Next Gen 2022: The Hollywood Reporter’s 35 Rising Executives 35 and Under

Lindsay Aubin, 34

Partner, WME

LOGLINE Scored both an Amazon overall deal and a series greenlight for Mr. & Mrs. Smith co-creator Francesca Sloane; closed substantial overalls for Lord of the Rings EP Jason Cahill and Succession EP Francesca Gardiner at Amazon and HBO, respectively.

THE ARC Aubin tracks her obsession with television back to the second grade, when her bedtime was formally moved to 9 pm and watching Friends became a formative part of her routine. Though Simsbury, Ct. is some 3,000 miles east of Hollywood, she spent her childhood tracking writers and scripts the way other kids did baseball players and Pokémon cards. “I literally put pre-Med on my college applications because I was so obsessed with Grey’s Anatomy,” she says. By the time Aubin hit college age, she was a paying member of an industry tracking board and spent summers devouring pilot scripts. Two weeks after graduating from Williams College, she relocated to Los Angeles, where she’d lined up a job interview at WME — to this day, it’s the only one Aubin has ever done. In the years since, the avid traveler has worked her way up, moving from the mailroom to a few high-profile desks, including those of the Aris (Greenburg and Emanuel), before establishing her own lucrative business, which is increasingly focused on female voices and international opportunities. Named partner in 2021, Aubin’s client list, which includes Venom‘s Kelly Marcel, We Are Lady Parts creator Nida Manzoor and Sex Lives of College Girls’ showrunner Justin Noble, keeps growing.

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Hermione Granger”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE… “A tossup between Nathan Fielder, to break the simulation, and Prue Leith during pastry week.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “Scheduling a round of golf for Ari Emanuel and the Manning brothers through Tom Brady. He was a fastidious scheduler.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED… “Converting DVDs of U.K. formats from PAL to NTSC and mailing them to executives. What is PAL? What is NTSC? What are DVDs?!”

Merideth Bajaña, 33

Partner, Grandview

LOGLINE Reps Yellowjackets creators Ashley Lyle and Bart Nickerson and sold Molly Smith Metzler’s Maid straight to series at Netflix.

THE ARC The Duke public policy major considered a career at the State Department before refocusing on Hollywood. “I realized the things that had informed my worldview were all movies and TV,” says Bajaña, who grew up in Connecticut with frequent trips to her father’s native Ecuador. “It felt like [entertainment] was the best way to understand the rest of the world.” At the advice of alumni, she headed west and did a stint at WME before passing on a “monolith of a company” to work for Grandview, then run out of founder Jeff Silver’s home. “You have one of those moments where you think you have to invest in yourself and go to a place that is as invested in me succeeding as I am in them succeeding,” says the now partner, who helped build desks and connect phone lines at the company’s first office space. Bajaña has since been integral to the Grandview’s success. She helped Molly Smith Metzler sell Maid from a pitch straight-to-series at Netflix, and, in an unforeseen twist, Bajaña’s mother now uses the show in her curriculum at the University of Connecticut’s social work program, where she is a professor. Bajaña thrives on helping clients defy the odds, like writer Jimmy Warden with Cocaine Bear — the Universal theatrical release about a bear that … well, it’s in the title. “I cannot believe we pulled off this major con,” Bajaña says, before adding, “I don’t think great storytelling is ever going out of vogue.”

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY “I’m not totally sure anyone uses the term ‘tone’ correctly.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF… “House of the Dragon! And Survivor. Love a power tussle.”

HIGHS AND LOWS OF BEING BACK AT THE OFFICE “The highs are the people I work with. The low is wardrobe. It’s a confusing time for dressing.”

Lester Chen, 34

Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

LOGLINE Transformed YouTube Gaming into a heavy hitter in the industry and landed exclusive deals with top gamers like Ludwig, TimTheTatMan and DrLupo.

THE ARC Chen has gone from playing Halo in his parents’ basement in Appleton, Wisconsin, to becoming one of the most well-respected gaming executives in Hollywood. After overseeing live programming and esports at Machinima, an early entertainment network that brought gaming videos online, he moved to YouTube and was part of the team that essentially built its gaming vertical from scratch. With YouTube Gaming now an established platform in the industry, Chen has moved on to the next phase of his career: supporting creators and founders through VC funding. “I would love to see who the [next] Jordan Peele is — an executive producer who gets into games, designs a game, really has played games their whole life and knows how to do it,” Chen notes. The executive, a former professional Halo player, keeps up his gaming skills, still, by playing three hours a day. Look out for him on the Valorant leaderboards. “That’s the one thing I cling on to — I can still be good at a popular video game right now that Gen-Zers are playing,” Chen laughs.

THE BUZZWORDS I WISH WOULD GO AWAY “‘Creator economy.’ There’s so many different businesses and platforms now that contribute to the creator economy that it’s too hard to lump them all together.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Master Chief [from Halo]. I think he’s like a modern-day superhero to the gaming community because of everything that he’s been through.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE… “Pharrell Williams. He is the coolest guy. He’s in fashion, music, art — it almost feels like he’s this conduit to creatives, and I respect that so much.”

Jackie Cohn, 35

Principal, Rob McElhenney’s not-yet-titled company

LOGLINE Bought the spec of Dan Erickson’s Apple TV+ breakout Severance while at Ben Stiller’s Red Hour, before running TV and film at Rob McElhenney’s new company.

THE ARC Knowing she was Hollywood bound, the Houston-raised Cohn tackled six entertainment internships while in college — the last of which led to a job at Ben Silverman’s Reveille. Then came a development gig at Warner Bros. before mentor Debbie Liebling recruited her to Red Hour: “I’ve always been motivated by the idea of working at a place where I could get something made.” During her nine years at the company, Cohn made a lot, including the rom-com Plus One and four seasons of The CW’s In the Dark. She also identified Severance as a drama ripe for her filmmaker boss. (Among the series’ 14 Emmy nominations was a directing mention for Stiller.) In May, she moved on to partner with McElhenney on a new banner, where she’ll oversee film and TV, both scripted and unscripted.

THE COOLEST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “The dream team on Survivor who gets to test out the challenges.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Half Calvin and half Hobbes. There is wonderment in cartoon form happening in my brain at all times.”

