(Episode 300) "Cobra Kai" Director: Marielle Woods.

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Episode 300.
"Cobra Kai"
Director: Marielle Woods.

I could not be more proud to have the 300th episode be a guest that's this awesome. Really loved speaking with Marielle who is really passionate about filmmaking. We talk all things Cobra Kai, who the real villain is and why the show manages to touch all ages and generations. 

Great talk.

Marielle Woods is an award-winning, queer filmmaker who thrives in the high-stakes world of action storytelling. She pushes emotional buttons and visual boundaries, telling stories that make audiences think — with a few explosions and car chases along the way. 

After receiving her BA from Harvard in 2008, Woods moved west and has been working as an LA-based director and producer ever since. She got her start in docudrama television, crafting shows for networks including Discovery, History, A&E and Animal Planet. She cut her teeth filming gunfights, avalanches and animal attacks, traveling around the globe in pursuit of good stories. Now, she lives every week like it's Shark Week. 

Determined to move into the scripted world, Woods cold-called and warm-emailed her way to observing on FAST & FURIOUS 6 and CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER. Shortly thereafter, she transitioned a similar shadowing opportunity into a hired position assisting the stunt team on JOHN WICK: CHAPTER TWO. She then moved up to become a Stunt Department Coordinator, and spent almost a decade working with some of the best Stunt Coordinators and Second Unit Directors in the business on projects including BABY DRIVER, BRIGHT, and WESTWORLD. 

Woods’ short films have toured the festival circuit with acceptances including LA Shorts Fest, Montreal World Film Festival, Cleveland International Film Festival, Cinequest, Rhode Island Flickers, Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and NBCU Short Cuts. She flipped a car in the jungles of Puerto Rico for her short, MI CORAZON, and recreated war-torn Iraq on a soundstage in Culver City for her 2018 film, DO NO HARM. In 2019, Woods turned sign-spinning into a martial art for her AFI DWW film, SPIN. 

Woods has been recognized as a member of the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, the Universal Directors Initiative and the HBOAccess Directing Fellowship. She has directed episodes for Seasons 4 & 5 of COBRA KAI for Netflix and Sony TV. Her original queer-action-romance, HEART SHOT, made as part of Netflix's Emerging Filmmakers Initiative, is streaming worldwide on Netflix.

Currently, Woods is in development on a number of original action projects spanning a range of genres and tones. She is working to create “non-binary” filmmaking – blending the emotional resonance that some might deem “feminine” with the societally assigned “masculinity” of the action genre.

Welcome, Marielle Woods.


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