From Camera Department to Directing Your First Indie Film
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
Release Date: 10/28/2025
How Bill AB 2319 Could Keep Hollywood Home with Marielle Abaunza
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
Post is where a movie becomes a movie. Where a TV show gets it's bells and whistles. The edit, the VFX, the color, the sound mix, the sound design, and everything in between. It's where everything comes together. And yet for years, California has had no standalone incentive to keep that work here. In this episode I sit down with Marielle Abaunza, President of the California Post Alliance and EVP of Business Development at Signature Post, to talk about AB 2319, the proposed standalone post-production tax incentive that could be game changer in helping keep jobs in LA. We get into: How we...
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How to Start a Bidding War with Verve Agent and Partner David Boxerbaum
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
built his career the hard way, with no connections, no shortcuts, and a relentless belief that great stories still change everything. He first fell in love with making movies as a young kid growing up in the Bay Area, camera in hand, directing his friends before he even knew what an agent was. After attending , he realized the there was real power in understanding the business behind making movies. So he mailed his resume across town, worked his way through some of the most iconic agencies in the business, and quietly became one of the most prolific spec script sellers in Hollywood. By...
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Substack Live: Six Offers. No Rep. No Problem. Indie Filmmaker Carolina Alvarez on Self-Distributing "Sync"
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
This is a recording of a members-only Substack Live I hosted two weeks ago. If you're a paid subscriber, this is exactly the kind of access and conversation you're signing up for! Carolina Alvarez, writer-director and founder of Femme Regard, is the force behind Sync — a self-financed sci-fi feature now streaming on Amazon Prime that received SIX distribution offers. In this special chat, she breaks down what film school doesn't teach you: how she crowdfunded a feature in stages built a festival strategy around genre and community (not just prestige) reached out to 20+...
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Personal Update + Listener Questions Answered
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
In this solo episode, I get candid. I open up about losing my father in January, what grief looks like when you can't afford to stop moving, and the complicated truth about showing up anyway — to the meeting, to the festival, to the mic. I also dig into eight listener questions from the year-end survey, covering: how I select guests, whether I'm still producing, how independent producers can find financing outside traditional models, tips for batching scenes on a micro-budget shoot, how to pitch yourself for freelance producing opportunities, where to actually network, how to work...
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How Pam Carbonero Built The Directors Community of Her Dreams
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
Pam Carbonero is a seasoned Latina director, producer, writer, and first AD with 15-plus short films, a 12-episode mini-series, and a one-and-a-half hour vertical series under her belt. When she's not directing, she's working full-time as a first AD across features, commercials, music videos, you name it. And she is a proud anti-gatekeeper. But the thing I really wanted to bring her on to talk about is what she built from scratch out of pure necessity: the LA Director's Lab. In 2021, she had an idea for a space where directors could simply practice their craft. She started small: six...
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How Culture Impacts Craft with Marina Stabile, Producer of Sundance Winning Film "Josephine"
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
Marina Stabile is a Brazilian-born, Swiss-raised producer and line producer with over 20 years of experience in film, documentaries, commercials, and digital content. She is also one of my favorite humans and I'm lucky I get to call her a friend. She grew up in São Paulo, moved to Geneva at 10, attended an international school with 118 nationalities, and knew she wanted to produce after watching the Irving Thalberg Award presented at 3 a.m. on an Oscar broadcast. She studied film and international relations at USC, produced documentaries for the United Nations in Geneva, and returned to the...
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Live from Sundance with "Bedford Park" Producer Gary Foster on How to be a Director’s Offensive Lineman
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
*Brought to you in partnership with GreenSlate* Bucket list moment unlocked! 🎬 Our first-ever live episode from Sundance is here. I sat down with producer Gary Foster to talk about the seven-year journey of bringing "Bedford Park" to the screen—a deeply personal Korean-American story that almost didn't get made. We tackle: How Gary met director Stephanie Ahn 12 years ago when she was an assistant editor, and why he championed her debut feature for seven years The unconventional move that landed Hyundai as the first major investor with $1 million That terrifying moment when he...
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What Sundance & TIFF Programmers Are Really Looking For
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
Ever wondered how festival programmers decide which films make the cut? For our first episode of 2026, I'm joined by two incredible women who've been shaping the landscape of independent cinema for over a decade. Ana Souza has been with Sundance Film Festival for 10 years, working alongside some of the most exciting independent filmmakers in the world. Diana Cadavid is currently Director of Industry Programs for the Latino Film Institute (LFI) in Los Angeles, and International Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) She helped build IFF Panama's programming...
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Paul Feig on Comedy, Cult Classics & The Housemaid
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
When movie maestro and mixologist Paul Feig offers to teach you how to make a proper martini at 10a on a Wednesday, you say yes. It was thrilling to be tipsy before lunchtime. Almost as thrilling as it is to end 2025 with a conversation with the absolute icon that is director, producer, and comedy legend Paul Feig. Paul created the cult classic Freaks and Geeks, directed Bridesmaids, Spy, and A Simple Favor, and has helmed episodes of The Office, Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, and Arrested Development. He's a delight and the fun you feel watching is 100% the fun we had IRL. We dig into his...
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Barbara Muschietti on 10 Years of Horror, TV Kicking Her Ass & What Actually Terrifies Her
Angle on Producers with Carolina Groppa
Barbara Muschietti is the phenomenal producer behind IT Chapter One & Two (combined $1.17B worldwide), The Flash, and the new Max series IT: Welcome to Derry. We actually met 5 years ago during my early podcast grind when I cold-emailed Barbara inviting her on the show. She said yes! She invited me to the Warner Brothers lot, to her office, and generously gave me almost 3 hours of her time. It was a real turning point for me and the show. The world, and certainly Hollywood, has changed tremendously since then. Full disclosure: we recorded this mere days before the audacious news that...
info_outline*Today's episode is brought to you by InkTip, a trusted cornerstone of the independent film industry, connecting talented filmmakers with visionary screenwriters. Head to InkTip.com to learn more.*
What does it take to transition from behind the camera to the director's chair? In this inspiring conversation, Jihane Mrad Balaa shares her remarkable 20-year journey from Lebanese immigrant to working on major shows like American Horror Story, 9-1-1, and Bumblebee—before finally making the leap to directing her own feature film.
Jihane opens up about:
✨ Why being "normal and pleasant" is her secret to success in Hollywood
🎬 How she found her feature film script on InkTip
💪 The harsh realities of producing your first independent film
🎥 Shooting a murder mystery feature in 10 days
👥 What she learned observing 50+ directors—both good and bad
🚀 How diversity hiring became her "foot in the door" and why she embraced it
This conversation is packed with honest, tactical advice for anyone looking to transition between departments or produce their first project. Whether you're a camera operator dreaming of directing, a PA trying to move up, or a filmmaker seeking financing, Jihane's story proves that with persistence, positivity, and the right partnerships, anything is possible.
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cg
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