In this issue:
MESSAGE FROM HARVARDWOOD
NEWS
2025 Harvardwood Emerging Visual Artist Fellowship Applications Open
Harvardwood Writers Competition 2025 Applications Late Deadline Still Open
Call for 30-Second Testimonials: Harvardwood’s 25th Anniversary - due next Friday!
Membership Perk: 50% off your first month with a Wombi eBike for LA and Seattle Members
Featured Job: Coordinator, Multiplatform Strategy & Planning
FEATURES
Alumni Profile: Madeline Benson AB ’14 (music director, songwriter, pianist)
Industry News
Welcome New Members
Exclusive Q&A with Cara Natterson AB ’92 and Vanessa Kroll Bennett (authors, podcasters)
CALENDAR & NOTES
Getting it Right: Portrayals of Kids, Adolescence and Puberty in Media and Entertainment (Virtual)
WE LIVE IN CAIRO with Talkback (NYC)
Veterans Day Pitch Panel (Virtual)
NYC Harvardwood Holiday Party (NYC)
Shaping the Future of Animation with Danielle Feinberg AB ’96, VFX Supervisor at Pixar (Virtual)
LA Harvardwood Holiday Party (LA)
Last Month at Harvardwood
Want to submit your success(es) to Harvardwood HIGHLIGHTS? Do so by posting here!
November is the month for us to eat leftover candy, wear touch-screen-compatible gloves, and remember that just because it's hot during the day doesn't mean you won't get pneumonia at night.
It is also the last month to submit your 2025 Harvardwood Emerging Visual Artist Fellowship Applications, get those fancy whosits and whatnots in! And for our silliest, most procrastinating, wittle writers, the Harvardwood Writers Competition Late Deadline is still open—we pinky promise. Do ya want your face on things? Do ya?! Go ahead and submit a 30-sec Testimonial for Harvardwood’s 25th Anniversary video.
Powered by gimmicky seasonal baked goods, we have planned a bunch of events! Come learn about Puberty and Adolescence in Media, or pitch at the Veterans Day Pitch Panel. Go see WE LIVE IN CAIRO with the New York gang, and party the holiday season in LA and NYC with us! We wanna hear from you, our members what your favorite sitcom holiday episode is.
As always, if you have an idea for an event or programming, please tell us about it here. If you have an announcement about your work or someone else's, please share it here (members) and it will appear in our Weekly and/or next HIGHLIGHTS issue.
Best wishes,
Grace Shi
Operations and Communications
2025 Harvardwood Emerging Visual Artist Fellowship Applications Open
Harvardwood is pleased to announce the inaugural Harvardwood Emerging Visual Artist Fellowship for visual artists who have graduated from Harvard College in the past five years. The purpose of the Fellowship is to develop, elevate, and amplify visual artists during the crucial early stages of their careers. The generous gift from an anonymous donor will support at least one artist as they pursue their creative projects over the course of a year.
The inaugural Fellow will be notified by December 31st, 2024, and the Fellowship will run from January 1, 2025 through December 31, 2025. At least one Fellow will be named and awarded a $10,000 grant. Grant funds can be used at the grantee’s discretion in support of their creative work for the duration of the Fellowship period.
Applicants must have graduated from Harvard College within the last 5 years (degree received between May 2019 and December 2024). This Fellowship is open to artists working in predominantly visual disciplines (sculpture, painting, photography, printmaking, textiles, ceramics, drawing/illustration, multimedia, etc). For the purposes of this Fellowship, the fields of narrative or nonfiction film, theater, and performance art are not included; artists working exclusively in these disciplines may apply for other Harvardwood Fellowships. Applicants may reach out to Harvardwood for confirmation if there is uncertainty around whether their work falls into an included category.
Each Fellow will receive additional assistance through Harvardwood via programs, resources, and access to the wider Harvardwood network during their fellowship year.
Applications open now through Friday, November 30th, 2024 at 11:59pm PT.
More info and application HERE.
Harvardwood Writers Competition (HWC) 2025 Late Deadline Still Open
The Harvardwood Writers Competition (HWC) was founded in 2006 with the aim of recognizing superior work by Harvard writers and giving these talented individuals the opportunity to gain industry exposure.
