The Firecracker Department

This week's guest is the insanely talented photographer & director CAITLIN CRONENBERG! We talked about how to bribe your children, needing to be at 100%, growing up on set, list-making, the “highlight of your career,” visualizing your goal, loving control, and more. @CaitCronenberg is a total boss that's shot COUNTLESS iconic photos including Drake's much-memed "Views" album cover, plus everyone from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to J.Lo! She was the Variety portrait photographer at TIFF this year, she has directed music videos, headed up campaigns for Apple... basically she seems totally fearless and confident and we dig into that beyond in this episode!

Our 150th guest this week is London-based award-winning Canadian comedian, actor, writer and producer MAE MARTIN! Mae began doing comedy at the age of 13 and dropped out of school at 15 to pursue comedy full time. They trained at The Second City, and was the youngest person to be nominated for the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award. At 16 they were nominated for a Canadian Comedy Award and recently they won a Canadian Comedy Award for their work as a writer on BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW. Netflix's FEEL GOOD is a semi-autobiographical comedy drama series created and co-written by Mae and they play Mae. Lisa Kudrow stars as their mom and Charlotte Ritchie stars as their love interest named George . FEEL GOOD has a perfect 100% “Certified Fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes. Mae’s performance earned them a Royal Television Society "Breakthrough Award", the Edinburgh TV award for “Best Comedy”, the “Best Comedy Drama series” at the C21 award and "Best Scripted Representation of LGBTQ+" at the MIPCOM Diversify TV Awards. Recently, FEEL GOOD won a Writers Guild of Great Britain Award for Best Situation Comedy.

Mae's last stand-up show, DOPE, focused on addiction, has since been turned in to a stand-up special for Netflix as part of their first global stand-up series, COMEDIANS OF THE WORLD. Mae wrote CAN EVERYONE PLEASE CALM DOWN?: A GUIDE TO TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SEXUALITY about the pros and cons of labels to coming out and the joys of sexual fluidity. You can grab a copy on Amazon or listen to it on Audible or Apple Books. You will soon be able to see Mae in their recurring guest star in a role in HBO’s THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT. Twitter: @TheMaeMartin Instagram: @hooraymae For info on CAN EVERYONE PLEASE CALM DOWN?: A GUIDE TO TWENTY FIRST CENTURY SEXUALITY and Tour Dates: https://www.maemartin.net/ Podcast Team Head Producer and Editor: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

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Catch up with our firecracker core team members Naomi @snieckus Emily @emchurchill AJ @atotheje and Veronica Martin @veronicaannemartin as we talk about the Sarah McVie episode! Let us know what resonated with you too! Reach out anytime @firecrackerdept, and find this awesome Aftershow in video form over on our Youtube channel! Come say hey!

Find Sarah on social media @sarahmcvie.

Our 12th Reel Women’s Network spotlight guest is writer, producer and crown attorney ARMIN SETHI! Armin has a superpower for making a vision come to life through Fly Away Films with her collaborator and sister Asis Sethi. She is a full-time Crown Attorney in Ontario and in the evenings or early mornings, Armin is the Editor-in-chief of Bollywood Film Fame magazine where she interviews many Bollywood icons. Since 2019, Armin as been a writer and producer for docu-series short films, including co-writing the historical DARSHAN DEKH JEEVA highlighting the story of the ten Sikh Gurus with conversations between young Sikh youth. Armin then went onto co-write with Asis, A BLOODY MESS, an award-winning film about a young South Asian woman, attempting to normalize conversations surrounding menstruation. Armin also wrote FUTURE SUPERHEROES, a film about children empowering each other to care for each other and the environment, specifically during the time of COVID-19.Armin co-wrote ROCK THE CRADLE, with Asis! ROCK THE CRADLE is a short film on postpartum depression and in November 2020, it was selected in the Top Ten Scripts at the Landed Entertainment’s Script Writing Contest.

Fly Away Films @flyawayfilmsinc https://flyawayfilms.ca/

Bollywood Film Fame Instagram: @bollywoodfilmfamecanada Twitter: @BFFCmag Facebook: @Bollywood.Film.Fame.Canada.Magazine https://bollywoodfilmfame.com/

On Reel Women’s Network https://reelwomensnetwork.com/armin-sethi/

A Bloody Mess https://watch.reelwomensnetwork.com/a-bloody-mess

Future Superheroes https://watch.reelwomensnetwork.com/future-superheroes

Asis Sethi’s Reel Women’s Spotlight https://open.spotify.com/episode/744g0lJOuUpgA80SjYkzH1?si=aeOwpdsfSHuy_aT5lgxjdQ

Reel Women's Network Twitter: @ReelWomensNetw1 Instagram and Facebook: @reelwomensnetwork https://reelwomensnetwork.com/

Podcast Team Head Producer: Winnie Wong @wonder_wong Editor: Shayne Stolz @shaynestolz Graphic: Vicki Brier @brier2019

Subscribe to our newsletter at https://www.firecrackerdepartment.com and follow us @firecrackerdept!

Jet's episode and journey made everyone want to be a part of her work! In this #firecrackerAFTERSHOW we talk about identity, blending labels, leadership on sets, their favourite films, social media's effects on creativity, and what the team's up to lately! 🧨💥

Catch up with firecracker core members Naomi @snieckus Emily @emchurchill AJ @atotheje and Sarah Potter @ssass34 on the newest Firecracker Aftershow now! 😍 If you haven't yet heard the episode, listen wherever you're listening now!