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Shelby Blake Bartelstein jokes that she’s a “recovering actor” whose “gateway drug” was musicals in junior high. Her passions have served her well, though: The Chicago native went from the theater to applying that same spunky, eccentric outlook to commercials for some of the world’s biggest brands. One of her projects, “I Can’t Wait to Wash My Face: The Musical!,” from Olay, went viral and made its TV debut on the 2018 MTV VMAs.

SeriesFest is a non-profit organization that champions and empowers artists at the forefront of episodic storytelling. Each year, they host a one-of-a-kind television series festival, which features up-and-coming work and their makers screening alongside industry leaders in discussion about the television and streaming industry. Here’s our Managing Director Amanda Needham’s top five takeaways from the event.

Most people, after having the marathon couple of months that Shondaland Creative Partner Betsy Beers has had, would take some time off to unwind. While it’s normal for the self-described “Eveready Bunny” to hop from one thing to the next without pause, the past few months have required an especially large amount of stamina: going to Denver in May to accept a well-earned Impact in Television Award at the TV symposium SeriesFest and then to New York weeks later for the global premiere of the third season of Bridgerton, as well as the London premiere soon after that, along with the day-to-day demands of being half of the top TV team in Hollywood, alongside Shonda Rhimes.

For the past five years, Beers, alongside Shondaland founder Shonda Rhimes and Head of Creative Production Tom Verica, have partnered with SeriesFest to offer on-the-rise female directors the opportunity to shadow Shondaland productions with the Women Directing Mentorship (…) As for the SeriesFest leadership team, they have nothing but praise for Beers and her Shondaland team, as they continue to work together with the Women Directing Mentorship program, which was awarded this year to writer/director Shelby Blake Bartelstein.