The Assistant Directors and Unit Production Managers of the projects nominated for the 72nd Annual DGA Awards were celebrated during the Western AD/UPM Council’s 17th Annual Meet the AD/UPMs event. Hosted by the Council’s Education Committee on January 18, DGA members gathered in the Guild’s Los Angeles Atrium to hear firsthand what went into the making of these notable productions for film and television.
The evening opened with a welcome from Meet the AD/UPMs Organizing Committee Co-Chair Redelia Shaw. Western AD/UPM Council Secretary-Treasurer Mark Hansson, who served as the Phone/Text Tree Coordinator, thanked all the volunteers whose work made the event possible. Then Organizing Committee Co-Chair Lucille OuYang turned the proceedings over to Western AD/UPM Council Chair/2020 Frank Capra Award Recipient Duncan S. Henderson, who served as the moderator of the event.
After a brief explanation of how the evening would proceed, Henderson introduced the panelists: UPM Georgia Kacandes, 1st AD William Paul Clark and 2nd AD Christopher T. Sadler from Director Quentin Tarantino’s Theatrical Feature Film Award-nominated production, Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood; 1st AD David Webb from Director Martin Scorsese’s Theatrical Feature Film Award-nominated production, The Irishman; 1st AD Keri Bruno from Director Nicole Kassell’s Dramatic Series Award-nominated Watchmen episode, “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice”; 1st AD Thomas Smith from Director Spike Jonze’s Commercial Award-nominated Squarespace spot, Dream It and Medmen ad, The New Normal; 1st AD Sean Vawter from Director Alma Har’el’s First-Time Feature Film Award-nominated film, Honey Boy; and 2nd AD Emily Hogan from Director David Mandel’s Comedy Series Award-nominated Veep episode, “Veep.” UPM Karen Wacker from both Director Nicole Kassell’s Dramatic Series Award-nominated Watchmen episode, “It’s Summer and We’re Running Out of Ice” and Director Stephen Williams’ Dramatic Series Award-nominated Watchmen episode, “This Extraordinary Being”, 1st AD Kayse Goodell from “This Extraordinary Being” and 1st AD Michael Lerman from Director Sam Mendes’ Theatrical Feature Film Award-nominated production, 1917, participated in the panel discussion via a video hookup.
Illustrated by clips from the nominated works, Henderson and the panelists covered subjects that included: what special skills they brought to their productions, working with their directors on getting desired shots and moments that stood out while working on the set. Then the evening concluded with closing comments by Organizing Committee Co-Chair Shaw.
About the Panelists:
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 1st AD Keri Bruno
In addition to her work on Watchmen, Bruno's AD credits also include features films such as Alan Taylor's Thor: The Dark World and Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups and The Thin Red Line; and episodes of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, The Last Ship and Westworld. She has been a DGA member since 2001.
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 1st AD William Paul Clark
In addition to his work on Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood, Clark has worked on over 70 sets in more than ten countries on productions including Barry Levinson's Rock the Kasbah, Sylvester Stallone's Rambo, Oren Moverman's Rampart and Terry Zwigoff's Ghost World. Clark joined the DGA in 2003.
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 1st AD Kayse Goodell
In addition to her work on Watchmen, Goodell’s 1st AD credits include episodes of The L Word: Generation Q, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World, Thirteen Reasons Why and American Crime; with 2nd AD credits on Richard Linklater’s DGA Award-nominated feature, Boyhood, and Mick Jackson’s DGA Award-winning movie for television, Temple Grandin. Goodell joined the DGA in 2008.
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 2nd AD Emily Hogan
In addition to her work on Veep, Hogan’s AD credits include episodes of The Office, Community, Superstore, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and the upcoming Space Force for Netflix and Mythic Quest for Apple TV. A former DGA trainee, Hogan joined the DGA in 2007.
