Latina Finalists Include: Monica Raymund (Law & Order: SVU) & Daniela De Carlo (Chicago Med)
Inaugural Class to Direct Episodes of A.P. Bio, The Blacklist, Blindspot, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Chicago Fire, Chicago Med, Chicago P.D., Good Girls, Law & Order: SVU and Superstore
Top NBC Executives Lisa Katz, Tracey Pakosta and Karen Horne to Shepherd Class Alongside Award-Winning Director Lesli Linka Glatter
Universal City, CA– NBC is taking a significant step to put more women in the director’s chair with the announcement of its inaugural class for Female Forward, the network’s annual initiative founded last August by then-president Jennifer Salke that gives female directors a pipeline into scripted television.
The 10 directors selected as finalists and the NBC series on which they have been paired are Rebecca Addelman (Brooklyn Nine-Nine),Daniela De Carlo (Chicago Med), Lee Friedlander (Good Girls), Heather Jack (Superstore), Katie Locke O’Brien (A.P. Bio), Ramaa Mosley (Blindspot), Olivia Newman (Chicago Fire), Monica Raymund (Law & Order: SVU), Lisa Robinson (The Blacklist) and Christine Swanson (Chicago P.D.). Chosen from among more than 1,000 applicants, the Female Forward finalists represent a diverse group of experienced women who have helmed a range of projects including award-winning films that have been official selelctions at Tribeca Film Festival, Santa Barbara International Film Festival and Toronto International Film Festival, among others.
Monica Raymond, “Law & Order: SVU”
Monica Raymund, starred as Gabriela Dawson on the NBC drama, Chicago Fire for six seasons for which she won an Imagen Award for Leading Actress in a Drama. She also received a nomination for a Teen Choice Award in the category of Choice Action TV Actress.
Raymund studied at the Juilliard School where she won the John Houseman Award for her commitment and dedication. Upon her graduation, she went on to star opposite Tim Roth for three seasons in Lie to Me. She later landed a lead role in director Stephen Elliott‘s feature, Happy Baby; a supporting role in the feature Arbitrage, opposite Richard Gere; a starring role on critically acclaimed drama, The Good Wife. She guest starred on the 200th episode of Law & Order:SVU, opposite Robin Williams and recently started in Thaddeus & Sloccum at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre. In 2016, Raymond directed a short film entitled Tanya for the Hidden Tears Project, a non-profit media company developing content bringing awareness to sex trafficking. Tanya won the Midwest Independent Film Festival Female Filmmaker’s Best Short Award as well as the Award for Best Direction and the Audience Award at Flicks for Change Fest. Raymond is represented by Door 24 and The Gersh Agency.
Daniela De Carlo, “Chicago Med”
Daniela De Carlo, is an Argentinian native who learned the art of directing while working with some of the most recognized names in the industry including Alexander Payne, Martin Scorsese, David E. Kelley, the Weitz Brothers, Forest Whitaker and Tony Scott.
Launched last year, Female Forward aims to increase female representation in the director’s chair by providing talented female directors with the experience and connections they need to launch and sustain their careers. Finalists will shadow experienced TV directors on up to three episodes of the NBC series in which they have been paired, culminating with an in-season commitment to direct at least one episode.
“As executives who have consistently been working to get more female directors on our shows, it’s so meaningful that one of our first big acts as co-presidents is to officially welcome this inaugural class of talented directors to the NBC family,” said Lisa Katz and Tracey Pakosta, Co-Presidents, Scripted Programming, NBC Entertainment. “What makes this moment even more significant is the realization that by next season our colleagues across the industry will have a larger pool of experienced women to choose from as they are staffing their shows, and that number will multiply as the program culminates year after year. Our goal is to completely eliminate the often-heard excuse – which we strongly believe simply isn’t true – that the reason there isn’t parity in the field is that there aren’t enough qualified women, and we feel confident that this program will begin to change that narrative. ”
“We’ve proven time and again that our pipeline programs discover undeniable talent who bring a fresh point of view to their work, and our first Female Forward class is no exception,” said Karen Horne, Senior Vice President, Programming Talent Development and Inclusion, NBC Entertainment. “Diversity in the director’s chair encourages inclusion at every echelon of a production, and our hope is that these 10 women will join the ranks of other women directors who have exponentially affected change by opening doors for those who follow them not only in their field, but across our industry.”
The network partnered with Lesli Linka Glatter, acclaimed TV director and a longtime mentor to women in the field, as well as enlisted an advisory council of celebrated directors including Norberto Barba (Mayans MC), Ruben Fleischer (Superstore), Liz Friedlander (Conviction), Pamela Fryman (How I Met Your Mother), Nisha Ganatra (Transparent), Peter Horton (New Amsterdam), Gail Mancuso (Modern Family), Ken Olin (This Is Us), Julie Anne Robinson (Castle Rock), Millicent Shelton (Marvel’s Runaways) and Michael Spiller (Champions). Glatter chairs the council who helped select the inaugural class and whom will serve as their advisors and mentors throughout the program.
“Directing is not an easy road for anyone, but it should be an equal playing field and for the first time, I truly feel that we are at a tipping point,” said Glatter. “I am hopeful that there will be a time in the near future when this is no longer an issue. Female Forward offering qualified and talented women directors the chance to not only to shadow, but to actually direct an episode is a game changer. I’m so excited about this inaugural group of directors and can’t wait to see them at work.”
To be eligible for the program, the Female Forward finalists were required to have directing experience in their respective fields whether their medium of choice is feature films, music videos, commercials, digital content and theater. Candidates could have no more than one scripted television directing credit.
The first class of Female Forward directors represent a variety of backgrounds, and more information about them including their bios can be found at NBCFemaleForward.com.
About Female Forward
Female Forward is NBC’s annual initiative for female directors that aims to acheive gender parity among scripted series directors by systematically increasing the number of qualified women in the field. The program gives eligible female directors the opportunity to shadow up to three episodes of an NBC series, culminating in an in-season commitment for each participant to direct at least one episode of the series she shadows. Female Forward is one of the tent pole initiatives within the NBC Talent Infusion Programs (NBC TIPS) that promotes and encourages people of diverse backgrounds to become the next generation of storytellers. For more information, visit NBCFemaleForward.com.
About the NBC Talent Infusion Programs (NBC TIPS)
Since 2000, NBC has been dedicated to discovering and nurturing on screen and behind-the-camera talent of diverse and inclusive backgrounds through the NBC Talent Infusion Programs (NBC TIPS). For more information, visit NBCUniTIPS.com.
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