Behind the Greenlight:

Katy Chevigny is an award-winning filmmaker and a co-founder of Big Mouth Productions. She has produced and/or directed over a dozen documentary features and series. She is currently writing and directing the forthcoming feature, The Easy Kind, about a Nashville singer and songwriter. Most recently, she won an Emmy for directing two episodes of Home, a documentary series about innovative architects for A24 / AppleTV+, which were filmed in the Netherlands and France. With Marilyn Ness, she produced several films, including the 2023 documentary short Camp Courage (dir. Max Lowe), which was acquired by Netflix. Marilyn and Katy also produced the acclaimed 2020 documentaries Becoming (dir. Nadia Hallgren), and Dick Johnson is Dead (dir. Kirsten Johnson). Katy also co-directed (with Ross Kauffman) E-Team, which premiered at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. She also directed one of the storylines in Kartemquin Films’ documentary series Hard Earned, winner of a 2016 Alfred I. DuPont Award. Her work has been distributed by PBS, NBC, Netflix, AppleTV+, HBO, Arte/ZDF, VPRO and Channel 4, among others, and has played in theaters and at festivals around the world.

Justin Lacob is a 6x Emmy nominated producer, executive, and content strategist with over 20 years of experience in the media and tech industry. He is the President and Co-Founder of XTR, a nonfiction studio that produces and distributes Oscar nominated and Emmy and Peabody winning documentaries, series, and podcasts. He is also a co-founder of DOCUMENTARY+, a streaming platform and channel that showcases diverse and impactful stories from around the world. And as the Head of Development at Asteria, a technology driven animation studio, he leads a team to develop and produce 2D and 3D animated features, series, and shorts. Justin is passionate about entertaining, informing, and moving culture through innovative storytelling.

As Head of Studio, Jared Lipworth oversees HHMI Tangled Bank Studios’ documentary production and distribution, as well as its public engagement and educational outreach efforts. He directs the studio’s mission, strategy, and editorial focus with an emphasis on the power of storytelling to inspire interest in science and nature. Lipworth has deep industry experience as an editorially focused production executive, writer, co-production partner and outreach producer. He is executive producer of the AAAS Kavli Science Journalism Award-winning series Wild Hope, the AAAS Kavli-winning and Emmy-nominated film Battle to Beat Malaria, and the multiple award-winning giant screen film Blue Whales, Return of the Giants, among others. He has served as the board chair of the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers and is currently the board chair of Jackson Wild. Prior to joining Tangled Bank, Lipworth was vice president of specials at National Geographic Studios, and before that, director of science programs at WNET, New York’s flagship public media provider. Lipworth has a Master of Arts in broadcast journalism from New York University, and Bachelor of Science in applied economics and management from Cornell University.

Dawn Porter is an acclaimed American documentary filmmaker and founder of Trilogy Films, known for her storytelling on social justice, history, and cultural icons. Her celebrated documentaries, including Trapped, John Lewis: Good Trouble, and The Lady Bird Diaries, air on platforms like HBO, Netflix, CNN, and PBS. Her recent work, Luther: Never Too Much, highlights the life and legacy of Luther Vandross. Produced with Sony Music Entertainment, Jamie Foxx’s Foxxhole, and Colin Firth’s Raindog Films, this intimate portrayal of the Grammy-winning artist was recently released in theaters and premiered on CNN/MAX on January 1, 2025.

Porter’s achievements are widely recognized. Trapped earned a Peabody Award and the Sundance Special Jury Prize for Social Impact Filmmaking, while John Lewis: Good Trouble won the 2021 NAACP Image Award. She received the Critics’ Choice Impact Award in 2022 and Gracie Awards in both 2022 and 2023. Recently, Porter was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Joe Biden, and received the IDA Career Achievement Award.

Porter’s 2024 MSNBC series, The Sing Sing Chronicles, offers unprecedented access to Sing Sing Correctional Facility, providing a raw look at justice and redemption. A former attorney, Porter holds degrees from Swarthmore College and Georgetown Law. Known for elevating marginalized voices and illuminating U.S. history’s lesser-known stories, she is a prominent figure in documentary filmmaking residing in New York City.

Amanda Spain oversees all documentaries and documentary series for EverWonder Studio. With over 20 years of experience, she has a unique 360 perspective on the industry having worked as an independent director and producer, in the studio system, and as a buyer. She joins from MSNBC Films where she was Vice President of Longform Acquisitions. She helped revitalize the division as a home for dynamic, thought provoking, and artistically excellent films such as the critically acclaimed Paper & Glue by renowned French artist JR. Prior to MSNBC Films, she was the Director of Non-Fiction for Blumhouse Television, where among others, she was an Executive Producer on the critically acclaimed Pray Away and produced the Netflix hit Our Father. As an Independent Producer she produced the cult hit Bathtubs Over Broadway. She also recently won an Emmy for the documentary Art & Krimes by Krimes. She is based in Los Angeles.