We're accepting submissions of half-hour pilots, one act plays, one-hour pilots, and feature scripts.
HWC applicants can opt to receive judging comments and feedback for each script submitted. The notes are aimed to illuminate judges' reactions to your script (beyond the numerical average of your scores received by semi-finalists and finalists) and may be useful to you for future rewrites.
Only Full Members of Harvardwood are eligible for the competition (Friends of Harvardwood are ineligible). To become a Full member, non-members can register by clicking here.
November 11th, 2024 - late deadline $75
More info and application HERE.
Call for 30-second Video Testimonials: Harvardwood’s 25th Anniversary - due next Friday!
Harvardwood is celebrating 25 years of fostering creativity, connection, and community in the arts, media, and entertainment industries. To commemorate this milestone, we’re creating a vibrant 3-minute sizzle reel that captures the essence of Harvardwood and its impact over the past quarter-century…featuring YOU!
If you’d like to submit a 30-second video testimonial sharing your Harvardwood story, please click HERE. Submissions are due next Friday, November 8.
Membership Perk: 50% off your first month with a Wombi eBike for LA and Seattle Members
Wombi is a subscription service for Tern e-bikes (durable, high-quality, electric cargo bikes) designed to replace your car. Bikes start at $115 a month (50% off your first month with Harvardwood’s special discount). Wombi will deliver your e-bike, as well as provide insurance and maintenance. Learn more here.
(Subscriptions are billed monthly and require 4 weeks' notice to cancel.)
Wombi has a location in Seattle and just opened a new location in Los Angeles!
Featured Job: Coordinator, Multiplatform Strategy & Planning
Job Description:
The Multiplatform Scheduling Coordinator will be scheduling and coordinating promotional assets to support linear and multiplatform for Bravo and some E! and Oxygen.
Alumni Profile: Madeline Benson AB ’14 (music director, songwriter, pianist)
by Laura Frustaci AB '21
Madeline Benson AB '14 is a music director, songwriter, and pianist based in New York City. As a theater artist, she has long lived in the overlap of theater and songwriting, performing and facilitating the work of composers such as Sara Bareilles, Gavin Creel, Andrew Butler, and the Lazours. In 2016, Madeline made history as the youngest woman to ever conduct on Broadway when she served as conductor for WAITRESS. She is currently adapting the upcoming stage version of Disney’s TANGLED alongside composer Alan Menken. Madeline holds a B.A. in Classical Civilizations from Harvard University.
Madeline Benson (AB ’14) arrived at Harvard as a student of classical piano. But while at college, she discovered music directing and conducting through her experiences with the Radcliffe Pitches and HRDC shows. She fell in love with music directing for two reasons: her skills supported the work and she enjoyed it! “My musical toolkit was well-suited to what music directors have to do,” she smiles. “I love making stuff up on the fly, sight-reading, and the flexibility that theater demands from you.”
Despite majoring in Classical Civilizations while at the college, Madeline has found that her time studying at Harvard was also helpful for her career in a more abstract way than giving her hands-on music directing opportunities. “My experience with a lot of Harvard grads has been that what our concentrations gave us was a way of approaching a realm of thought or problem-solving,” she explains. “It’s about tackling big, complex ideas, breaking them down, and creating a plan or schema around them. Taking a big idea and breaking it down into smaller ideas… I think that’s also an artist’s process.”
She took her artist’s process to New York upon graduation. “I moved to New York and just tried to follow the momentum,” she recalls. “My first few years, I was a music assistant for a lot of shows in development. I did a lot of piano-related work, like rehearsal piano and playing for auditions, and a lot of transcribing sheet music.” Eventually, for Madeline, that freelance work led to more music directing opportunities and Broadway conducting opportunities, and now she finds herself in what she describes as a “big, dispersed cloud of music and theater.”
She’s had a fairly special run thus far in her career, making history as the youngest woman to direct on Broadway with Sara Bareilles’s musical WAITRESS in 2016. That experience was “unforgettable, so formative, and life-changing” for Madeline. “Not just because I got to conduct, but because I got to work with Sara Bareilles, who is a lifelong hero and a huge influence on my love of music and songwriting,” she recalls. “Watching how she worked in creative spaces was incredibly formative for me.”
