Announcing our 2021-2022 Mentorship Pairs

As the 2022 festival approaches, the Catalyst Story Institute is proud to announce fourteen new successful mentorship pairs forged through our 2021-2022 program in partnership with the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences!

This joint mentorship program is a highly curated and reliable pathway for storytellers to enter the TV industry, and making the perfect match takes time. But this time has shown its worth through the success of these partnerships. This program is unique in that the pairings are individually curated by our Catalyst team and industry professionals. Jennifer Plotzke, Director of Mentoring and Partnerships for Catalyst along with Nikki Coble, Catalyst Story Institute Director personally interview each eligible storyteller in an effort to become familiar with their industry goals, their work and their history. They also stay up to date with their progress as they work their way through the Institute process and develop their projects. Once it is demonstrated that a creator is ready to take their work and their career to the next step they are carefully matched with industry personnel whose expertise and experience align with their own career needs.

Our mentor pool has a wealth of working industry professionals including showrunners, directors, writers, producers, broadcasters and members of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, whose knowledge is proving highly beneficial and meaningful to our storytellers as they continue to advance their careers. We are excited to continue forging industry relationships through this unique program.

Announcing our current mentorship pairs:

-Director/Editor Justin Joseph-Hall & Producer Mike Mee through the NY NATAS Chapter

-Writer/Producer Laurie Criego & Writer/Director/Producer Pamela Cederquist (Mindhunter)

-Writer John Gaspard & Writer/Director/Producer Pamela Cederquist (Mindhunter)

-Writer Lillie Gardner & Showrunner Jessica Goldberg (The Path, Hulu)

-Actress Eve Black & Programming Manager Alex Hicks (The History Channel)

-Writer Mark Bradley & Programming Manager Alex Hicks (The History Channel)

-Documentarian Nicholas Stange & President of the Upper Midwest Emmy Foundation, Diana Pierce

-Writer/Actress Mikala Stacer & Director/Writer Kris Lefcoe (Superstore)

-Writer Saninye Alasia & Writer/Story Editor Jackie Decembly (4400)

-Producer Emma Slade & Director Rachel Goldberg

-Composer Dan Rufolo & Music Editor/Engineer Jason Tregoe Newman

-Actress/Writer/Director LJ Johnson & Producer Adam Fratto

-Director/Producer Gabor Herendi & Adam Fratto

-Actress/Producer Mischa App & Producer David Schatanoff, Jr.

For more information on this program or to apply to be a mentor, please visit https://www.catalystories.org/mentorship