Elizabeth Tabish, renowned for portraying Mary Magdalene on The Chosen, joins In the Room for an unfiltered conversation about casting, ambition, and staying human inside a business that constantly evaluates you.

She reflects on growing up in Oklahoma, building a career through commercials and indie work in Austin, and the psychological wear of auditions, self tapes, and the approval cycle. Elizabeth opens up about the moment she stepped back to protect her health, and how The Chosen arrived at the exact intersection of her life and craft. The conversation also explores women’s creative authority, why making your own work matters, and how platforms like YouTube and the internet are reshaping who gets to be heard.

A grounded, revealing episode about artistry, survival, and choosing your own voice.

A bluefin tuna leaves cold Nova Scotia waters and ends at a sushi table in Tokyo, and along the way, Bite to Bite reveals the human machinery behind one of the world’s most coveted fish. Director Kelly Lipscomb joins In the Room to talk about making a documentary that lets the audience feel first, then decide what they believe.

We dig into the real “casting” of non-fiction, how you find characters worth following, how you earn trust, and why the edit is where the story finally confesses itself. Kelly also breaks down the practical truth of funding, why commercial work often keeps passion projects alive, and what it takes to keep your creative integrity intact while still building a sustainable career.

Bite to Bite received an Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature at the 2025 Austin Film Festival.

On this episode of In the Room, casting director John Williams sits down with filmmaker Andrew Davies Gaines to talk about Voices, his deeply personal documentary about his father and Las Vegas legend, Danny Gans.

Andrew shares how a career ending shoulder injury cut short his path in professional baseball and led him toward acting, writing, producing, and finally directing his own work. Together, he and John explore what it means to turn family history into cinema, how to handle sensitive truths about someone you love, and the realities of chronic pain, performance pressure, and responsibility at the top of the Vegas entertainment world.

Listeners will hear:
• The rise of Danny Gans, from corporate arenas to the biggest room in Las Vegas
• How Andrew moved from athlete to actor to producer to director
• The emotional challenge of putting himself on camera as the subject’s son
• The editing choices that kept Voices from becoming a simple tribute piece
• How understanding his father’s failures changed Andrew’s own relationship to ambition

In the Room offers a rare look at legacy, craft, and the quiet spaces where art and family collide.