Are you interested in producing your own projects? Hear from a group of seasoned actors and producers in this live, virtual program about how their experiences in the creative and business sides of the industry shape each other. How does acting as a craft inform and support producing, and vice versa? 

Featuring actors and producers Thad Luckinbill ('Devotion'), Trace Lysette ('Monica'), Reid Scott ('Who Invited Charlie?'), Max Thieriot ('Fire Country'), and Ashley Williams ('Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday'). Moderated by Perri Nemiroff, senior producer at Collider. 

Member participation is encouraged! Feel free to submit questions for the panelists in advance here.

PANELIST BIOS:

Thad Luckinbill (Producer) partnered with Molly Smith and Trent Luckinbill in 2013 to form the finance/production company Black Label Media to finance and produce quality commercial content.

Black Label Media credits include three-time Academy Award-nominated “Sicario” (directed by Denis Villeneuve, starring Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, and Josh Brolin), “Sicario 2: Day of the Soldado” (directed by Stefano Sollima, starring Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin), “12 Strong” (directed by Nicolai Fuglsig, starring Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon and Michael Peña), “Only the Brave” (directed by Joseph Kosinski, starring Josh Brolin and Miles Teller), “Demolition” (directed by Jean Marc Vallée, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Naomi Watts), “71” (directed by Yann Demange, starring Jack O’Connell), “The Good Lie” (directed by Philippe Falardeau, starring Reese Witherspoon), “Rebel in the Rye” (directed by Danny Strong, starring Nicholas Hoult), “Sierra Burgess is a Loser” (directed by Ian Samuels, starring Shannon Purser and Noah Centineo) and “Broken Diamonds” (directed by Peter Sattler starring Ben Platt and Lola Kirke). Black Label also acquired an interest in “Begin Again” (written/directed by John Carney, starring Kiera Knightley and Mark Ruffalo) and co-financed and Executive Produced the Academy Award-winning “La La Land” with Lionsgate. Most recent credits include J.D. Dillard’s “Devotion” starring Glen Powell and Jonathan Majors and Kasi Lemmons’ “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” starring Naomi Ackie and Stanley Tucci. Next on the Black Label slate is Grant Singer’s “Reptile” starring Benicio Del Toro and Justin Timberlake.

On the other side of the camera, Thad has appeared on both the large and small screen for over a decade. Thad’s previous film credits include Warner Brothers’ “12 Strong,” Sony’s “Only the Brave,” Shawn Levy’s “Just Married,” and “Sleepover.” Television credits include “Nikita,” HBO’s “Ballers,” “8 Simple Rules…for Dating My Teenage Daughter,” “CSI: NY,” and “Without a Trace.” He was cast on the ABC pilot “Broken,” which was executive produced by Reese Witherspoon. He has also guest starred on many shows including “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Nip/Tuck,” “Criminal Minds,” “Major Crimes,” “Rizzoli & Isles,” “Law and Order,” “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” “CSI: Miami,” and “Ghost Whisperer.”

Trace Lysette is an actress and producer best known for her recurring role as Shea in all 5 seasons of Amazon's critically acclaimed series 'Transparent' and for playing Tracey in the film 'Hustlers' alongside Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B and Constance Wu.

She recently starred as the leading role in 'Monica', Andrea Pallaoro's latest film. 'Monica' premiered in competition at the Venice Film Festival and Trace broke ground as receiving one of the longest standing ovations of any film or actor in the festival history.

Lysette has also guest starred in other productions such as the drama series 'Midnight Texas' based on the trilogy of the same name by U.S. writer Charlaine Harris, the choral series 'Pose', Derek Waters' sketch comedy 'Drunk History' and she also took part in Tarell Alvin McCraney's coming-of-age drama series 'David Makes Man.'

