back to school

So for the last four weeks I have been attending via Zoom a class at Northwestern University. All the sessions have been interesting but today's was outstanding. 

Here is the info on the current nine week class - I signed up in late summer with this history of the NU classes: I started with Jake Smith's History of the Recording Industry back in the late COVID era...that segued into three film classes from Nick Davis and his colleagues. And another Jake Smith class. And recently the one on the news media. So this is a seventh class - on film and theater, that I've chosen for this term.  I think I have at least a minor in media studies should I want to pursue a fourth degree in my 70s.

Behind the Scenes: Conversations with Filmmakers, Play Creators, and Entertainment Industry Insiders Brett Neveu, Assistant Professor, Radio-TV-Film Thursdays, 9:30 – 11:00 a.m. Norris University Center

This course will take the interactive form of a theater or film screening talkback conversation, moderated by acclaimed playwright/screenwriter Brett Neveu. 

Professor Neveu will tap his professional network, bringing a curated list of entertainment industry artists into the classroom to share insights into how films, television and plays are created. 

Guests will discuss their individual projects, their artistic history, and industry challenges such as: 

 • What does a typical workday entail from concept to curtain/screen? 

 • With new ways of content consumption, how do artists adapt to reach audiences? 

 • How do artists maintain their inspiration over the course of a long and/or expanding career? 

 • How do artists achieve good work/life balance? 

 • How will AI affect creativity and authenticity? 

Students will have the opportunity to ask questions and engage with guest artists. Supplementary course material will be available. Previewing is optional, but doing so will enhance your experience. 

As of the print deadline, current guests include: 

Dean Johnsen (television producer) 

Becky Creech and Rebecca Harris (theatre producer and New York theatre director) 

Andrea Nasfell (screenwriter, Mom’s Night Out, Mr. Manhattan) 

Michael Gilio (screenwriter & director, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, Kwik Stop 

Thursday Class Dates Sep. 18, Sep. 25 Oct. 9, Oct. 16, Oct. 23, Oct. 30 Nov. 6, Nov. 13, Nov. 20

While everyone has been very interesting I found the ones with STARS to be especially enjoyable- The first woman wrote scripts for Hallmark movies and TV shows, then an actor with incredible depth of understanding of his craft and the ability to share that knowledge. Then the two women one a director and the other a producer while both had illuminating remarks, I found the producer's work more interesting to me as it was not as familiar as the job of the director (in this case theater.) So far - at week four this has been a way better class than I expected. 

So I really have been liking this class but today's class was extra enjoyable. Brett interviewed Judy Greer who i did not know but who has done a hundred films/TV shows/theatrical plays etc. 

I told Phil he would love her interview- she was funny,  open, refreshingly honest about the industry, her experiences and life in general. She had me laughing all the way (despite the fact that she is apparently also an excellent dramatic actress as well as comedic. 

The ones marked in RED are the ones we have already had in class... 

Oct. 16, 2025 Guest: Judy Greer Bio

Judy Greer’s television credits include a recurring role as Jason Bateman's assistant Kitty on Fox's Arrested Development (2003), as well as guest-starring roles on Love & Money (1999), Maggie Winters (1998), and Early Edition (1998). Greer starred opposite Jennifer Garner in the romantic comedy 13 Going on 30 (2004), directed by Gary Winick. Greer played an office colleague alongside Garner's character, with whom she shares a checkered past. She costarred in writer-director M. Night Shyamalan's The Village (2004), opposite Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sigourney Weaver, and William Hurt. Set in 1897, the film revolves around a close-knit community that

lives with the knowledge that a mythical race of creatures resides in the woods surrounding them.. 

Greer also costarred in director Wes Craven's Cursed (2005), a modern twist on the classic werewolf tale written by Kevin Williamson. The busy actress also landed a co-starring role opposite Orlando

Bloom and Susan Sarandon in writer-director Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown (2005), playing the sister of Bloom's character and daughter of Sarandon's character. She also joined Jeff Bridges and Jeanne Tripplehorn in the independent film The Amateurs (2005) by writer director Michael Traeger. The film revolves around a motley group of friends who band together to make an amateur porn film. Greer plays a young temptress at the local mattress store who secures a role in the movie by allowing the store to be used as a film location. 

Greer wrapped production in New York on a co-starring role opposite Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent) in Danny Leiner's The Great New Wonderful (2005) The dark comedy tells five different stories against the backdrop of an uncertain post-September 11 New York. The cast also includes Maggie Gyllenhaal, Edie Falco and Tony Shalhoub. 

She also appeared in writer-director Adam Goldberg's psychological drama I Love Your Work (2003), opposite Giovanni Ribisi. The film is about a fictional movie star (Ribisi) and his gradual meltdown and increasing obsession with a young film student and his girlfriend. The stellar cast also included Franka Potente, Christina Ricci, and Jason Lee and debuted at the 2003 Toronto International Film Festival. In the film, Greer plays Samantha, the personal assistant of Ribisi's character. Greer had a starring role as the female lead role in the comedy The Hebrew Hammer (2003) as the feisty, fearless Esther, who joins forces with an Orthodox Jewish Blaxploitation hero (Adam Goldberg) to save Hanukkah from an evil son of Santa Claus (Andy Dick). 

She also appeared in Adaptation. (2002), from director Spike Jonze. In the film, Nicolas Cage stars as self-loathing writer Charlie Kaufman (and twin brother Donald) as he attempts to adapt the novel The Orchid Thief for the big screen. Greer played Alice, the waitress with whom he becomes obsessed -- the object of his fantasies.

