Industry Profiles and Q&As

Laura Kennedy is CEO of Avalon, the talent management and production group based in London, Los Angeles and New York. Avalon represents a prolific roster of artists and produces live shows and television series including CATASTROPHE, LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER, STARSTRUCK, TASKMASTER and WORKAHOLICS. Prior to joining Avalon, Laura was COO at Lionsgate Television Group where she headed operations, strategy and M&A. Laura started her career at Avalon in talent management. She has an A.B. from Harvard College in English and American Literature, an MBA from Harvard Business School and s

Morgan Lehmann (AB '12) is a comedy writer who grew up on a pig farm in Houston, MN (pop. 983). A graduate of UCB’s improv program, she started her career as an assistant on 2 BROKE GIRLS, before writing for THE COOL KIDS and BLESS THIS MESS and developing half-hour sitcoms with CBS, ABC, and Freeform. Most recently, Morgan has found success in the feature space, selling her first feature in a multi-way bidding war.

Jonathan Eirich AB '03 is President of Film for Rideback, the film and television company known for producing tentpole live-action and animated content for global audiences.

Eirich is a BAFTA and Golden Globe-nominated producer who has overseen production for live-action films such as Disney’s billion-dollar box office hit ALADDIN, directed by Guy Ritchie; Netflix’s DEATH NOTE, directed by Adam Wingard; and the Netflix three-time Oscar-nominated film THE TWO POPES, directed by Oscar-nominated Fernando Meirelles. In 2019, ALADDIN became the second-highest-grossing live-action musical film of all time.

Ryan Halprin AB '12 is Senior Vice President of Production at Rideback where he works on both Film and TV projects. Next up is the live-action adaptation of Disney's LILO & STITCH coming out this month, and he is currently executive producing the live-action series adaptation of AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER for Netflix. Since joining the company in 2012, he has also overseen production on the LEGO MOVIE franchise of animated films at Warner Bros on behalf of Rideback, and co-produced the DEATH NOTE manga adaptation for Netflix.

Ryan studied Neurobiology and Economics at Harvard, but spent most of his time pursuing the arts. He performed in the cast of the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and outside of the Pudding, he choreographed and directed slightly less burlesque productions at the American Repertory Theater, among other places on campus. In the summer of 2011, Ryan tested the LA waters with an internship at Lin Pictures. After one more year in Cambridge scanning brains, he came right back and has been there since. Ryan was born in Chicago and grew up in Palo Alto, CA. Always missing live theater these days, he choreographs couples’ first dances at their weddings as a side hustle.

Dawn Tripp AB '90 is the nationally bestselling author of the novels JACKIE and GEORGIA, finalist for the New England Book Award, and winner of the Mary Lynn Kotz Award for Art in Literature. Praised by THE WASHINGTON POST, THE BOSTON GLOBE, THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, and others, JACKIE is described by author Chris Bohjalian as a “brilliant, beautiful book that touches the soul in ways conventional biographies can’t.” Tripp is the author of three previous novels: GAME OF SECRETS, MOON TIDE, and THE SEASON OF OPEN WATER, which won the Massachusetts Book Award for Fiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in the VIRGINIA QUARTERLY REVIEW, HARVARD REVIEW, CONJUNCTIONS, AGNI, and NPR. She serves on the executive board of the Boston Book Festival and on the board of Gnome Surf: A non-profit surf therapy organization focused on creating a culture shift towards kindness, love, and acceptance for athletes of all abilities. She graduated from Harvard and lives in Massachusetts with her sons.

Nick Gordon AB '95 is an Oscar-nominated and Golden Globe-winning film producer and the president of independent production & finance company Brookstreet Pictures. Previously, Nick was Brookstreet’s Chief Operating Officer for four years and before that Head of Development, a role in which he oversaw the acquisition of new material and building of the company slate. His producing credits include: MR. BURTON (Executive Producer); THE BRUTALIST; KNOX GOES AWAY; THE FORGIVEN; BROTHERS BY BLOOD; SKIN (Executive Producer); O.G.; FIRST KILL (writer & co-producer); and GIRLHOUSE (writer & producer). Before joining the company in 2010, Nick worked as a screenwriter and documentary story consultant. He was the sole writer on BEHIND THE MASKS: THE STORY OF THE SCREEN ACTORS GUILD, a four-part documentary miniseries chronicling the history of Hollywood’s most famous labor union. Nick was a founding employee of HotJobs, an industry leading employment website purchased by Yahoo! in 2000. Nick is an honors graduate of Harvard College. He was born in Boston and grew up in both Cambridge, MA and Santa Cruz, CA.

