Send us a text

Act One Podcast - Episode 45 - Interview with Screenwriters Jacob Roman and Kenny Ryan of the new film, ELEVATION.

After meeting in college, KENNY RYAN and JACOB ROMAN teamed up to sell their first script, DAVID VS GOLIATH (a 300-style take on the Biblical epic) to Sony Pictures. Since then they’ve sold multiple feature projects around town, most recently ELEVATION, which they wrote and co-produced with Brad Fuller and John Glenn. Starring Anthony Mackie & Morena Baccarin and directed by George Nolfi, the film will be released theatrically by Vertical on November 8th.

Their latest feature is SLEEPING BEAUTY, a high-concept action thriller they’re producing alongside Scott Free, with Madelaine Petsch attached in the lead role.

On the TV side, they spent three seasons as writer/producers on the CBS network primetime hit SEAL TEAM starring David Boreanaz and Max Thieriot. They’re currently Co-Executive Producers on the Lionsgate/MGM+ show ROBIN HOOD, premiering fall 2025.

Kenny and Jacob have developed a reputation as hyper-collaborative and highly generative writers, with an ability to breathe emotional life into conceptually muscular stories that appeal to a broad audience.

The Act One Podcast provides insight and inspiration on the business and craft of Hollywood from a Christian perspective.

Support the show

Send us a text

Act One Podcast - Episode 44 - Interview with Director and Screenwriter, Christine Swanson.

Christine Swanson is the writer/director of the new film, ALBANY ROAD, starring Renée Elise Goldsberry and Lynn Whitfield. The film is about a New York executive who is forced to share a rental car with her ex-fiancé's mother, only to discover that the mother is hiding a major secret. The film is being released in theaters on November 15th.

A visionary storyteller from Detroit, multiple award-winning director Christine Swanson earned her MFA in Film from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, one of the nation’s top-ranked graduate film programs. Recognized early as a talented filmmaker, Christine was selected by NYU faculty as the Willard T.C. Johnson Fellow, the most prestigious fellowship given to the student who has achieved high standards in his or her work. CNN identified Christine as one of the most promising filmmakers to emerge from NYU’s graduate film program since Martin Scorsese, Ang Lee, Oliver Stone and Spike Lee (Christine’s NYU directing teacher). Christine earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Notre Dame, double majoring in Film Theory and Japanese. She was chosen by the Notre Dame Alumni Association as The Rev. Arthur S. Harvey Award recipient, acknowledging her achievements in the arts.

Christine has developed, written and/or directed entertainment projects for HBO Films, Lionsgate, Universal Television, Warner Bros. Television, CBS Television Studios, TV One, A&E Networks, BET Films, Starz and Faith Filmworks. Christine’s movie directing credits include the network and cable television records breaking The Clark Sisters: The First Ladies of Gospel, starring Academy Award nominee Aunjanue Ellis. The film won “Best TV Movie” from the African American Film Critics Association and the Satellite TV Award for “Best Television Movie.” The film was nominated for five NAACP Image Awards including “Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture” for Christine and a Critics’ Choice Awards Nomination for “Best Television Movie.” Christine also directed Aunjanue Ellis in their powerful short film, Fannie, about the ground-breaking testimony of human, voting and civil rights icon, Fannie Lou Hamer, in front of the Democratic National Convention’s Credentials Committee in 1964. Fannie earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for “Outstanding Short Form Film" and won two awards at the Bronzelens Film Festival (best acting and best short).

Christine has also directed All About You, All About Us, To Hell and Back, Love Under New Management: The Miki Howard Story (which broke network ratings as the most watched original movie in the network’s history) and For the Love of Ruth, for which Christine earned an NAACP Image Award nomination for “Outstanding Directing in a Television Motion Picture.” In addition to writing the above movies, Christine was a screenwriter for Woman Thou Art Loosed. Christine recently completed her award- winning feature film, Albany Road which stars Hamilton star Renee Elise Goldsberry and the legendary Lynn Whitfield.

Some of Christine’s television directing credits include episodes of Chicago P.D., P- Valley, FBI, All American, All American: Homecoming, Found, MacGyver, Sweet Magnolias, Bel-Air, BMF and Roswell, New Mexico. Her memorable episode of Chicago P.D., entitled “Black and Blue,” was rated “Best Episode” of Season 6 by Fansided.

The Act One Podcast provides insight and inspiration on the business and craft of Hollywood from a Christian perspective.

Support the show

Send us a text

Act One Podcast - Episode 43 - Interview with Screenwriter Andrea Nasfell and Producer Brady Nasfell of the new film, MR. MANHATTAN.

Brady Nasfell has produced feature films and television for Netflix, Sony, Lionsgate, Fox Sports, NBC, VH1, Discovery Networks and independent distributors. Recent films include MR. MANHATTAN (starring Alexa and Carlos PenaVega), FOURTH OF JULY (starring Joe List) and STRONG FATHERS, STRONG DAUGHTERS (starring Bart Johnson and Robyn Lively). Brady produced the Grammy Award-winning comedy special SINCERELY LOUIS C.K., as well as KEVIN JAMES: IRREGARDLESS (Spring 2024). Other specials include JOE ROGAN: STRANGE TIMES, TOM SEGURA: BALL HOG, and CHRIS D’ELIA: NO PAIN. His documentary work includes THE LAST DISPATCH, OVERCOMER WITH JUSTIN WREN, UFC ROAD TO THE OCTAGON, UFC ULTIMATE INSIDER, and the UFC EMBEDDED web series, which won the Best MMA Programming award in 2016.

Andrea Nasfell is a feature writer with over a dozen produced credits, including the television Christmas movies EVERY OTHER HOLIDAY (Lifetime) and HOLIDAY FOR HEROES (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries). She’s also the writer of theatrical comedies THE RESURRECTION OF GAVIN STONE (Blumhouse) and MOMS' NIGHT OUT (Sony Affirm), which won a Dove award for Inspirational Film of the Year. Andrea is a member of the WGA and teaches screenwriting at USC and Asbury University. She earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Spalding University.

The Act One Podcast provides insight and inspiration on the business and craft of Hollywood from a Christian perspective.

Support the show