BETH RYNE
DIRECTOR/WRITER/PR
Beth Ryne is a Los Angeles-based acting teacher, audition coach, director, and casting professional. Casting credits for Television include DEAD TO ME, THE RED LINE, TREADSTONE, JACK RYAN, ALTERED CARBON, AMERICAN GOTHIC, I'M DYING UP HERE, and MASTERS OF SEX. For the stage, she cast the west coast premiere of Ike Holter's play HIT THE WALL and an ensemble production of SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF INTELLIGENT LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE: REVISITED, produced by Jane Wagner and Lily Tomlin.
SA'IYDA SHABAZZ
PRODUCER/WRITER
Sa'iyda is a writer who lives in Los Angeles with her partner, son and 3 pets. When she has time you can find her in the kitchen, listening to music, or reading a book. For most of her childhood and adolescence, she was studying to be an actor, but after graduating from Emerson College, she decided that she could turn her writing hobby into a career. She spent five years writing for a popular parenting and lifestyle site where her work met at the intersections of parenthood, race, sexuality and class. Over the years she has also written entertainment pieces for various outlets where she offered critiques and honed her interview skills. Now she is parlaying her love of organization into being the associate producer for 'Feeling Seen'.
CHRIS J. RUSSO
PRODUCER
Chris J. Russo is the award-winning Director-Producer of Lady Buds, the critically acclaimed feature documentary about cannabis legalization in California through the eyes of six courageous women. The film was released on Starz in 2022 to rave reviews earning 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, winning multiple festival awards and is also streaming on Amazon and AppleTV+. Russo currently has two spin-offs in development — Mama Sue, a docuseries following the inspiring life journey of septuagenarian entrepreneur Sue Taylor with Village Roadshow, and a scripted feature version of the documentary with Hellcat.
Passionate about amplifying voices of women and the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ community, Russo’s unscripted Producer credits include FilmRise soon to be released culturally diverse cooking show Not Like Mama, starring Tia Mowry, and My Road to WOW, a docuseries profiling the amazing women wrestlers of the all-female franchise distributed by Paramount and airing now on PlutoTV. She is also attached to Executive Produce Buck Angel’s Cannacopia with the legendary trans activist, for AltrdTV.
Russo has a history of creating award-winning short films that have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Outfest, and have been broadcast on Showtime, PBS, IFC, LOGO and NETFLIX. She’s a fellow of the Sundance Institute/Women In Film Financing Intensive with Lady Buds, and of Film Independent’s Director and Screenwriters Labs, with her project, Directed By Dorothy Arzner.
KATIE WALKER
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Katie Walker has been working as a cinematographer for the past ten years- everything from commercials to documentaries. The feature film she shot in 2018, “Chasing Sunshine,” won the Audience Choice Award at the Sherman Oaks Film Festival. She also shot a feature documentary “Educated; Not Trained” about the struggles of young girls in rural India, which is slated for release in 2022. She shot the comedy short film “Dicky Sledgehammer” which won best cinematography at the Austin Comedy Short Film Festival as well as the Culver City Film Festival. Recently, she finished work on the short film "Blue Sense," a retro scifi short set in the 70's about psychics working with the FBI. Katie loves making movie magic and collaborating with other passionate filmmakers.
