The Women’s Steering Committee (WSC) hosted their fifth annual celebration of talented women members of the Guild on March 29 with the event, Women’s Day at the DGA: The Role of Storytelling in Challenging Times. Held in the DGA’s Los Angeles theater complex, the event featured Directors Meera Menon (For All Mankind), Frankie Shaw (SMILF), Nzingha Stewart (Daisy Jones & The Six) and Ry Russo-Young (Shrinking) in a peer-to-peer round table panel discussion about the importance of storytelling, moderated by WSC Co-Chair Shaz Bennett (Alaska Is a Drag).
The evening began with a welcome from DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter who said, “It’s an honor to be here with this incredible group of women Directors and members of the directorial team as we close out Women’s History Month. This is a time to recognize and celebrate the extraordinary contributions of visionary women from all walks of life. And within our community of storytellers, tonight’s panel has made a lasting impact.”
“When I started directing, I was fortunate to have strong mentors, and it made all the difference in my life and in my work, Glatter continued. “And as I look around this room at the incredible support women are showing one another, I am inspired that we can continue to create change, even in these difficult times. So, whatever you can do — whether it’s mentoring, making an introduction, showing up, or lending a hand — please do it. Pay it forward. Grab a hand and push open the door.”
WSC Co-Chairs Bennett, Valerie Weiss and Shawn Pipkin-West and spoke about the history and work of the Committee and thanked WSC Activities & Events Subcommittee members Jade Jenise Dixon, Li Lu, Kestrin Pantera and Drew Rosenberg for their work in putting this event together. After reminding the attendees that that all Guild members are invited to attend WSC meetings, the Co-Chairs turned things over to the panel.
During the lively and informative conversation, the panelists discussed how they have used film to resist, rebuild and restart in these challenging times.
Bennett kicked things off by framing the conversation around the challenges members and audiences are currently facing. “I think we all just want to acknowledge that these are not normal times. I don't think we really could have predicted the first three months of 2025. I know what I do is I go back to what I love most, movies and television and that's how I cope and get inspiration. So, I would love to just hear each of you say how you think about making art in really challenging times.”
Stewart shared how her idea of the job of storytelling shifted during the Pandemic. “Pre-pandemic, I always had the mindset of, ‘What we do isn't that important. We're not doctors. We're not teachers.' Then when pandemic came and everybody in the whole world was in the house and all we had to watch was Tiger King. I felt like what we do is important. People who are sick are watching. People who are down are watching. Entertainment does need to be a part of our life and sometimes, just to even have the will to get up you have to have laughed earlier that day and that is something that we provide to the world. So I would say that right now our job is a ministry as much as it is a creative endeavor like we are making things for people who are going to need to be entertained.”
“I feel like, partly, us existing as like an act of resistance,’ said Shaw. “When I was in college, I didn't know I could be a Director so it's why I started as an Actor. I thought that's what I had to do to be in this world. And now there are so many of us and that also, I think, translates into what we make. The movie I just made is a heist movie which is so classically male, and it centers a female protagonist. Maybe that'll challenge this belief that all these heist movies are male. The other thing was Liam Neeson was in it and that was the second female Director [he’d worked with] out of 105 movies and same with our DP, he's done dozens and dozens of movies and only worked with one other woman. So, I just think just our existence is challenging.”
Menon revealed how her viewing habits were altered by her recent experience with the LA wildfires. “I was affected by the fires as well and since then haven't been able to watch anything. I went to Sundance and was so excited to watch everyone else's movies and be in community with other film makers. But I couldn't sit through really anything except one documentary about Khartoum and Sudanese refugees. Since then, I've been finding a lot of solace in documentary work about people surviving disasters and the resilience of the human spirit through the unthinkable. It has made me realize how much we need these things to stay outside of our own heads when the unthinkable does happen. So, in that way I think it's more important than ever to be telling stories for people who feel alone because you never know if that's going to be the only thing to get them out of it. To be reminded of how this is the story of human history, that people lose everything all the time has been incredibly comforting. So, I think stories are kind of what we do to heal.”
For Russo-Young, finding the moments of human connection in the eclectic nature of filmmaking is what makes it possible to have fun. “That's also about enjoying the process. I think we've all been sort of taught to be so goal-oriented, ‘I gotta’ finish it. I gotta’ get the movie out there,’ to really stop and say the work itself, the little problems the, big problems, the people that you're working with, that's the fun part and the good stuff. Really try to appreciate those moments when you're doing the work whether they're with other people or they're by yourself.”
