What are the issues in the WGA strike? Is AI a real threat to writers, or is that all hype? What's at stake if the studios win? What does this mean for emerging writers?
AoBFF co-founder Anthony DeVito (SAG-AFTRA) talks with Sean Crespo (WGA, SAG-AFTRA) and Carol Ray Hartsell (DGA) about the WGA Strike.
Carol & Sean's production company SPACE BEACH
Photo by Mindy Tucker
CAROL RAY HARTSELL is a writer, director, producer and editor based in New York City. Originally from Alabama, she doesn’t have much of an accent and she doesn’t know why so stop asking.
Carol recently made her feature film directing debut with the indie romcom “Love…Reconsidered” starring Sophie Von Haselberg, Colton Haynes and Javier Muñoz. It had its premiere at Cannes in the Marché du Film and will be released in 2024 by Good Deed Entertainment. She is currently developing a science-comedy show with BBC Studios and her pilot “Pro-Tem” was a semifinalist in the Golden Script Competition and a Second Rounder in the LaunchPad Pilot Competition. Her most recent script is the feature “Miracle on 74th Street,” a collaboration with her partner Sean Crespo and Jill Kargman (“Odd Mom Out”), based on Jill’s original pilot. Production is slated for 2024.
Previously, Carol was the Senior Field Producer on Jimmy Fallon’s “The Kids Tonight Show,” the Supervising Producer for Amazon’s “Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys,” the head writer on NBC pilot “The Whenever Show” starring Franchesca Ramsey and the creative lead behind “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’s” award-winning digital team. She got her start in late night as the Digital Producer at “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” where she innovated their live-streaming content and wrote sketches for Adam McKay and Guillermo del Toro among others.
She and creative/life partner Sean live with their two dogs, Fenchurch and Brooks Hatlen, and two cats, Graham Catman and Dr. Girlfriend.
Carol is a member of the Directors Guild of America and she is repped by Chris Burns at AGI Media and Management, 646-780-5049.
SEAN CRESPO is a New York-based writer, comedian and classically-trained actor who studied at Emerson College and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He was a staff writer and featured performer on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” for five years, for which he won two WGA Awards (and lost two Emmys). Sean also has several years of experience working as a copywriter, content manager (including SEO blogs) and a campaign creator at both a major ad agency and a boutique firm.
Most recently he co-wrote the screenplay for “Miracle on 74th Street” along with Jill Kargman (“Odd Mom Out”) and his partner Carol Ray Hartsell, slated for production in 2024. He and Carol have also written several original pilots, are finishing their next screenplay “Divorce Cruise,” and are developing a science-comedy show with BBC Studios.
As an actor, Sean has guest or co-starred on “Blue Bloods,” “Gotham,” “Happyish,” and “Red Oaks,” and had supporting roles in the films “Me & Lizzie,” a murder-comedy starring Lucy DeVito, Cathy Curtin and Rob Yang, and indie rom-com, “Love…Reconsidered” starring Sophie Von Haselberg, Colton Haynes and Javier Muñoz. He also co-wrote and starred in the pilot "Alternate Side Parking" alongside Janelle James ("Abbott Elementary"). And he has been seen and/or heard in commercials for Domino’s, Ally Bank, Jet Blue, Samsung, Navy Federal Credit Union, E-Trade and Dell. He was also the voice of Green Mountain Coffee for four years.
As a comedian and improviser, Sean studied with the Groundlings, UCB and Empty Stage and hosted popular long-running NYC comedy showcases “The Drink at Work Show” and “Lasers In The Jungle.”
Sean was born in Boston but spent some of his first years in his dad’s native El Salvador, where he learned Spanish and had his appendix removed. He returned home when he was four and promptly forgot Spanish, which is honestly the most Boston thing ever.
He and Carol live in NYC with their two dogs, Fenchurch and Brooks Hatlen, and two cats, Graham Catman and Dr. Girlfriend.
Sean is a member of the Writers Guild of America and he's repped commercially by A3 Artists (formerly Abrams Artists), (646) 486-6400, and for Legit by Boals, Winnett & Associates, (212) 500-1424.
What are the issues in the WGA strike? Is AI a real threat to writers, or is that all hype? What's at stake if the studios win? What does this mean for emerging writers?
AoBFF co-founder Anthony DeVito (SAG-AFTRA) talks with Sean Crespo (WGA, SAG-AFTRA) and Carol Ray Hartsell (DGA) about the WGA Strike.
