Joy Gorman Wettels
Joy Gorman Wettels is a Partner at Anonymous Content, where her focus is “YI” content — Youth Impact, Intention & Inclusion.
Born in Yonkers, she was raised by a single mother in a working class family who sent her very mixed messages about the arts growing up. Her mom was obsessed with the arts and leisure section of the New York Times, which naturally piqued Joy's interest.
Her early years in entertainment were spent at Miramax Films and at her own management and production entity, where she sold the first pitches & scripts of now longtime collaborators out of her apartment.
While at Barnard College of Columbia University, she sunk her teeth into producing with the 102nd Columbia Varsity Show written by fellow students Brian Yorkey & Tom Kitt. Subsequently, she helped shepherd their Pulitzer & Tony winning musical NEXT TO NORMAL to Broadway for over a decade.
Having spent 14 years working closely with the legendary and late Steve Golin, at Anonymous Content, Joy approaches filmmaking with the honesty, devotion tenacity he exemplified.
Joy executive produced all 4 seasons of the hit Netflix/Paramount series 13 REASONS WHY created by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright Brian Yorkey and directed by Oscar-winner Tom McCarthy (SPOTLIGHT). Released in 2017, 13 REASONS WHY started a global conversation around teen suicide, bullying and sexual violence. The first two seasons are still reported to be in the top ten most watched Netflix series of all time.
Joy completed two seasons of HOME BEFORE DARK on Apple TV+ starring Brooklynn Prince & Jim Sturgess. Inspired by the life of 9-year-old journalist Hilde Lysiak, Gorman developed it from inception with Dana Fox, Dara Resnik & Jon M. Chu.
She is currently producing a multi-part storytelling ecosystem for Warner Media inspired by Landmark Civil Rights docu-series EYES ON THE PRIZE in partnership with Black Lives Matter Co-Founder Patrisse Cullors, Melina Matsoukas, Dawn Porter and original producers BLACKSIDE.
The first installment, EYES ON THE PRIZE: HALLOWED GROUND is now streaming on HBO Max alongside the original 1987 series with an all new curriculum & study guide.
Joy is a delightful human who also embodies some of my favorite qualities in a producer—tenacious, persistent, approachable, and very Italian. :)
During this hour, we tackle:
How the death of her mother altered the course of her career
If faking it till you make it is good advice
The huge risk she took of leaving management behind while at Anonymous to produce