NYC from Elizabeth Meriwether, the creator of “New Girl” in theater. She went on to work with Alex Timbers, a fellow Yalie, on many of his plays.

Julie is the creator & director of the digital series George & Julie, Mental, and Immaculate. Her recent pilot, Mer, a horror comedy about martini-swigging, man-eating mermaids on Martha’s Vineyard, has attached fellow OITNB alum, Laura Prepon, to executive produce and direct.

Actress, youth advocate, Master Acting Coaching, Sandi McCree, is known for her edgy, street-tough performance as "Delonda Brice" on HBO’s critically acclaimed television series THE WIRE. Slate said, "De'londa was one of the great maternal monsters in screen history. She made Joan Crawford look like mother of the year."

McCree was also a standout in her role as Carole Brown, the mother of the legendary performer Bobby Brown, in BET’s Television award-winning mini-series THE NEW EDITION STORY and THE BOBBY BROWN STORY.

Sandi McCree, an extraordinary dramatic actress but is well-known as a seriocomic improviser, and sketch comic. She has played on several awarding improv teams in LA. She is a proud alum of  The Groundlings Sunday Company and the Upright Citizens Brigade. Over the years and still presently in the midst of the Covid-19, Sandi has guest starred with The Groundlings Main Company and on the “Tournament of Nerds”...UCB’s longest running show.

Sandi McCree holds a B.A. in Radio, Film and Television from the University of Maryland, and a Master of Fine Arts from Case Western Reserve University.  McCree also attended the National Shakespeare Conservatory in New York, and the British American Drama Academy in Oxford, England.

Katrina Whalen is an independent filmmaker based in New York. Originally from Wyoming, she was awarded Yale University’s top artistic prize for her work in filmmaking and animation while an undergrad. She spent the next ten years working in film production, with positions that have included: post- production assistant on 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind'; Charlie Kaufman’s assistant on the 'Theater for the New Ear', 'Synecdoche, New York', and the pilot 'How and Why'; Julie Taymor’s assistant on 'The Tempest'; and art department factotum on Arnaud Desplechin’s 'Jimmy P'.

She attended the NYU Graduate Film program as a Dean’s Fellow, and her thesis film ‘Bird Dog’ had its international premiere in competition at the 2017 Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. She production designed the indie microbudget films 'Fort Tilden' and 'Fits and Starts' and produced miniature units for both Todd Haynes’s 'Wonderstruck' and Marielle Heller’s ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.’ She is currently back on her third season as an associate producer in charge of video playback content for HBO’s Succession.

With over 12 years of producing/development experience, Dana has refined her work as both a creative and boss lady. She was an Executive Producer on Grow a Pear Production’s first pilot, IVIP, spearheading both the financing and creative lead. Passionate about telling women’s stories and giving voices to the female experience, Dana co-founds Birdy Fox Films. There she writes, creates, and develops indie features keen on redefining femininity. Birdy Fox quickly found success with its first short film, Yard Sale premiering at Hollyshorts monthly screening in 2020 and is already in-development on other productions. Dana has also been recognized by Women in Film as a burgeoning multi-hyphenate and was awarded a yearlong mentorship program.

Benjamin Rutkowski is a New York-based director of photography. His commercial clients include Amazon, adidas, Belvedere, LG, Nike, Samsonite, Spyder, Squarespace, Samsung, Tito's Vodka, Taco Bell and Unilever. His short films have been recognized with cinematography award nominations from Kodak, ARRI, the St. Kilda Film Festival and appeared at the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, TriBeCa Film Festival and online on NOWNESS, Short of the Week and Vimeo Staff Picks. You can watch a trio of Ben's latest features distributed in 2020 on Prime Video (“Modern Persuasion”), Netflix (“1BR”) and HBO Max (“Good Girls Get High”).