**FREE** Q&Awards: PONIES Q&A

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Moscow, 1977. Two “PONIES” ("persons of no interest" in intelligence speak) work anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy. That is until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Bea (Emilia Clarke) is an over-educated, Russian-speaking child of Soviet immigrants. Her cohort, Twila (Haley Lu Richardson), is a small-town girl who is as abrasive as she is fearless. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place. (Synopsis by Peacock)

David Iserson is an Emmy-nominated and WGA award-winning filmmaker, writer, and producer from Freehold, New Jersey and a graduate of Northwestern University.

Most recently, he served as co-creator, showrunner, writer, and executive producer for the television series PONIES, a 70s-set spy thriller for Peacock starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, which premiered on January 15 and earned a 96% “certified fresh” Rotten Tomatoes Critics score. The series follows two PONIES ("persons of no interest") working anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place.

Iserson previously served as a writer and producer on MR. ROBOT, for which he received a WGA award and a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He also worked as a Consulting Producer on HBO’s RUN and has written and produced on series including MAD MEN, NEW GIRL, MOZART IN THE JUNGLE, UP ALL NIGHT, GRAVES, and UNITED STATES OF TARA. He began his television writing career for SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE.

His film credits include the Lionsgate action-comedy THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME (2018) which he co-wrote, and executive produced, and he is currently developing THIS, BUT AGAIN for director Ben Stiller.

In addition to his work in film and television, Iserson’s debut novel, Firecracker, landed on Rolling Stone's “40 Best YA Novels” (all-time) list in May 2014.

David lives in Los Angeles with his wife, twin daughters, and two dogs.

Susanna Fogel is a director, screenwriter, and novelist from Providence, Rhode Island. Her film credits include Booksmart, for which she was nominated for a BAFTA and a WGA award, Winner, starring Emilia Jones and Zach Galifianakis, which premiered at the 2024

Sundance Film Festival, Cat Person for StudioCanal, which was based on the viral New Yorker short story by Kristen Roupenian and premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and Lionsgate's The Spy Who Dumped Me.

On the television side, Susanna is the co-creator, writer, director, and executive producer of the critically acclaimed, Ponies, a 70s-set spy thriller for Peacock starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson, which premiered on January 15 and earned a 96% “certified fresh” Rotten Tomatoes Critics score. The series follows two PONIES ("persons of no interest") working anonymously as secretaries in the American Embassy until their husbands are killed under mysterious circumstances in the USSR, and the pair become CIA operatives. Together, they work to uncover a vast Cold War conspiracy and solve the mystery that made them widows in the first place.

Previous television directing credits include the pilot episode of HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, for which she won a DGA award and was nominated for an Emmy, the pilot of Amazon’s The Wilds, and the pilot of the WWII-set limited series A Small Light for Disney+, which won the 2023 Gotham award for best drama series. She currently serves as Executive Producer of the upcoming Netflix remake of Little House on the Prairie.

Susanna is also an avid fiction writer who has contributed to the New Yorker’s Shouts and Murmurs column. Her debut novel, Nuclear Family, was published by MacMillan in 2017.

Debra Shibuyama Simone, ACE - Deb is back in the saddle making grounded yet funny narratives with "Ponies" starring Emilia Clarke and Haley Lu Richardson for Universal/Peacock. Due to her unwavering commitment to the truth, she's a force for quality filmmaking. A patron and purveyor of sketch comedy her whole life, Deb honed her writing and character development skills at The Groundlings and Second City. She got her start in post-production running film from the lab to transfer bays in the wee hours of deep, dark Hollywood nights. During the day, she trained herself on non-linear editing systems. When she got the chance to work on comedies at Paramount, she never looked back. Since then, she's been privileged to work with some of the best writers, producers, and directors in Hollywood, and has learned what it takes to make timeless television. Deb's interests include fighting Fascism, motorsports, LGBTQ rights, science, space, sci-fi (written and filmed), nature conservation, and almost anything historical. Deb is fond of saying, "Those who cannot remember the past, should be left there to enjoy it."

Jacob Craycroft is an American film and television editor based in New York City. Recent works include the Disney+ feature adaptation of Out of My Mind, StudioCanal’s feature adaptation of the viral New Yorker short story, Cat Person (directed by Susanna Fogel), and two seasons of the acclaimed multilingual series Pachinko for Apple. His previous work encompasses over 50 films in a variety of genres and includes: Robert Altman’s A Prairie Home Companion, Dave McCary and Kyle Mooney’s Brigsby Bear, Sundance award winner Robot and Frank, Jesse Peretz’s Our Idiot Brother, Sebastian Silva’s Magic Magic, Vikram Gandhi’s Barry, Jake Schreier’s Paper Towns, and, in the early aughts, Jay Chandrasekhar’s cult classic comedy Super Troopers. He also edited the Starz series Sweetbitter based on the bestselling novel.