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 UPM Georgia Kacandes
In addition to her work on Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood, Kacandes’ UPM credits include John Sayles’ Passion Fish; Martin Scorsese’s Casino, Hugo and The Wolf of Wall Street; Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight; Stephen Gaghan’s Syriana; Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker; Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin and Andrew Niccol’s Gattaca. She has been a DGA member since 1993.
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 1st AD Michael Lerman
In addition to his work on 1917, Lerman’s 1st AD credits include Sam Mendes’ Skyfall and Spectre; Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me; Zach Braff’s Garden State; Marc Forster’s Monster’s Ball, The Kite Runner and Quantum of Solace; Barry Sonnenfeld’s Men in Black 3; Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spiderman 2; Scott Derrickson’s Doctor Strange; Darren Aronofsky’s mother!; J.A. Bayona’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom; and Andy Muschietti’s It: Chapter 2. Lerman has been a DGA member since 2003.
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 2nd AD Christopher T. Sadler
In addition to his work on Once Upon A Time… in Hollywood, Sadler’s AD credits include Julius Onah’s The Cloverfield Paradox; Peter Berg’s Patriots Day; Gary Ross’ Free State of Jones; Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special; Seth MacFarlane’s Ted, Ted 2 and A Million Ways to Die in the West; and episodes of Mortal Kombat: Legacy. Sadler has been a DGA member since 2007.
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 1st AD Thomas Smith
In addition to his work on Spike Jonze’s nominated commercials for Squarespace and Medmen, Smith’s AD credits include 15 DGA Award-nominated feature films and commercial spots including Jonze’s DGA Award-winning Apple Homepod commercial, Welcome Home, and his feature Being John Malkovich; Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ feature Little Miss Sunshine; Lance Acord’s VW Passat commercial The Force; Spike Jonze’s Adidas commercial Hello Tomorrow, Gap commercial Pardon Our Dust and Miller Beer commercial Penguin; and Tom Kuntz’s Old Spice commercials Boat, Questions and So It Begins, as well as his DirecTV commercials Stray Animals, Roadside Ditch and Platoon. Smith joined the DGA in 1998.
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 1st AD Sean Vawter
In addition to his work on Honey Boy, Vawter’s AD credits include Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s The Friend, Drake Doremus’ Endings, Beginnings and commercials for Bud Light, Capital One, Coca-Cola, Comcast, Dell, Gillette, Google and MasterCard; and episodes of the Hulu show Pen15. Vawter joined the DGA in 2004.
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 UPM Karen Wacker
In addition to her work on Watchmen A, Wacker’s UPM credits include Richard Linklater’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette and episodes of The Leftovers and From Dusk Till Dawn. She has also worked as a Production Supervisor on series such as Friday Night Lights, Prime Suspect and The Path. Wacker has been a DGA member since 2013.
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 1st AD David Webb
In addition to his work on The Irishman, Webb’s AD credits include Ben Affleck’s DGA Award-winning feature Argo, and other DGA Award-nominated films including: George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild and Gus Van Sant’s Milk. He has also worked on acclaimed features including Kathryn Bigelow’s The Weight of Water, Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter, Martin Scorsese’s Silence and Todd Phillip’s Joker. Webb has been a DGA member since 2000.
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 UPM Duncan S. Henderson (moderator)
Henderson has had a prolific career as a UPM of such hit features as Peter Weir’s DGA Award-nominated Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and Dead Poets Society; Wolfgang Petersen’s The Perfect Storm and Outbreak; Chris Columbus’ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and Home Alone 2; Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion and Malcolm D. Lee’s upcoming Space Jam 2. Henderson first joined the Guild in 1980 after graduating from the DGA-Producer Assistant Directors Training Program. He has served ten terms on the Western AD/UPM Council and serves as the current Council Chair. He was also a DGA National Board Associate Member, having been first elected in 2005, and served seven consecutive terms. He is the 2020 Frank Capra Award Recipient.
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About the Organizing Committee:
This event was organized by the Western AD/UPM Council Education Committee and the Meet the AD/UPMs Organizing Committee which is co-chaired by Lucille OuYang and Redelia Shaw, with members Lisa Chu and Mark Hansson.