However, Madeline notes the disheartening feeling that comes along with making history like this. “Men have been conducting Broadway orchestras at even younger ages for a long time,” she says. “So, while it was really cool and I’m proud of it, it was also startling to realize that it was history-making. My only hope with all that is that it makes the gig seem even 5% more in reach for the next young woman who’s considering this path. Over time, that’s how we collectively break the glass ceiling. It’s not one person doing it all at once. It’s making it a little easier for the next person. There were many women before me doing that for me before I even got to New York. Someone has to be the first to make it easier for the next person.”
It’s that sort of dissonance that Madeline also finds within the Broadway industry as a whole. “Growing up, there was this magic in cast albums,” she grins. “It felt like there was this whole world and community happening in New York. The magic of having a CD at the time was an entry point into this hugely imaginative world… There was just always this aura of possibility and imagination around Broadway. It was irresistible to me, and the thought that I could take a step toward it or be part of it... I kind of put it up on this pedestal, thinking, ‘Well, that’s like making magic.’”
But in reality, she’s found the industry a bit more complicated than her childhood imagination portrayed. “I think the biggest [challenge] in the theater industry right now is this preoccupation with what audiences want to see,” Madeline states. “On one level, I understand the impulse to craft work around that prompt— making musicals that have familiar styles of music or familiar stories, either through archetypes or literal existing intellectual property like well-known movies. Since COVID, Broadway is still rebuilding its audience, and tourism is crucial, so adaptations of existing IP can be wonderful. By no means does that mean it’s not a creative venture. However, I think what really grips audiences is when a show knows itself well enough to say [confidently]—instead of asking, ‘Do you like this?’ telling them, ‘You're gonna like this!’"
Aside from industry-wide complexities, Madeline also faces some more personal challenges as she works. “The biggest challenge of my career has been that music directors are in this beautiful, sacred position of facilitating and interpreting the work of composers, directors, and other artists,” Madeline explains. “Those relationships are the most intricate, challenging, and rewarding aspects of the job. Every composer is different, and what they look for in their music director can vary a lot. Directors change so much case by case, and that sort of adaptability to walk into a new collaboration and build it is really intimate and rewarding, but it can feel like dating. Everyone is kind of trying to find the people that make them feel most safe and creative. I believe any artist who's vulnerable enough to share their work deserves to be surrounded by really trusted people. I take the music directing role very seriously because… it's about supporting people well.”
As much as she works supporting others in bringing their creative visions to fruition, Madeline is also currently embarking on her own solo journey right now. She’s in the process of recording an album of her own music, with the first and second singles already out (listen to them here!). “It's been a long time coming for me,” Madeline smiles. “I think we all have many facets to our artistic identities, but I may have gotten a little fearful or complacent in being in this supportive facilitator role… So, I’m releasing all this music, and it feels incredibly unknown and new.”
With her many years of experience, Madeline has some wonderful advice for young, aspiring music directors. First, you must “know your toolkit and own it.” This is because, Madeline says, “Music directors are good at different things, and something that’s been humbling but valuable as I’ve gotten a few years under my belt is realizing there are some jobs I’m just not the best fit for as a music director… Instead of being a generalist, I think it can help to say, ‘This is what I really, really specialize in,’... Knowing yourself is good. That doesn’t limit you.”
Her other piece of advice is specifically for female music directors looking to enter the musical theater industry. “There's a real influx of female music directors and conductors in the last few years, which is wonderful, and I hope it increases forever,” Madeline pauses, “[But] I think it's worth keeping an eye on this question of facilitating and supporting because women are really good at those things. It makes total sense why women are great conductors and music directors. That's not even a question… But women shouldn’t settle for being in close proximity to the creative process if they’re the ones who should actually be in the driver's seat, thinking it all up.”