Matthew Doyle, 33

TV literary agent, Verve

LOGLINE Signed J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay as showrunners for Amazon’s Lord of the Rings reboot.

THE ARC Doyle knew early on in his Virginia childhood that agenting was his future — even voraciously reading The Mailroom as an eighth grader. “I couldn’t tell you what an agent was at the time,” he says. “I just had an intuition that it was something I wanted to pursue.” He landed in WME’s mailroom in 2011, working his way up to the desks of key agents before joining Verve as the agency’s first TV coordinator in 2016 and being promoted to agent in 2017. Since then, he’s cultivated Megan McDonnell from an assistant to writing on WandaVision and The Marvels and guided Sarah Streicher as she transitioned from being a playwright to creating The Wilds for Amazon and co-writing the story for Pixar’s Turning Red. “Agenting combines the ideas of responsibility, taking action, and shaping the course of a life. And if you do it for someone who is telling narratives — be it a writer, director, or actor — you can have an effect on your environment,” he assesses.

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “You will never get away with anything.” AND IT CAME FROM … “Elizabeth Doyle, my mother.”

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY “Let’s discuss.” 

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Andrew Neiman, Whiplash.”

C.J. Fight, 35

Motion picture literary agent, WME

LOGLINE Jason Fuchs’ spy script Argyle stars Henry Cavill, while The Menu, co-written by client Will Tracy, hits theaters Nov. 18.

THE ARC Duke grad Fight moved to L.A. with little more than a WME agent’s promise that he’d help him get a foot in the door of the mailroom. “I knew going in I wanted to be an agent,” says Fight, an Ohio native. “This felt like I could use both sides of my mind, the more mathematical and the more literary side.” Now with more than 10 years at WME, half of that as an agent, Fight saw client Fuchs’ spy thriller Argyle generate a massive seven-figure deal, while other director clients took on buzzy reboots, remakes and adaptations, including David Bruckner (Hellraiser), Gary Alazraki (Father of the Bride) and Olivia Newman (Where the Crawdads Sing). Of the most important lesson he’s learned over the years, Fight says, “Honesty and communication are the key to every strong relationship.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “Leonardo DiCaprio introducing himself to me as ‘Leo.'”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF… “Winning Time.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE… “Ari Emanuel.”

Marissa Fine, 31

Literary content agent, Paradigm

LOGLINE Shepherded Shannon Burke’s Netflix hit Outer Banks and scored Gordita Chronicles creator Claudia Forestieri an overall deal at Sony, where she’ll reboot The Nanny.

THE ARC Always interested in a good story, Fine often got in trouble as a child for pulling all-nighters reading and watching movies. She studied international relations with a Middle Eastern-based focus on defense and security at USC, while doing Hollywood internships on the side. “I’d go from my thesis class on nuclear war theory in the Middle East to tracking Sundance features and stalking Mindy Kaling on the lot,” she says with a laugh. Upon graduating, Fine had a choice between agency gigs: the CIA or Paradigm, ultimately choosing the latter. Since then, she’s built an impressive roster, with clients like Schitt’s Creek star Emily Hampshire and Outer Banks’ Burke, whose novel Black Flies is getting a film adaptation starring Sean Penn. As for her future, Fine says, “I’d love to be the first female head of an agency.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Taika Waititi and Eric Idle. Taika, Eric, if you see this, THR has my cell.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “I was stuck in the elevator with Mariah Carey at the Golden Globes. Her security guard physically pried open the elevator doors with his bare hands, and lifted her out, but left the rest of us trapped.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Princess Caroline from Bojack Horseman. Her character hits a little too close to home in all the best and worst ways.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF… “The movie Step Brothers is genius. I don’t care what anyone says.”

Ashley Flowers, 33

Founder and CEO, audiochuck

LOGLINE Hosts the massively popular true-crime podcast Crime Junkie on the network she launched.

THE ARC Based in Indianapolis, Flowers left her job doing business development for a custom software company to launch an audio company, audiochuck, and true-crime podcast Crime Junkie in 2017. She took a leap of faith, giving herself a year to make the company viable as a full-time job. Spoiler alert: She succeeded. Crime Junkie, co-hosted by Flowers and her childhood friend Brit Prawat, was the second most-listened podcast in the U.S. this past year, according to Edison Research. And audiochuck is a bona fide business, attracting satellite radio giant SiriusXM to get in on the network’s ads and content. “We have such a great big team now. But I just still love what I do. I love being able to jump back into the weeds,” Flowers says. “In a universe that has an infinite number of ‘me’s’ out there, I’m in my favorite universe.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF… “The Patient. I love Steve Carell in a serious role.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “The kids from Narnia. I feel like I found this secret door into a world that I previously didn’t have access to.”

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY IS … “‘This is just a starting point.’ I hate that [in negotiations] because we all know we’re going to end up somewhere different. I feel like we’ve trained ourselves to waste our time.” 

Brady Fujikawa, 34

Exec vp production, Lionsgate

LOGLINE Wrangles the John Wick franchise, including the Ana de Armas spinoff Ballerina.

THE ARC “All the cool kids were in theater,” Fujikawa says of growing up in Santa Monica, where most of his friends were into the arts, while he was into sports. After high school, Fujikawa studied media business at NYU, eventually moving back to L.A. to spend as much time as possible with his ailing father, an attorney who died in Oct. 2012. “I remember him saying I was growing up, ‘if I could do it all over again I would get into the movie business.’” A month after his dad’s passing, Fujikawa began his career in the movie business at Legendary as an assistant, eventually getting promoted to creative executive. In 2017, he moved to Good Universe, where he discovered the script to the $111.2 million grossing Good Boys after a fortuitous Facebook message exchange with co-writer Gene Stupnitsky. He landed at Lionsgate after the studio bought Good Universe, and now the exec oversees its prized IP. “I live in John Wick land,” says Fujikawa, who recently visited the Prague set of spinoff Ballerina.

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE … “My boss, so I could greenlight my entire slate.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Billy Zane in Titanic.”

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY “Fresh.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “I started using Oat Milk in my coffee.”

