Forbes Staff

Jesse Light grew up “obsessed” with reality TV and, at 22 years old, pitched her first original show to production shop Haymaker East. That concept never became a series, but Light impressed

Comedian Mekki Leeper dropped out of college to pursue a career in comedy–and the decision is paying off. He wrote for the 2017 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, has starred in Mindy Kaling’s

Agent Sabina Kashi is devoted to finding and promoting comedians with underrepresented points of view. She began her career in 2015 at Comedy Central and moved to CAA in 2016; her client

Celeste Yim is the first-ever out trans writer at “Saturday Night Live” and this past season, they became the show’s first AAPI writer to be promoted to Supervising Writer. At “SNL,” Yim

Director Emma Seligman first broke onto the scene with their debut feature–the queer, Jewish, indie comedy, “Shiva Baby,” starring Rachel Sennott–which earned them the 2022 Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award. This summer

Tiffany K. Guillen is the co-founder of Creative X Entertainment, a marketing and production company. Since launching in 2021, the agency has worked with Netflix, Shondaland and Starbucks. The company’s growing revenue

Holly Hubsher previously worked at Universal Pictures, where she helped develop productions including “Wicked,” “Mamma Mia 2” and “Dear Evan Hanson.” Since joining Bay Mills Studios, Hubsher has set up projects including

Molly Gordon’s appeared in cult favorite films like “Booksmart” and “Shiva Baby,” and the second season of the hit TV series “The Bear.” This year, she appeared in “Theater Camp,” a comedy

Selina Fillinger has written for both stage and screen productions. Her play, “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive,” made Fillinger one of the youngest

Andrew Barth Feldman most recently appeared alongside Jennifer Lawrence in the romantic comedy, “No Hard Feelings.” After winning the National High School Musical Theater Award in 2018, Feldman appeared on Broadway as