Industry News
ORPHEUS PROJECT thriller in the works at Amazon, centered on a group of young doctors who conduct dangerous experiments on themselves that skirt the line between life and death. Jack Tar Pictures’ Marc Resteghini AB ’99 will executive produce. (Hollywood Reporter)
Anthony Ramos joins Rebecca Ferguson and Idris Elba in a new film from Kathryn Bigelow, which is reported to take place in the White House as ballistic missiles head for America. The new thriller is penned by Noah Oppenheim AB ’00. (Screen Rant)
Hear creator Mike Schur AB ’97 speak on his plans to adapt the 2021 Oscar-nominated documentary THE MOLE AGENT into a new comedy Netflix TV series A MAN ON THE INSIDE. (EW)
Jim Henson Company is developing PAUL THE BEAR, a kid’s TV show. SUMMER CAMP ISLAND creator Julia Pott and former Disney star Raviv Ullman, with Lisa Henson AB ’82 from Jim Henson Company, will produce the new live-action series about a brown bear. (Hollywood Reporter)
Lorenzo di Bonaventura AB ’80's TRANSFORMERS ONE is now available on digital platforms like Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+. A follow-up film is already being conceptualized. (Forbes)
Rubén Blades LLM ’85 to be honored in 2024-2025 as Lincoln Center’s Visionary Artist. The Panamanian musician will have dedicated concerts, film screenings, and more. (Playbill)
Lauren Greenfield AB ’87 GSA ’88, director of the docuseries SOCIAL STUDIES, says we must have empathy for teens growing up online. Listen to an interview with Lauren on WIRED, regarding her docuseries. (Wired)
Read this article discussing how Damien Chazelle’s AB ’07 Oscar-winning film LA LA LAND broke one of the longest-standing records in Oscar history, and more. (Screenrant)
The filmmakers behind the Disney+ doc ELTON JOHN: NEVER TOO LATE, David Furnish and R.J. Cutler AB ’84, discuss how they discovered the biggest interview of John’s career “buried in the archives of the New York Public Library” ahead of the movie’s premiere in December. (Hollywood Reporter)
Elle Kennedy’s OFF CAMPUS books are getting the screen treatment from Amazon Prime Video, which has ordered a series adaptation of the romance novels. Marty Bowen AB ’91 will executive produce the series alongside others. (Variety)
Olivia Rodrigo’s GUTS concert film is heading to Netflix after footage was captured at the Los Angeles shows in August. This film was produced by Aleen Keshishian AB ’90, and others. (The Wrap)
Adventurous new trailer for PADDINGTON IN PERU sees the bear embark on a journey to El Dorado. David Heyman AB ’83 and Rosie Alison will produce along with Rob Silva as co-producer. (Geek Tyrant)
Darren Aronofsky’s AB ’91 next film, CAUGHT STEALING, is currently shooting in NYC. Read here to learn more about the upcoming new thriller and its production. (World of Reel)
BOOKSMART and STAR WARS alum Billie Lourd is boarding the Harvey Guillén and Josh Brener AB ’07 comedy THAT FRIEND. This film explores the dynamics of friendship and growing up. (Deadline)
Welcome New Members
Harvardwood warmly welcomes all members who joined the organization last month (or those who migrated their membership over):
Scott Anderson
Juliana C Rogoff
Kyra Atekwana
Shatha Hussein
Mauricio Velez Dominguez
Gunnhildur Fríða Hallgrímsdóttir
Efrem Bonetti
Mayowa Olibale
Kacy Bao
Gabriela Acevedo
Xilin Zhou
Joanna Shabo
Exclusive Q&A with Cara Natterson AB ’92 and Vanessa Kroll Bennett (authors, podcasters)
Dr. Cara Natterson AB ’92 is a pediatrician and New York Times bestselling author of ten books including THE CARE and KEEPING OF YOU series. Vanessa Kroll Bennett is a bestselling author and puberty educator. Together, they are two of the most trusted voices on puberty, co-authoring the national bestseller THIS IS SO AWKWARD: MODERN PUBERTY EXPLAINED and co-hosting THIS IS SO AWKWARD, the podcast. Cara and Vanessa run Less Awkward, the first company aimed at making puberty more comfortable with a membership for parents, an innovative health & sex ed curriculum for schools, and game changing products. Cara and Vanessa speak to audiences across the country, using science and humor to encourage open (albeit awkward) conversations – a relatable, reliable approach to help keep kids safe and healthy. They don’t just hand out this advice; they live it: between them they are raising six teenagers.
