Ilse Will Say

Intrepida Entertainment

Ilse Will Say is an EVERYTHING podcast with a core focus on the entertainment field. Expect Ilse’s takes on TV shows, pizza, nostalgia, bigfoot, butterbeer, the weird little S we all drew in middle school—literally everything. If it lives in your group chat, it lives here too.

  1. 5d ago

    Miguel Lepe Jr: Jon Seda punched a bee for me

    Chicago based comedian, writer, actor, and filmmaker Miguel Lepe Jr joins Ilse for a conversation that starts with a defunct pandemic podcast and somehow ends up covering pick-me culture, immigrant parent one liners, a haunted house, and the correct way to sleep in a marriage. Miguel opens up about learning improv at Second City almost by accident, building his sketch duo Supremo with Rich Alfonso, and starting his own production company, Leafcutter Productions, named after a bee species (despite popular belief, it has nothing to do with lawn care). He gets into his real, lifelong fear of bees and the time Jon Seda saved him from one on the set of Chicago PD, his wife's uncanny ability to pause and resume her dreams, and his family's immigration story, the subject of his new documentary American Dreams. Catch American Dreams screening around Chicago: Saturday, August 15 in Pilsen at Indigo Mercado. Friday, August 21 in Humboldt Park at the Kimball Arts Center. Friday, August 28 in Aurora at the Aurora Prisco Community Center. All screenings at 7:30 PM. Follow @lepetv for details. In this episode: [01:03] Intro[03:18] Pick-me culture and the pressure of immigrant kid overachieving[06:31] Visiting his dad's hometown deep in the mountains of Mexico[07:45] Finding Second City by accident and falling in love with improv[09:00] Where his sense of humor really comes from[10:44] Building his sketch duo, Supremo[11:14] Where he gets his ideas, doom scrolling included[12:44] Hot Cakes[14:31] His haunted house and his wife's wild recurring dreams[18:26] Starting Leafcutter Productions and why it's named after a bee[20:49] His documentary, American Dreams, and his family's story[23:19] Kankakee, immigrant journeys, and the world's best conspiracy theory about aliens Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias

  2. Aug 4

    Juan Luis Garcia: I want to need an exorcism

    Juan Luis Garcia has designed key art for Netflix, HBO, and A24, and was the art director and photographer behind Narcos: Mexico. He also built a sports media company that hit 300 million YouTube views before walking away to go back to making posters, because apparently one impressive career wasn't enough for him. In this episode, Juan and Ilse get into: Growing up in North Long Beach and the early Guadalajara yearsBuying his first camera with leftover scholarship money and just deciding he was a photographerThe difference between designing a poster for a filmmaker's wall versus a poster built to sell ticketsWhat it actually means to run a company with 24 employees with zero plan for howAdvice to his younger self: do it and enjoy every second, the good and the badHot Cakes: best movie poster of all time, the worst studio note he's ever gotten, Weird Al being cooler than expected, and what's chasing him in his dreamsWhy he actively wants to need an exorcism (yes, really) Follow Juan on Instagram at @iamjuanluisgarcia, and check out his site to see the work for yourself. Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias Mentioned in this episode: Thank you to our sponsor, Joel Maisonet Photography: maisonetphotography.com

  3. Jul 28

    Sofie Khan: Doritos and yogurt go together, fight me

    Sofie Khan is an actor, writer, producer, and director born and raised in Chicago, with a chapter of her childhood spent in Brownsville, Texas. She's the creator of the sold out, award winning one woman show MexiStani: Growing Up Mexican and Pakistani in America, wrote and directed the short film Ground Nuts, and won $25,000 through the CBS Pipeline program for her screenplay Ochoch, money she donated straight to an LA immigration legal services nonprofit. In this episode, Sofie and Ilse get into: Growing up in a multicultural, interfaith household in ChicagoMoving to Brownsville, Texas, and the unexpected Southern twang that came with itThe arranged marriage that got called off a single day before it was set to happen, thanks to a scholarship letter that arrived just in timeTrading a pre med path and a run at politics for Second City ConservatoryHer first audition, found on Craigslist, and how Teatro Luna shaped her as a storycreatorCasa NoHo as a creative home base for LA's indie film communityThe rules for a proper Doritos and yogurt situation, and why she's not backing down Follow Sofie on Instagram at @heysofiekhan Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias Mentioned in this episode: Thank you to our sponsor, Joel Maisonet Photography: maisonetphotography.com

  4. Jul 21

    Kyle Leland Cullerton: I handed the evidence to a Catholic priest

    Kyle walks us through his path from a rejected Catholic school film submission to editing two of his friend's short films at Tribeca, taking his own 48 Hour Film Project entry all the way to Cannes, and turning that same project into an award winning web series shot partly inside Paris's city hall. He's now a Chicago storycreator turned festival programmer, and he brings that same unfiltered honesty to Hot Cakes, where things go from best Chicago bars straight into simulation theory. If you've ever wondered what happens when a filmmaker refuses to slow down, follow the excitement, and just keep making stuff, this is the episode for you. In this episode: Growing up the fourth of five kids in a big Chicago familyThe short film that got Kyle in trouble with a Catholic priest at fifteenEditing two Tribeca selected short films for a longtime collaboratorTaking a 48 Hour Film Project entry from Chicago to Filmapalooza in Paris to CannesTurning that project into an LA Webfest winning web seriesProgramming Windie City Film Fest and Screen Time in ChicagoHot Cakes: best Chicago bars, worst movie ever made, and simulation theory Follow Kyle: YouTube and Vimeo: search Kyle Leland Cullerton Instagram: @kyle_leland_ Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias Mentioned in this episode: Thank you to our sponsor, Joel Maisonet Photography: maisonetphotography.com

