On February 3, the Assistant Directors and Unit Production Managers of the projects nominated for the 76th Annual DGA Awards were celebrated during the Western AD/UPM Council’s 21st Annual Meet the AD/UPMs event.

Hosted by the Council’s Education Committee and the Meet the AD/UPMs Organizing Committee, the online event gave DGA members the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of what went into the making of these notable productions for film and television from: UPM Thomas Hayslip and 1st AD Nilo Otero from Christopher Nolan’s Theatrical Feature Film Award-nominated production, Oppenheimer; UPM Kerry Johnson and 1st AD Ben Kahn from Celine Song’s Michael Apted First-Time Theatrical Feature Film Award-nominated production, Past Lives; UPM Drew Locke and 1st AD Richard Rosser from Davis Guggenheim’s Documentary Award-nominated production, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie; UPM Daniel Lupi and 2nd AD Jeremy Marks from Martin Scorsese’s Theatrical Feature Film Award-nominated production, Killers of the Flower Moon; UPM Michael Sharp from Greta Gerwig’s Theatrical Feature Film Award-nominated production, Barbie; UPMs Hilary Kehoe and Gabrielle Mahon from the Dramatic Series Award-nominated episodes of Succession, Becky Martin’s “Rehearsal,” Mark Mylod’s “Connor’s Wedding,” Andrij Parekh’s “America Decides” and  Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman’s “Tailgate Party”; UPM Carrie Holt de Lama from the Comedy Series Award nominated episodes of The Bear, Christopher Storer’s “Fishes” and Ramy Youssef’s “Honeydew”; 1st AD Anna Notarides from Nzingha Stewart’s Movies for Television & Limited Series Award-nominated episode of Daisy Jones & The Six, “Track 10: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide”; 1st AD David Webb from Kim Gehrig’s Commercials Award-nominated Expedia spot, The Travelers; and 2nd AD Deborah Chung from Millicent Shelton’s Lessons in Chemistry Movies for Television & Limited Series nominated episode “Poirot” and Sarah Adina Smith’s episode “Her and Him.”

The event opened with a welcome from Meet the AD/UPMs Organizing Committee Co-Chair Lucille OuYang, who turned the proceedings over to the moderator of the event, 2024 Frank Capra Award Recipient Janet Knutsen, then illustrated by clips from the productions, the panelists covered subjects that included: how they overcame challenges on their respective projects; their working relationships with their Directors, an overview oftheir individual strengths and how they was used on set, and offered advice to event attendees seeking to emulate their success such as how to find joy in the projects you’re working on and the importance of remembering that feature and television production is a team sport.

At the close of the event, Knutsen and Organizing Committee Co-Chair Redelia Shaw led a Q&A where all the panelists fielded questions submitted by the online audience.

21st Annual Meet the AD/UPMs of the DGA Award-Nominated Projects

About the Panelists:

2nd AD Deborah Chung  Lessons in Chemistry – episodes “Poirot” directed by Millicent Shelton and “Her and Him” directed by Sarah Adina Smith – (Movies for Television & Limited Series) In addition to her work on Lessons in Chemistry, Chung's assistant directing credits include features such as Dan Minahan’s On Swift Horses, BJ McDonnell’s Studio 666 and Quentin Tarantino's DGA Award-nominated Once Upon A Time In Hollywood; and episodes of From Scratch, Westworld, Teen Wolf, Little Fires Everywhere, Lodge 49, and Lucifer. Chung joined the DGA in 2009 and serves on the Sustainable Future and 2nd AD Committees.

UPM Thomas Hayslip  Oppenheimer – directed by Christopher Nolan – (Theatrical Feature Film) In addition to his work on Oppenheimer, Hayslip’s production management credits include features such as Michael Mann’s Ferrari, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation; as well as episodes of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and the DGA Award-nominated mini-series, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Hayslip joined the DGA in 2011.

UPM Carrie Holt de Lama The Bear – episodes “Fishes” directed by Christopher Storer and “Honeydew” directed by Ramy Youssef – (Comedy Series) In addition to her work on The Bear, de Lama’s production management credits include features such as Joe Maggio’s The Last Rites of Joe May, Richard Tanne's Southside with You, Carl Seaton’s Of Boys and Men and Minhal Baig’s We Grown Now; movies for television such as Chris Robinson's Beats and Geoffrey Madeja's The Secret Santa; and episodes of Work in Progress, Lovecraft Country, Tiny Pretty Things and Electric Dreams. De Lama joined the DGA in 2006 and has served as an alternate on the Chicago Coordinating Committee.

