Girls Revealed
Created by & starring Lena Dunham (“Tiny Furniture”), the new HBO series GIRLS takes a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s. Join Dunham, EP Judd Apatow, Jenni Konner; co-EP Ilene S. Landress; DP Jody Lee Lipes; editors Shawn Paper, Paul Zucker and moderator Alex Karpovsky as they discuss GIRLS before it kicks off its ten-episode season in April, exclusively on HBO.
GIRLS: Hannah and her best friend Marnie are trying to figure it out. They’ve been living in New York for a couple of years, but they’re still not sure what they want – from boys, from each other, from themselves. Hannah’s a wannabe writer who barely writes, feverish with unrequited love (and even less requited text messages) for her “friend” with “benefits” Adam. Marnie has the perfect job and the city’s most adoring boyfriend (unfortunately she doesn’t like either.) When their impetuous college friend Jessa blows into Brooklyn, things don’t get any clearer. And Jessa’s cousin Shoshanna, an anxious NYU-student with an encyclopedic knowledge of every dating guide on the market, is no help.
Presenters
Alex Karpovsky studied visual ethnography at Oxford University before wasting the next few years of his life trying to become the next Andy Kaufman. He now acts and makes movies. Alex's award-winning debut feature, THE HOLE STORY, earned him a slot in Filmmaker Magazine's 25 new faces of independent film and a plastic key to a small city in Northern Minnesota. His subsequent two films (WOODPECKER & TRUST US, THIS IS ALL MADE UP) premiered at SXSW and have lassoed in several fiberglass trophies, polyester ribbons and miscellaneous ceramics. As an actor, Alex has had leading roles in feature-length films that have shown at the Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Los Angeles, and SXSW film festivals. Alex will play the role of Marty Green in the upcoming Coen Brothers film, INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS, and the recurring role of Ray Ploshansky in the HBO comedy series GIRLS.
Lena Dunham wrote, directed and starred in Tiny Furniture, which won Best Narrative Feature at SXSW in 2010 and an Independent Spirit Award. The DVD will be released by Criterion in February 2012. Next she created and starred in a new TV series, Girls, for HBO, also serving as a writer, director and executive producer. Other credits: Creative Nonfiction (SXSW 2009), Dealing (Slamdance 2007), Tight Shots, Delusional Downtown Divas.
Jody Lee Lipes recently served as a director and DP on season one of HBO's Girls. Past directorial efforts include NY Export: Opus Jazz (SXSW Audience Award ’10) and Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be The Same (SXSW ’09).
Named one of Variety's 10 Cinematographers To Watch 2011, Jody’s DP credits include: Martha Marcy May Marlene, Tiny Furniture, Two Gates of Sleep, Afterschool and Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell.
Confederacy, Jody’s first feature length screenplay, was selected for the 2011 Sundance Screenwriters Lab.
Considered one of the most sought-after comedy minds in the business, Judd Apatow has been closely associated with many of the biggest comedy films in recent years. Born in Syosset, NY, Apatow aspired to become a professional comedian at an early age. Following an appearance on HBO’s Young Comedians special, Apatow eventually stopped performing in favor of writing. He co-created and executive produced The Ben Stiller Show, which brought him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety or Music Program. He also served as an executive producer of the critically praised, award-winning series Freaks and Geeks, which debuted in the 1999-2000 season.
In his first feature film directorial debut, Apatow delivered the 2005 hit comedy, The 40 Year-Old Virgin, which he co-wrote with the film’s star, Steve Carell for Universal Pictures. The film opened #1 and spent two weeks in the top perch before proceeding to gross over $168 million globally. He has served as writer and producer for films such as Superbad, Knocked Up, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and 2011’s Bridesmaids. Come 2012, Universal Pictures will release the Apatow produced Wanderlust co-starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston, a story that revolves around an urban couple who branches out to find a more “counter-culture” lifestyle. Apatow recently wrapped This is Forty, a comedy he wrote and produced starring wife Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd to be released in December 2012.
Jenni Konner is a television and feature film writer. She is currently an executive producer of HBO’s GIRLS, which will air in 2012.
Prior to joining creative forces with GIRLS creator Lena Dunham and fellow executive producer Judd Apatow, Jenni co-created and executive produced the ABC series "Help Me Help You" and "In the Motherhood” as well as the ABC pilot “Bad Mother’s Handbook.”
On the feature side, Jenni is currently writing on an original screenplay for Paramount and the Montecito Picture Company. She recently rewrote Jay Roach’s DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS as well as the female lead role in Michael Bay’s TRANSFORMERS 3. She has also done script work and contributed to roundtables on films such as THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, KNOCKED UP, FUNNY PEOPLE, GET HIM TO THE GREEK, THE OTHER GUYS and LITTLE FOCKERS.
Paul Zucker has worked with some of today's most innovative directors, including Gus Van Sant (Gerry), Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, BAFTA Award, best editing), and Harmony Korine (Mister Lonely). Other features include Delirious (Tom DiCillo), Uncertainty (Siegel & Mcgehee) and Twelve (Joel Schumacher). Paul finds it odd writing about himself in the third person.
Shawn Paper has had an impact on pop culture defining the editing style on the successful series Ugly Betty. Not to be pinned down by a genre, Shawn has deftly moved between drama and comedy editing series such as Parks & Recreation, The Vampire Diaries, Flight of the Conchords, and Hung. He recently edited the ABC Charlie's Angels pilot and Alan Ball’s nouveau-noir pilot All Signs of Death. Shawn is currently cutting Lena Dunham's new series Girls for HBO and producer Judd Apatow.
Ilene S. Landress most recently served as co-executive producer for HBO’s upcoming series “Girls” and the award-winning miniseries “Mildred Pierce.” Previously, she was a nine-year freelancer on numerous studio and independent feature film and television projects before working on the acclaimed HBO drama “The Sopranos.”
Her role as executive producer on the series won her two Emmy® Awards for Outstanding Drama Series and four PGA Award nominations, winning twice for Television Producer of the Year in Episodic. Landress oversaw the studio construction and the first year of production on Dreamworks’ “Spin City,” the first four-camera film sitcom to be shot entirely in New York City.
Her other television credits include the “Burns Brothers Pilot” and “Dear Diary,” a failed television pilot released as a live action short film, which garnered an Academy Award® for Best Short, Live Action. Her feature film credits include production work on “Up Close and Personal,” “Quiz Show,” “The Perez Family,” and Sidney Lumet’s “A Stranger Among Us” and “Q&A.”
Tuesday, March 13
