Vicki Shabo, a leading expert in U.S. gender equity and work-family policies with New America’s Entertainment Initiative: Re-Scripting Gender, Work, Family, and Care, joined AWD Members for an intimate and interactive workshop.
The conversation centered on how realistic depictions of work, family, and caregiving grounded in authenticity and aspiration in any genre or type of story can connect audiences across demographics and ideologies, inspiring understanding, and foster action.
Materials provided:
– Newly-released research showing that realistic depictions of work, family, and caregiving grounded in authenticity and aspiration in any genre or type of story can connect audiences across demographics and ideologies, inspiring understanding, and foster action
– Guide for Writers on Writing About Jobs, Money, and Work-Family Stress
– “This Labor Day, Viewers Want to See Relatable Challenges With Jobs, Money, and Work-Family Stress” blog post
– A one-pager of New America’s work
In this hands-on workshop, members had the chance to dive into the future of pre-visualization with Story-Boards.ai.
Guided through the platform step by step, participants imported scripts, refined scenes, experimented with prompt-driven camera angles, lighting, and mood—and even created consistent virtual actors to populate their stories.
September’s Social Sunday was a great event! Held at Lake Balboa, members enjoyed the fresh air while catching up with old friends and meeting new ones.
The Editing for Directors panel was very informative, with attendees taking away a lot of advice including:
Start Early with Your Editor: Involving your editor during pre-production—especially for complex scenes like stunts or montages—can prevent costly issues later and help shape the story from the ground up.
Know Your Creative Rights: Understanding the DGA Creative Rights Handbook empowers directors to navigate post-production with confidence—balancing collaboration while protecting their vision through multiple rounds of notes and revisions.
Small On-Set Choices = Big Post Impact: Smart coverage, clean audio, and reset strategies on set can save hours in the edit and give directors more flexibility in shaping the final cut.
September’s AWD Works in Progress event was held at Light Iron in Los Angeles. The Tech Talk consisted of a tour of the facility as well as an introduction to new ways of working with your colorist.
Attendees were then treated to three fantastic short films by Melissa Fisher (“Inside These Walls”), Lisa Cole (“Filthy”) and Nikki Hevesy (“A Year to Life”) and directing reels from Emma Bell and Juliet Romeo.