Mary Celenza: Television and Podcast Producer

Mary Celenza, a showrunner, director, and writer with over 25 years of experience in television and audio production, will discuss her extensive career. She is currently the Head of Current and Executive Producer at Treefort Media, where she oversees series for Audible, Wondery, Netflix, and Focus Features.

This event is presented by UMBC’s Center for Innovation, Research, and Creativity in the Arts (CIRCA).

Over the course of her career, Mary Celenza has worked across a wide variety of formats including documentary, talk, news, comedy, competition and game shows. She began her career in news at Good Morning America in New York, and later worked alongside legendary television host Barbara Walters for four years before relocating to Los Angeles. Ms. Celenza is an experienced multi-cam and single-cam director with credits spanning long and short form documentary pieces and comedic shorts. As a showrunner, she has helmed unscripted series for Apple Music, Disney+, Syfy, Discovery+, Roku, Prime and Pokémon. In the competition space, she shepherded 13 seasons of the Critics’ Choice Award-winning special makeup effects series Face Off, as well as the moving floor dance competition series Floored. In the documentary space, she was one of the showrunners on the Disney+ series Pick of the Litter, about Guide Dogs for the Blind, and a documentary series for the game company Pokémon. In addition to production, Ms. Celenza spent two years as a development executive for ABC Studios/Disney. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Producers Guild of America, and has served as a guest lecturer at the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles. Ms. Celenza received a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University in 1995 with a concentration in Communications and Native American Studies.

Admission is free. The talk will be accompanied by a free lunch served at 11:45. (An r.s.v.p. form will be available soon.)

This event is open for full participation by all individuals regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or any other protected category under applicable federal law, state law, and the University’s nondiscrimination policy.