Making Media Now

Media Entrepreneur Miles Spencer Keeps the Conversation Going

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is Miles Spencer, the co-founder of an innovative AI start-up called Reflekta. A few weeks back, Mile’s team reached out to me to say that they’ve enjoyed the conversations I've had with various types of storytellers…and how they especially liked how our conversations revealed the stories within the stories.

 

Miles has helped create over 1,100 jobs while founding, financing, building and exiting three digital media companies. Before doing that he spent time in venture capital, hosted a precursor to Shark Tank called MoneyHunt on PBS , led over 1,500 people across 14 miles of open sea on kayak, and trekked 1,100 miles through the deserts of Saudi Arabia , Jordan and Syria. He also published a novel called  A Line in the Sand that ended up being an Amazon bestseller in the Middle East.

We had an engaging conversation about his early inspirations, his professional path, and the philosophical considerations around ethical AI.

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Filmmaking, Motherhood, Love, and Loss: "Vivien's Wild Ride" Covers It All

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by first-time director Vivien Hillgrove and producer Deann Borshay Liem to discuss a truly engaging and poignant personal documentary called “Vivien’s Wild Ride,” which will premiere on PBS on January 26. 

 

Vivien Hillgrove has been a film and sound editor all her adult life. 

 

She's worked with many filmmaking greats including: Francis Ford Coppola, Phillip Kaufman, Milos Forman, and Walter Murch, along with a who’s who of celebrated documentary filmmakers. 

 

When Vivien’s eyesight starts to deteriorate, the shame and loneliness she felt in 1964, when she was forced to relinquish her baby as a teenage unwed mother, at at time when there were few choices for women, was a loss that resonated throughout her life.

 

Now she faces a new feeling of isolation and loss. Recalling her resilience as a young woman, Vivien summons it anew and reinvents herself as a person with a new way of being and seeing, an artist with a disability.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

"American Sons": A Fallen Marine's Story Unites His Comrades

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Laura Varela and Andrew Gonzales, the producer and producer/director of "American Sons," a new documentary that follows a brotherhood of Marines a decade after their deployment to Afghanistan, as they struggle to overcome the trauma of combat and the loss of many of their comrades.

 

The film will premiere on PBS on January 12 and will stream simultaneously with broadcast and be available on all station-branded PBS platforms

 

The story of their time in Afghanistan is told through the video diary of Corporal JV Villarreal, who was killed in action by an IED. JV had kept the video diary for his family back home in Texas and his family generously shared it with the filmmakers.

 

This personal, powerful footage provides a haunting window into what these young Marines experienced together. Now, a decade after JV’s death, his brotherhood of Marines continues to get together, helping each other cope with lingering trauma and strengthening the unbreakable bonds formed in war.

 

A poignant exploration of grief and resilience, “American Sons” honors the service of these young men and spotlights the need for mental health support for veterans.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

"Bombshell" Reveals Military Propaganda in Aftermath of Hiroshima Destruction

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Ben Loeterman, the writer and director of Bombshell, a new documentary that Explores How The U.S. government manipulated the narrative around the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

 

Ben’s film will premiere on PBS as part of the American Experience series on January 6 and will be available on the PBS app and the American Experience website thereafter. 

 

Through propaganda, censorship and the co-opting of the press, the government presented a benevolent picture of atomic power, minimizing the horrific human toll of the bombings. 

 

The U.S. media became pivotal in promoting — and then piercing — the official narrative.

 

While President Truman publicly declared that “it has never been the habit of the scientists of this country or this government to withhold from the world scientific knowledge,” that is precisely what General Groves, leader of the Manhattan Project, insisted upon.

 

Bombshell sheds light on the efforts of courageous journalists to inform the world about the human costs of nuclear weapons, despite government censorship. 

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Joshua Seftel Enters "All The Empty Rooms"

On this episode host Michael Azevedo welcomes back Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Joshua Seftel to discuss his latest documentary, "All the Empty Rooms," which is currently available on Netflix and has been short-listed for the 2025 Oscars in the category of best documentary short.

 

Across America, bedrooms sit untouched — walls still covered in posters, clothes folded neatly in drawers — silent memorials to children lost to gun violence.

 

"All the Empty Rooms" is a 33-minute documentary that follows CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman on a seven-year journey visiting families who have lost a child, photographing each child’s room as it was on their last day. These “sacred spaces frozen in time” form an intimate portrait of grief, love, and the enduring need for empathy.

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

"Third Degree Burnout" Documentary Connects the Personal & the Planetary

Joining host Michael Azevedo on this episode is first-time filmmaker Nivi Jaswal-Wirtjes, the director & executive producer of a powerful and thought-provoking new documentary called “Third Degree Burnout”

 

Narrated by renowned meteorologist John Morales, "Third Degree Burnout" uncovers the hidden connections between personal burnout and the climate crisis, revealing them as symptoms of a larger socio-economic metacrisis.

With world-class animation, engaging interviews with over 20 experts, and playful humor woven into thought-provoking skits, the film breaks down complex ideas into something accessible, relatable, and impactful.

