Virtual Shadowing 2025

Mary Lou Belli is a Two time Emmy award-winning filmmaker who has been directing television for over 30 years, including NCIS New Orleans, Black Lightning, Bull, Legacies, Station 19, Pitch, Monk, Famous In Love, Devious Maids, The Quad, American Woman, and Hart of Dixie as well as Wizards of Waverly Place, Sister, Sister, Girlfriends, and The Game. Her short film, Straight Eye for the Gay Guy won “Best Mini-short” at the California Independent Film Fest where she also premiered I Heard Something, a thriller that went on to play fests internationally. She has done ground-breaking work on web-series. Her award-winning short, America, is currently on the fest circuit. She is also Producing Director and Executive Producer of Ms. Pat. Mary Lou served two terms as the Co-chair of the Women’s Steering Committee at the DGA where she also serves on the Western Director’s Council, and the Leadership Council PAC and as an alternate to the Board. She is an Honorary Board member of the Alliance of Women Directors and Advisory Board member of Women in Media and a long time member of Women In Film. She has served as judge and/or guest speaker for the CSU Media Arts Fest, a judge for the Miss America Outstanding Teen Pageant, a jury member at the Sapporo Short Festival, Newport Beach Film Fest, Regina International Film Festival, and The Voice awards, a lecturer at the Chautauqua Institute, and a panelist for Women In Film, the DGA, SAG, and AFTRA and the LA Times Festival of Books. Mary is the current Governor of the Television Academy. She has been a guest artist at the International Thespian Festival for secondary school theatre where she gave workshops to thousands of teens and high school theatre teachers. Through her teaching, she supports many of the vibrant diversity programs including ABC/Disney, CBS, Sony, HBO Access, AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women, and Warner Bros. Directing Workshop mentoring the next generation of directors. She is the co-author of four books: “The NEW Sitcom Career Book,” “Acting for Young Actors,” and “Directors Tell the Story” which she co- wrote with fellow DGA member Bethany Rooney. Her 4th book, ” Acting for the Screen” was published by Focal Press summer 2019.

Anna Fahr is an independent filmmaker and founder of Morning Bird Pictures, a production company dedicated to creating films and new media that focus on the contemporary Middle East and diaspora. Her debut narrative feature, Valley of Exile, is currently on the festival circuit with 9 awards and 20+ international selections to date. Her filmography includes the award-winning interactive documentaries, Migrant Mothers of Syria and My Life in Limbo, the dramatic short, Transit Game, and feature documentary, Khaneh Ma: These Places We Call Home.

As a two-time immigrant, Christina YR Lim is a Korean-American writer/director who tells fish-out-of-water, genre-bending AAPI stories. Christina is an alumnus of The Black List & WIF Feature Residency, Yale’s directing lab, Cine Qua Non, Stowe Labs, Wscripted’s Cannes Screenplay List, and EAVE. She holds an MFA from USC. Her debut feature, B-SIDE: FOR TAYLOR, was released in 2024. She recently completed a proof-of-concept for her second feature, GYOPO, through The Black List x GM incubator fund and Panavision’s Camera Grant. Lim has directed films in Shanghai, Beijing, and recently received the Djerassi Artist Residency and the Seriesfest x Shondaland Directing Mentorship.

Lilian T. Mehrell is an award-winning writer & director with a visionary sense of feeling and humor. She is the winner of the Tribeca AT&T Untold Stories Award for her debut feature, Honeyjoon, which premiered at the 2025 Tribeca Festival. Lilian’s films have also premiered at Clermont-Ferrand and the AmPav Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes. She was selected for the SFFILM Rainin Grant 2025, the TorinoFilmLab ComedyLab, Film Independent Episodic Lab, Sloan Episodic Award, Nancy Malone Directing Award, NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship, Geri Ashur Screenwriting Award, CineQuaNonLab, TFI Labs with YouTube/Google and Warner Media, and the Sony Pictures Classics / Marcie Bloom Fellowship. Lilian takes audiences for a ride with her stunning swirl of comedic and emotional cinema. She earned her MFA from NYU Tisch Grad Film with a PDS Fellowship, and her BA from Dartmouth with a Senior Fellowship. She has been featured in Variety, Vogue, The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, Cinecittà, and The New York Times. She also enjoys hip hop dance.

As a Peabody Award-winning producer, director and writer, Melissa Haizlip’s work has been featured on Netflix, HBO Max, Peacock, CNN, PBS, and E! Her work responds to pressing social issues at the intersection of racial justice, social justice, activism, and representation. Female transformation and empowerment are at the core of her ideas; to advocate and amplify the voices of women and people of color. A Library of Congress Lavine/Ken Burns Prize for Film and 4x-NAACP Image Award Nominee, Melissa has been recognized with a writing achievement award from the NAACP Image Awards, and is the recipient of the 2020 Critics Choice Documentary Award for Outstanding Debut Feature for her film Mr. SOUL! The film premiered at Tribeca (2018), aired on PBS and is now streaming on MAX. Mr. SOUL! won the 2022 Peabody Award and the IDA Best Music Documentary Award, was nominated for a 2022 News & Docs Emmy and shortlisted for the Oscars. She is Co-Exec. Producer of two 4-part limited series; LADIES FIRST: A STORY OF WOMEN IN HIP-HOP (Netflix) and Executive Producer alongside Steph Curry on BLACK POP: CELEBRATING THE POWER OF BLACK CULTURE (Peacock). Melissa is Co-EP / Director of the behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of EMANCIPATION, starring Will Smith (Apple TV+). Her film SATISFIED, which she directed and produced for Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment, illuminates the life of the Tony award-winning actress Renée Elise Goldsberry, from the Broadway hit musical Hamilton. It was released in theatres September 2025 by Aura Entertainment and Fathom Entertainment. Melissa is a proud member of the DGA, PGA, Television Academy, and a fellow member of The Broadway League.

Based in Los Angeles, award-winning Spanish director Sonia Sebastian has a vast experience spanning theater, television, and film. Her passion for telling stories involving diverse and dynamic characters is a common through-line while bringing a personal cultural perspective to her work. Sonia is developing the TV Show “Life Streamed” and her next feature film “American Kingdom”. She just finished her feature film “The Kiss List” produced by Marvista Entertainment and Acquired by HBO MAX. Her third film, “The Virgin of Highland Park,” an inspirational coming-of-age story, recently premiered on Pluto TV and has won the Best Feature Film award at the Women Worldwide Film Festival, Albuquerque Film Festival and Cacique Film Festival in Egypt. Her feature film “Freelancers Anonymous”, produced by Full Spectrum Features in Chicago, was recognized by ReFrame and IMDbPro with the gender-parity stamp. Sonia’s first feature film “De Chica en Chica”, is available on Amazon Prime Video. She is a mentee of the Half Initiative, created by Ryan Murphy, where she shadowed director and producer John Gray on Lone Star 911. She has directed multi-cam episodes for Spain’s TV networks Mediaset and TeleMadrid. She was the showrunner, writer, and director of the first online web series in Spain, Girl Seeks Girl, produced by Movistar.

Whitney Clinkscales was born on a Naval Base in Portsmouth, Virginia and travelled the world with her parents who both served in the U.S. Navy, but she broke rank and is now an episodic television director and alum of the Disney Directing Fellowship. Her work emphasizes the beauty of inclusion and the richness of intersectionality and she has a wide variety of experience directing A-list talent in episodic, commercial and promo campaigns for ABC, Hulu, FX, Disney Plus, Disney Channel, Cadillac, Billboard, and more.