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Watch: AFI Alums Hanelle Culpepper and Tessa Blake Talk About Directing Episodic Television

AFI alums Hanelle Culpepper (DWW Class of 2002) and Tessa Blake (DWW Class of 2014) talk with Refinery 29’s movie critic Anne Cohen about working in Hollywood as episodic directors and how Hollywood can reset itself in terms of inclusion.

Both directors were on set when the industry shut down: Culpepper was in Vancouver working on a CW pilot KUNG FU and Blake was working on the CBS show BULL in New York. Since the stay-at-home orders, both directors shifted their focus to working on projects in development but are eager to get back to set.

Watch the entire interview and learn more about how both directors started their career, what it’s like being a woman in the industry, their hopes for more inclusion in Hollywod and the tight-knit community among their fellow women directors and alums of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women.

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