Members

Brandon Harrison has experience in non-fiction content as a producer, filmmaker, and programmer. He has curated features, shorts, and series at Brooklyn Film Festival, DOC NYC, and Tribeca as well as produced branded content and served on various documentary juries and committees.

Mark Meatto works on documentary features and limited series from development through post-production. Meatto began his career in visual storytelling apprenticing for cinema verité pioneer Ricky Leacock before going on to become Ross McElwee’s editor and creative partner for many years. On independent documentaries, he has helped award-winning filmmakers navigate every aspect of production. Meatto shot his film, How to Grow a Band, as a crew of one also serving as director, producer, and editor. In the broader non-fiction space, Meatto has helped shape content for musicians, non-profits, and a winning presidential campaign.

Jason Hehir is a seven-time Emmy Award winning filmmaker. His 2020 series The Last Dance, chronicling Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls dynasty, won the 2020 Emmy for Outstanding Documentary Series. Hehir’s additional directing credits include the HBO docuseries Murder In Boston (2023), the HBO documentary Andre The Giant (2018) and the Netflix docuseries Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission To Space (2021). He has helmed several films in ESPN’s acclaimed 30 For 30 series, including The Fab Five and The ‘85 Bears. He also developed and produced the groundbreaking 24/7 franchise for HBO Sports. Jason is a Boston native and graduate of Williams College. He resides in Brooklyn, NY.

Jonathan Hock is an 11-time Emmy Award winning documentarian. After a decade at NFL Films, Hock left to start his own independent production company specializing in sports documentaries. “Through the Fire” was the first independent film from Hock Films, premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2005 and becoming the first documentary ever acquired by ESPN.

Hock then became a member of the original class of directors for ESPN’s Emmy and Peabody Award winning “30 For 30” series. Outside the 30 For 30 universe, Hock has directed award-winning documentaries for the Farrelly brothers, Thomas Tull, and Time/Sports Illustrated. Hock also directed the four-part documentary series “72 – A Gathering of Champions,” which premiered on Peacock in September 2022 and was nominated for an Emmy.

With Words + Pictures, Hock is directing two documentary series: “The Struggle and the Power” (the story of race, sports, and society, featuring Dr. Harry Edwards and co-directed with Bradford Young), and “The Yankees Win” (the story of the New York Yankees). “Open Heart,” the sixth documentary of Hock’s to premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, will debut on Netflix in the spring of 2024.

Beyond his Emmys and other awards, Hock has won NAMIC and NAACP awards for multi-ethnic programming in South Africa and Cuba, and the inaugural Steve Sabol award from NFL Films for a lifetime of storytelling.

Kristen Lappas is an award-winning director and producer with Words + Pictures. Lappas has twice won Emmys for her short sports documentaries (Blackfeet Boxing: Not Invisible and A Mountain to Climb) and has also had her work featured at the Tribeca Film Festival, and honored by AFI Docs, the NAMIC Vision Awards, Critics Choice Awards, and more. Lappas’ 30 for 30 multi-part documentary titled Dream On (2022) was nominated for an IDA Award and Lappas won in the “Best Non-Fiction Show Director” category at the Women’s Image Awards for the series. In 2024, it was named one of the 25 best sports documentaries of all time by Vogue. Lappas’ additional directing credits include the Amazon Documentary Giannis: The Marvelous Journey (2024) and the ESPN docuseries Full Court Press (2024). She has also produced multiple installments of the 30 for 30 series during her time with ESPN Films. Kristen is a graduate of Boston College and resides in Westport, CT.

Lauren Stowell is a six-time Emmy award-winning director and producer. For more than a decade, Stowell’s work has garnered national recognition. She is a five-time National Association for Multi-ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) award recipient, a three-time National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Salute to Excellence award recipient, a three-time New York Festivals Gold Medal recipient.

Jake Rogal is an Emmy Award winning documentary producer and director. His work includes the Netflix/ESPN documentary series The Last Dance (2020), the HBO docuseries Murder in Boston (2023), the HBO documentary Andre the Giant (2018), the Netflix docuseries Countdown: Inspiration4 Mission to Space (2021), the Showtime docuseries The Circus: Inside the Greatest Political Show on Earth (2016) and the A&E documentary Biography: Stone Cold Steve Austin (2021). Prior to joining W+P and Little Room Films, Jake spent five years producing documentary films and series at HBO with a primary focus on the innovative 24/7 franchise. He is from Pittsburgh.

Marie Margolius works across production, development, and business initiatives at Words + Pictures. Prior to joining the company, she worked at ESPN, where she worked under Schell on a range of strategic and creative content initiatives across the organization and was named to Sports Business Journal’s New Voices Under 30 list in 2019. Marie is currently directing her first film under the W+P banner.

Lee Straus is currently overseeing all business and legal affairs for Words + Pictures. Prior to joining W+P, Lee was Executive Vice President, Business Affairs, Alternative and Reality Group for NBC Entertainment where he was responsible for all aspects of business affairs and strategy for the NBC Network, Universal Television Alternative Studios and Universal Domestic Syndication. Lee was the key negotiator for NBC acquiring the broadcast rights to The Voice and America’s Got Talent, in addition to making the deal for Kelly Clarkson to host The Kelly Clarkson Show. Lee is an alum of Loyola Law School, where he has been an adjunct professor for the past 25 years. Lee received his Bachelor of Arts degree in production from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.