Following the discussion, all the attendees to joined the Committee members and panelists for a reception in the DGA’s Los Angeles headquarters atrium where the conversations and celebrations could continue.
Prior to the panel discussion, Women’s Day at the DGA began with a networking mixer hosted by the Committee where DGA members could engage in roundtable discussions with entertainment professionals with hiring authority. (See the list of networking mixer VIPs below.)
Video from this event coming soon to the gallery below.
About the Panelists:
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 Meera Menon
Menon’s directorial credits include the features Equity and Farah Goes Bang; and episodes of Long Bright River, Westworld, Ms. Marvel, With Love, For All Mankind, Dirty John, The Magicians, Outlander, The Terror, The Walking Dead, The Punisher, Titans, The Man in the High Castle, Queen of the South, Strange Angel, GLOW, The Exorcist, Fear the Walking Dead, Snowfall, Halt and Catch Fire and Blood Drive. Menon has been a DGA member since 2016 and serves on the Independent Directors Committee.
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 Frankie Shaw
Shaw’s directorial credits the upcoming feature 4 Kids Walk into a Bank; and episodes of Cassandra French’s Finishing School and SMILF. She was nominated for the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Grand Jury Prize and the SXSW Narrative Short Grand Jury Award for her film Too Legit; and won the 2015 Sundance Short Film Grand Jury Prize for her film SMILF. Shaw has been a DGA member since 2016. |
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 Nzingha Stewart
Stewart’s directorial credits include the feature Tall Girl; the movies for television Love by the 10th Date and With This Ring; the pilots for From Scratch, Cross and Me/We; and episodes of Inventing Anna, Maid, Little Fires Everywhere, A Million Little Things, Station 19, For The People, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Major Crimes, How to Get Away with Murder and Pretty Little Liars. She was nominated for the 2023 DGA Award for Movies for Television & Limited Series for her Daisy Jones & The Six episode “Track 10: Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide.” Stewart has been a DGA member since 2013. |
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 Ry Russo-Young
Russo-Young’s directorial credits include the features The Sun Is Also a Star, Before I Fall, You Wont Miss Me and Orphans; episodes of And Just Like That..., Shrinking, Panic, Sorry for Your Loss, Cloak & Dagger, Sweetbitter and Everything Sucks!; and episodes of the 2022 IDA Award-nominated multi-part documentary Nuclear Family. She was also nominated for the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, Dramatic for her film Nobody Walks. Russo-Young has been a DGA member since 2017. |
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 Shaz Bennett (moderator)
Bennett’s directorial credits include the feature film, Alaska is a Drag — based on her short of the same name — as well as episodes of the series Billions, Queen Sugar, Animal Kingdom, Ordinary Joe and Bosch; and the short films Desert Rats, Top of the Circle and Tunnels. She has been a member of the Guild since 2019 and currently serves as a Co-Chair of the DGA Women’s Steering Committee |
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NETWORKING MIXER VIPS
Producing Directors
- Jennifer Arnold
- Tessa Blake
- Jeff Byrd
- Jason Ensler
- Nicole Rubio
- Michael Spiller
UPMs
- Victor Hsu
- Mark Grossan
- Heidi McGowan
- Richard Prince
Producers
Executives
- Marco Esquivel
- Mona Garcea
- Noelle Green
- Alvie Hurtado
- James Lopez
- Shari Page
- Jasmine Russ
- Matt Jordan Smith
- Tristen Tuckfield
Showrunner/Writers
- Alyson Fouse
- Anna Fricke
- Anthony C. Hill
- Daniele Nathanson
- Dayna Lynne North
- Jacqueline McKinley
- Kathryn O'Kane
- Tony Phelan
- Mike Royce
ABOUT THE COMMITTEE:
The Women's Steering Committee (WSC) was created to advance the professional interests of its members, and to heighten their visibility and career opportunities in the entertainment industry. The WSC currently promotes diversity through sponsoring networking events, screenings and seminars, and fosters relationships between the members to provide support, mentoring and networking opportunities. The WSC’s current Co-Chairs are Shaz Bennett, Valerie Weiss and Shawn Pipkin-West and the alternate Co-Chair is Rachel Raimist. The WSC Activities & Events Committee Co-Coordinators are Amy Aniobi, Evelyn Belasco and Eva Vives.