DIRECTORS

Tayo Amos is a Nigerian-American filmmaker from the Bay Area, now currently living in Los Angeles. She graduated from Stanford University with a double major BA in Science, Technology, & Society and Spanish Literature in 2014 and is a recent grad at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts in the MFA Film Production program with a focus on Directing. There, she received the James Bridges Directing Scholarship and received USC’s First Look Faculty Award for Excellence in Directing. 
 
Her thesis film ON THE CLOCK has screened at the Diversity in Cannes Showcase (where the film won BEST ACTOR) and Creative Mind Group showcases at Cannes Film Festival as well as the Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival, the San Jose International Film Festival, and can be streamed on Amazon Prime.
 
Her most recent short film MAGNOLIA BLOOM was selected as part of Target and NBCUniversal’s Scene in Color Program and is now available on Peacock after its world premiere at Tribeca in June 2021. Tayo also directed A BLOSSOM IN THE NIGHT, a sci-fi action short film, starring Academy-Award Winner Lupita Nyong’o’s brother Junior Nyong’o, which had its world premiere at Urbanworld Film Festival 2020.

Tayo has shadowed award-winning television directors Meera Menon (on the set of THE MAGICIANS (Syfy/Netflix); most recently the pilot director of MS. MARVEL (Disney+) and Tom Verica (on the set of FOR THE PEOPLE (ABC); most recently the director of the spin off series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story).

Juan Avella is a bilingual Venezuelan writer-director based in LA who focuses on gritty and social genre stories set in multicultural worlds. As a fellow of the 2020-2021 NBC Emerging Director program, Juan directed episode 815 of “THE BLACKLIST” for NBC and Sony Pictures. He holds a Screenwriting MFA from the AFI Conservatory, where he won the William J. Fadiman Award for excellence in screenwriting for his crime feature “BOLICHICOS.” Such script was the recipient of the 2019 TFI Sloan Film Fund grant from the Tribeca Film Institute and was included in The Black List’s 2019 inaugural LatinX List.

Juan’s short films, “HIJO POR HIJO” (2017) and “HER BODY” (2018), played in over 80 festivals, garnered 10 awards combined, and were picked up and exclusively distributed by HBO Max — where “HER BODY” currently streams. Most recently, Juan co-wrote and directed the social thriller short film “FREEBIRTH” for 20th Digital and HULU. Next, Juan is set to direct “BOLICHICOS” with Axel Kuschevatzky and Diego Nájera producing, as well as the feature film adaptation of his short “HIJO POR HIJO” for Epic Pictures.

Maureen Bharoocha is a Los Angeles based writer/director. Maureen’s feature debut was the SXSW arm wrestling comedy “Golden Arm” which sold to HBO and premiered in 2021. She recently directed her 2nd feature film “The Prank,” a dark comedy starring Rita Moreno, Keith David, and Ramona Young. Currently, Maureen is writing a new horror comedy feature “Tina's 40th Birthday Party” with Mary Holland and Betsy Sodaro. Maureen is set to direct and Sharon Horgan’s Merman is attached to produce. Previously Maureen was a segment director on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” for three seasons and started her career with her short film “Abajee” (shot on the streets of Karachi) which premiered at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Maureen was then commissioned by Sprinkles Cupcakes to create a film series in which she wrote and directed 10 shorts based on their cupcake flavors.

Maureen is half Irish Catholic and half Indian/Pakistani Burmese Muslim. Because of her mixed background, Maureen enjoys telling stories about complicated characters, bending genres and is a master at tone. She has directed episodes of Peacock’s “Saved by the Bell,” “Drama Club,” and all episodes of the series “Edith!,” a narrative podcast by QCode starring Rosamund Pike. Maureen was named one of Indie Wire’s rising female directors in 2020, she was on HBO’s 2018 Director’s list, and nominated for the SXSW 2020 Adam Yauch Hörnblowér Visionary directing Award.

Born in Venezuela and raised in South Florida, Melanie (she/they) is a queer director and filmmaker that merges social impact with poetry and magical realism. They have worked on documentaries, commercials, music videos, and short series– not limited by the medium to create stories that bridge cultures and showcase the power possible in all of us. 

Melanie is a Ryan Murphy Half Initiative Mentee, and a two-time Directors Guild of America Award recipient for her films “South Arcadia St.” and “STAND.” Her work has been featured on attn:, BET, Billboard and Refinery29.  

She recently edited “Appalachian Futures” for directors Sally Rubin and Ashley York, which was in exhibition at the Smithsonian as well as “Raising Our Collective Strength” (ROCS), a docuseries about the Black Church’s role in the liberation movement. ROCS will have its premiere at The March On Washington Film Festival this fall.

Melanie live-produced the digital film showcase, “Beyond Status,” which highlights migrant storytellers who aim to construct new narratives about who they are as migrants in today’s political and personal contexts. She has collaborated with The Center for Cultural Power on other digital live events such as the Climate Woke Summit (2021), The Disruptors Showcase (2020,2021, 2022) and the No Going Back: A Covid-19 Cultural Strategy Activation Guide. 

In 2020 she was an organizer for Street Dance Activism and their Global Dance Meditation for Black Liberation and served as the chair of the Human Rights committee for Young Entertainment Activists, where she also produced the Hollywood Climate Summit.

Melanie has worked as an assistant editor for Mark Harris’ “Breaking Point: The War for Democracy in Ukraine,” Jack White’s PBS/BBC docuseries “American Epic,” Paola DiFlorio’s “Awake: The Life of Yogananda,” Janice Engel’s “Raise Hell: The Life and Times of Molly Ivins,” and Sara Terry’s “A Decent Home.”

Melanie completed her MFA at the University of Southern California in Film and Television Production. 

Lara Everly is a director who celebrates female-driven content and dark comedy. She's adept at bringing humor to unexpected topics and disrupting the status quo. As a filmmaker, her narrative films and documentaries have played the film festival circuit, winning awards and procuring distribution through Amazon, ShortsHD and New Wave Entertainment. She is currently directing a short film and feature proof of concept starring Rachel Bloom and branded content for NBC for their "Annie Live!" show.

Everly has written and directed for a range of platforms including Disney, Netflix Family, Refinery29, Scary Mommy, Oprah, Funny or Die, Awestruck, Swing Left, Acronym, Babycenter and more. It's been a busy year directing a comedy pilot presentation starring Geena Davis entitled "I Can By Friday," a Netflix Family doc series called "Like A Mother" about working moms making in-roads in male dominated careers, a commercial reframing the cultural narrative around abortion and a 12-episode comedic doc series called "Wags to Riches."

Her directing has been commissioned for broadcast commercials and high-profile brands including Walmart, Little Tikes, Fellow Americans, Bloomlife, Schwarzkopf, Geico, Diono, Wake Up and Vote, several fashion lines and Netflix, where she directed an anthemic love letter to all moms in the entertainment industry that garnered over 16 million views online. When she is not wrangling a cast and crew, she’s wrangling her children and rescue pets.