Making Media Now

This episode is the second of two conversations where host Michael Azevedo speaks with the visionaries behind the venerable science documentary series NOVA.   Michael's first conversation was with NOVA series creator Michael Ambrosino and on this episode Michael speaks with Paula Apsell, who served as NOVA executive producer for 33 years, retiring in 2019 when she was named Senior Executive Producer Emerita.   Paula Apsell began her broadcasting career right out of college at Boston's WGBH public television station when she was hired to type and distribute the stations daily program logs. Within a year she was hired at WGBH radio where she developed the award-winning children's series "The Spiders Web.”   In 1975, Apsell switched over to WGBH-TV as a production assistant for NOVA's second season. One of Apsell's first productions was NOVA "Death of a Disease" which was the first long-form documentary on the eradication of smallpox. In the late 1970s Apsell was producing documentaries on artificial intelligence and genetic engineering; topics that rarely existed in the mainstream prior to the 21st century.   Apsell was asked to take over the top post at NOVA in 1985 where she remained for the three-and-a-half decades.    Among her most notable NOVA films are "The Miracle of Life" sequel "Life's Greatest Miracle," "The Fabric of the Cosmos" with Brian Greene, and "Making North America" with Dr. Kirk Johnson. Other of Apsell's acclaimed productions are the large-screen IMAX films "Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure" and "Special Effects" which was nominated for an Academy Award®.   In addition to overseeing the NOVA franchise, Apsell taught science communication at the University of California Santa Barbara.   In October 2018, Paula Apsell received the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award from the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. She was the first science journalist to receive this award.   Following her departure from NOVA, Apsell became CEO of Leading Edge Productions and started producing The Resistance Project, a documentary about Jewish resistance to the Holocaust.   Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

This episode is the first of two conversations paying tribute to the legendary science series NOVA, the longest running documentary series on television.    As NOVA approaches its 50th season on PBS, host Michael Azevedo spoke with Michael Ambrosino, the series creator, and with Paula Apsell, who served as the series’ Executive Producer for more than 3 decades.   First up is the conversation with Michael Ambrosino.    In 1971 television producer Michael Ambrosino was in London taking part in a year-long fellowship program with the BBC and happened to see some episodes of a science-based British TV show. Ambrosino worked at Boston’s legendary public television station WGBH, and he’d been there since 1956 -just a year after it went on the air.   In 1970 the station had become part of the brand-new, government-backed Public Broadcasting Service aka PBS, with new funding that allowed WGBH to begin thinking bigger.    That’s why Ambrosino was in London: While there he observed the making of several episodes of Horizon, an educational science-based series that, to the surprise of BBC officials, was actually pretty popular with viewers.   Ambrosino felt there was a disappointing lack of educational science programming in the U.S., and seeing the success of Horizon spurred him to do something about it.    In May 1971, shortly before returning home to Boston, Ambrosino wrote a five-page letter to Michael Rice, then vice president of WGBH, outlining in detail a science show for PBS. His idea: to air a series of shows on a wide variety of science-based subjects.    That letter has essentially remained the blueprint for NOVA ever since.   On March 4, 1974, NOVA made its debut with the tagline “Science adventures for curious grownups.”    Michael Ambrosino, now 92 years old, spoke to Making Media Now from his home in Florida.   Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

On this episode, we delve into the oldest forms of so-called media known to man: storytelling and writing as host Michael Azevedo welcomes first-time guest and award-winning actor and audiobook narrator Eduardo Ballerini and welcomes back best-selling author Jane Healey. Edoardo Ballerini is a two-time winner (and five time nominee) of the Best Male Narrator "Audie" Award from the Audio Publishers Association, the industry's highest prize. In a 2020 profile, The New York Times called Edoardo “a master in his field… at the forefront of a new kind of celebrity.”  In 2019, Edoardo was named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile Magazine, an honorific bestowed to only 40 narrators in the magazine’s 22 year history. Jane Healey is the author of The Beantown Girls, a Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestseller, The Secret Stealers, which was an Amazon First Reads Editor’s Pick and a Historical Novel Society’s Editors’ Choice, and her debut, The Saturday Evening Girls Club.  Jane joined us to talk about Goodnight from Paris, her newly released novel from Lake Union Publishing. Jane is also the host of Historical Happy Hour, a monthly webinar and podcast featuring interviews with premier historical fiction authors and their latest novels. Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode of Making Media Now is Donna Loughlin. Donna is  the Founder of the public relations firm, LMGPR, and is known for her work with futurists and innovators. She has launched more than 500 companies taking them from stealth to market leaders since forming her agency in 2002.   She is also the host of "Before It Happened," a leading narrative podcast featuring visionaries and the moments, events, and realizations that inspired them to change our lives for the better. Donna and I talk about her roots in journalism and how knowing how to research thoroughly and ask questions intelligently played a huge role in creating a successful PR firm, we also discussed the difference between PR and advertising and what draws her to tell the stories of what she calls "acorns." Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Sara Terry, director of a documentary called "A Decent Home," which addresses urgent issues of class and economic inequity through the lives of mobile home park residents who can’t afford housing anywhere else.   The film asks, "Who are we becoming as Americans?" — as private equity firms and wealthy investors buy up parks, making sky-high returns on their investments while squeezing every last penny out of the mobile home owners who lack rights and protections under local and state laws, and must pay rent for the land they live on.   "A Decent Home" will be broadcast starting 3/16/23 on PBS as part of the "America Reframed" series.   Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

