Jason M Cloth is the Founder and principal of Creative Wealth Media Lending Inc., Creative Wealth Media Finance Corp. and Creative Wealth Media Advisors Inc. (Creative Wealth Media), a prolific film and television financing group of companies.

Mr. Cloth has executive produced over 87 feature films with producer BRON Studios for a portfolio that includes critical hits, commercial blockbusters and cult favorites that have included multiple Oscar® nominated films; JOKER (the highest grossing R rated movie of all time), Jason Reitman’s GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE (Sony), JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH (Warner Bros), PIECES OF A WOMAN (Netflix), BOMBSHELL (Lionsgate), Ron Howard’s THIRTEEN LIVES (MGM), Dev Patel’s MONKEY MAN (Netflix) and two Kevin Hart films: THE MAN FROM TORONTO and FATHERHOOD, to name just a few.

Mr. Cloth is also a Director of BRON Media Corp. Mr. Cloth joined BRON Studios in September 2014 in a key strategic financial and investor management role.

Additional film credits for Mr. Cloth include the acclaimed Denzel Washington led films FENCES (Paramount) and THE WAY BACK (Warner Bros.) as well as New Line Cinema’s ISN’T IT ROMANTIC, THE KITCHEN (Warner Bros.), SUPERINTELLIGENCE and Angelina Jolie’s THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD, THE ADDAMS FAMILY (MGM), LEGALLY BLONDE 3 (MGM), CANDYMAN (MGM), RESPECT (MGM), THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (MGM), and ROBOCOP RETURNS, as well as Orion Pictures’ CHILD’S PLAY, BAD TRIP and GRETEL AND HANSEL, ROMAN J. ISRAEL ESQ (Sony); Clint Eastwood’s THE MULE; the breakout hit A SIMPLE FAVOR starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick; Tom Hanks Apple TV+ hit GREYHOUND; RED SEA DIVING RESORT, starring Chris Evans; THE GOOD NURSE starring Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne; THE SPY WHO DUMPED ME starring Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon; TULLY starring Charlize Theron (Focus / Universal); BIRTH OF A NATION (Fox Searchlight); and ASSASSINATION NATION.

Laura is the CEO and Founder of Rebelle Media. Laura has over twenty years of experience in film and television development, production, strategy, sales and financing. She produced Mr. Malcolm’s List for Bleecker Street Media and Universal Pictures and is an Executive Producer on Hulu’s hit television series Tell Me Lies, which is about to start production on its second season. Previous credits include Producer on Sony Pictures’ Long Weekend, Executive Producer on An Acceptable Loss starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tika Sumpter, Co-Executive Producer on All About Nina, written and directed by Eva Vives, and Little Woods, written and directed by Nia DaCosta.

Prior to launching Rebelle, as a film finance and sales agent at Creative Artists Agency, Laura packaged and sold films such as On the Basis of Sex, The Wife, Jackie, Dallas Buyers Club, The Imitation Game, Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Maggie’s Plan, Begin Again, Mud, Bachelorette, Sleeping with other People, and Still Alice, amongst many others. Her focus has always been on finding ways to push against the “no” and getting stories, across all genres, about women and other marginalized voices made and seen.

Prior to CAA, she consulted with financiers on slate and individual picture film financing and worked as a development and production executive at Twentieth Century Fox and Edward Saxon Productions on films ranging from Away We Go to What Happens in Vegas.

Laura has a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard Business School. She is a proud member of the Executive Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, BAFTA, the Television Academy, the Producers Union and the Producers Guild of America. She also mentors and volunteers for Sundance and Women in Film. Laura runs marathons, loves Duke basketball, musical theater, exploring the world, can occasionally be found lost in her imagination at Disneyland, and is the loving mother of Gus, her willful Yorkie.

Milan Popelka is the Chief Operating Officer at leading independent entertainment company FilmNation Entertainment. Popelka’s responsibilities include overseeing all day-to-day operations, strategic planning/business development, and finance for the company, and extending across film, television, theater, and podcasting. FilmNation’s films have grossed over $3.4B worldwide at the box office, while garnering a highly prized ‘EGOT’ across its various businesses: an Emmy win for its first TV series, 2 Grammys for its first Broadway musical, 50 Oscar nominations (including 5 for Best Picture) and 9 wins, and 17 Tony Award nominations and 10 wins.

Popelka served as Executive Producer on Denis Villeneuve’s science-fiction epic Arrival, Emerald Fennell’s Oscar-winning Promising Young Woman, and WWII epic Greyhound starring Tom Hanks, among many others, as well as on the award winning podcast SNAFU with Ed Helms. He is a member of both the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Erich Schwartzel covers the film industry in The Wall Street Journal’s Los Angeles bureau. He joined the Journal in 2013 and has written dozens of front-page stories on life and business in Hollywood, specializing in features where commerce meets culture.

Schwartzel’s first book, “Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy,” was published in February 2022 by Penguin Press and detailed the growing influence of China on the American entertainment industry. “Red Carpet” was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, called a “page-turner” by Foreign Affairs, and named one of the best books ever written about Hollywood by Esquire. Schwartzel’s work on “Red Carpet” was featured on NPR’s Fresh Air, CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” and excerpted in the Atlantic and the Washington Post.

Before joining the Journal, Schwartzel covered energy and the environment for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where his work won the Scripps Howard Award for Environmental Reporting. He grew up in Latrobe, Penn., where he got his start in journalism writing a police blotter for the local paper.

Born in NYC, Erica Lee graduated with honors from Florida State University with a degree in communications and immediately entered the entertainment industry with an internship at NBC Studios in Burbank. Following her internship, she began working at Creative Artists Agency as an assistant in the talent department. A fifteen-year veteran of Thunder Road, Erica started as the assistant to Chairman Basil Iwanyk. Now President of Production, she has produced some of the company’s most successful films including all three installments of the John Wick franchise, Taylor Sheridan’s chilling Wind River, the critically acclaimed Sicario, directed by Oscar-nominated Denis Villeneuve, starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro, as well as the Stefano Sollima directed sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado.