HIGHS AND LOWS OF BEING BACK AT THE OFFICE “Worst part is leaving my kids in the morning, best part is coming home to my kids at night.”

Caroline Garity, 32

Senior vp, TV and film development, Blue Marble

LOGLINE Has 20-plus projects in development, including season two of Apple’s Pachinko and Soo Hugh’s follow-up, The White Darkness.

THE ARC Garity and her twin sister honored their heritage by taking up Irish dancing, competing for 10 years, then coaching at the world championship level in their 20s. When the Georgetown grad was still working the mailroom at WME, it proved a helpful part-time gig. She remained at WME for four years, before turning down a coveted promotion to be closer to writers and their process, landing a job as an exec at Chernin. There she developed the Apple TV+ efforts See and Truth Be Told, before accepting an offer at Disney+, where her four-person team oversaw roughly 100 projects — The Mandalorian to High School Musical. She says of the experience, “I got to learn from some of the greatest minds in media, from Bob Iger to Kevin Feige and Kathy Kennedy and Peter Doctor.” She missed being in the weeds with writers, so, in mid-2020, Garity joined former WME partner Theresa Kang in her new outfit, Blue Marble Pictures, where she now oversees a team and a global slate.

THE COOLEST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “Pete Docter’s — he runs a studio while being a filmmaker.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED … “Working with air traffic control to reroute my boss’ private plane because Obama was flying into the same airport.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Taika Waititi, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and Bong Joon Ho. Each has such a distinct point of view, and can make you experience the full spectrum of emotions in a single scene.”

Cole Galvin, 32

Director of original series, Netflix

LOGLINE A star at Netflix, where he developed YA smash Ginny & Georgia.

THE ARC “I’m a triplet,” says Galvin, by way of introduction. “It’s terrifying, there’s three of me.” One of his siblings, all of whom remain fiercely close, is severely disabled, which he says taught him an early lesson in empathy. “And a curiosity about how other people move in the world,” adds Galvin, “and you realize people experience the same thing you experience in a completely different way.” Storytelling, he’d come to see, offered a window into how other people experienced life. So, after flirting with med school (his mother is the chief of emergency medicine at Yale) and law school (even taking the LSAT), the Northwestern grad took a gig in the WME mailroom, before settling in at Universal Television, where he moved from Bela Bajaria’s assistant to a development role, working on projects like The Bold Type and New Amsterdam. In late 2017, Galvin followed Bajaria to Netflix, where the avid skier has worn several hats in five short years, shepherding projects from the Harlan Coben thriller The Stanger to Mae Martin’s Feel Good. None arguably are as dear to the openly gay executive as Ryan O’Connell’s dramedy Special, a semi-autobiographical account of life as a gay man with cerebral palsy.

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED… “Becoming a certified referee for a youth soccer league.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED… “Having the opportunity to gush to Diane Keaton directly about my love for First Wives Club (and some refrains of “You Don’t Own Me” may or may not have been sung by both of us).”

THE COOLEST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “President/head of programming at a network/streamer.”

Max Hollman, 31

VP drama programming, HBO

LOGLINE Shepherded critical darling Industry and cultural juggernaut Euphoria.

THE ARC Growing up near D.C., Hollman never thought much about Hollywood — until a high school binge of The Sopranos DVDs he’d rented from a local video store. At the University of Vermont, he supplemented his econ and history coursework with film classes and more binge sessions (The Wire, Six Feet Under, etc.). Upon graduating, Hollman connected with UVM’s most prominent entertainment industry alum, CAA’s Joe Cohen, who helped him land his first gig at the agency and became a mentor. After a few years on some prominent desks, including Sonya Rosenfeld’s as Big Little Lies was coming together at HBO, he jumped over to the premium cable network. Hollman is now creating premium television like he used to binge, from Succession and Euphoria to House of the Dragon. Up next, the avid surfer and self-professed foodie is prepping Sam Levinson’s already buzzy The Idol, starring The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp.

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF… “The O.C. season one. Still one of the best angsty teen dramas.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED… “Playing ‘Blinding Lights’ on piano in front of The Weeknd.”

THE COOLEST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “The location scouts on Succession.”

Amanda Hymson, 34

Motion picture literary agent, UTA

LOGLINE Inks deals for Oscar nominee Carlos López Estrada and Hocus Pocus 2 writer Jen D’Angelo.

THE ARC For show-and-tell in fourth grade, Hymson brought in a VHS copy of her favorite movie, The Birdcage. “My teacher was like, ‘What?!’ ” says Hymson, who paraded the R-rated Mike Nichols comedy in front of the class. Now, Hymson helps her clients make movies that run the gamut between classroom-appropriate (López Estrada’s Raya and the Last Dragon) and not (Janicza Bravo’s Zola). It was during a college internship at Saturday Night Live that Hymson, a New Jersey native and NYU graduate, was first told she should try out agency life. “I had no understanding of what that meant,” she remembers, but the cast was stacked with UTA clients, which put her on a path where she’d grow from summer intern to full-time agent. Her career recently came full circle when she helped longtime SNL director Paul Briganti land the gig directing the debut feature of late-night comedy break-outs Please Don’t Destroy for Universal. Says Hymson of her work, “It’s nice to be able to go out there and say, ‘This is really special.’ And the rest of the business can adjust to [the clients] versus the other way around.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Elaine Benes [from Seinfeld].”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE … “David Geffen.”

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY “Elevated.”

Ridhima Kahn, 32

VP, Dapper Labs

LOGLINE Orchestrated the deal for the NBA’s Top Shot NFT collection in 2020 that crossed $1.2 billion in sales earlier in May; oversaw partnerships with the NFL and Meta, the latter of which added $1 billion in value to the company.