Q: THIS IS SO AWKWARD has expanded from a bestselling book to a podcast as well as your company, Less Awkward, which is the first company aimed at making puberty more comfortable—how has working across different media platforms influenced your messaging and approach? How do you tailor your content across different media formats?
This is something we think a lot about on many levels. First, while many people assume we’re just talking to parents, we actually have tons of people in our audience who are not parents, but educators, healthcare providers, coaches, mentors, family members, and other trusted adults. We want our messaging to be inclusive of all those people because tweens and teens need as many informed adults in their corner as possible.
Secondly, while much of our audience is made up of adults working to learn how to be the best guides and sources of information for kids, we also have a lot of young people who read, watch, and listen to our content. We want to make sure our style allows them to feel like they have a place with us as well. We are incredibly conscious of not being cringey or trying too hard to be cool for the kids; we also don’t want to turn them off if they find our content too serious or dry. So for example, there are certain videos we post on both Instagram and TikTok because they work across audiences, and others that just get posted on IG reels because young people would not relate to them. Or there are videos we use in our health + sex ed school curriculum that might not perform well on social, but really hit in a middle school classroom!
Q: What are some of the challenges and advantages of discussing such a sensitive topic like puberty in a public space, whether in books, podcasts, or live speaking engagements?
Our goal is to get as much science-based, accurate, and non-alarmist information to as many people as possible. So we are extremely deliberate about how we talk about topics. On the one hand, it’s a maddening reality that we can be (and sometimes are!) censored for using anatomically correct language for body parts – some educators even get kicked off social media platforms for teaching about things like pornography or sex. So, unfortunately we have to tread carefully. On the other hand, by being really thoughtful and sensitive to different levels of comfort with this content, it allows us to reach a wider variety of people, including those for whom a more in-your-face approach might feel like too much. It’s super important to remember that everyone brings their own histories and their own baggage into conversations about puberty and sexuality – our approach aims to make as many people feel as comfortable as possible.
Q: Podcasts are incredibly popular for building community—how has THIS IS SO AWKWARD helped you connect with a broader audience, and what have you learned from your listeners?
We have an extremely devoted listenership, partially because we talk about topics that literally no other podcasts cover in the way that we do. Our listeners also tell us that they come back again and again because they feel like we’re two friends sitting with them at their kitchen table. They appreciate that Cara and I bring our own chemistry and relationship into the show, and they love when we share our own personal challenges, failures, and victories. The trick with our community is that raising kids this age can feel very lonely – the stakes are higher, the issues are more private – so we try to help people feel less alone during this stage.
Q: How have social media and digital platforms helped shape the conversation around puberty, and how do you engage with your audience through these channels?
Social media and digital platforms are part of almost everything we do to educate and engage our audience. Our Instagram and TikTok accounts deliver bite-sized information to the public, which in turn are used in our school-based health and sex ed curriculum on the digital platform Learndash. The same videos are used in our private Less Awkward membership community which lives on a digital platform called Circle. And everything we do trains our AI chatbot, the Awkward Bot. Our goal is to leverage the positive power of media and technology to inform and empower our audience.
Q: As authors and media figures, how do you balance being informative with creating content that is entertaining and engaging for both parents and teens?
We experiment with this all of the time! We created awesome animated characters—a talking zit, a talking boob, singing tampons etc.—that we thought would be massive but didn’t take off at all on social media. But it turns out, they resonate loudly in our curriculum for middle school kids. And the stuff we didn’t think would land—one of us talking to camera about a specific science-based or social/emotional topic—actually performs really well on social. Here’s one thing that works across all platforms: when we talk about anything related to male anatomy or physiology (think: penises, wet dreams, or erections), the engagement is through the roof!
Q: How do you decide what topics to cover on your podcast or in your writing? Do you draw more from current events, listener feedback, or personal experiences?
