Julie Herlocker

Julie Herlocker began her directing career in 2014 with the short dramatic comedy “Peter’s Ashes.” While a producer on NBC’s “Grimm,” she made her episodic directing debut in the show’s final season. Over the course of 123 episodes, Herlocker was the only crew member to earn the opportunity to direct. Prior to directing, Herlocker was a post producer in episodic television, where she enjoyed working closely with showrunners on high-profile series including “Grimm,” “Las Vegas,” “In Justice,” Steven Spielberg presents “Taken” for Sci-Fi, “The West Wing” and “Millennium.” Discovering a passion for building tension in non-linear storytelling, she then wrote, produced and directed the short thrillers “7AM Wednesday” (2020) and “A Close Call” (2021). Recently, she graduated from the DGA’s highly selective DDI Mentorship Program for episodic television directors and has been expanding into development. Herlocker has multiple projects on her slate with her production company, Shadow Art Entertainment.

Bao Tran

Bao Tran was mentored early in his career by master action director Corey Yuen, and was instilled with an approach to action that doesn’t rely solely on spectacle, but also draws on story and character. Screen Anarchy praised his written and directed short “Bookie” for its “flawlessly realized world populated by entirely fleshed out and believable characters, driven by a compelling narrative and brought to sumptuous life.” His editing credits include “Cho Lon,” one of Southeast Asia’s highest-budgeted action blockbusters, and “Jackpot,” a heartfelt comedy selected as Vietnam’s official entry to the 2016 Oscars for Best Foreign Film. His first directorial feature, “The Paper Tigers,” garnered praise from Collider as “an impressive feature debut with confident command of the narrative and action alike, an absolutely lovely time at the movies.” Rotten Tomatoes ranked it both as the #1 action comedy of all time and one of the top 10 Asian American movies of all time with a Certified Fresh rating.

Joy T. Lane

Joy T. Lane is a North Carolina-bred filmmaker dedicated to making a difference in episodic television, one set at a time. She is an experienced script supervisor who recently made the move into directing for film and television. She helmed two episodes of the Emmy-nominated NBC series “Blindspot,” starring Jamie Alexander, on which she previously served as script supervisor. Lane was also the script supervisor on the 2005 feature drama “Homecoming,” VH1 telefilm “The Breaks,” NBC’s pandemic-themed sitcom “Connecting…” and, most recently, “Power Book III: Raising Kanan.” Some of her other series credits in this capacity include IFC’s “The Whitest Kids U’ Know” and “Z Rock” as well as MTV’s “Human Giant” and “Wild ’N Out.” Currently based in New York City, Lane got her start at a CBS affiliate television station in Greensboro, N.C. After moving to Washington, D.C., she worked on various series for PBS and Discovery. However, it was in New York that Lane took her career to the next level, parlaying a gig on ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” into greater opportunities.