Directors Guild Producer Training Plan
Directors Guild Producer Training Plan
In partnership with the Directors Guild Producer Training Plan, Career Girls is thrilled to present a free virtual event about the path to success as a director in the television and film industry. The Directors Guild Producer Training Plan is an elite training program that prepares a diverse group of young women to become working members of the Directors Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers. Hear from women who were accepted into the program and are now working on some of your favorite television shows and movies!
Audience: All ages
When: Wednesday, July 27, 4 pm Pacific Time
What: Directing the Vision: Career Chat with the Directors Guild Producer Training Plan Webinar – advance registration required
Led By: Moderator Aisha Ali, Executive Director, Career Girls, in conversation with Directors Guild Producer Training Plan’s Lila Mayes, Co-Chair of the DGA Women’s Committee, and program graduate Liz Ryan, and Grace Jordan, who now works on films and tv shows such as CSI-Vegas, All American: Homecoming, Good Trouble, Atypical, and With Love.
Our Role Models
Lila Mayes
Lila Mayes, a Texas native (California-raised), has a diverse background in Human Resources, Event Logistics and Artist Relations. Having studied Business Administration at San Diego State and receiving her Human Resources certification from the University of Phoenix, Lila currently serves as the Program Administrator for the Directors Guild-Producer Training Plan. This program was created in 1965 to offer access to those who might not otherwise have entrée to the motion picture and television industry. The program provides productions with trained, professional Assistant Directors. Lila is also a founding Board Member of the nonprofit organization, Black Women Lead. This organization was formed in Los Angeles, CA in an effort to amplify the leadership and voices of black women and underrepresented communities.
Liz Ryan
Liz Ryan is a production manager who Co-Chairs the DGA Womens Committee, and sits on both the boards of the Directors Guild-Producer Pension and Health Plans and the Directors Guild-Producer Training Plan. She has served as a member of the National Board, and on the Guild’s Negotiating Committees responsible for the collective bargaining agreements with the AMPTP in 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2020. In 2008 Ryan received the DGA’s Frank Capra Achievement Award in recognition of her career achievements and service to the Guild.
Starting as a Directors Guild of America Trainee in New York City, Ryan has since worked on over 70 movie and television productions throughout the world as a director, producer, production manager or assistant director. Her credits include the movies The Green Mile, Alien 3, Brokedown Palace, Waiting for Guffman, and the television series Station 19, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, The Office, and Freak and Geeks among others. She is currently developing her own projects. Prior to her work in Hollywood, she worked as a reporter and photographer for Time Magazine and the New York Times.
Grace Jordan
Grace Jordan is a force to be reckoned in the film industry.
Within the same year of graduating from the 2018 Class of the Directors Guild-Producer Training Plan, a program that trains a select group of people to become Assistant Directors, she has since been highly sought after from local and international film projects. Prior to seizing the world of film and television, Grace pursued News and Broadcasting in college, interning with WSB-TV Channel 2 Action News in Atlanta, Ga. Following the internship, Grace received her Bachelors Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Georgia State University.
It is of no surprise that Grace holds an impressive resume of films and shows she has been recruited for, such as CSI-Vegas, All American: Homecoming, Good Trouble, Atypical, and With Love. It is the harmonious collide of her work ethic, skill, and drive that makes her magnetic to film and television opportunities in Los Angeles and other cities around the country today.