Erica has also shepherded development on such titles as A Star is Born, We Are Marshall, Brooklyn’s Finest, The Town, The Expendables franchise, Clash of the Titans and its sequel, Wrath of the Titans, and served as co-producer on Universal Pictures’ Seventh Son, directed by Oscar-nominated Sergei Bodrov, starring Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore, Oscar-nominee Matthew Heineman’s gripping narrative debut, A Private War, Andrea Di Stefano’s The Informer, starring Rosamund Pike and Joel Kinnaman, and Alfonso Gomez-Rejon’s The Current War, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Michael Shannon. Most recently, Erica produced Ric Roman Waugh’s white-knuckle disaster thriller, Greenland, starring Gerard Butler. Her other recent titles include Halle Berry’s hard-hitting directorial debut, Bruised, and Tarik Saleh’s black op thriller, The Contractor, starring Chris Pine. Erica is currently in post-production on the fourth installment of John Wick, which reunites Keanu Reeves with director Chad Stahelski, as well as Mouly Surya’s Trigger Warning starring Jessica Alba; John Woo’s heralded US action film return SILENT NIGHT starring Joel Kinnaman; Stefon Bristol’s sophomore film BREATHE starring Jennifer Hudson and Milla Jovovich; Ric Waugh’s Kandahar starring Gerard Butler, Dev Patel’s directorial debut with the revenge thriller Monkey Man, and Jim Strouse’s romantic comedy Text For You, starring Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Sam Heughan featuring original music by Celine Dion. Erica is also working on projects expanding the World of John Wick, including the limited series The Continental and the first feature spinoff, Ballerina, starring Ana De Armas, which recently began pre-production.

Cristina Priarone is the General Manager of ROMA LAZIO FILM COMMISSION as well as President of IFC Italian Film Commissions Association and Vice President of CINEUROPA. Previously she joined Cinecittà Holding at Lazio Film Commission in charge for Marketing and Coproduction; she has been at Filas in charge for marketing and development of “Cinema and Audiovisual activities, Venture Capital Fund”. She worked as team coordinator for marketing research, Personnel selection and assessment at “ISIN Istituto Italiano di Negoziazione Scienza dello Scambio” and at GRUPPOMUST Milan, Rome, Turin as Dir. for Mktg. & Dev. being in charge for: Communication, Training, Teambuilding, Coaching, Personnel Selection, and as Senior Consultant for main clients: ENI HOLDING, SNAM, 3M, TECHNICOLOR, APPLE COMPUTER, ITALGAS ETC. Board member of LA WEBFEST, since 2009 she’s member of jury of DAVID DI DONATELLO award and then of EFA European Film Academy, she’s member of jury of PREMIO STREGA.

Iole Maria Giannattasio is responsible for international and legal affairs and for the research unit within the Secretariat of DG Cinema e Audiovisivo – MiC.
Iole represents Italy to Eurimages – European Cinema Support Fund, to the European Audiovisual Observatory and to EFARN – European Film Agencies Research Network.
Iole is the author of several publications on audiovisual film industries and markets and she is a collaborator of the Film Magazine 8 ½ – numeri visioni e prospettive del cinema italiano, published by Cinecittà SpA.
She was a member of the team established by DGCA for the administration of the new tax incentives for film industry in effect since 2009.
From 2004 to 2009 she worked as media analyst at Cinecittà Holding S.p.A’s Osservatorio Italiano dell’Audiovisivo and then at Cinecittà Luce S.p.A.’s Centro Studi.

Civil servant manager with over 30 years (10 being posted abroad) of wide and diversified international background. Experienced and qualified expert in economic international relations and trade, promotion, and economic cooperation in advanced and emerging markets. Currently living in Los Angeles as Italian Trade Commissioner after having served in Belgium (Bruxelles) as Head office of the Italian Ministry for Environment and Deputy at ITA Bruxelles, in Slovenia as Trade Commissioner and previously in Bruxelles as National Detached Expert representing Italy at the EC. In her previous role at ITA’s Headquarter, she acted as a government official in different field of promotion of Made in Italy abroad (fashion, design, environment and technology), in the implementation of EU programs for SME’s, especially in ACP countries, in managerial training programs focused on EU and International tenders (World Bank and UN) and on international management skills improvement programs for Africa.

Silvia Chiave was born in Milan, on January 15, 1975 and has lived most of her life abroad.
Back in Italy for university studies, she graduated in 1998 in Economics at the Luigi Bocconi University in Milan and the following year she received a Master in International Relations at the Institute for International Political Studies in the same city.
At the end of 2000 she joined the diplomatic career within the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After three years at the Directorate General for the Countries of Asia, Oceania, Pacific and Antarctica, she served from 2004 and 2006 at the Italian Embassy in New Delhi, where she was in charge for economic and trade relations along with cultural promotion.
In October 2006 she was Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission at the Italian Embassy in Luxembourg.
In 2009 she returned to Rome where she was appointed Deputy European Correspondent. In this capacity, she dealt with foreign affairs, defense and European security policy also coordinating Italy’s participation in the European Union mission. Then she became Chief of Staff of the Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation and, from 2014, she was Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission of the Italian Embassy in Tunisia where she had the chance to witness the democratic transition progress of the North- African country.
She took office as Consul General of Italy in Los Angeles since December 3, 2018.
Silvia Chiave is married with two children and is passionate about theater, reading and snowboarding. She is also a sommelier and paragliding pilot.

After graduating in Political Science and International Affairs he has dedicated the past 30 years to developing and strengthening relationships with international cinema and tv institutions.

For ITA, he has set up a network of information desks on the Italian film industry funding and location services in the major World Markets.. At the moment there are two permanent offices in Los Angeles and Shanghai, and a series of information desks in Seul, Hanoi, Moscow, London, Berlin, Paris, Toronto, New York, Miami, Mexico City, San Paolo and Buenos Aires.

He is also the Coordinator of the China Project by the DGCA-MiC, with the aim of promoting the dialogue, the cooperation, and increasing business and institutional activities, between Chinese and Italian film industries.

Since March 2022, he has also become Head of Special Projects of the DGCA-MiC at Cinecittà in order to enhance international cooperation, activities and further develop relationships and business among Italian and foreign film professionals.

Eleonora Granata Jenkinson funded in 2014 her Melograno Films company, produced “Medeas,” directed by Andrea Pallaoro, “Galore,” by Rhys Graham, and produced Oliver Stone’s documentary, “Ukraine on Fire,”
In 2022 Eleonora produced “Monica,” by Andrea Pallaoro
Completed films in 2019-2021: Eleonora is Associate Producer of “The Passion According to GH “ by Luiz Fernando Carvalho and produced “The Crying Steppe “by Marina Kunarova, Kazakhstan Oscar’s entry 2020 and in 2021 Exec produced The White Line by Desiree Kahikopo, the first ever film from Namibia to qualify for the Oscar.
As a film production and acquisitions executive, Eleonora has worked as Vice President and head of the film co-productions and acquisitions at Turner Pictures. She served as Senior Vice President at Pandora Films, running their USA production office. She began her career with RCS Films and Television in Italy, oversaw the company’s world¬wide acquisitions and productions from Los Angeles.

