Charleston native Hali Anastopoulo, 21, has always wanted to work in the entertainment industry, a passion sparked by her charismatic attorney father Akim’s work on unscripted series.
“My dad had a show, and when I was little, I would go and visit him on sets,” she recalled. “I was always really interested in the behind-the-scenes camera stuff … and I really liked production. I knew that was something I wanted to do.”
And what a show it was. Akim Anastapoulo has long been a local legal celebrity.
From 2006 to 2009, he was named “Best Attorney” in the City Paper’s Best of Charleston poll. This was at least partly due to his starring role as Judge “Extreme Akim” on An Eye for an Eye, a National Lampoon-backed reality court TV series produced by Get Me Out Productions’ predecessor, Hollywood SC Studios. On the show, “Extreme Akim” played a judge who meted out unusual justice. One episode for example, saw a building owner who had assaulted a homeless man sentenced to a night in the local homeless shelter. The homeless man was given a night in a luxury hotel on the dime of the assaulter.
Hali Anastopoulo moved to Los Angeles in 2015 and co-founded Get Me Out with her father. “I didn’t really know what to expect when starting a production company,” said the younger Anastapoulo said. “I just jumped feet first in … I have to credit the people that we work with … We have such an amazing crew who’ve been there since the beginning.”
In January 2022, the Crackle Plus streaming network released the company’s unscripted show Men of West Hollywood. Hali and her father were both co-directors and executive producers. The ten-episode series show follows a group of six friends
spanning the sexual spectrum in West Hollywood as they navigate working, partying and relationships. Hali said she was inspired by the people of West Hollywood, especially the acceptance and diversity of the community.
She called working with her larger-than-life father, “A really fun experience — especially with co-directing.
“Sometimes there would be certain cast members that would really resonate with him or resonate with me,” she said. “We could tackle things together and have different perspectives on different moments in the show.”
“I really liked telling the different backgrounds of everybody [in the show],” she added. “They’re all from different places and different walks of life and came to West Hollywood the same way I did.”
Anastopoulo said she recognizes that as a young woman director, both her angle to a story and her job will bring a perhaps unusual vibe to a set — where directors are typically both older and male. On Men of West Hollywood, Anastopoulo was calling the shots, framing the narrative through her experience as a woman and a West Hollywood outsider while staying authentic to the lives of the men who entrusted her with their stories.
“So often, [films and TV series] are from the perspective of a man … With Men of West Hollywood, particularly, it is kind of interesting — I was the one bossing everyone around,” she laughed.
In her work, Anastapoulo said she aims to tell diverse stories — a theme highlighted by two upcoming projects: true crime docuseries The Company You Keep and The Brokers of Charleston.
The Company You Keep tells the story of Justin Wolfe, a man who has been in prison since 2002 for a murder he claims he didn’t commit.
“We were approached by someone who is really familiar with Justin’s case and knew him well,’’ Anastapoulo explained. “I was expecting it to just be a normal true crime story, but it definitely is not. [His case] has 20 years worth of mishaps and wrongdoings.”
Brokers of Charleston, on the other hand, focuses on Charleston’s real estate market.
“Being from South Carolina is something that’s had its influence in all of the different shows I’ve worked on, but I was always really amazed by the real estate market here,” Anastapoulo said. “It’s really unique compared to other parts of the country … Being able to film here [in Charleston] was something that I had always wanted to do.”
To Anastopoulo, unscripted series offer a raw and realistic depiction of life that cannot be achieved through scripted work.
“We don’t get to say, ‘OK, let’s do that again,’ or shoot the same thing 20 times.”
Despite being at this early stage in her career, Anastopoulo is trying to choose the subjects of her work carefully, while adding a hopefully unique perspective as
a Gen Z woman.
“I think there’s this innate desire [of Gen Z creatives] to tell different stories and diverse stories,” she said. “I hopefully see Gen Z [having] diverse storytelling, but also diversity behind the camera … and really trying to make the entertainment industry a little bit better.”
As she works on these projects, Anastopoulo is already thinking about what might be down the line. She keeps a list on her phone of ideas for projects she’d like to be involved in and doesn’t waste a moment doing what she loves.
“So many people think, ‘OK, once I graduate and get a master’s, then I’ll start’ … With entertainment and a lot of other fields, start now. You’ll find that you learn a lot as you go.”
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