UPM Kerry Johnson Past Lives – directed by Celine Song – (Michael Apted First-Time Theatrical Feature Film) In addition to her work on Past Lives, Johnson’s production management credits include features such as William Oldroyd’s Eileen, Chase Palmer's Naked Singularity, Frank Coraci's Hot Air, Maryam Keshavarz's Viper Club and A.M. Lukas's Hollidaysburg; and episodes of The Calling. Johnson became a DGA member in 2021.

1st AD Ben Kahn Past Lives – directed by Celine Song – (Michael Apted First-Time Theatrical Feature Film) In addition to his work on Past Lives, Kahn's assistant directing credits include features such as David Hunt’s Unexpected, Charlie McDowell’s Windfall, Marc Meyers’s Human Capital and Alistair Banks Griffin’s The Wolf Hour; Dan Krauss’s documentary, The Anthrax Attacks; Doug Glover’s movie for television, Dead of Winter: The Donner Party; and episodes of Queer Eye, OMG! EMT! and Just Shut Up! Kahn joined the DGA in 2018.

UPM Hilary Kehoe Succession – episodes “Connor’s Wedding” directed by Mark Mylod, “America Decides” directed by Andrij Parekh and “Tailgate Party” directed by Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman – (Dramatic Series) In addition to her work on Succession, Kehoe’s production management credits include serving as a production supervisor on David Mackenzie’s feature, Asylum. Her resume as a production coordinator includes Barry Levinson’s DGA Award-nominated movie for television Paterno; and episodes of The Punisher, The Blacklist, The Michael J. Fox Show, Blue Bloods and Ugly Betty. Kehoe became a DGA member in 2022.

UPM Drew Locke Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie – directed by Davis Guggenheim – (Documentary) In addition to his work on Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Locke’s production management credits include features such as Bobby Farrelly’s Champions, Benjamin Cleary’s Swan Song, Charles Martin Smith’s A Dog’s Way Home, Rob Greenberg’s Overboard, Adam Wingard’s Death Note, Shawn Levy’s Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, Roland Emmerich’s White House Down and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s DGA Award-winning feature, The Revenant. Locke became a DGA member in 2021.

UPM Daniel Lupi Killers of the Flower Moon – directed by Martin Scorsese – (Theatrical Feature Film) In addition to his work on Killers of the Flower Moon, Lupi’s production management credits include DGA Award-nominated features such as Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story and Lincoln; and other acclaimed films such as Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love, Magnolia; Boogie Nights and Hard Eight; Spielberg’s Ready Player One, Bridge of Spies and Catch Me if You Can; and Spike Jonze’s Her. Lupi has been a DGA member since 1993.

UPM Gabrielle Mahon Succession – episodes “Connor’s Wedding” directed by Mark Mylod, “America Decides” directed by Andrij Parekh and “Tailgate Party” directed by Robert Pulcini & Shari Springer Berman – (Dramatic Series) In addition to her work on Succession, Mahon’s production management credits include features such as Peter Hedges’s Ben Is Back, Darren Aronofsky’s Noah, Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects, Henry Alex Rubin’s Disconnect and Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s DGA Award-winning Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as well as episodes of Mosaic, Homeland, Vinyl and The Knick. Mahon joined the DGA in 2011.

2nd AD Jeremy Marks Killers of the Flower Moon – directed by Martin Scorsese – (Theatrical Feature Film) In addition to his work on Killers of the Flower Moon, Marks’s assistant directing credits include DGA Award-nominated features such Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street and The Irishman and Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story; as well as other acclaimed films including Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, Todd Phillips’s Joker and Chad Stahelski’s John Wick 4. Marks joined the DGA in 2009 and serves on the Eastern AD/UPM Council.