Jeremy Kay is Americas editor of the international trade publication Screendaily. From his Los Angeles hub he regularly travels to the major markets and festivals on the calendar to report on market news and interview talent and executives.

Besides focusing on the independent business, festivals and markets, Kay reports on production and financing, streamer and studio activity, the Canadian and Latin American film industries, and awards season.

He has moderated panels at TIFF, Cannes, AFM, Ventana Sur and other top tier events on the circuit.

As a freelancer Kay has written on film for The Guardian and The Telegraph, and has written more broadly on news and sport for Time Out, The Independent On Sunday, The Express, and The Sunday Irish Tribune.

Maxime oversees the production and financing activities at the Los Angeles-based independent film production and distribution company XYZ Films, where he produces and executive produces many of the company’s titles, including most recently Stowaway starring Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette and Dual starring Karen Gillan and Aaron Paul. Furthermore, Maxime spearheads the execution of all financing arrangements for both the company and individual films produced and distributed by the company, most recently raising a $100M production financing fund for XYZ in collaboration Finnish venture capital company IPR.VC. Before joining XYZ in 2017, Maxime spent many years at the film financing group Ingenious Media in London where he was responsible for sourcing, evaluating and negotiating investments in the media industry. A French and German national by way of the UK, Maxime resides in Los Angeles.

Furthermore, Maxime spearheads the execution of all financing arrangements for both the company and individual films produced and distributed by the company, most recently raising a $100M production financing fund for XYZ in collaboration with the Finnish venture capital fund IPR.VC.

Before joining XYZ in 2017, Maxime spent many years at the film financing group Ingenious Media in London where he was responsible for and involved in sourcing, evaluating and negotiating investments in studio and independent film projects, ranging from studio blockbusters including Life of Pi and The Rise of the Planet of the Apes to award-winning independent films including Selma, Carol and Brooklyn.

A French and German national by way of the UK, Maxime resides in Los Angeles.

Deirdre Owens joined Cast & Crew in 2013 to launch, Cast & Crew Financial Services, where she serves as Vice President of Production Incentive Financing. Cast & Crew Financial Services provides production financing for projects across the spectrum, from movies-of-the-week to large budget features. This financing is most commonly in the form of tax incentive loans, but also includes receivables lending and other short-term financing. The company also provides tax credit administration services for producers earning incentives across the US, and through its Cast & Crew Capital subsidiary, assists US and Canadian producers with the legal and accounting services required to earn Canadian tax credits.

Prior to joining Cast & Crew, Ms. Owens held the post of Senior Vice President of Finance at Grosvenor Park Media where she specialized in structuring and negotiating film and television investments including single and multi-project debt and debt/equity facilities. Previously, Ms. Owens worked with Jonathan Dolgen, the former Chairman of Paramount Pictures, at his private equity firm, Wood River Ventures. Ms. Owens holds an M.B.A from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and an AB degree from Harvard University.

Peter Graham has been actively involved in financing entertainment companies and film production for over thirty years. Since 2005 he has partnered with Stephen Hays on 120dB Films. Before 120dB, Mr. Graham was a Managing Director of the Lewis Horwitz Organization (LHO), one of the premier companies specializing in financing independent film and television production. Prior to LHO (1997-2005), he was a Vice President with Union Bank of California’s Entertainment Department (1992-1997) lending to independent film productions. Mr. Graham began his entertainment financing skills with First Interstate Bank from (1990-1992). He is a graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy with a dual major and has an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.

Mr. Graham has expertise in complex international film financing and distribution. He has also provided consulting services for debt restructuring. His specialty is developing creative deal structures encompassing both debt and equity. He has been involved in financing over 400 independent movies and television programs including Jeepers Creepers, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Virgin Suicides, The English Patient, Queen of the Desert and the television series “Leverage”.

Mr. Graham previously served on the I.F.T.A Board of Directors and has served on the Advisory Board of Directors for the American Film Institute Festival. He is a frequent speaker on industry panels and a lecturer for university courses.

Steven Farneth is a Senior Executive at Cinetic Media, where he supervises the company’s Los Angeles office and serves as Head of Finance and as a literary and talent manager, reflecting the company’s multi-disciplinary approach to representation and finance.

Farneth oversees all aspects of developing, raising and structuring project finance for Cinetic clients, while also focusing on domestic and international sales and overall analysis and corporate strategy work for film funds, producers, and financiers.

He has been instrumental to the finance and distribution of projects including 100 Foot Wave; The Babadook; Cartel Land; Everybody Wants Some; A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night; Maggie’s Plan; Super Troopers 2; The Kids Are All Right, and forthcoming projects by Todd Haynes, Matthew Heineman, Lyric Cabral, Bradford Young and Jonathan Hock, among others.

Farneth Executive Produced the Academy Award winning Best Picture Green Book, as well as Land, directed by and starring Robin Wright, MLK/FBI directed by Sam Pollard, A Mouthful of Air, directed by Amy Koppelman and starring Amanda Seyfried, and a forthcoming feature written and directed by Bill Burr.

He was profiled in Variety’s 2013 “Global Finance Impact Report”. Prior to joining Cinetic in 2006, Farneth was at ThinkFilm. He holds a B.A. in English Literature from Swarthmore College and a M.A. in Cinema Studies from New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Steven Wolfson has taught screenwriting, playwriting and creative writing at The Writers Program at UCLA for the past 20 years and holds the distinction of having created the most new classes, workshops and seminars of any instructor in the program’s history. He has been awarded The Outstanding Instructor of the Year award twice, in both screenwriting and creative writing.

As a highly sought-after story consultant and dramaturg, Wolfson’s clients span the worlds of film, television, theater and prose. He has worked one-on-one with several A-list Hollywood writers and directors, shepherding new projects from inception to production. Wolfson’s series of unique writing exercises have been secretly passed throughout Hollywood for years.

As a screenwriter, Wolfson has sold projects to Fox, Lionsgate, TNT, MTV, Langley Entertainment, Beacon Films and producer Arnold Rifkin. Wolfson wrote the independent romantic comedy, Dinner and Driving, which premiered at The Austin Film Festival and went on to win audience awards at several film festivals and was sold to HBO. Wolfson also wrote and co-produced the critically acclaimed Lionsgate feature, Gang Tapes, a coming-of-age drama set in South Central, Los Angeles. Gang Tapes played to sold out audiences at film festivals in both The United States and Europe. Prior to selling his first screenplay, Wolfson worked as a story analyst for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin and Dreamworks and a number of independent film producers.

