Discovery Series: Intro to TV Development & Production

Elissa Johnson is the Sr. Director of Development at Part2 Pictures in Brooklyn. Elissa has worked in both Los Angeles and New York as a Producer and development executive with a decade of experience. She began her career at Scott Free Productions before moving over to Pivot/Participant Media. After relocating to New York, Elissa focused on developing factual and documentary projects at Loud Television (part of ITV America). She has pitched premium documentary series, lifestyle formats, and nonfiction programs and enjoys partnering with documentary filmmakers on projects. Projects include Double Take (FB Watch), Death by a Thousand Cuts, winner of the Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize at the 2016 Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), Killing Jesus (NGC), Killing Kennedy (NGC), Killing Lincoln (NGC), Crimes of the Century (CNN), and Gettysburg (History Channel).

Sarina Roma has travelled to six continents to direct and produce inspiring human stories for television and film. She produced and served as second unit director on the One Show, CLIO and Cannes Lion award-winning series Nissan GT Academy for Spike and produced the Emmy-nominated, and NAACP and Gracie award-winning series Oprah’s Master Class, as well as Visionaries, and the landmark series Belief, all for OWN. She has recently worked with Netflix, directing and producing for the series, Abstract: The Art of Design, which premiered at Sundance in 2017, was the showrunner on 7 Days Out and produced the comedy special, Jenny Slate: Stage Fright. In addition to her film and television work, Sarina has directed and produced content for brands like Airbnb, American Express, Axe, Cadillac, Dove, GAP, and WeWork. After graduating from Oberlin College, Sarina began her career as a research assistant on the Academy Award-nominated documentary Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.