1st AD Anna Notarides Daisy Jones & The Six – episode “Track 10: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide” – directed by Nzingha Stewart – (Movies for Television & Limited Series) In addition to her work on Daisy Jones & The Six, Notarides’s assistant directing credits includes features such as Nzingha Stewart’s Tall Girl; movies for television such as Kyra Sedgwick’s Girls Weekend, Michael Fresco’s Imperfect Union and Duwayne Dunham’s Tiger Cruise; and episodes of The Really Loud House, From Scratch, All Rise, Teenage Bounty Hunters, Grand Hotel, Major Crimes, Parks and Recreation, Suburgatory and The Closer. Notarides joined the DGA in 1997.

1st AD Nilo Otero Oppenheimer – directed by Christopher Nolan – (Theatrical Feature Film) In addition to his work on Oppenheimer, Otero’s assistant directing credits include Christopher Nolan’s DGA Award-nominated features Dunkirk, Inception and The Dark Knight, as well as Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar and Tenet. He also served as Assistant Director on Edward Zwick’s The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond; Shane Black’s The Nice Guys; Baltasar Kormákur’s Adrift, Ewan McGregor’s American Pastoral, Joel Schumacher’s Trespass, Jim Gillespie’s Venom, Randall Wallace’s We Were Soldiers, Jonathan Mostow’s Surrogates and Jason Reitman’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife. He has been a DGA member since 1985.

1st AD Richard Rosser Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie – directed by Davis Guggenheim – (Documentary) In addition to his work on Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, Rosser’s assistant directing credits include episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, MacGyver, This Is Us, Chicago Med, Grandfathered, State of Affairs, Kingdom, The Neighbors, Awake, The Defenders, Melrose Place, 24, Lizzie McGuire and The Adventures of Pete & Pete. He has been a DGA member since 1996.

UPM Michael Sharp Barbie – directed by Greta Gerwig – (Theatrical Feature Film) In addition to his work on Barbie, Sharp’s production management credits include features such as David Yates’s Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; as well as F. Gary Gray’s Men in Black: International, Joss Whedon’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Lana & Lilly Wachowski’s Jupiter Ascending. He also worked as the overseas Production Manager on Jonathan Liebesman’s Wrath of the Titans, Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, James Mangold’s Knight and Day, Louis Leterrier’s Clash of the Titans and Oliver Stone’s Alexander. Sharp joined the DGA in 2013.

1st AD David Webb The Travelers, Expedia – directed by Kim Gehrig – (Commercials) In addition to his work on The Travelers, Webb’s assistant directing credits include Ben Affleck’s DGA Award-winning feature Argo as well as Affleck’s Air and Live by Night; George Clooney’s DGA Award-nominated feature Good Night & Good Luck and Clooney’s Ides of March, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Tender Bar, The Monuments Men and Suburbicon; Martin Scorsese’s DGA Award-nominated feature The Irishman and Scorsese’s Silence; Gus Van Sant’s DGA Award-nominated feature Milk and Van Sant’s Finding Forrester and To Die For; Todd Phillips’s Joker, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods. Webb has been a DGA member since 2000.

UPM Janet Knutsen (moderator) A DGA member since 1981, Knutsen’s UPM credits include features such as Sam Taylor-Johnson’s A Million Little Pieces and Trish Sie’s Sitting in Bars with Cake; movies for television such as Joey Soloway’s Transparent Musicale Finale; and hundreds of episodes of series including Boston Legal and Rizzoli & Isles. Her Assistant Directing credits include features such as Bob Clark’s Rhinestone, Ron Howard’s Gung Ho and Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky IV as well as nearly 100 television episodes on series such as Sisters and The Practice. She has served 15 terms on the Western AD/UPM Council as a member or an alternate and served as Secretary/Treasurer from 2020-2022. Her Council appointments also include the Administrative Committee where she served as Chair from 2020 to present; membership on the Constitution & By-Laws Review Sub-Committee in 1986 and being selected as a delegate to eight DGA Biennial Conventions from 2009-2023. She was also recently appointed to the DGA’s new Sustainable Future Committee and has served as a Commissioner on the California Film Commission since 2008. A DGA Training Plan Trustee since 2009, she was the DGPTP Secretary in 2011, and has served on the Screening & Admissions Committee and the Curriculum & Progress Committee for the past decade; and more recently on the Finance Committee since 2019. For her service and professional accomplishments, Knutsen has been honored by the DGA as the 2024 Frank Capra Achievement Award recipient.

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 member Mark Hansson.

• For more information on the Western AD/UPM Council, click here to visit their web pages.