What are the issues in the WGA strike? Is AI a real threat to writers, or is that all hype? What's at stake if the studios win? What does this mean for emerging writers?
AoBFF co-founder Anthony DeVito (SAG-AFTRA) talks with Sean Crespo (WGA, SAG-AFTRA) and Carol Ray Hartsell (DGA) about the WGA Strike.
Carol & Sean's production company SPACE BEACH
Photo by Mindy Tucker
CAROL RAY HARTSELL is a writer, director, producer and editor based in New York City. Originally from Alabama, she doesn’t have much of an accent and she doesn’t know why so stop asking.
Carol recently made her feature film directing debut with the indie romcom “Love…Reconsidered” starring Sophie Von Haselberg, Colton Haynes and Javier Muñoz. It had its premiere at Cannes in the Marché du Film and will be released in 2024 by Good Deed Entertainment. She is currently developing a science-comedy show with BBC Studios and her pilot “Pro-Tem” was a semifinalist in the Golden Script Competition and a Second Rounder in the LaunchPad Pilot Competition. Her most recent script is the feature “Miracle on 74th Street,” a collaboration with her partner Sean Crespo and Jill Kargman (“Odd Mom Out”), based on Jill’s original pilot. Production is slated for 2024.
Previously, Carol was the Senior Field Producer on Jimmy Fallon’s “The Kids Tonight Show,” the Supervising Producer for Amazon’s “Prime Rewind: Inside The Boys,” the head writer on NBC pilot “The Whenever Show” starring Franchesca Ramsey and the creative lead behind “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee’s” award-winning digital team. She got her start in late night as the Digital Producer at “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” where she innovated their live-streaming content and wrote sketches for Adam McKay and Guillermo del Toro among others.
She and creative/life partner Sean live with their two dogs, Fenchurch and Brooks Hatlen, and two cats, Graham Catman and Dr. Girlfriend.
Carol is a member of the Directors Guild of America and she is repped by Chris Burns at AGI Media and Management, 646-780-5049.
SEAN CRESPO is a New York-based writer, comedian and classically-trained actor who studied at Emerson College and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He was a staff writer and featured performer on “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” for five years, for which he won two WGA Awards (and lost two Emmys). Sean also has several years of experience working as a copywriter, content manager (including SEO blogs) and a campaign creator at both a major ad agency and a boutique firm.
Most recently he co-wrote the screenplay for “Miracle on 74th Street” along with Jill Kargman (“Odd Mom Out”) and his partner Carol Ray Hartsell, slated for production in 2024. He and Carol have also written several original pilots, are finishing their next screenplay “Divorce Cruise,” and are developing a science-comedy show with BBC Studios.
As an actor, Sean has guest or co-starred on “Blue Bloods,” “Gotham,” “Happyish,” and “Red Oaks,” and had supporting roles in the films “Me & Lizzie,” a murder-comedy starring Lucy DeVito, Cathy Curtin and Rob Yang, and indie rom-com, “Love…Reconsidered” starring Sophie Von Haselberg, Colton Haynes and Javier Muñoz. He also co-wrote and starred in the pilot "Alternate Side Parking" alongside Janelle James ("Abbott Elementary"). And he has been seen and/or heard in commercials for Domino’s, Ally Bank, Jet Blue, Samsung, Navy Federal Credit Union, E-Trade and Dell. He was also the voice of Green Mountain Coffee for four years.
As a comedian and improviser, Sean studied with the Groundlings, UCB and Empty Stage and hosted popular long-running NYC comedy showcases “The Drink at Work Show” and “Lasers In The Jungle.”
Sean was born in Boston but spent some of his first years in his dad’s native El Salvador, where he learned Spanish and had his appendix removed. He returned home when he was four and promptly forgot Spanish, which is honestly the most Boston thing ever.
He and Carol live in NYC with their two dogs, Fenchurch and Brooks Hatlen, and two cats, Graham Catman and Dr. Girlfriend.
Sean is a member of the Writers Guild of America and he's repped commercially by A3 Artists (formerly Abrams Artists), (646) 486-6400, and for Legit by Boals, Winnett & Associates, (212) 500-1424.
What are the issues in the WGA strike? Is AI a real threat to writers, or is that all hype? What's at stake if the studios win? What does this mean for emerging writers?
AoBFF co-founder Anthony DeVito (SAG-AFTRA) talks with Sean Crespo (WGA, SAG-AFTRA) and Carol Ray Hartsell (DGA) about the WGA Strike.