{"id":1914,"date":"2026-06-11T16:40:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:40:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1914"},"modified":"2026-06-11T16:40:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T16:40:40","slug":"alliance-of-women-directors-and-starz-reveal-creative-leadership-labs-inaugural-class-designed-to-support-female-tv-directors-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1914","title":{"rendered":"Alliance of Women Directors and Starz Reveal Creative Leadership Lab\u2019s Inaugural Class Designed to Support Female TV Directors (EXCLUSIVE)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nStarz #TakeTheLead and Alliance of Women Directors have announced the fellows for the inaugural class of The Creative Leadership Lab, a four-week program designed to support women and gender-expansive directors during the early stages of their careers.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s fellows are Josie Andrews, Tiffany Frances, Cris Gris, Christina YR Lim, Alejandra L\u00f3pez and Tessa Slovis, all of whom are members of AWD and were chosen through an independent evaluation process.<\/p>\n

Each of the members has experience either directing episodic television or shadowing episodic directors on set. Additionally, they were also recognized for their strong creative vision and readiness for leadership roles. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Creative Leadership Lab is built on Starz and AWD\u2019s pre-existing partnership and aims to prepare participating directors with \u201cthe leadership, communication and professional skills necessary for sustainable television careers,\u201d providing them with high-touch mentorship and leadership development. \u00a0
Andrews is a director, producer, and writer whose narrative shorts have played at Academy Awards and BAFTA qualifying festivals. Her debut documentary, \u201cWaiting in the Wings\u201d is available on PBS and she recently wrapped production on her feature debut \u201cBach Sh*t Crazy.\u201d She participated in the Sundance\/WIF finance intensive, AWD\u2019s Rising Director Fellowship, and serves as an Adjunct professor at USC\u2019s School of Cinematic Arts.<\/p>\n

Gris is a Mexican filmmaker whose work has screened internationally at major festivals, including La Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival and Berlinale International Film Festival. Her short film, \u201cSan Miguel,\u201d received the Spike Lee Film Production Fund and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Fellows Fund, while her short, \u201cAlma y Paz,\u201d won the Special Jury Award at the Morelia International Film Festival. Gris is a Film Independent Project Involve Fellow and a Sundance Institute Screenwriter and Director Lab Fellow. In television, she has directed for multiple platforms in Mexico, including HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix.<\/p>\n

Frances is a Taiwanese American writer and director whose work includes an episode of \u201cKung Fu\u201d for The CW and the sci-fi short film \u201cAnother Day,\u201d which premiered at the Elle Women in Hollywood event and is currently being developed as a feature. Her award-winning AFI DWW+ short \u201cHello From Taiwan\u201d \u00a0played at more than 30 festivals worldwide and screened at MoMA\u2019s FOFIF series. Frances has directed work for brands including Levi\u2019s, Always, Xbox, McDonald\u2019s, Lancome, Vogue, and more.<\/p>\n

Lim is a Korean-American writer\/director who tells \u201cfish-out-of-water, genre-bending stories, often centering an overachieving AAPI woman.\u201d She is an alumnus of The Black List x WIF Feature Residency, Djerrassi Artist Residency, Cine Qua Non, EAVE, and Wscripted\u2019s Cannes Screenplay List. Christina\u2019s debut feature, \u201cB-side: For Taylor,\u201d was released in 2024 through Buffalo 8 and EST Studios. Her second feature, \u201cWolfie,\u201d is being produced by Objectively Good Media and is slated to film \u00a0in 2027. Lim recently received the Seriesfest x Shondaland Directing Mentorship and the Yaddo Artist Residency.<\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez is a Puerto Rican writer and director who became the first Latina to direct for Marvel Entertainment and has also directed Bad Bunny for W Magazine. Her short film \u201cThe Blue Cape,\u201d has screened at multiple Academy Award-qualifying film festivals. Most recently, L\u00f3pez \u00a0shadowed Lesli Linka Glatter on \u201cImperfect Women\u201d and served as an Observing Director on \u201c9-1-1.\u201d L\u00f3pez \u00a0is currently in pre-production for two proof-of-concept films, financed by Dirty Films, Cate Blanchett\u2019s production company, with Netflix and Top Dawg Entertainment Films.<\/p>\n

Slovis is a queer Argentinian-American\/Jewish filmmaker whose directorial debut, \u201cPizza Party,\u201d screened at more than 20 Academy Award-qualifying and international festivals. Her subsequent films, including \u201cFalsies\u201d and the romantic comedy \u201cAisles,\u201d have continued to screen at festivals nationwide, while she is currently attached to direct the feature comedy \u201cFalse Profits\u201d and the revenge western short \u201cHunger Pains.\u201d Slovis has also directed acclaimed stage productions and taught at the University of Southern California, where she co-founded the USC MFA Film initiative to support emerging actors and filmmakers through the production company Dramatic Narrative Design.<\/p>\n

Read more Dwayne Johnson Reveals Cancer Scare on Day of \u2018Jumanji\u2019 Press, Admits He Wanted an Oscar Nom and Explains Why \u2018I\u2019m Keeping My Politics to Myself\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

\nVariety<\/em> is the official media partner for Back to Set: Working Director Intensive hosted by Alliance of Women Directors\u00a0this weekend.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018Things We Never Got Over\u2019 TV Series Gets Amazon Greenlight, Eric Charmelo and Nicole Snyder to Showrun<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Starz and Alliance of Women Directors have announced the inaugural class of The Creative Leadership Lab, designed to support women in TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[1646,1647,1131],"class_list":["post-1914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-alliance-of-women-directors","tag-creative-leadership-lab","tag-starz"],"yoast_head":"\nAlliance of Women Directors and Starz Reveal Creative Leadership Lab\u2019s Inaugural Class Designed to Support Female TV Directors (EXCLUSIVE) - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=1914\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alliance of Women Directors and Starz Reveal Creative Leadership Lab\u2019s Inaugural Class Designed to Support Female TV Directors (EXCLUSIVE) - 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