Wolfson is a founding member of the Mark Taper Forum’s Mentor Playwrights Project . His original plays have been produced and workshopped at The Mark Taper Forum, Taper Too, The Getty Museum, Cornerstone Theater Company, The Virginia Avenue Project and The Geffen Contemporary. His most recent play, The Absence of Wanting, premiered in Berlin.

Margaret Boykin oversees the adaptation, development and production of Ubisoft’s award-winning games and original stories set in the world, culture and community of gaming for film and television. Boykin is a producer on all of Ubisoft Film & Television’s film and television projects, where she translates the vast and complex worlds of Ubisoft’s games into Hollywood entertainment by putting on the lens of a filmmaker and breaking down the brands to highlight the potential for film – a skill she honed working for Producer Elizabeth Cantillon, assisting with the development of big IP adaptations such as THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB and the reboot of CHARLIE’S ANGELS.

Boykin successfully developed and produced the award-winning film, WEREWOLVES WITHIN, as Ubisoft Film & Television’s first-ever independent feature film in 2021. Lauded as a film that broke the mold for most video game adaptations by building on the spirit of the source IP rather than adhering to a by-the-book adaptation, WEREWOLVES WITHIN represents Ubisoft’s creative, dynamic and unexpected film and television strategy, shepherded by Boykin. The film is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and won Best Indie Film in the Hollywood Critics Association’s Midseason Awards. The film is directed by Josh Ruben (SCARE ME) and the ensemble cast includes Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, Cheyenne Jackson, Michael Chernus, Michaela Watkins, Sarah Burns, Harvey Guillen, Catherin Curtin and George Basil. Boykin oversaw post-production remotely during the COVID-19 lockdown, keeping the film on schedule. The film premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival and was released theatrically on June 25th and on digital platforms on July 2nd via IFC Films.

WEREWOLVES WITHIN, based on Ubisoft’s VR game of the same name, was a direct result of Ubisoft’s Women’s Film & Television Fellowship, which Boykin championed to found at Ubisoft after seeing a lack of diversity in writers’ lists submitted to the company. The goal of the fellowship is to create more opportunities for women, non-binary, trans, gender-nonconforming, and gender-variant people in the entertainment space. Now in its fourth year, the fellowship sees two participants within the entertainment industry explore Ubisoft’s library and original stories over a paid, non-exclusive, six-month period for potential story ideas, engage in one-on-one mentorships and pitch their own takes. The fellowship has resulted in several script deals for films, including WEREWOLVES WITHIN, Heather Quinn’s Untitled Rom-Com, and Annbel Seymour’s REPLAY.

During Margaret’s tenure, Ubisoft has successfully packaged and set up a slate of Ubisoft IP based projects including THE DIVISION with Rawson Marshall Thurber set to direct, Ellen Shanman attached to co-write and Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain attached to star, BEYOND GOOD & EVIL at Netflix with Rob Letterman attached to direct, JUST DANCE with Sony and Assassin’s Creed. Each of these projects seeks to re-write the book on video game adaptations by creating new, unexpected stories with new characters for film and television while adhering to the world and tone of the games. She is also overseeing an emerging roster of original projects set in the culture and community of gaming that includes the UNT. SENIOR E SPORTS PROJECT with Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (I FEEL PRETTY) attached to write and direct and Mythic Quest.

Charles Hopkins is a Director of Development & Production for Concord Originals, the narrative content creation division for the massive music and theater company, Concord. As part of this role, Hopkins develops scripted and unscripted projects for film and television across a variety of genres and mediums. In his three years at Concord Originals, he’s spearheaded projects that are in development or distribution with Amazon, Netflix, Skydance and more. Hopkins is originally from Australia, where he graduated Arts: Media & Communications and Law at The University of Melbourne, then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment. After stints in talent management and production, Hopkins climbed the ladder at an indie film sales and production company on the acquisitions side before joining Concord Originals. His experience encompasses creative development, packaging, business affairs, financing and distribution.

James Vanderbilt has been making stuff up for a living ever since he graduated from the University of Southern California’s Filmic Writing Program. A talented writer, director, and producer whose diverse catalogue of films range from heavy-hitting blockbusters to edge of your seat thrillers, Vanderbilt sold his first screenplay 48 hours before graduating. It was promptly not made.

His directorial debut, Truth, which starred Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford, was named one of the Top 10 Films of 2015 by The New York Times. He has written and produced numerous films, including David Fincher’s Zodiac, for which he was nominated for a Writer’s Guild of America Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and Roland Emmerich’s White House Down, for which he was not.

In 2019, Vanderbilt formed the independent production and financing company Project X Entertainment (PXE) with partners William Sherak and Paul Neinstein. With a full roster of projects set for release and in development, the company’s slate includes Paramount’s relaunch of Scream, co-written by Vanderbilt, Universal’s action/thriller Ambulance, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Michael Bay and the upcoming STXfilms’ horror/thriller Bed Rest, as well as Netflix’s The Night Agent, created by Shawn Ryan.

His writing credits also include The Amazing Spider-Man films, Basic, The Rundown, The Losers, and Murder Mystery and its upcoming sequel, both starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston, and both which he also produced. His other producing credits include the critically acclaimed Suspiria, directed by Luca Guadagnino, The House With a Clock In Its Walls, directed by Eli Roth, Fox Searchlight’s horror comedy Ready or Not, directed by Radio Silence, and the groundbreaking Netflix science fiction series, Altered Carbon.

He lives in Malibu, California, with his wife, children, and dogs.

Jason Richman is a Partner and Co-Head of the Media Rights Group at UTA. He began his entertainment career in 2010 in the UTA mailroom and quickly worked his way up to agent. With an incredible ability to identify emerging a­nd underrepresented storytellers, Richman has helped amplify the voices of numerous artists within the film and television landscape. Clients include Celeste Ng, Salman Rushdie, Jesmyn Ward, Elin Hilderbrand, Harlan Coben, Helen Fielding, Jia Tolentino, Adam Silvera, Samantha Irby, Erik Larson, Stacey Abrams, Anderson Cooper, Charles Yu, Shrill co-creator Lindy West, The New Yorker staff writers Rachel Aviv, Ben Taub, Jelani Cobb, Ian Parker, Naomi Fry and more. Richman also represents The Boston Globe, The Los Angeles Times, and WNYC Studios in addition to the estates of Charles Beaumont and Norman Mailer.

