SeriesFest And Shondaland Select Tamika Miller As Winner For Women Directing Mentorship

Dino-Ray Ramos
·2 min read

SeriesFest and Shondaland have announced Tamika Miller as the winner of their annual Women Directing Mentorship.

The Women Directing Mentorship was first launched in 2018 as a partnership between SeriesFest and Shondaland, founded by Shonda Rhimes who is a champion of inclusion in front of and behind the camera. The mentorship offers a unique opportunity for a rising female director to shadow an already established episodic director on a Shondaland produced series. The recipient of the inaugural 2019 Women Directing Mentorship, Rachel Myers (Wendy’s Shabbat), shadowed director Tessa Blake on Episode 306, Ice Ice Baby of the Shondaland series, Station 19 which airs on ABC.

“From her application video to her film reel, Tamika Miller was an exceptional choice for this year’s prestigious mentorship,” said SeriesFest CEO, Randi Kleiner. “Both the SeriesFest team and our partners at Shondaland were blown away by her as a director, a visionary, and an artist who is ready for the next step in her career. We will be watching Ms. Miller very closely, as we are certain she will be at the helm of a major series in no time.”

Miller is an award-winning commercial and narrative director. She was selected as one of only six directors, from over 400 applicants, to participate in the Commercial Directors Diversity Program – a DGA/AICP initiative created to increase the representation of women and under-represented directors in commercial advertising. Miller has received numerous awards and recognitions including Best Commercial at the LA Femme Festival, Showtime Black Filmmaker Showcase Grand Prize for Best Narrative, Outfest Audience Award for Outstanding Short Narrative, San Francisco Black Film Festival Award for Best Short, Reel Sisters Film Festival Award for Best Short Narrative and many others. She is currently developing her feature film Undercard starring Wanda Sykes in her first dramatic role.

In addition to announcing the winner, nine semi-finalists were selected for recognition: Robin Cloud, Lauren Fash, Tiffany Frances, Liann Kaye, Lidiya Korotko, Mandy Marcus, Chelsea Odufu, Talia Osteen and Shayla Racquel. The winner and semi finalists were selected by a panel which included both SeriesFest and Shondaland teams.

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