Hillary Nussbaum AB '09 is a writer, producer, marketer, and co-founder of the creative studio, Cereal Made. Hillary co-created the narrative sci-fi podcast, ANOMALY, which premiered as an Official Selection at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and was selected for IFP Week's inaugural Audio Lab in 2020. She previously worked at the Emmy-winning production company, Lion Television, developing unscripted series for national cable networks like TLC, AMC, and A&E. She has also produced branded videos for clients including 1000heads, MME, Arm Technology, UN Environment, and Palmer’s, and served as Producer, Director, and Assistant Director on a variety of short films.

Heather Taylor is a writer/director from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and a Canadian/UK/US citizen who splits her time between the US and Canada. She creates TV, film, and audio projects about messy, complicated family relationships, often told through a genre lens, aiming to destigmatize mental illness, disabilities, and poverty. Heather recently staffed on Syfy/Peacock’s REVIVAL, wrote for season two of THE HARDY BOYS (Disney+/Hulu), and her feature LETHAL LOVE is streaming on Netflix. A 2022 RespectAbility Lab Fellow, Heather also co-hosts the podcast BRAAAINS, exploring mental health and disability representation in media.

Haden Guest is Director of the Harvard Film Archive where he curates the HFA cinematheque and its motion picture, manuscript and photographic collections. He has curated film programs for the Viennale, the Oberhausen Film Festival and the Gulbenkian Foundation and Museum in Lisbon where he organized the twelve part Cinema Dialogues: Harvard at the Gulbenkian (2013-15). Guest also oversees the Harvard Film Archive’s preservation program which focuses on independent and avant-garde cinema, but also recently preserved the previously lost Robert Flaherty film A NIGHT OF STORYTELLING, rediscovered in 2013 in Harvard’s Houghton Library. As Senior Lecturer in Harvard’s Department of Art, Film, and Visual Studies, Guest teaches courses on film history and archival practice. He holds a PhD in Film History from the University of California, Los Angeles. He is currently writing a critical history of Portuguese cinema after the 1974 Carnation Revolution. In 2015 Guest was awarded a Medal of Cultural Merit by the Secretary of Culture of Portugal, in recognition for his work curating and researching Portuguese cinema. He was a producer of Soon-Mi Yoo’s SONGS FROM THE NORTH, winner of major prizes including a Golden Leopard at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival, the DocLisboa Prize for Best First Feature and the Jury Prize at the Buenos Aires International Film Festival.

Nicholas Weinstock AB '91 is the founder and president of Invention Studios, an independent production company developing a wide range of features and television shows. Weinstock began his career in New York City as an editor at Random House and Riverhead Books, and then as the author of a nonfiction book and two novels, before moving to Los Angeles to work at 20th Century Fox Television. Upon leaving Fox, he ran Apatow Productions with writer/director Judd Apatow, where they produced movies including FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL, STEP BROTHERS, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, GET HIM TO THE GREEK and BRIDESMAIDS. He went on to help launch the production company Chernin Entertainment alongside Peter Chernin, and for the past six years to partner with actor/director Ben Stiller and serve as the creative head of their company Red Hour Films. In 2022 he shifted full-time to running his own company, Invention Studios. More here.

Kelley Purcell AB '02 serves as Vice President of Membership & Industry Relations for the Recording Academy®, overseeing all aspects of membership outreach, peer review, member account services, and the Academy's Chapter systems, including regional and local teams, Chapter events and programming, and all aspects of Chapter service.

Sammi Cannold EDM ’16 (director) is a theater, film, and television director who is one of Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 in Hollywood & Entertainment, one of Variety's 10 Broadway Stars to Watch, and one of Town & Country's Creative Aristocracy. She recently made her Broadway debut as director of HOW TO DANCE IN OHIO  at the Belasco Theater, for which she won a Drama Desk Award. SammiCannold.com

Sandi DuBowski AB ’92 is the Director/Producer of SABBATH QUEEN, Director/Producer of TREMBLING BEFORE G-D, Producer of A JIHAD FOR LOVE, and Co-Producer of BUDRUS.

His award-winning work has screened at Sundance, Berlin, Tribeca and Toronto, theatrically released in 150 cities, and broadcast on ZDF/Arte, BBC, Channel 4, PBS. In 2020, he was invited to become a member of the Documentary Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. More here.