Prior to joining UTA, Richman graduated from Stanford University with a B.A. in English and grew up outside Chicago, Illinois.

Alan d’Escragnolle is the CEO and Co-Founder of Filmhub, a tech-powered film distribution company that services filmmakers, distributors, and sales agents, helping them monetize their films on streaming channels worldwide. A Brazilian-American Wharton graduate, Alan honed his entrepreneurial skills leading teams at Square and Intuit and served on the executive teams of two successfully acquired startups. When he’s not driving Filmhub’s global expansion, he can be found in Lake Tahoe skiing and mountain biking with his dog, Rio.

From a very young age, Alia J. Daniels recognized the power of representation within the media. Quickly identifying how few women looked like her across entertainment, business and politics, Alia became determined to make an impact. She equipped herself with bachelor’s degrees in Music and Communications Studies with a Mass Media emphasis from Albion College, and a Juris Doctorate from Loyola Law School and sought to change the face of media.
As a business and entertainment attorney, Alia has not only represented clients in the digital entertainment and tech space but is also a strategist and featured speaker on the ever-changing streaming entertainment arena. Since 2015, Alia has been consistently named to the prestigious Southern California Rising Stars list by Super Lawyers for eight years in a row. In 2021, Alia was named to the inaugural Forbes Next 1000 list, honoring the next generation of upstart entrepreneurs.
Today, Alia has found her niche at the intersection of entrepreneurship, entertainment and social impact as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer for Revry, a global queer streaming tv network. As an advocate for inclusion for all underrepresented communities, the cornerstone of Alia’s personal mission is to create avenues for authentic representation in media and business.’

Amanda worked at Tubi for over 5 years in Content Acquisitions and Partnerships (after coming from Google Play) starting in 2014 through their successful 2020 FOX acquisition. During her time there she ran the Partner Operations (now Content Partnerships), Content Performance, and Curation Departments. She was also the VP of Content Partnerships at Vewd (recently acquired by Xperi in July 2022) and recently received her MBA from UCLA Anderson with specializations in Entertainment and Technology management.

She currently manages ad-based (AVOD/FAST) streaming app partnerships at Samsung Electronics America on their Media Ecosystem team.

Sadhvi Siddhali Shree is the first North American Jain monk, a US Army Iraq-war combat veteran, a TEDx speaker, an activist, and an award-winning filmmaker.

Driven by her deep-seated devotion to humanity, she uses her talents and skills to raise awareness about non-violence, personal and spiritual transformation, and social issues. Since 2008, she has served as the Spiritual Director of Siddhayatan Tirth & Spiritual Retreat, a 250-acre retreat, ashram, monastery, and meditation park based near Dallas, Texas.

Determined to bring about positive change and to help those who have suffered, she directed and produced two award-winning documentaries Stopping Traffic and Surviving Sex Trafficking. Surviving Sex Trafficking, which was released in early 2022, was picked up by a major streaming company, had a 20 theater nationwide release in partnership with anti-trafficking non-profits, and met the Academy qualification requirements for Oscar consideration. Her current film, For The Animals is represented by FilmHub and their Spotlight program.

Sadhvi Siddhali Shree and her work have been featured on CNN, Good Morning America, TMZ, Newsweek, the Associated Press, Deadline Hollywood, The Daily Beast, Los Angeles Times, and the NY Post.

Despite being a filmmaker, she considers herself a simple monk trying to do good in the world.

Sridhar has over 15 years of experience in technology and business development,
primarily in mobile, video and embedded systems. At Amagi, he is the sales leader for
North America, with the overall responsibility of sales strategy, customer acquisition,
client relationships, business expansion and organization development. Earlier, he led
the global pre-sales function, and took up the role of the sales leader for US (West)
before assuming his current position.
Sridhar has a background in software engineering and spent the initial years of his
career developing technology products for global customers. This proved to be a
tremendous asset as he transitioned to client-facing roles, where he could simplify
customer requirements, and provide them technology solutions to solve complex
business problems. He grew Amagi’s revenues in the US by nearly three times, making
it the largest region by revenue for the company’s cloud solutions.
Prior to Amagi, Sridhar worked at Aricent Communications, Alcatel Lucent, Audio Codes
and Ittiam Systems. He studied BTech in Electronics and Communication from Anna
University. He is fond of driving and is always curious to explore remote destinations.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and 9-year-old daughter.

Patrick Rizzotti has successfully secured $100MM+ in financing spanning over 20+ feature films. Rizzotti runs the film and television lending marketplace, Blue Fox Financing. Blue Fox Financing is the first transactional digital platform to streamline and expedite film financing opportunities for the entertainment industry, connecting borrowers with the largest database of film and television lenders and gap financiers.

In addition to running Blue Fox Financing, Rizzotti has also produced major internationally successful films including the critically acclaimed “Pride” (Lionsgate), starring Academy Award Nominee Terrence Howard (Empire, Iron man), “The Collector”, co-written and directed by Marcus Dunstan (The Saw Franchise), which spawned a two sequels called “The Collection” and “The Collected”, “The Super”, a psychological thriller starring Val Kilmer (Top Gun, The Doors) financed by legendary television producer Dick Wolf, “The Free Fall” starring Andrea Lando (NARCOS) and Shawn Ashmore (X-Men Days of Future Past, The Boys), “Maximum Truth” Starring Ike Barinholtz (Central Intelligence, Blockers), Dylan O’Brien (Maze Runner, Teen Wolf) Financed by Edward H. Hamm Jr (Get Out, Blackkklansman), “Tiger Mom” starring Ken Jeong (Hangover, Community) and “Bunker”, financed by Blue Fox Entertainment and directed by Adrian Langley (Butchers).