THE ARC Kahn is a bona fide tech investor, having cut her teeth at asset management firms like GCM and the philanthropic Hewlett Foundation before getting into VC as a partner at Andreessen Horowitz. But she didn’t begin to understand the real-world benefits of blockchain technology until she was introduced to Dapper Labs’ CryptoKitties, a game where players collect, breed and sell digital cats — that was developed by Dapper Labs. She now oversees partnerships and business development, interfacing with major entertainment companies, social platforms and creators interested in Web3. Kahn sees the moment as a rare opportunity to shape the future of a new technology and bring in diverse voices. “I really want to encourage people to get into this space, regardless of their background,” Kahn says. “The same economies we have today are going to exist in this future digital world that we’re moving into, and so it’s important that we, from the beginning, start with a more diverse base.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Lizzo, Taylor Swift and Steph Curry.”

Zoe Kent, 35

Partner, Driver+Kent Media

LOGLINE Snagged a first-look deal at A&E within months of launching her banner, setting up shows Dead Eleven and Summerset.

THE ARC A third-generation Angeleno with parents in the industry, Kent’s entertainment career seemed inevitable, but it was one internship that changed everything: working out of an airplane hangar for a startup named Skydance, where she’d become David Ellison’s assistant. “I homed in on non-writing producing,” she says. Then a stint at Warner Bros. introduced her to her mentor, Niija Kuykendall, who “taught me how to handle this industry with integrity.” Kent spent five years at Disney, working on high-profile titles such as the live-action versions of The Lion King and Mulan, before reteaming with former exec Foster Driver to launch their eponymous banner in 2022 and finding fast success in TV with a first-look deal at A&E Studios. “We want to be telling inclusive stories for a broad audience,” says Kent. “We call it popcorn prestige.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED … “Sitting in on casting sessions for season one of 30 Rock.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Hildy Johnson in His Girl Friday.”

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “Never let anyone make you feel like you need to apologize for being yourself.” AND IT CAME FROM “Niija Kuykendall.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “A famous director faked a heart attack in my boss’ office on April Fool’s Day.”

Ellie Klein, 34

Manager, TFC Management

LOGLINE A manager who has put five writer clients she signed while assistants into overall deals, including Samir Mehta (ABC Signature), Aadrita Mukerji (Universal TV) and Francisca X. Hu (UCP).

THE ARC Growing up in L.A., Klein wanted to become a TV lit agent, which she acknowledges is a strange aspiration for a teen. But she got her start as a THR photo assistant where, during a shoot for the Agent Roundtable, she ended up in an elevator with Paradigm’s Debbee Klein. “In 45 seconds, she managed to learn enough about me to say, ‘Let me know when you want to work at an agency,'” Klein recalls. (She emailed the next day.) The University of Michigan grad segued into management, where she sees herself as a sounding board for writers like Mukerji, who is penning a Disney+ reboot of The Princess Diaries. She notes: “I don’t believe in chasing trends, it takes too long for things to get made, by the time it comes out there is something different.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF … “Andor“

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY IS … “Undeniable.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Can I cheat and bring someone back? Nora Ephron. I love how she wrote messy, flawed, relatable women.” 

Archana Lannin Austin, 35

Partner, Hansen Jacobson Teller Hoberman Newman Warren Richman Rush Kaller Gellman Meigs & Fox

LOGLINE A dealmaker who moved from Amazon Studios to the firm that reps some of its biggest talent, including Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Dan Palladino.

THE ARC The USC law alum knew she wanted to become an entertainment lawyer – as it combined her love of the arts with an affinity for negotiating that dates back to her high school mock trial days. After starting in corporate real estate law, and looking for a way into Hollywood, Lannin Austin got a call from Amazon. Only, it was for the web services division. With some persistence, she was able to parlay that offer into an interview with the then-fledgling studio arm. “Because we were staffed so leanly there, you just got thrown in,” she says. “If you raised your hand, you got to do a lot, which was awesome.” She spent nearly six years at Amazon Studios working on projects like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and A League of Their Own and deals with talent like Michael B. Jordan, Barry Jenkins, Viola Davis and Jordan Peele before moving to Hansen Jacobson this year. “There are still not a ton of lawyers of color, especially partners,” says Lannin Austin, whose mother emigrated from India at the age of 20. Now the youngest partner at her firm, Lannin Austin wants to “advocate for diverse talent and raise up those voices.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “A combination of Devi Vishwakumar from Never Have I Ever and Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock.”

THE COOLEST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “Reese Witherspoon, because she reads books and brings them to life, and has created an empire by championing stories about women.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF … “The new Interview With a Vampire series because I’m obsessed with New Orleans, Anne Rice, and the early 20th century.”  

Alyssa Lanz, 32

TV literary agent, UTA

LOGLINE Reps Lauren Ashley Smith (A Black Lady Sketch Show), M.J. Delaney (Ted Lasso), Adamma and Adanne Ebo (Honk for Jesus) and filmmaker Stephanie Allain.

THE ARC At the start of her career, the East L.A. native went from a Smithsonian fellowship to the UTA mailroom. “My thesis is in the Smithsonian Library, which is my fun fact,” says the Wesleyan grad, who majored in art history and Black studies and was planning a career as a professor. “But I realized it’s a very isolating job and I really wanted to be around people.” Lanz, who grew up on a diet of old-school sitcoms like I Love Lucy, The Jeffersons, and Mary Tyler Moore, eventually landed in UTA’s TV lit department. She is now carving a niche at the agency, repping creators of color who make TV with underrepresented stories at their center. She attached Smith as head writer on A Black Lady Sketch Show (and closed her subsequent pact with CBS Studios) and ran point on Allain’s foray into TV with an overall deal at HBO. “As a Black Cuban woman, my experience in the world is different than somebody else that looks like me and all of those stories deserve to get told,” she says. “Working in representation is a hard job, the market is constantly changing, and the one thing I’ve learned is you cannot live in fear. You have to create opportunities.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Oprah. I used to fake sick to stay home and watch her during the day. Sorry, Mom!”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Mary Tyler Moore. I wanted to be just like her growing up!”

George Lavender, 34

Head of miniseries, Wondery

LOGLINE Made Wondery’s miniseries team an industry leader with hits like Dr. Death, WeCrashed and The Shrink Next Door.