We try to strike a balance between all these different streams because on the one hand, we want the podcast to feel evergreen, but on the other hand, there are always new studies and current events that deeply affect or reflect the lives of tweens and teens. So we try to “yes and” the situation. We are always looking to incorporate listener questions into our work—our assumption is that if one person is asking the question, there are hundreds or even thousands of people struggling with the same issue. And finally, we interject our personal experiences but do so with intentionality and always with the permission of our families. We want people to feel that we are in the trenches with them (which is true!), not looking from above with judgment (also true!!).
Q: Media around parenting can sometimes be overwhelming—how do you differentiate your content in a crowded space to make it approachable and authentic?
We are SO conscious of not adding to the cacophony of parenting advice. We are very deliberate in speaking up or putting out content only when it is truly additive—generally, this means when we have a unique angle or perspective. Because Cara is a pediatrician, our content is science-based and offers a different take than many of the other voices out there. People are starving for accurate health information, so we give a lot of it. On top of that, we use humor very deliberately to put our audience at ease when engaging on tricky topics. There is a place for earnestness, but laughter and fun are also such an important ingredient for speaking parents.
Q: How do you see the conversation around puberty evolving in the future, especially with increased attention to gender inclusivity and body positivity?
Honestly, we’re a week out from the 2024 presidential election and we just have no idea where things are going to go. On the positive side, today’s young people have grown up with gender inclusivity and body positivity as integral parts of their lives. They are fluent and comfortable with it in ways our generation could only hope to be. On the other hand, the politicization of these issues has polarized our culture in a way that may only get worse with our country so divided. We hope that what we offer in our school curriculum, in our parent membership, with our podcast and our books, are a wide variety of ways into these important conversations. We want to give people and institutions many, many approaches to engage on topics that might feel uncomfortable or foreign, but that they know need to be covered.
Getting it Right: Portrayals of Kids, Adolescence, and Puberty in Media and Entertainment (Virtual)
Tuesday 11/12 Free for all members
Join Harvardwood and the Center for Scholars and Storytellers for an engaging discussion on how kids, adolescence, and puberty are portrayed in media and entertainment with three renowned experts: Dr. Cara Natterson AB '92, Vanessa Kroll Bennett, and Dr. Yalda T. Uhls.
WE LIVE IN CAIRO with Talkback (NYC)
Wednesday 11/13
Come attend a performance of WE LIVE IN CAIRO, featuring vocal arrangement by supervisor Harvard alum Madeline Benson AB '14.
Veterans Day Pitch Panel (Virtual)
Wednesday 11/13 Free for all members
This Veterans Day, join Harvardwood and the Harvard Veterans Alumni Organization for an inspiring Pitch Panel where selected veterans will have the unique opportunity to present their stories to Harvardwood staff and industry VIPs.
NYC Harvardwood Holiday Party (NYC)
Thursday 11/21 Free for all members
Join us in-person in New York City for an informal holiday gathering.
Shaping the Future of Animation with Danielle Feinberg AB '96, VFX Supervisor at Pixar (Virtual)
Thursday 12/05 Free for all members
Join us for an engaging conversation with animation industry trailblazer Danielle Feinberg!
LA Harvardwood Holiday Party 2024 (LA)
Friday 12/06
Join us in LA for an evening of drinks, apps, and mingling to celebrate the 2024 Holiday Season.
Last Month at Harvardwood
Last Month at Harvardwood, we discussed Bridging Science and Story through Media, the Harvardwood Writers Program welcomed special guest Nikhil Jayaram to discuss THE TV WRITER’S HIDDEN PATH, we celebrated Halloween with the Ivys, and more!
Want to submit your success(es) to Harvardwood HIGHLIGHTS? Do so by posting here!
Become a Harvardwood member! We work hard to create programming that you, the membership, would like to be engaged with. Please consider joining Harvardwood and becoming an active member of our arts, media, and entertainment community!
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Harvardwood does not represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any of the information, content or advertisements (collectively "Materials") contained on, distributed through, or linked, downloaded or accessed from any of the services contained in this e-mail. You hereby acknowledge that any reliance upon any Materials shall be at your sole risk. The materials are provided by Harvardwood on an "AS IS" basis, and Harvardwood expressly disclaims any and all warranties, express or implied.