From the history of our food systems to the ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the intersections of healthcare, politics, and society, this documentary offers a fresh lens on the systemic forces shaping burnout.

In 2020, Nivi lost her father to COVID-19 while she was in the process of struggling through her own burnout after 15 years in high-pressure global marketing and strategy roles across consumer packaged goods, life sciences, and media.

That dual reckoning — grief and exhaustion — became the catalyst for her life’s new direction: uncovering the connections between personal well-being, food systems, and planetary health, all of which a explored in "Third Degree Burnout."

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Pixela Films' "The Last Yztari" Merges Innovation & Imagination to Cope with Trauma

On this episode, host Michael Azevedo joined by long-time friend of the podcast Tim O’Donnell of Pixela Films and by first-time guest Mary Dague to discuss the just-completed film, "The Last Yztari."

 

This innovative and moving film tells the story of how after using her body as a shield to protect her unit from an IED in Iraq, Mary Dague is left medically retired, missing both arms from the elbow down. 

 

Many years after returning home, she finds a new place in online gaming communities as she adapts her controllers to work with her feet. 

 

When her active-military husband readies to deploy again Mary is faced with the trauma of the past and the worry for her partner's yet to be diagnosed PTSD. 

 

The film explores the liminal space between trauma and healing, and this world and a fantasy space where old wounds might present themselves as future insights or abilities. 

 

The film weaves observational documentary with an original generative AI system built from Mary's own fantasy novel. The novel itself a secret only revealed to the filmmakers and her husband after seven years of writing.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

Daniel Masciari Makes Film Directing Debut with "Stationed At Home"

Director Daniel Masciari who joins host Michael Azevedo to discuss "Stationed at Home," his debut feature film. 

 

Set on a clear and frigid Christmas Eve in 1998, in a small, forgotten city, "Stationed at Home" tells the tale of a solitary taxi driver on the graveyard shift breathlessly awaiting the sight of the International Space Station. As the hours count down, a parade of offbeat misfits derail his plans, propelling the story to its exhilarating climax.

 

Daniel Masciari grew up outside of Boston in a neighborhood of new arrivals to America from all over the world—a community that nurtured his imagination and fueled his sense of humor.

 

Fascinated by film’s unique ability to tell stories earnestly and intimately, Daniel began shooting and directing his friends at age eleven using a camera his parents had given him.

 

By twenty-two, Variety selected him as one of 110 students who “represent the future of film, media and entertainment.” By twenty-four, he had already edited his first feature film, which was profiled in Filmmaker Magazine.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

"In Waves and War" Explores Potential of Psychedelics in Treating PTSD

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Jon Shenk co-director of a powerful documentary now streaming on Netflix called In Waves and War.

 

Blending observational scenes and animation, "In Waves and War" traces the journey of three Navy SEALs, tormented by trauma, to Mexico where they embark on a mission to rescue one another with powerful psychedelics whose effects shake them to the core and open a path toward healing.

 

Alongside intimate interviews, captivating animation, and first-of-its-kind research at Stanford’s Brain Stimulation Lab, "In Waves and War," is the emotional, inspiring odyssey of three American heroes as they overcome the aftereffects of war and rediscover their humanity.

 

Jon Shenk is an Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker and the winner of both Emmy® and Independent Spirit awards. He recently co-directed the Oscar®-nominated short film Lead Me Home, which premiered at the 2021 Telluride Film Festival and is a Netflix Original. Previously, Jon and Bonni Cohen (who is also Jon’s wife) co-directed Athlete A, which won an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary and was nominated for five Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards, winning for Best Sports Documentary.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead

"The Green Box": A Tale of War, Heroism, and a Son's Quest to Know His Father

Host Michael Azevedo is joined on this episode by Vicki Hughes and Holly Stadtler, two veterans of the documentary filmmaking world who’ve teamed up to produce The Green Box: At The Heart of War, a film based on a memoir by Jim Kurtz that tells the story of his decades long search to learn more about his father, 2^nd Lt. Robert Kurtz, who died when Jim was just 2 years old.

 

All Jim knew of his father was that he was a bomber pilot in the European theater during WWII.  And because of his mother’s grief, most of the details of Jim's father’s life remained a mystery.

 

It would take Jim more than fifty years to learn essential details about this devoted father and husband… and unexpected hero. "The Green Box," narrated by Martin Sheen, weaves together Jim's efforts to piece together the emerging picture of his father’s life, vividly telling a story that is war chronicle, romance, mystery and personal reflection. 

 

"The Green Box: At The Heart of War" will air on Boston’s PBS station, 'GBH on November 4 at 4:00pm and on 'GBH World on November 8.  The film’s release is timed to coincide with Veteran’s Day and will air across the country on PBS stations between throughout November in commemoration of the upcoming 80^th anniversary of the end of WWII.

 

Making Media Now is sponsored by Filmmakers Collaborative, a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting media makers from across the creative spectrum. From providing fiscal sponsorship to presenting an array of informative and educational programs, Filmmakers Collaborative supports creatives at every step in their journey.

 

About the host: www.writevoicecreative.com and https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-azevedo/

 

Sound Engineer: A.J. Kierstead