THE ARC Originally from Leicester in the Midlands region of England, Lavender found his way to podcasting through his desire to tell stories of injustice. Lavender left university without graduating and moved to the U.S. in 2011 to pursue journalism, joining public radio stations like KCRW to report on the L.A. County jail system and criminal injustice. With his growing expertise in audio, Lavender consulted for Wondery before joining full-time to oversee development and production of its limited series, which most recently has included Harsh Reality, a podcast that traces the story of trans Mexican model Miriam Rivera. Says Lavender, “I’ve always appreciated the power of story to change perspectives, to create empathy, to shift how you feel about the world and your place within it.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF … “Irma Vep.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE … “A fly on the wall at any stage of the process of making something like Reservation Dogs.”

Brandon Lawrence, 35

TV literary agent, CAA

LOGLINE Reps director Nikyatu Jusu, whose film Nanny won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, and Naomi Ackie, who leads the upcoming Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and was on the team that signed Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground.

THE ARC Lawrence’s path to CAA started on a trip to LA with Morehouse College’s Management Leadership for Tomorrow group, which was sponsored by the agency. The marble floors and million-dollar artwork at the Century City office left an impression, but he was Wall Street bound. “I didn’t have the socioeconomic capability to accept $26,000 to $27,000 as an assistant, and I had a full-time offer from Merrill Lynch,” he recalls. He was working as an investment banker when the market crashed and, after a stint in financial planning and analysis for USA Network, he ultimately found his way back to CAA. “It was a proud moment,” Lawrence says of becoming an agent in 2016. “But I also knew how much was at stake, not only for me but for so many people who would come after me. People who are from where I’m from and have no ties to the entertainment industry.” The Atlanta native says he carries that weight with him and in addition to working with clients like Melina Matsoukas, Justin Simien and Gabrielle Union, he’s steering the agency in a more inclusive direction by strengthening its recruiting pipeline at HBCUs. “I have always been somebody who lifts as they climb,” says Lawrence, quoting advice from his dad. “Building a legacy of service to my community is something I’ll be proud of for the rest of my life.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF … “Black Art: In the Absence of Light (HBO), inspired by the work of the late artist and curator David Driskell.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Byron Allen — I admire his persistence and avant-garde approach to his business and thought leadership.

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Max from Where The Wild Things Are — imaginative and resourceful, with a touch of mischief.”

Justin Letter, 35

Manager, Rise

LOGLINE A rep known for seeing potential in talent early, with clients including A League of Their Own‘s D’Arcy Carden, She-Hulk‘s Jon Bass and Top Gun: Maverick‘s Jay Ellis.

THE ARC The L.A. native was the sports editor of his high school paper and flirted with a journalism career before studying film at the University of Michigan. After graduation, he landed in the Paradigm mailroom, then on a desk at CAA, where he learned the ins and outs of packaging (he fondly recalls watching Mike Myers pitch a never-made Austin Powers movie in character). Letter transitioned to management at Mosaic, then in 2015 joined Rise, where he signed Carden before her breakout role on The Good Place. Among his first clients was Jason Orley, then a writer’s assistant, now a frequent collaborator of Pete Davidson and director of the Amazon rom-com I Want You Back. Says Letter, “I love having the proximity to clients and a smaller list.”

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY ” ‘Niche,’ a fancy word for pass.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE… “Jeannie Buss. Great job, great seats!”

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “That’s what the money is for!” AND IT CAME FROM “Don Draper.”

Mary Claire Manley, 33

Senior vp development, MRC Television

LOGLINE Developed Amazon hit The Terminal List along with upcoming series The Whites with Rian Johnson’s T-Street.

THE ARC When Manley was 7, her aunt asked whether she was excited for school the next day. “Oh, I can’t go,” she replied. “There’s too much good stuff on TV.” The University of Virginia grad ultimately parlayed that love of television into a career thanks to a chance meeting with manager Marc Gurvitz during a family vacation. Other gigs followed at CAA, Mandeville Films and UCP, where she worked on both The Act and The Sinner, before following boss Elise Henderson to MRC. Her slate there has included Apple TV+’s The Shrink Next Door, starring Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell, and upcoming projects with Ethan Hawke (Showtime’s The Whites) and Billy Crudup (Apple TV+’s Hello Tomorrow!). When Manley, who’s married to New Regency VP Sam Hanson, isn’t consumed with scripts and rough cuts, she’s likely in the kitchen, where she makes a killer lasagna, or chasing after her Australian shepherd, Harley.

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF … “Industry, but also, let’s be honest, Summer House.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Leslie Knope in Parks and Rec. We both can be steamrollers and irritatingly positive with a touch too much energy.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED… “Being responsible for sending out client’s checks when I was an assistant at CAA.”

Lisa Mierke, 34

Talent manager, Mosaic

LOGLINE Manages SNL group Please Don’t Destroy and new castmember Devon Walker, and writers Jordan Temple and Ashley Nicole Black.

THE ARC Originally from L.A., Mierke got her start in the mailroom at ICM back “when you still delivered mail” and fell in love with comedy after going to shows at The Improv, UCB and The Comedy Store. By 2013, Mierke and friends produced and booked shows for Comedy Living Room, a stand-up comedy club run out of a house that drew in names like Nick Kroll, Hannibal Buress and Daniel Tosh. Now, as a manager, Mierke can use her keen eye to scope out talent and advocate for projects that buck the trends. “I represent self-proclaimed weirdos,” Mierke says. “I’m excited for the folks that have the guts to talk about stuff that maybe not everyone thinks is normal.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE … “If I could go back in time, a PA on Friends.”

THE FICTIONAL CHARACTER I MOST IDENTIFY WITH IS… “Anne Hathaway’s character in The Devil Wears Prada. The first time I rolled calls, I was as awkward as her — and I love a makeover moment.”

Emily Morris, 33

Senior vp, 21 Laps

LOGLINE Boasts credits on Stranger Things, Hulu’s Rosaline and Sony’s upcoming Home Before Dark.

THE ARC Morris caught the theater bug early, especially during Hell Week, the week ahead of opening night where sets, rehearsals and promotion come together in a mad dash. “It’s an insane mashup, and I was very much chasing the high of that week,” she says. She followed that feeling to USC’s Business and Cinematic Arts program and a job as an assistant to 21 Laps partner Dan Levine. At the Stranger Things outfit, she now oversees an array of projects like the rom-com Rosaline, the live-action/CG hybrid miniseries Lost Ollie, and a Latino-focused adaptation of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. “When I started, someone gave me advice: ‘You have to pick a lane and have a brand.’ I always struggled with that,” she says. “I wanted to make a musical, a horror movie, the big adventure. If you have characters you like, why can’t you do all those things?”