Greer turned in a scene-stealing comedic performance in The Wedding Planner (2001), with Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey, in which she played Penny, Lopez's sweet but ditsy assistant who tries hard, but often falls a little short. 

Equally adept at more dramatic roles, Greer gave a standout performance opposite Mel Gibson in What Women Want (2000), playing a suicidal file clerk rescued by the one man who can hear women's thoughts. Greer's pivotal scene with Gibson is the heart of the film. 

Following an appearance in Paul Weitz's comedy American Dreamz, Greer starred in the comedy- drama The TV Set (both 2006), as a personal manager to a scriptwriter of a television series (David Duchovny). In 2008, Greer starred opposite Zach Galifianakis in the independent satire Visioneers, and played the best friend of Katherine Heigl's character in the romantic comedy 27 Dresses. 

In 2010, Greer first starred in the comedy Barry Munday, in which she played who becomes pregnant by a lonely womanizer (Patrick Wilson). Greer also played a supporting role in the romantic comedy/drama Love & Other Drugs, which was a commercial success, grossing $102.8 million worldwide. 

Greer next played a supporting role in Alexander Payne's drama The Descendants (2011), starring George Clooney. Greer played Julie Speer, a woman who discovers that her husband had an extramarital affair with the now comatose wife of Clooney's character. The film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival to critical acclaim. Greer herself received particularly strong reviews for her performance; That same year, Greer also starred in the comedy-drama Jeff, Who Lives at Home, directed by brothers Jay and Mark Duplass, in which she and Ed Helms played a couple whose marriage is failing. 

Greer then starred in the short-lived CBS sitcom Mad Love, about a group of people in their thirties trying to find love. In Carrie (2013), starring Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore, Greer portrayed Miss Desjardin, a gym teacher who becomes involved with the titular character (Moretz), a shy high school student and outcast, who secretly possesses telekinesis. Greer next portrayed the motion-capture role of the female chimp Cornelia in the science fiction action film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

(2014). The film received positive reviews and was a success at the box-office, grossing $708.8 million worldwide. 

In 2015, Greer appeared in two major film franchises—Jurassic World, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe entry, Ant- Man. In Jurassic World, Greer played the mother of two of the film's protagonists, Gray and Zach. The film was a massive success at the box-office, grossing $1.670 billion worldwide, and earned positive reviews. In Ant-Man, Greer played Maggie, the ex-wife of the film's titular hero, played by Paul Rudd. The film was another and commercial success, grossing $519.3 million worldwide. 

Greer subsequently reprised her role in the sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). Following a supporting role as Lily Tomlin's love interest in Paul Weitz's critically acclaimed comedy-drama Grandma, Greer took on a leading role in Jamie Babbit's dark comedy Addicted to Fresno, in which she and Natasha Lyonne play sisters who work as housekeepers in a hotel who find themselves in trouble when Greer's character accidentally kills a guest. Greer also made appearances in the Walt Disney Studios science-fiction film Tomorrowland and the comedy Entourage (both 2015), based on the HBO television series of the same name. 

Greer then reprised her motion-capture role as Cornelia in the sequel War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). In 2018, Greer first played a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama The 15:17 to Paris, Greer then co-starred opposite Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween (2018), a direct sequel to John Carpenter's original 1978 horror film, in which she played Karen Nelson, the daughter of Laurie Strode. The film grossed $255.6 million worldwide, breaking numerous box-office records, most notably for having the second-highest opening weekend in the month of October and for being the highest-grossing film of the franchise. 

Greer starred in the Showtime comedy-drama series Kidding (2018–2020), opposite Jim Carrey, playing his estranged ex-wife. In 2020, She also had roles in the comedy series The Big Bang Theory (2007–2019), Two and a Half Men (2007–2015), and Married (2014–2015), Greer was featured in the comedy-drama Uncle Frank, about a gay man living in the 1970s who confronts his past. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews from critics. 

Greer next guest starred in an episode of the Hulu horror anthology series Into the Dark. In the episode "Good Boy", Greer took on the lead role of Maggie, a woman who adopts an emotional support dog that murders people who escalate Maggie's anxiety. Greer reprised her role as Karen Nelson in Halloween Kills, which takes place the same night as its predecessor, Greer's films of 2022, 

Three Months, Family Squares and Hollywood  Stargirl, were released directly to streaming services and were positively received by critics. Also in 2022, Greer starred in the Hulu comedy series Reboot as Bree Marie Jensen, a former sitcom actress who subsequently reprises her role when the series gets rebooted. The series premiered to positive reviews, with Greer receiving high praise for her performance. The series was canceled after one season. 

That same year, Greer played supporting roles in two miniseries, The Thing About Pam and The First Lady, receiving praise for both performances. Greer joined the cast of the HBO miniseries White House Plumbers, which depicts the Watergate scandal. Greer was cast as Fran Liddy, the wife of G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux). 

In 2024 she was in the sports drama film Flint Strong, a biographical sports drama based on the life of Claressa Shields, and the inspirational comedy The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, based on the book of the same name. In 2025 Greer appeared with Owen Wilson and Marc Maron in the Apple TV+ series Stick, playing Amber-Linn, Wilson's supportive ex-wife.

So likely more than you ever wanted to know about this woman but I think I only saw a few of these performances - the Descendants and Arrested Development. But she was a SUPERB interview!