  5. Jul 14

    Tim Corpus: Gravity is just weird

    Before he was orchestrating for Andrea Bocelli and Renée Fleming, Tim Corpus was fixing Segways and running walking tours around downtown Chicago. On this episode, we get the full story, including the day one of his tour Segways rolled straight off a cliff into Lake Michigan. Tim is a Filipino American composer and arts manager whose music has filled Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Bolshoi Theatre, and who somehow runs three arts organizations as Executive Director while still finding time to compose. We talk about his pandemic album MMXX, the mathematically brutal composition behind his track "Waves," what it means to be a "recovering generalist," and his upcoming sleep album Place of Rest, tuned to a very specific 432 hertz. Also covered: tea drinkers versus coffee drinkers, vision boards, and a fully committed defense of manifesting aliens. Follow Tim on Instagram at @timcorpus. Place of Rest drops the first week of August. Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias Mentioned in this episode: Thank you to our sponsor, Joel Maisonet Photography: maisonetphotography.com

  6. Jul 7

    Vishaal Desai: Do not start a company right out of film school

    Vishaal Desai is a writer, director, and editor with over fifteen years of experience and a career that has taken him from Mumbai to London to Chicago. He's been a producer on the Asian Academy Award-winning series Bhak, directed the acclaimed documentary Uniting Through Yoga (crowdsourced from 500 strangers around the world with no script — yes, really), and is currently finishing post-production on his short film Clothes on Our Backs while also prepping his first stage production, Condemned to a Life, at The Second City in Chicago and Solo Fest in New York. We get into what five years of commercials does to your soul, going back to film school at 39, why rehearsals are non-negotiable (but only for blocking), dream journals, being chased by a triceratops skeleton on a glacier, and the one piece of advice he'd give every filmmaker who just graduated. Also: pho in Vietnam, a waltz story, and a very important correction about Baby Yoda. Follow Vishaal on Instagram at @V1SHFilms and follow Clothes on Our Backs at @clothes_on_our_backs. Mentioned in this episode: Thank you to our sponsor, Joel Maisonet Photography: maisonetphotography.com

  7. Jun 30

    Marco Rosas: Green tea and a psychological thriller

    Ever wonder what actually goes into editing a film? Like the real version, not the glamorous one? This week I sat down with Marco Rosas, a Mexican-American editor based in Los Angeles who has spent over a decade cutting everything from high-end commercials to HBO's Winning Time to Sender, a psychological thriller produced by Jamie Lee Curtis that premiered at SXSW 2026 and had critics calling out his editing by name. By name. In print. We talk about how he went from a post house in Chicago to freelancing in LA to breaking into the union to cutting his first feature film. We talk about the editing style behind Sender, what it means to edit a performance, and why good editing is the thing you feel but can't always explain. We also get into the Chicago vs LA debate, green tea as a life philosophy, aliens, and the time he almost fainted in the edit bay and had to edit it anyway. Marco is currently editing Strange but Perfect, a comedy drama coming soon. And yes, we asked about Pequod's. Follow Marco on Instagram: @mrosas88 Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias Mentioned in this episode: Thank you to our sponsor, Joel Maisonet Photography: maisonetphotography.com

  8. Jun 23

    Nick Cartwright: The cosmic egg made me do it

    Nick Cartwright is a filmmaker, DP, Meisner acting teacher, and co-founder of two Chicago production companies: Cosmic Egg Productions and Film in a Bag. He started his filmmaking journey in 2023 when he and his wife turned their honeymoon into a short film production of HP Lovecraft's "The Picture in the House." Since then he has directed two more shorts, crewed on 25 others, and is currently directing three films as part of Film in a Bag's 12 for 12 project. In this episode: • How a stained glass artist grandfather, a love of photography, and a COVID incubation period led Nick to filmmaking • Why he and his wife eloped, made their own bouquets, and spent their honeymoon making a Lovecraft film • What it means to be a Swiss Army knife on set and why Nick thinks showing up hungry to learn is more valuable than a full resume • The Meisner method, Green Shirt Studio, and how acting training changed the way he directs • The Danish scarecrow that was burned to set a spirit free and what appeared in the fire • His Linklater-inspired approach to writing his next short, Super Duper: a retelling of the day his wife first said "I love you" • Hot Cakes: the best film ever made (it's Good Burger), Bigfoot, and what a ghost would judge him for on set Follow Nick: Instagram: @nick_cartwright_creative Cosmic Egg Productions: @cosmicegproductions Film in a Bag: @filminabag 12 for 12 films: Film in a Bag on YouTube Hosted by Ilse Zacharias Rivera. Say hi / follow along here: @ilsezacharias Mentioned in this episode: Thank you to our sponsor, Joel Maisonet Photography: maisonetphotography.com

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About

Ilse Will Say is an EVERYTHING podcast with a core focus on the entertainment field. Expect Ilse’s takes on TV shows, pizza, nostalgia, bigfoot, butterbeer, the weird little S we all drew in middle school—literally everything. If it lives in your group chat, it lives here too.

Information

  • Creator
    Intrepida Entertainment
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    52
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Intrepida Entertainment
  • Show Website
    Ilse Will Say