Glendon Palmer is AGC Studios’ Executive Vice President of Production. He is a producer on the company’s upcoming film THE PERFECT FIND from director Numa Perrier starring Gabrielle Union and Gina Torres for Netflix. Previous to AGC Palmer was SVP of Development and Production at IM Global where he was an Executive Producer on such projects as Southside with You, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and Fifty Shades of Black, which was a success internationally and a box office hit for US distributor Open Road. Prior to IM Global Palmer was an independent film and television producer who developed and produced the breakout hit Jumping the Broom for Sony Pictures, and a production executive at Robert L. Johnson’s Our Stories Films and Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment. He began his career at Savoy Pictures International before transitioning to a position at the management company Handprint Entertainment. Palmer is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Sanjay Sharma is the founder and CEO of Marginal MediaWorks. MARGINAL is a startup content studio focused on underrepresented voices creating authentic but commercial, genre fare for broad audiences — through their unique lens. MARGINAL develops and produces feature film, television, animation and audio series, across scripted and unscripted formats, with a primary focus on popular genres, horror, thriller, near future sci-fi, comedy and aspirational narratives, from writers and directors of color, women, immigrants, LGBTQ+ community members, or “others” of all kinds in the US and globally. In its first 3 years, the company has helped produce 6 feature films, sold two tv series and two premium scripted audio series, all from emerging creators of color. Sharma previously helped found and lead two digital media startups: Machinima, the first YouTube “multi channel network,” which was acquired by Warner Bros, and All Def Media, based on the iconic Def Jam record label and brand. He began his career at Warner Bros. Pictures working across the studios many franchises including The Matrix, Ocean’s 11, Chris Nolan’s Batman and more. Sharma is a graduate of Columbia University and the Stanford Law School. Marginal, Sharma’s third startup, is a public benefit corporation.

James Huntsman was a founding partner of Blue Fox Entertainment in 2015. After 12 months as a producer representative, Blue Fox expanded into a full service domestic distribution and international sales company handling between 20-25 movies a year of all genres. In 2022, Blue Fox Entertainment acquired Crossroads Lending to form Blue Fox Financing, the largest global marketplace to cash flow debt and provide gap financing . Prior to Blue Fox Entertainment, James was a founding partner of the Beverly Hills based production company Asgaard Entertainment in 2006.

David Stump ASC is a working Director of Photography, Visual Effects Director of Photography, Visual Effects Supervisor, and Stereographer, (including both live action work and 2D to 3D conversion work), earning an Emmy Award, an Academy Award for Scientific and Technical Achievement, an IMAGO Technical Achievement Award and an International Cinematographers Guild Award. His credits include projects like Little Fires Everywhere, The Morning Show, Skyfire, The Happytime Murders, American Gods, The Unwilling, Immortals, Quantum of Solace, Flight Plan, Fantastic Four, X-Men 1 & 2, Into the Blue, Garfield, Batman Forever, Hollow Man, Men of Honor, Deep Blue Sea, Stuart Little, The Sphere, Contact, Batman &
Robin, Mars Attacks, Executive Decision, Stargate, and Free Willy, among many, many others.
He is currently chairman of both the Camera Committee and the Metadata Committee of the
ASC Motion Imaging Technology Council. Under his guidance, the combined efforts of the Producers Guild of America and the American Society of Cinematographers produced both the ASC / PGA Camera Assessment Series, and the ASC / PGA Image Control Assessment Series, side by side comparisons of virtually all of the high end digital cinema cameras against film.
His extended credits include work in immersive media including circular and hemispherical environments, virtual cinematography of all kinds, virtual camera design, light field cinematography, multi camera photogrammetry, game engine integration, and immersive military training environment design.
David authored the book “Digital Cinematography – Fundamentals, Techniques and Workflows”, and is a contributing author to the “VES Handbook”. He is also a RIS committee member setting VP and XR standards with SMPTE and mapping virtual lens coefficients for Unreal Engine, Cooke Optics, Arri, and Zeiss.

Peter Hyoguchi directed the first Super Bowl spot to utilize Virtual Production. He is a two-time recipient of the Epic MegaGrant for his sci-fi “Gods of Mars” proof-of-concept which created a propitiatory virtual production pipeline with a team of Oscar and Emmy-winning virtual effects artists whose credits include “Star Wars”, “X-Men”, “How to Train Your Dragon”, “Batman”, Quantum of Solace”, “The Dark Crystal” and “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”.

Hyoguchi wrote and directed the dramatic feature “First, Last and Deposit” which won Best Drama at the New York Independent Festival and Best Feature at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival. It went on to air on IFC and Netflix.

At fifteen years-old, Peter won George Lucas’s youth film festival for his short sci-fi film “The Future’s Future”. Two years later Hyoguchi received an art grant to direct his first feature film, “No Exit” by Jean Paul Sartre.

Lead Unreal Tech at Roninfilm Virtual Production/”Gods of Mars”
Charles Jones is a game designer, VFX artist and CG Supervisor and has been working with the
Unreal Engine since 1998.
Jones led the team that created VFX and animation for Roninfilm’s Gods of Mars, which has
been the recipient of two Epic Games/Unreal Engine MegaGrants.
Charles created key shots in a 2022 Super Bowl commercial.

With over 30 years of experience in broadcast, film, visual effects, systems integration, and virtual technologies, Mike has extensive industry experience across production and post-production. He has been involved in virtual production from its inception in the
mid-1990s, through the adoption of games engines, 3D tracking, and real-time compositing, to the current incarnation offering real-time VFX.
In 2010, whilst a Director of FilmLight, the company won 4 AMPAS SciTech awards in the same year for film scanning, colour grading, and colour management. More recently, as Commercial Director of Mo-Sys, Mike has helped drive two consecutive years of near 100 % growth, with the company winning numerous awards for pioneering virtual production technology, including 2 HPA Engineering Awards in consecutive years – an industry first.

Canning is currently serving as the Director of Developer
Relations for AMD. Helping AMD understand and deliver the
best products to support the Creator space.
John brings a career that has spanned the technology and
methodology for creating and delivering XR, games, virtual
production and digital humans, from concept to client in his
former role as Executive Producer for New Media &
Experiential for Digital Domain.
John has endeavored to help companies and causes not
only tell their stories through dynamic media but also
leverage disruptive and transformative technology to
maximize the creative impact.
John has also served as the Chairman of the board for the
New Media Council for the Producers Guild of America
representing the interests of producers of broadband video,
games, transmedia, iTV and XR content in the entertainment
industry.
Previously, John was the VP of Interactive Experiences for
NBC Entertainment Digital, where he developed native
interactive experiences, be they 2nd screen, social media, or
virtual reality for some of the largest shows on TV, such as
The Voice, World of Dance, America’s Got Talent, Blindspot,
Blacklist, and more.

Webb brings extensive experience in business development, VC backing, representation and
marketing. Her former clients include such notable figures as James Cameron, Oliver Stone, Doug Trumbull, Tim Burton, Coen Brothers, companies such as: IMAX, Pixar, Sony, DreamWorks, MGM, Disney and feature films: Shrek I, II & III; Toy Story; Lion King; and The Amazing Spider-Man.