HIGHS AND LOWS OF BEING BACK AT THE OFFICE “The best: My colleagues. The worst: The commute and not wearing sweatpants.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE… “My younger sister, Delaney Morris, who works at [management firm] Grandview, just so we can settle whose job is harder once and for all.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Don Lockwood in Singing in the Rain.” 

Stephanie Myer, 32

Associate, Johnson Shapiro Slewett & Kole

LOGLINE A dealmaker who works with rising stars (Cobra Kai‘s Peyton List, Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin‘s Jordan Gonzales) and those about to become supernovas (Glen Powell).

THE ARC When Myer graduated early from UC Irvine with a degree in criminology, her dad asked, “Are you going to be a cop?” When the answer was no, she realized she needed a plan. She loved school, so she started researching grad programs, and stumbled upon entertainment law at USC, where she’d take a class from her now-boss, Tara Kole. Myer worked for another professor (manager Danny Sussman) at Brillstein for two years before reconnecting with Kole who brought her in as a coordinator at Gang Tyre — and then asked her to come along when she launched JSSK this year. Now, Myer works with clients ranging from poet laureate Amanda Gorman to Top Gun: Maverick star Powell. “The incoming calls for him now are amazing, there are bidding wars over projects and he’s partnering with super high-level talent,” says Myer of the actor. “I love being along for the ride, growing with people who become household names.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Dan Levy”

CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Some combination of April Ludgate and Luna Lovegood.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED… “Anyone who started as a talent-side assistant can’t answer this question unless it is anonymous.”

Kelci Parker, 33

VP animation, Hulu

LOGLINE Ascendant comedy exec leading Hulu’s animation push.

THE ARC Parker was intent on becoming a screenwriter, working as an assistant to Spike Jonze upon her arrival in Hollywood after majoring in screenwriting at The University of Michigan. But a fortuitous post-production stint at Megan Ellison’s Hollywood Hills home turned her on to the idea of being a suit. “We were making Her with Annapurna, and every day a new awesome director would come in to bounce around ideas,” she recalls, “So I thought, ‘I really want to do what Megan does, but I don’t have Larry Ellison money.’” So, with an eye on comedy, the native Michigander got a job working Ken Alterman’s desk during the last heydays of Comedy Central. Since coming to Hulu in 2020 — first as development and current programming executive, then VP of comedy originals, and now head of animation — Parker has had her fingers on mega-hits (Only Murders In The Building) and A-list vehicles (Amy Schumer’s Life After Beth). But now she’s focused on cartoons: an arena where her platform is eager to expand and she is keen to develop underrepresented voices.

THE BUZZWORDS I WISH WOULD GO AWAY “In these unprecedented times.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE… “Issa Rae for her beautiful mind and wardrobe!” 

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “I one time had a friend who is very allergic to almonds rub some on their face in order to get out of work for an interview at a competing company.”

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “Your opinion is your most valuable currency in Hollywood.” AND IT CAME FROM “Kent Alterman.”

Shauna Perlman, 35

Talent agent, CAA

LOGLINE An advocate for on-camera talent like Natasha Rothwell (The White Lotus, Wonka), Ariana DeBose (Westworld, Schmigadoon), Anthony Ramos (In The Heights, Ironheart) and Sebastian Stan (Pam & Tommy, Sharper).

THE ARC Growing up near Manhattan, Perlman was an avid theatergoer. “I was just captivated from beginning to end of any show I saw,” she says, adding that she’s also been a massive TV fan since she was young. “I remember bawling my eyes out when Felicity ended, and when Ally McBeal ended it was probably one of the worst days of life. I told my mom I couldn’t go to the school the next day.” It wasn’t until she was studying communications at Northwestern that she realized her passion could someday be the core of her job. “When I recognized that I could make a profession out of advocating for talent, it felt like a great fit,” she says. After stints at UTA and Untitled Management, Perlman landed a job at CAA, where she works with established talent like Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson, who both star in the musical adaptation of The Color Purple, and newcomers like Sasha Calle, who plays Supergirl in The Flash. Where does Perlman see herself next? “To quote one of my clients, Ciara, I always just want to be ‘leveling up.’ I think it’s important to always be challenging ourselves and to constantly think of what we can be do doing better.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF … “Tár. I loved it. Cate Blanchett is the only person that you could watch for three hours plus and not for a second feel like it was too long. I thought she was phenomenal and I was so captivated by the story. I can’t wait to see it another time and I could not recommend it more.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “I used to work with Courtney Love, and she performed on my 30th birthday and did an acoustic set. She played all the songs that I loved and then she let me sing with her. I don’t sing, but it was the most amazing thing ever, and she was so nice to do it.” 

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Daria because long hair, glasses, and I always felt like she was just so badass. She always did what she believed in and didn’t conform to the other kids. I’ve been that way since I was younger, and I try to live by that now.”

Zahra Phillips, 34

Director of development, Searchlight Pictures

LOGLINE Oversees a varied slate including Mark Mylod’s The Menu, Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins and Eva Longoria’s Flamin’ Hot.

THE ARC To get to the closest movie theater to her hometown of Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Phillips and her mom would drive two hours to Kingston. “It was always a magical experience,” says the exec of the trips to watch the likes of Homeward Bound and Billy Elliot. “One of my favorite movies as a kid was the First Wives Club, which my mom found a little strange and maybe worrisome.” After graduating from a New England boarding school, she came to California to study 20th Century literature at Pomona College. The college’s financial aid program allowed her to complete her work-study at an internship, with Phillips applying to Hollywood production companies, despite not knowing what they do but knowing full well that they were only a train ride away. “I just Wikipedia-ed it,” says Phillips, who spent the two hours commute to-and-from campus reading scripts. The WME mailroom alum eventually landed at Searchlight Pictures, where she runs point on Mylod’s satire The Menu, Waititi’s sports drama Next Goal Wins and the period piece Chevalier. She says, “I have a very big slate right now, and it’s hard, but I really love being hands-on.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED … “Meeting Whitney Houston.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Liz Lemon. Every day I become more like her – I am a huge fan of night cheese. Is this a good or bad thing? Unclear.”

