Directing work for HBO.

Smiley directed, developed, pitch, sold Breath of Fire alongside Hayley Pappas. The series was the #1 documentary and docseries on HBO globally for for weeks in a row.

–
‍
YouTube astrologer Katie Griggs rose to fame as the face of Kundalini yoga and reinvented herself as Guru Jagat, attracting followers — including celebrities and fee-paying devotees — with promises of prosperity, physical health, and spiritual fulfillment. Breath of Fire offers a multi-decade examination of the corruption within Kundalini yoga and a portrait of a misguided guru and master manipulator, spotlighting the uneasy nexus of the American dream, self-invention, and fanatical ideology.

HBO Documentary Films presents Breath of Fire.

Directors, Hayley Pappas and Smiley Stevens

‍