Reid Scott was recently seen on Amazon’s 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' in Season 4 as “Gordon Ford” and will be returning in a major role for the 5th and final season. He starred in the Emmy-winning comedy series 'Veep' in the critically acclaimed role of “Dan Egan” for seven seasons on HBO.  Reid just wrapped production on the Amazon film 'Idea of You', starring opposite Anne Hathaway and directed by Michael Showalter.  Reid stars in and executive produced the pandemic comedy 'Who Invited Charlie', released February 3, 2023, opposite Adam Palley and Jordana Brewster.  Reid also stars in the highly anticipated comedy ensemble 'Wildflower,' releasing March 17, 2023.  Both films recently made their festival debuts.  Other recent work includes a multi-episode arc on the Apple TV+ series 'The Afterparty' from Phil Lord & Chris Miller, and was seen opposite Larry David on the 11th season of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm', and on the Shudder/AMC+ series 'Creepshow'.   

On the big screen, Reid can be seen in Columbia’s blockbuster hit 'Venom', starring Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams and directed by Ruben Fleischer, and seen in the sequel 'Venom: Let There Be Carnage'. He also appeared in the Summer 2019 hit 'Late Night', starring opposite Emma Thompson and Mindy Kaling, and directed by Nisha Ganatra. The film premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival and was quickly acquired by Amazon Films.  Reid was also seen opposite Naomie Harris in 'Black and Blue' for Screen Gems.  

Other film credits include Hallie Meyers-Shyer’s 'Home Again' opposite Reese Witherspoon and Michael Sheen, 'The Veil', starring opposite Thomas Jane, Lily Rabe, & Jessica Alba, the independent 'I'll See You in My Dreams' opposite Blythe Danner & Sam Elliot, and the ensemble comedy 'Slow Learners' alongside Adam Pally, Cecily Strong and Bobby Moynihan. Reid can also be seen in Chris Lowell's independent film 'Beside Still Water', which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival.  His previous television credits include the award-winning Showtime series 'The Big C' where he portrayed the memorable oncologist "Dr. Todd Mauer” to Laura Linney's "Cathy Jamison,” and the TBS series 'My Boys'.

Writer, actor, and producer Max Thieriot can currently be seen in CBS’ number one new drama 'Fire Country', which he co-wrote and produces with Jerry Bruckheimer Television. The show, which premiere in October 2022, has been renewed for a second season and has already joined CBS’ 10 million-plus viewers club and is a top 10 series on Paramount + for its freshman season. The story of 'Fire Country' was inspired by Thieriot’s Northern California roots.

Thieriot was most recently seen in the hit military drama series 'Seal Team', for Paramount + playing fan favorite Clay Spenser for six seasons opposite David Boreanaz. Other television credits include the History Channel’s mini-series 'Texas Rangers' opposite Bill Paxton. The event series was produced by Think Factory and Leslie Greif--the team behind Emmy winner 'Hatfields & McCoys'. Thieriot made his television debut Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore)'s brother, Dylan Massett, on the A&E show 'Bates Motel', which began its run in 2013.

Thieriot’s film credits include 'The Pacifier', opposite Vin Diesel, and Warner Bros.’ 'The Astronaut Farmer'.  In the summer of 2007, he co-starred opposite Emma Roberts in 'Nancy Drew', as Nancy's friend Ned Nickerson, and in 2008 played the younger version of Hayden Christensen's lead in 'Jumper', as well as a 1930s hobo, Will Shepherd, in 'Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.' Other credits include 'Chloe', opposite Julianne Moore, the lead role in Wes Craven’s horror thriller, 'My Soul to Take' and starred opposite Jennifer Lawrence in 'House at the End of the Street'.

In addition to his acting and filmmaking pursuits, Thieriot along with two of his childhood friends partnered with critically acclaimed winemaker, Thomas Rivers Brown to produce world-class wines from renowned vineyards and in 2011 created Senses Wine. Since its founding, Senses Wines production has grown to include many coveted vineyard sites throughout northern California, located in the West Sonoma Coast and Russian River Valley region of Sonoma County, specifically just outside the town of Occidental where Thieriot grew up.