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “You don’t have to speak in every meeting if you have nothing new to add to the conversation, sometimes it’s fine to just sit and observe.” AND IT CAME FROM “Alix Madigan.”

Megan Reid, 33

VP development, FX

LOGLINE FX’s first in-house literary scout who developed The Patient and Fleishman Is in Trouble.

THE ARC “It’s not the typical story,” says Reid, as she describes both her nomadic upbringing and her Hollywood trajectory, which started not in an agency mailroom but rather as a book editor and author. Reid’s mom went back to school, raising Reid, then 5, and her sisters in campus housing. “It was cheaper for my mom to send us to African drumming class or a seminar on Elizabethan theater and art history than it was to do soccer practice or whatever,” she says, “so I had this incredibly culturally rich childhood, and this ability to be a sponge and take it all in.” Her mom’s sociology degree would later take the family from her mom’s native Jamacia to Australia, with several spots in between, before Reid went off to school herself. Set on becoming a journalist, she scored an internship at Cosmo Girl and an early byline on a “Which Jonas Brother are You?” quiz. But the magazine folded before it became a bona fide job, so she headed off to get an M.A. in English lit and then settled into the publishing world as a book scout in New York. In fact, that’s where FX’s Gina Balian found Reid, who’s also a published author, and recruited her to become FX’s first in-house literary executive in 2017, before ultimately promoting her to an-Los Angeles based VP of development, where she’s been intimately involved in projects like FX’s forthcoming drama Kindred, based on Reid’s favorite book since she was 12. The move was intimidating at first, until she came to see that the job of an editor is not dissimilar from that of a development executive. “You become the voice of the project and the advocate,” she explains. “You’re like the doula, you can’t have the baby, but you’re definitely there while people are screaming and crying.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE … “Whatever editor is charge of the genius narrative on this season of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City.”

Jonathan Sauer, 33

Partner, Sloane Offer Weber & Dern

LOGLINE A dealmaker who works with top firm clients like Ewan McGregor and Tom Holland, while building a roster of rising talent like Devery Jacobs (Reservation Dogs) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things).

THE ARC “I never wanted to be a lawyer,” says Sauer, whose dad is talent manager Steve Sauer, of his career ambitions. “It was either manager or agent.” But doubt creeped in and he decided to go to law school. “Deep down, I was insecure about giving creative feedback to actors and writers as an idiot 22-year-old history major who had never written or acted professionally,” the UCLA law grad says with a laugh, adding that “the nerdy paperwork” side of the business felt more natural. On his path to Sloan Offer, he interned at Ziffren Brittenham and had stints at two big law firms. “My third day on the job at O’Melveny & Myers, half the partners told us they were leaving,” remembers Sauer, referring to the Latham & Watkins defection of Nov. 2014. He spent about seven months at Latham before joining Sloan Offer, where he’s been for more than seven years. Sauer, who’s the youngest partner in the firm’s history, works with Marlee Matlin (also a client of his dad’s), Mike White, Michelle Monaghan, Mason Gooding and digital content creator Samir Chaudry, who was in Sauer’s “shitty pop punk band” Second Chance growing up. As he builds his business, the newly-engaged Sauer hopes to be an advocate for talent from historically underrepresented groups. “I’m fully aware of the privilege that I’ve had,” he says. “My dad works in entertainment. I went to Harvard-Westlake. So a huge piece of it for me is to pay it forward.”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “Did my middle school band play a gig at the House of Blues? Yes. Was the gig actually just my bar mitzvah? I can neither confirm nor deny.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED …“I interned as a P.A. on the set of The Office. B.J. Novak assigned my fellow interns and me a project consisting of brainstorming the most heinous facial hair moment for Ryan on the show.”

THE COOLEST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “Donna, who runs the bar at El Coyote. She’s been there since 1978.”

Tiffany Schloesser, 34

Partner, Odenkirk Provissiero

LOGLINE Adviser to rising comedy talent like Rachel Sennott and SNL regulars like Heidi Gardner.

THE ARC From the basement of a VFW hall to an attic storage space of a Chinese restaurant, Schloesser has gone to far-flung places for talent. “If you can make vets laugh and other comics laugh, you have figured out a way to connect with people,” she says. The scavenging has been worth it, with a roster that includes Shiva Baby breakout Sennott and The Bear star Ayo Edebiri. Schloesser — who lives in Glendale with her husband and their daughter, Maggie — is a longtime comedy fan, growing up watching Three Stooges movies and Saturday Night Live, later interning at The Daily Show. Standing in the lunch line with then-host Jon Stewart, Schloesser explained how her program at NYU’s Gallatin School of individualized study allowed her to name her major, no matter how farfetched. She remembers, “He was like, ‘Can I pitch you a name? Why don’t you just say, ‘Doctor’?” While she didn’t become a doctor — fake or otherwise — she did make the jump into entertainment. Schloesser began her career as an agent before moving into management. “I saw the relationship that managers had with their clients, and I thought: I want that. I don’t want to be siphoned off into one part of their career,” she says, “I just want to work with good people who make cool shit.”

I’D LOVE TO WORK WITH … “Jeff Goldblum”

MOST HOLLYWOOD THING I’VE EXPERIENCED “Standing a couple of feet away from Prince while he performed on SNL.”

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “Your list represents you as much as you represent your list.”

Jamie Silverman, 34

VP alternative series, ABC

LOGLINE A reality wunderkind who reimagined Dancing With the Stars for Disney+ while handling 15 new projects and the Bachelor franchise.

THE ARC Silverman took an old-fashioned path to working in TV: pounding the pavement. She drove to New York and asked for a job as an NBC page, which led to a position in the unscripted department. “The more I learned about reality, the more I fell in love with it,” she says. “We’re really hands-on with our producers.” Wielding that creative control with ease, Silverman moved to ABC, where she oversees a wild roster of series like The Bachelor and Dancing With the Stars — Silverman brought Alfonso Ribeiro on to co-host the streamer’s first live show — as well as a dizzying development slate. Her latest, the Kelly Ripa-fronted game show Generation Gap, was the No. 1 new broadcast series this summer.

