INDUSTRY 101
YOU’RE IN: NOW WHAT?

You’ve pierced the veil, cut through the noise, now you’re “in.” You’ve got your team. You sold that first feature. You called your friends and told them to turn on the TV because your name is about to follow the words “teleplay by” during a title sequence. Now what? What’s your next move? This panel will discuss the steps writers can take to sustain a career in film and television.

Humanitas's Industry 101 event series has been made possible with support from our series sponsor Sony Pictures Entertainment.

American Sign Language interpretation services will be provided by Pro Bono ASL.

Mike Gauyo

Mike Gauyo–born in Haiti, raised in Boston–graduated from The University of Massachusetts (Boston) with a degree in theater. After college, he moved to LA to pursue a writing career but landed in reality TV for the first few years, where he worked his way up from assistant on shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, The MTV Awards, and The Emmys to a producer on non-scripted shows like GSN’s Common Knowledge and E!’s The Comment Section. He later went on to write on the first two seasons of the highly successful Netflix dramedy, Ginny & Georgia, and wrote for the final season of the critically acclaimed HBO series, Insecure. Mike is currently the founder of the Black Boy Writes/Black Girl Writes Mentorship Initiative for aspiring Black writers, as well as the co-creator, co-showrunner, and executive producer of AMC/ALLBLK’s latest original hit series, Send Help.

Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz

Brigitte Muñoz-Liebowitz’s writing career was launched on the staff of NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She went on to work on comedy series such as TBS' People of Earth, NBC's Abby’s, Diary of a Future President for Disney+, HBO Max's Love Life, and on Netflix’s One Day at a Time, on which she was also a co-executive producer. She most recently extended her overall deal at Sony Pictures Television, and previously developed projects for CBS/CBSTVS and Hulu/WBTV/Berlanti Prods. Muñoz-Liebowitz currently serves as showrunner and executive producer on the HBO Max original comedy series, Gordita Chronicles, from Sony Pictures Television. In addition to this success, a Who’s The Boss? sequel starring Tony Danza and Alyssa Milano is also underway in which she will write and executive produce alongside Mike Royce.

Ilana Peña

Ilana Peña is creator, showrunner, executive producer, and director of the critically-acclaimed Diary of a Future President on Disney+. The two-season series has been called a “must-watch” by Parade, “wholly charming” by The AV Club, “consistently sweet, authentic and humorous” by Remezcla, won "Best Latinx Show" from the Latino Media Awards in 2021, and was nominated for a GLAAD Award in 2021 and 2022. Ilana directed episode 209 of Diary as well as an episode of Gordita Chronicles on HBO Max. Peña was named as a 2020 recipient of Forbes 30 Under 30: Hollywood and Entertainment, and honored in Variety's 2021 Inclusion Impact Report. She served as a writer on the critically-acclaimed series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend on the CW, where she wrote and produced multiple episodes, contributed song lyrics, and was featured both onscreen and on the soundtrack. Ilana is continuing to develop projects through her overall deal at CBS Television Studios in addition to writing features for Universal Studios, 20th Century Studios, and Disney+.

Andy Siara

Andy Siara, named one of 2020’s Variety’s ‘10 Screenwriters to Watch’, wrote Hulu’s Golden Globe nominated feature comedy Palm Springs which premiered In-Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival and subsequently sold for a Sundance record-smashing $22.5 million. Andy got his MFA in screenwriting from AFI in 2015 and, immediately upon graduating, took a position as the Showrunner’s Assistant on AMC's critically-adored Lodge 49, where he was quickly promoted to Staff Writer. Most recently, Andy created and EPs the Peacock series The Resort, and prior to that, was a Co-Producer on UCP/Peacock’s upcoming series Angelyne starring Emmy Rossum. Andy is currently adapting a short-story by Raphael Bob-Waksburg for Apple with Ben Stiller and Noah Hawley producing and Andy Samberg starring. His original screenplay for Palm Springs has been nominated for both a WGA Award and won an Independent Spirit Award for best first screenplay.

Liz Nord

Liz Nord is an Emmy-winning multiplatform producer, documentarian and content specialist who has created and shown work across the globe. She recently served as Director of Content at Sundance, where she developed a digital strategy that was instrumental in growing Sundance Collab into the premiere global destination of filmmakers looking to hone their crafts. She is also creator and editor of Sundance's The Muse, a biweekly journal for Screenwriters and Storytellers. Previously, she served as the Editor-in-Chief and Lead Producer at No Film School, the world’s largest online filmmaking community, where she oversaw all content and daily operations of the world's largest online filmmaking publication, as well as created and co-hosted the popular and highly rated Indie Indie Film Weekly podcast. Her projects have included Emmy-winning election coverage for MTV News and a documentary for Wyclef Jean's NGO, Yele Haiti. Her film, Jericho’s Echo: Punk Rock In The Holy Land, a critically acclaimed documentary about rebellious young Israeli musicians, screened at over 100 festivals and venues worldwide. Liz is also an active member of Film Fatales, and has spoken and written extensively on media-related topics, notably as a TEDx speaker and as a multiple-time SXSW and Sundance Film Festival moderator.

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