Host Michael Azevedo welcomes back director Josh Seftel. Josh and his team at Smarty Pants films have received an Oscar nomination in the category of best documentary short for their film "Stranger at the Gate," (for which Filmmakers Collaborative was the fiscal sponsor) a riveting story of redemption about Richard “Mac” McKinney, a former U.S. Marine, suffering from PTSD, who had fought in Afghanistan after 9/11. Following his discharge from the military, McKinney returned home to Muncie, IN where he began to construct a plot to blow up the local mosque. "Stranger at the Gate" tells the remarkable story of what happened when McKinney set out to put his plan into motion. Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.mrazvo.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Molly Beck the founder and CEO of Messy. fm, whose business software empowers organizations to create podcasts in minutes. Leaders and teams from top enterprise, government, and university sectors, plus thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs, trust Messy.fm to power their podcasting content.    Molly Beck was recently profiled by Forbes magazine and I reached out to her to ask if she’d share her thoughts with me on the current podcasting landscape and what she sees in podcasting’s immediate future.    Molly is also the author of Reach Out (McGraw-Hill), a member of the National Small Business Association’s Leadership Council, and a 2022 Tory Burch Fellow.   And as an added bonus to this episode, we check in with friend-of-the podcast and friend of FC, Roberto Mighty. Season two of Roberto’s public television series, "World’s Greatest Cemeteries" premieres on February 19.    Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.mrazvo.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

Host Michael Azevedo is joined by director Sky Bergman to talk about her film, "Lives Well Lived."    “Be endlessly engaged in whatever your passion is.” “Work a little less, spend a little less, enjoy life a little more.” “Sit loosely in the saddle of life as you go down the long trail.” These are among the many words of advice imparted by the 40 interview subjects in Sky Bergman’s documentary examining the lives of people ages 75 to 100. Sky Bergman was inspired to make the film by her grandmother Evelyn, whom she started filming at age 99. Evelyn lived to be 103, long enough to see herself projected on the big screen at a film festival just three weeks before she passed away. Evelyn and the documentary’s 39 other subjects, represent some 3,000 years of collective life experience.   Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.mrazvo.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

On this episode of Making Media Now, we are proud to introduce to the world a new filmmaking and multi-platform initiative for which Filmmakers Collaborative is the fiscal sponsor. The initiative is called Brainstorm The Film and host Michael Azevedo is joined by Bonnie Waltch and Sara Schley, the producing team behind this comprehensive and far-reaching project.    Currently in the development phase, Brainstorm The Film is an unprecedented initiative that combines inspiring stories of people with lived experience of being on the bipolar spectrum, cutting-edge science, and breakthrough treatments in one coherent narrative. To learn more: https://brainstormthefilm.com/   On Wednesday, Feb 8, 2023—from 8 to 9pm ET—Filmmakers Collaborative will be hosting a FREE Zoom event featuring members of the producing team along with key advisors and participants. This event will serve as a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the goals of the film and its outreach efforts, while also giving attendees an opportunity to pose questions about the project and about life on the bipolar spectrum. And, as importantly, the event will serve an invitation to attendees contribute what they can to ensure the project’s success. For more information about the Feb 8 Zoom event, please visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/meet-the-team-brainstorm-the-film-tickets-523070968347?fbclid=IwAR1aa8PM7IXedyPXtaGUIM3fACezRAp0m6c3Zx8s5vp2_ry9xbTNpPCCBhs   Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.mrazvo.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead 

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Lise Pearlman, producer of the 2023 Oscar short-listed documentary: American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton which tells the story of the death penalty case that put racism on trial in a U.S. courtroom in the fall of 1968. Huey P. Newton, Black Panther Party co-founder, was accused of killing a white policeman and wounding another after a pre-dawn car stop in Oakland.   At his trial, Newton and his maverick defense team led by Charles Garry and his then rare female co-counsel Fay Stender, defended the Panthers as a response to 400 years of racism and accused the policemen of racial profiling, insisting Newton had only acted in self-defense. Their unprecedented challenges to structural racism in the jury selection process were revolutionary and risky.   A retired judge, Lise Pearlman wrote three prize-winning books related to the documentary: The Sky’s The Limit: People v. Newton; the 2016 companion book for the film that incorporates the perspectives of key film interviewees, American Justice on Trial: People v. Newton; and a 2018 biography of Newton’s pioneering woman lawyer, Call Me Phaedra: The Life and Times of Movement Lawyer Fay Stender. LISA is also the President of Arc of Justice Productions, Inc., the nonprofit that initiated this film project.   The final list of 2023 Oscar nominated documentaries will be announced on January 24.   Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, FC supports creatives at every step in their journey.   About the host: www.mrazvo.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/ Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead