The Big Picture
Sheryl Gauntlett Jadrosich, BA’09, MA’10 (Metro)
By Rebecca Maxon
From volunteering with The Garage Theatre Group on the Metropolitan Campus — collecting cards from audience members to determine the course of an improv performance — to running social impact campaigns for documentary films, Sheryl Gauntlett Jadrosich, BA’09, MA’10 (Metro), has built a career in film and media.
(Photo: Cooper Miller)
Jadrosich was determined to succeed and achieve — she finished both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in just four-and-a-half years. She was a Global Scholar and an honors student involved in student organizations who worked two double shifts each weekend during her final year at FDU.
She interned with “The Martha Stewart Show” and then worked with celebrities such as chef Emeril Lagasse and Emmy, Grammy and Tony award-winning television producer and director Stan Lathan.
Jadrosich became a production coordinator for Lathan, keeping schedules; ensuring budget implementation; managing individuals; and negotiating contracts, day rates and weekly rates and more.
She is grateful for her mentors, particularly Lathan — with whom she worked for three-and-a-half years in Hollywood — as well as her FDU mentors, the late Theodore “Ted” Chesler, associate professor of communications and English and director of the former School of English, Philosophy and Humanities, and Bernard Dick, emeritus professor of English and communication.
Under Lathan she worked on three seasons of “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” three seasons of “The Soul Man” on TV Land and two comedy specials with Dave Chappelle on Netflix.
Sheryl Gauntlett Jadrosich speaks at “The Paradise Paradox” premiere in Park City, Utah, in October 2023. (Photo: Joshua Whitehead)
Now, as senior project manager with Picture Motion, her focus is not so much on filmmaking, but rather on planning and producing events to support the distribution of niche documentaries that highlight social issues.
Her clients often want to expand their audiences. Jadrosich handles impact events including special screenings of documentaries and partnering with community-action organizations to bring these films to wider, targeted audiences, including schools, the community and even social-media outlets.
“Whether it’s Paramount, MGM, National Geographic or HBO, we typically work with their marketing and publicity department. We are an extension of that because we are promoting the film, but with an impact angle,” Jadrosich says.
Much of what she does is to reach out to grassroots and nonprofit organizations and align a film’s content with a group’s mission and activities. As the client lead, she is the main point person leading weekly meetings, creating agendas and drafting timelines and budgets.
“I lead and manage entire campaigns — from supporting the drafting of strategies, to the creation of discussion guides, the production of impact events, and the creation of assets for social media,” Jadrosich says.
“There are a number of talented, driven people who have something to share with the world, and I’d love to be able to support them in the future, primarily as a producer.”
WELL-TRAVELED
Jadrosich studied abroad at Wroxton College and in the Dominican Republic, Belize and Cyprus.
SING OUT
Jadrosich participated in the Inspirational Gospel Ensemble for four years and served as its president during her senior year.
LISTEN UP
Her favorite podcast is “Ratchet and Respectable” with Demetria Lucas, “who always makes it a point to practice media ethics.”