James Blevins is virtual production line producer and post supervisor. Most of his clients are in pursuit of efficient bidding, scheduling, crewing and bidding. A few are also beginning to explore the
new web3 platforms. All of this work is handled through his production company, MESH. The MESH team most recently built the virtual art department for Megalopolis. His previous work as Post-Production Supervisor for Lucasfilm Productions has given him world class experience in ground breaking shows using virtual production elements. He also spent four and half years at Netflix where the job of post production and distribution intertwined in a unique way. There he
developed skills as an early employee of the world’s fastest growing studio. His time with Walt Disney Studios and fifteen years in the VFX industry had properly prepared him to take advantage of Netflix’s innovative approach to production technology. His passion to enable all the disciplines of storytelling keeps him young and vivacious. He is a proud member of some of the finest institutions in film and television production and distribution including:

The Television Academy
Motion Picture Editors Guild
Hollywood professional Association, Board Member

Additional Press
● https://www.becomecgpro.com/podcasts/cg-pro-podcast/episodes/2147758997

David Steward, II is an Academy Award®-winning producer who owns and operates multiple companies with a mission of creating, discovering, and highlighting multicultural and diverse content in the entertainment industry.

In 2018, Steward founded Polarity, a holding company to oversee the operations of a portfolio of companies. The companies offer an array of content offerings including graphic novels and comics, animated television, streaming and cinematic features, and gaming. Key portfolio companies include Oni Lion Forge Publishing Group (the merged entity of The Lion Forge and the twenty-year comic book publisher Oni Press), the European publishing house Magnetic Press, the original content developer Illustrated Syndicate, the animation studio Lion Forge Animation, and Lion Forge Labs.

In 2019, Polarity launched the Lion Forge Animation Studio, credited for producing the Hair Love short film, distributed by Sony Pictures Animation, and winner for “Best Animated Short” in the 2020 Academy Awards®. Lion Forge Animation has gained recognition for highlighting animators of color and in 2021 was named one of Fast Company Magazine’s Most Innovative Companies in the World, placing #3 in the film and TV category.

Among the significant entertainment deals brokered by David in the last year include: a partnership with Wendell Scott Ventures to introduce the iconic and groundbreaking life and legacy of Wendell Scott, NASCAR’s first black racer, to audiences through films, TV series, digital content, games, and more; a first look deal with Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Kids + Family label; a partnership with BRON Studios on an animated TV series Heiress; a Hair Love spinoff series (Young Love) for HBO Max; and a multi-picture joint venture partnership with Chinese studio Starlight Media, to name a few.

David’s entertainment portfolio started with the founding of The Lion Forge, LLC, the St. Louis-based publisher in 2011. Before merging with Oni Press, the company published comics and graphic novels with a mission to create content for everyone, regardless of gender identity, ethnicity, or cultural background – a mission which is still maintained at Oni Lion Forge Publishing Group. The company boasted multiple publishing accolades. The first original graphic novel Andre the Giant: Closer to Heaven was nominated for three Glyph Awards, as well as the Dwayne McDuffie Award for Diversity, and Lighter Than My Shadow was voted the 2017 Graphic Novel of the Year by Amazon. The benefit collection, Puerto Rico Strong, brought home the company’s first Eisner Award in 2019 in the “Best Anthology Comic” category. Across multiple imprints and formats that has included licensed properties like DreamWorks Voltron Legendary Defender, original works from top independent creators, and the original and all-inclusive Catalyst Prime superhero universe, Lion Forge has published something for every level of comic book fan, young and old.

A past Board Chair of Nine PBS in St. Louis, David was recently elected Lay Vice Chair of Americas Public Television Stations (APTS). He was the recipient of the APTS Advocacy Award in 2021.

David was also the recipient of a coveted Eisner Award, the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award, earned on behalf of the Comic Book United Fund, which he started with Binc and DC at the onset of the COVID pandemic to provide aid to comic book retailers. The fund was an offshoot of the Forge Fund he had created years earlier.

Before starting Lion Forge, David founded and operated Photographx.com. Started in 2000, the company grew from a photography solutions provider into a multimedia company providing photography, filmmaking, animation and design to its clients. Steward has also worked as a film producer for a Christian media company based in Los Angeles, and later formed and managed The Chi Rho Group, a “traditional” private equity organization focused on making acquisitions in consumer-packaged goods, technology, and media & entertainment.
David graduated Magna Cum Laude from American University in 1998 with a B.S.B.A. in International Marketing.

Robert Rippberger is a filmmaker with a broad array of creative and executive experience. He most recently directed and produced the film “Those Who Walk Away” starring BooBoo Stewart (Descendants, X-Men) and prior to that directed and produced the Harlem drama, “Strive,” with Danny Glover. Both were released theatrically and received dozens of accolades worldwide.

Rippberger has also directed and produced critically acclaimed documentaries, including the 2019 film “Public Enemy Number One” from Executive Producer ICE-T, exploiting the U.S. war on drugs. Prior, Rippberger directed and produced the 2015 film “7 Days in Syria”, an exploration into the human side of the war in Aleppo, Syria. The film was championed by Angelina Jolie, screened at Britain’s House of Lords, to senior members of the U.N., and was released on Hulu and Amazon.

Rippberger is a member of the Producers Guild of America and is on the PGA’s Social Impact Entertainment Task Force. In addition to heading SIE Films, Rippberger is the founder and co-executive director of SIE Society, a leading global alliance of Social Impact Entertainment filmmakers. In 2022 he published his second book, “The Power of Storytelling: Social Impact Entertainment” available through book sellers everywhere October 25th.

Rippberger’s current projects include producing the documentary “How to Build a Truth Engine” with Executive Producers George Clooney and Grant Heslov, producing the documentary “The Mouse That Roared” from Academy Award-nominated director Judith Ehrlich, producing the stop-motion animated film “The Inventor” from “Ratatouille” writer Jim Capobianco, starring Daisy Ridley, Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard, and Matt Berry, and executive producing the horror film “Float” by former Blumhouse executive Zac Locke. Rippberger also has two upcoming director projects to be announced soon.

Danny Gabai is Chief Content Officer at VICE Studios, which he has helped build from the ground up to encompass all of VICE’s feature film, scripted television, and premium non-scripted and documentary productions.

VICE Studios is a division of VICE Media Group, the world’s largest independent youth media company. Launched in 1994, VICE has offices in 35 cities across the globe with a focus on five key businesses: Studios; VICE.com, an award-winning international network of digital content; VICE TV, an Emmy-winning international television network; a Peabody award-winning NEWS division with the most Emmy-awarded nightly news broadcast; and VIRTUE, a global, full-service creative agency.