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Lucy Ricardo. Her silliness, her free spirit, her relentless desire to entertain — and underneath it all a quiet activism that doesn’t hit you over the head.”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF… “Nathan Fielder’s The Rehearsal on HBO.”

IF I COULD TRADE PLACES WITH ANYONE FOR A DAY, IT WOULD BE… “Kevin Feige. And I promise when the day is up to keep the master plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe a secret!”

Jeanne Snow, 33

Senior vp, Made Up Stories

LOGLINE Oversees the shingle’s film slate, like Lupita Nyong’o starrer Little Monsters and the Netflix smash Luckiest Girl Alive.

THE ARC “Bruna [Papandrea] jokes that I was the worst assistant she has ever had because I was so over it,” says Snow, who worked on desks at CAA and Universal Pictures before landing at Pacific Standard as its third employee. Nonetheless, the Yale grad moved into an exec role and joined Papandrea’s solo banner, where she’s released the zombie movie Little Monsters and has a slate that includes Jessica Knoll adaptation The Favorite Sister. After a decade in development hell, Luckiest Girl (based on Knoll’s best-seller) debuted at No. 1 on Netflix. Says Snow, “It was a very long very emotional journey and one where we had many moments where we thought, ‘This is dead.’ But it has renewed our faith in getting things made even when people say, ‘No.’”

HIGHS AND LOWS OF BEING BACK AT THE OFFICE “Best: More snacks. Worst: More snacks.”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “Tall Girl in the Netflix film Tall Girl.”

I CAN’T BELIEVE MY FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD ENTAILED… “An afternoon-long negotiation with an ice cream truck driver because my agent boss said I needed to learn how to strike a good deal.”

Jessica Switch, 34

Senior vp, PictureStart

THE LOGLINE Guides such indies as Sundance hit Cha Cha Real Smooth and studio fare like A24/Apple’s Sharper and New Line’s Sweethearts.

THE ARC Switch broke into Hollywood through the unsexy, low-fi job website EntertainmentCareers.net. “People really do get hired off of that,” says the producer, who eventually got her start in Hollywood as a receptionist at Lionsgate. Years later, when Lionsgate’s Erik Feig left to launch his own media company, Switch followed. The exec has seen her Cha Cha Real Smooth become a hit that sold to Apple while producing multiple projects and overseeing development and postproduction of the talking-dog movie Strays. The mother of 2-year-old twins, who is married to Kaplan/Perrone Entertainment’s Sean Perrone, says being less reactive to trends is key to creative happiness: “I try to pick projects that I want to work on for the next three years.”

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “Read everything and have an opinion. No one wants a yes man.” AND IT CAME FROM … “Mike Paseornek”

THE CHARACTER I IDENTIFY WITH “I wish I was a Daria but I’m probably more of a Quinn if I’m being honest.”

THE BUZZWORD I WISH WOULD GO AWAY “Sticky.”

Mark R. Wright, 34

VP film, Higher Ground

LOGLINE Worked on MACRO’s Judas and the Black Messiah and They Cloned Tyrone before building a slate at the Obamas’ Higher Ground.

THE ARC Wright started in public relations for the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers before enrolling in USC’s graduate producing program. While there, he interned all over town, including for producer Dan Lin, CAA and MACRO, where he rose to director of development, film. After the 2012 election, he long regretted not volunteering to help on Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. “I missed the opportunity to be a part of history, and it weighed on me,” Wright says. When he heard Barack and Michelle Obama were forming a production company, he jumped. At Higher Ground since 2021, he shepherded George C. Wolfe’s upcoming gay civil rights drama Rustin. Says Wright: “The hope with these historical pieces is that folks are taking time to learn more, because you can only say so much with one movie.”

THE COOLEST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “Anyone who is working on the visuals for Beyoncé’s Renaissance because when that magic drops we’re all going to briefly and collectively lose our minds — again. Release the visuals!!”

I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF… “The Woman King.”

BEST ADVICE FOR WORKING IN HOLLYWOOD “This is a business about people and relationships, so you have to treat everyone you work with respectfully and with love, so they have the proper fuel to do the difficult tasks we ask of them.” AND IT CAME FROM “Kim Roth.”

Flashback to the 2002 Class

Next Gen has always been about identifying future industry leaders. See what some current top brass had to say 20 years ago.

Donna Langley

PREVIOUS: Senior vp production, Universal Pictures

WHERE IS SHE NOW: Chairwoman, Universal Pictures

POWER SPOT “The Grove. Trust me, it’s happening.”

IN 10 YEARS, I’LL BECOME … “I can’t predict, but hopefully, I’ll still be making films and feeling as challenged and rewarded as I do today.”

FAVORITE MOVIE/TV SHOW The Deer Hunter, Gandhi, I Love Lucy, The Young Ones

Charles D. King

PREVIOUS: Motion picture agent, WMA

WHERE IS HE NOW: CEO & founder, MACRO

CAREER MILESTONE “Tim Story was my first director client, and I helped him make his studio directorial debut with a movie called Barbershop.”

POWER TOY “Standard Motorola cellphone and a large-screen BlackBerry.”

Pamela Abdy

PREVIOUS: President of production, Jersey Films

WHERE IS SHE NOW: Co-chair, Warner Bros. Pictures Group

POWER TOY “My [Apple] iPod.” 

GREATEST CHALLENGE OVERCOME IN THE BIZ “Making the right decisions for a movie, even if it means waiting longer to see things unfold.”

FIRST JOB IN HOLLYWOOD “Production assistant on The Next Karate Kid.”

Bela Bajaria

PREVIOUS: Senior vp movies and miniseries, CBS

WHERE IS SHE NOW: Head of global TV, Netflix 

POWER SPOT “The Smog Cutter”

LESSON LEARNED “Never underestimate your audience. Television, besides being entertaining,  can be provocative, challenging and inspirational.”

This story first appeared in the Nov. 16 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.