Hi, everyone. What a surreal episode to publish, but Aviva’s producer, mentor, and friend, Karen Glass, passed away unexpectedly this week. We are heartbroken. We wanted to re-release the conversation we had with her from season one of the podcast in 2023. It was a privilege to hear all her amazing stories — she made all our favorite films from childhood. We are sending love to her family and friends. She will be greatly missed.

May her memory be a blessing.

זִכְרוֹנָהּ לִבְרָכָ.

Zikhronah livrakha

Read about her legacy: https://deadline.com/2025/12/karen-glass-dead-pickleball-christmas-1236656852

She's back...our first guest on the pod, Carley Smale, joins us almost exactly two years later for a fun catch up! We loved getting to hear how Carley's career has grown since we last had her on the pod! In this episode, we chat about the challenges of maintaining creativity amidst life's pressures, the current slowdown in the entertainment industry, and the importance of persistence in pursuing creative goals! We're also so excited for her because her first Netflix Christmas movie, "My Secret Santa, " is about to come out!! She also has another Christmas movie, "Thank God: Christmas at Keller Ranch" coming out on Lifetime too -- time to start the Christmas movie marathon!

Trailer for 'My Secret Santa:' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9Y5qYp8ro8

Press release for Thank God" Christmas at Keller Ranch: https://itsawonderfulmovie.blogspot.com/2025/10/lifetime-announces-christmas-film-thank.html

Follow Carley on Instagram at: @YouveGotSmalee

Listen & follow her podcast: @teenagedirtbagzpodcast

Feel free to email us: ⁠whenisabelmetaviva@gmail.com⁠

Our new Bluesky account: whenisabelmetaviva.bsky.social

Instagram: @whenisabelmetaviva

Follow Isabel on Instagram: Isabel_k_t ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Aviva on Instagram and BlueSky: @avivapeltin

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/albert-behar/la-vita-bella

We're beyond excited to share this week's episode of the pod because we finally set it up....and got to chat with Claire Scanlon, the director of Isabel's fav Netflix romcom, Set It Up!! We discuss the making of Set It Up and Claire's journey to becoming a director and editor for shows such as The Office, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and The Good Place. Claire shares sooo many fun stories from the set of Set It Up, so if you also love the movie, you're gonna love listening to Claire's memories! We also got to discuss chemistry between actors (spoiler alert: someone else was originally meant to play Harper!!) and hear all about Claire's upcoming adaptation of the hit book, The Love Hypothesis!

About Claire: Claire Scanlon directs single cam comedies for both network and cable. She started her career editing documentaries for PBS and the Discovery Channel. After supervising post and producing Last Comic Standing, she joined The Office in its fifth season. After directing The Office, Claire transitioned over to directing full time in 2013.

Claire’s IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0768957/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

Follow Claire on Instagram: @clairescanlon

Feel free to email us: ⁠whenisabelmetaviva@gmail.com⁠

Our new Bluesky account: whenisabelmetaviva.bsky.social

Instagram: @whenisabelmetaviva

Follow Isabel on Instagram: Isabel_k_t ⁠⁠⁠⁠

Follow Aviva on Instagram and BlueSky: @avivapeltin

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://uppbeat.io/t/albert-behar/la-vita-bella