Cast & Crew - the happiness intervention

Alana Sanko

Writer / Director / Producer

Alana Sanko is an award-winning writer, producer, and director whose work explores life’s different chapters and the complicated women who navigate them. Following a prolific career that began writing on the legendary series Murphy Brown, Alana has written and developed projects for major studios and networks, and is the creator and supervising producer of the WGA Award-winning series Just for Kicks, produced alongside Whoopi Goldberg.

Alana makes her directorial debut with the short film The Happiness Intervention. Shot on location in Iceland, the film marks a pivotal new milestone in her storytelling journey. A recipient of the Artemis Rising Filmmaker Fellowship at Barnard College, Alana is dedicated to the craft of writing and teaches screenwriting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the Sundance Co//ab, among others. She is an active member of the Writers Guild of America, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, and New York Women in Film & Television.

Daphne Pollon

Producer

Daphne Pollon is an accomplished television writer and producer with over 25 years of experience creating and developing comedy. Her extensive credits include Murphy Brown, The Job, and Sullivan & Son. Beyond her work developing original projects for major networks and streaming platforms, Daphne is a dedicated educator teaching graduate/thesis television writing at USC, as well as Sundance Collab, and the Writers Guild of America. Currently, she serves as Co-Director of the Episodic Lab for Barnard’s Athena Film Festival. A San Francisco native and graduate of UC Santa Barbara, Daphne is also a producer on the short film, The Happiness Intervention.