Karl -
Heather is an Emmy-winning director and producer, and a Guggenheim, Sundance, and Fulbright fellow. Her film WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM won an Emmy, an Independent Spirit Award, and a SXSW Jury Award. Her films have been funded by the Ford Foundation/Just Films, the MacArthur Foundation, the Sundance Documentary Fund, Chicken & Egg, and ITVS, among others. They have screened and won awards at SXSW, Slamdance, Tribeca, Full Frame, Silverdocs, and others, and have broadcast nationally on PBS, including POV, Independent Lens and America ReFramed, and streamed on Netflix and the Washington Post. Her short documentary FOR THE RECORD recently premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Fest, and her ITVS, Ford, and IDA-funded feature BREAKING THE NEWS premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival in June.
She comes from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and is proud to call herself a Yooper. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband P.J. and her 14-year-old rescue pit bull Meeps.
Paul Stekler - Producer
Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics and history have won multiple Emmys, Peabodys, and du-Pont-Columbia Journalism awards and have all been aired nationally on PBS. His films include Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, Vote for Me: Politics in America, a two-night national special directed and produced with Louie Alvarez and Andy Kolker, two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights history series films, and three films aired on PBS’s independent documentary series POV, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style, Louisiana Boys: Raised on Politics, and Getting Back to Abnormal. He has a doctorate in American politics (Harvard ’82), ran the University of Texas’s film program for many years, his opinion pieces have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and Killing Custer, a book he co-wrote with James Welch, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
TWDY - Composer
Paul Stekler’s documentaries about American politics and history have won multiple Emmys, Peabodys, and du-Pont-Columbia Journalism awards and have all been aired nationally on PBS. His films include Sundance Special Jury Prize winner George Wallace: Settin’ the Woods on Fire, Vote for Me: Politics in America, a two-night national special directed and produced with Louie Alvarez and Andy Kolker, two of the Eyes on the Prize civil rights history series films, and three films aired on PBS’s independent documentary series POV, Last Man Standing: Politics Texas Style, Louisiana Boys: Raised on Politics, and Getting Back to Abnormal. He has a doctorate in American politics (Harvard ’82), ran the University of Texas’s film program for many years, his opinion pieces have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and USA Today, and Killing Custer, a book he co-wrote with James Welch, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Meet the Team
Heather Courtney - Director
Heather is an Emmy-winning director and producer, and a Guggenheim, Sundance, and Fulbright fellow. Her film WHERE SOLDIERS COME FROM won an Emmy, an Independent Spirit Award, and a SXSW Jury Award. Her films have been funded by the Ford Foundation/Just Films, the MacArthur Foundation, the Sundance Documentary Fund, Chicken & Egg, and ITVS, among others. They have screened and won awards at SXSW, Slamdance, Tribeca, Full Frame, Silverdocs, and others, and have broadcast nationally on PBS, including POV, Independent Lens and America ReFramed, and streamed on Netflix and the Washington Post. Her short documentary FOR THE RECORD recently premiered at the Big Sky Documentary Film Fest, and her ITVS, Ford, and IDA-funded feature BREAKING THE NEWS premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival in June.
She comes from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and is proud to call herself a Yooper. She now lives in Los Angeles with her husband P.J. and her 14-year-old rescue pit bull Meeps.
Karen Skloss - Editor
Karen Skloss’ films have been shown on HBO, in the MOMA, in wide theatrical release, and in film festivals internationally. Her work as an editor includes the acclaimed dramedy, “Support the Girls” (dir. Andrew Bujalski) which was listed as a top movie pick by former president Barack Obama. She began her career with the celebrated documentary, “Be Here to Love Me: The Story of Townes Van Zandt” (dir. Margaret Brown). Recently she co-produced and edited, “Have You Got It Yet?” (dir. Roddy Bogawa) about Pink Floyd’s legendary Syd Barrett, to be theatrically released in the summer of 2023. She began her career in film as a child actor and made her narrative directorial debut with the psychedelic coming-of-age film, “The Honor Farm,” which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival. “Sunshine,” her first documentary feature as director, was nationally broadcast on PBS's Emmy Award-winning series, Independent Lens.