Ashley Williams is a versatile actress in film, television and theatre. She has amassed a long list of credits including 200+ episodes of television, a dozen pilots and numerous feature films but 'Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday' and its companion movie 'Sister Swap: Christmas in the City' mark the first time Williams acted with her real-life sister, Kimberly Williams-Paisley. In addition to their on-screen roles the pair also served as executive producers on the two interconnected movies.

Williams was recently seen in 'Amber Brown,' a new series for Apple TV+ for writer/director Bonnie Hunt. Previously, she starred in 'The Jim Gaffigan Show' on Comedy Central, appeared alongside Jessica Chastain and Oscar Issac in the critically lauded A24 film ‘A Most Violent Year’ and starred in ‘Something Borrowed’ with Kate Hudson and John Krasinski for Warner Bros. Other credits include J.C. Chandor’s Oscar-nominated ‘Margin Call’ and ‘Sequin Raze,’ a short film by Sarah Shapiro that won South by Southwest and became the series 'UnREAL.' In recent years, Williams began producing movies for Hallmark Channel, debuting with ‘Love on a Limb,’ in which she also starred and aired as part of the network’s ‘Fall Harvest’ programming event to record-breaking ratings. In addition to ongoing behind-the-camera work developing projects both to act in and to direct, Williams starred in the Hallmark Channel original movies 'October Kiss,' 'Christmas in Evergreen,' 'Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa,' 'Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing,' 'Never Kiss a Man in a Christmas Sweater,” 'Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday,' 'Sister Swap: Christmas in the City' and, most recently, 'Two Tickets to Paradise.' For Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, she has starred in 'Northern Lights of Christmas,' 'Holiday Hearts' and last year’s 'Five More Minutes: Moments Like These.' Williams directed, wrote, produced and starred in 'Meats,' a short film that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Creative Coalition Spotlight Award and will be seen on Showtime as part of an upcoming series of short films. Shot by Roman Vasyanov ('Suicide Squad,' 'Fury'), it has played 30+ film festivals around the world. She also wrote and stars in the short film 'Stud Boob' which is in on the festival circuit with director Shaina Feinberg. She’s shadowing major television directors and developing a limited series with director Pamela Fryman based on a memoir called 'Killing It.' She made her feature-length directorial debut with “Circle of Deception for Lifetime this past year, and she is set to direct again soon for both Apple and Hallmark.

As a teenager Williams played Meg Ryan’s daughter, Dani Andropoulos, on the long-running daytime drama 'As the World Turns.' She starred alongside Mark Feuerstein in the NBC television series 'Good Morning Miami' and in Lifetime’s 'Montana Sky' with John Corbett. Williams also had a longtime recurring role on CBS’ 'How I Met Your Mother' as Victoria, “the baker that got away.” Other credits include recurring roles on the Holly Hunter TNT series 'Saving Grace,' SyFy’s 'Warehouse 13,' Lifetime’s 'Side Order of Life,' Showtime’s 'Huff' and CBS’ 'E-Ring,' as well as roles on 'The Good Doctor,' 'FBI,' 'The New Adventures of Old Christine,' 'CSI,' 'Monk,' 'The Mentalist,' 'The Good Wife,' 'Psych,' 'Law & Order: SVU' and HBO’s 'Girls,' to name a few.

Born in Westchester, New York, Williams studied at Boston University and RADA in London. She was a member of the acting company at the Williamstown Theatre Festival. Her first job out of drama school was understudying both Rachel Weisz and Gretchen Mol in the Off-Broadway play 'The Shape of Things,' written and directed by Neil LaBute. During the run, Williams performed both roles opposite Paul Rudd. She starred with Wendie Malick in Off- Broadway’s Burleigh Grimes and starred on Broadway with Tom Skeritt in 'A Time to Kill,' based on John Grisham’s novel.

With a natural skill for writing, Williams penned several personal essays about her miscarriage and her mother’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease for People and Medium. Williams is also a birth doula, offering support to mothers during childbirth. She splits her time between Los Angeles and New York with her husband, producer Neal Dodson, and their two young sons.