Gabai has produced multiple feature films, documentaries and TV series for VICE, including the 3 time Oscar nominated and 2 time BAFTA nominated animated documentary FLEE; Showtime’s upcoming documentary MEET ME IN THE BATHROOM; 6 part docuseries PRIDE for FX, Scott Burns’ 2019 Golden Globe nominated Amazon feature film THE REPORT; Chris Smith’s Emmy-nominated Netflix documentaries FYRE: THE GREATEST PARTY THAT NEVER HAPPENED and JIM & ANDY: THE GREAT BEYOND; Gaspar Noe’s CLIMAX, winner of the Director’s Fortnight competition at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival; and Ana Lily Amirpour’s THE BAD BATCH, winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2016 Venice Film Festival.

Gabai has worked across every aspect of VICE’s creative business over the past 10 years, including overseeing VICE’s entire original digital content slate from 2012 – 2014, running VICE’s film marketing division and conceiving VICE’s industry defining campaigns for “Spring Breakers”, “The Conjuring” and the Cannes Lions winning “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes”; and working closely with Spike Jonze to help develop the original slate of shows that launched the VICELAND channel.

Prior to VICE, Gabai spent 10 years as a Motion Picture Agent at WME Entertainment and the William Morris Agency, where he worked with clients including filmmakers Gaspar Noe, Lee Daniels, Nicolas Winding Refn and Roman Coppola, “Mr. Robot” creator Sam Esmail, fashion designers Rodarte; as well as companies including JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot and VICE.

Gabai graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

As Senior Vice President of Narrative Film, Elizabeth Haggard is involved in the day-to-day development and production of the narrative film slate for Participant, the leading media company dedicated to entertainment that stands at the intersection of art and activism. She is currently producing Shirley, a biopic about Shirley Chisholm starring Regina King, and written and directed by John Ridley for Netflix.

Prior to joining Participant, Haggard oversaw the development and production of Ramona Film’s film and TV slate as their Production Executive. While there, she produced Janicza Bravo’s film Zola for A24 and Dave Franco’s directorial debut The Rental for IFC and Black Bear. She was an Executive Producer on the UCP pilot Masters of Doom, based on David Kushner’s book of the same title, and developed the critically-acclaimed Hulu show Pam & Tommy. Haggard started her career at Universal Pictures as an Executive Assistant to Donna Langley before being promoted to Director, Story Department. Haggard received a BFA in Theatre Studies and a BA in English from Southern Methodist University.

Jonathan Prince is a prolific writer/producer/showrunner whose recent accomplishments include producing the upcoming musical feature film 1660 Vine, the first feature film from his new studio/production company, PhilmCo Media. His recent credits also include developing and Executive Producing Four Weddings and a Funeral with Mindy Kaling for MGM/Hulu, and Co-Creating and Executive Producing American Soul, which aired its second season on BET.

He currently has one-hour television pilots in development at Sister (W: National Book Award Winner Colum McCann), Paramount Television (D: Billy Porter) and Fox (D: Jonathan Levine EP: Mick Fleetwood), all via PhilmCo. Many of Prince’s productions are inspired directly or indirectly by strong musical themes, going back to his first creation, the Emmy-winning drama American Dreams, for NBC.

In 2021, Jonathan wrote a music-driven pilot for HBO Max with Broadway composer Andrew Lippa, and he is currently developing a Studio 54 series with Peter Paige and Billy Porter. Prince is producing the feature comedy Rock the Boat for stars Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann with producer Jon Turteltaub and EOne. Other notable projects include writing the event-series 38 Nooses for AMC and executive producer Robert Redford and co-creating the innovative drama series 12 Rooms for Amazon.

Jonathan has collaborated as writer/producer on multiple other projects with artists including director Catherine Hardwicke, director Abderrahmane Sissako, producer Jimmy Iovine and comedy showrunner Chris Moynihan. Jonathan has created and run multiple other TV series, including The Cleaner, which he co-created for A&E, and Cane, which he created and Executive Produced for CBS.

Jose Castro studied acting, marketing, and an MBA at the University of Costa Rica. He combines his careers by serving as the Costa Rica Film Commissioner and as Vicepresident of the Latin America and Caribbean Film Commission Network LACFCN. He promotes the export of content and the development of audiovisual production services to attract investment. He worked in the team to develop the new Costa Rica Audiovisual Incentive law approved in 2022. He conceptualized and developed the Central America and Caribbean Audiovisual Market MAUCC and he is Co-founder and Director of NOS Film Fest Association and the EQUAL Film Festival, which seek to raise awareness about inclusion and diversity.

Silvia Echeverri has been the head of the Colombia Film Commission at Proimágenes Colombia since 2009 and participated in designing and implementing the incentive system for audiovisual production in the country. She’s a member of the Board of Directors of the AFCI and is also part of the Board of Directors of the Latin America Film Commission Network.

She is an Economist from the Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) and has a Master’s Degree in Economic Law from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia).

Luiz Toledo has a solid background in the world of audiovisual innovation with extensive experience in cultivating industry connections across Latin America and Africa. As Director of Investments and Strategic Partnerships at Spcine he has driven pioneering initiatives such as the renowned Audiovisual Observatory and the first policy to attract international filming in Brazil.

Marianna Vargas Gurilieva is the Film Commissioner of the Dominican Republic Film Commission (DGCINE) since 2021, an institution dedicated to the regulation, development and promotion of the Dominican film industry; and the management of the Dominican film fund. Graduate in Law and has a L.L.M. in Business Transactions from Erasmus University Rotterdam. She has a well-established background in legal planning and entertainment.

Marianna has served as a Senior Director of the Business Department at OMG, a legal firm in the Dominican Republic. She worked as Director of Business and Legal Affairs for Pinewood Dominican Republic Studios, where she acted as legal advisor for Dominican and international productions filmed in the DR.

Marianna acted as a representative for the Film Studios at the Dominican Film Council (CIPAC) and collaborated in the preparation, revision, and modification of the Dominican Film Law. She has extensive knowledge and a well-established background in Corporate and Commercial Law, specializing in legal planning and entertainment. She has also served as jury for various film industry awards and competitions including DALE! at San Sebastian and Prime Corte! Ventana Sur.

David Fannon, currently president of Screen Media, assumes leadership of all of CSS Entertainment’s distribution and content acquisition initiatives. He first joined Screen Media in 2005 and over the course of his 14-year tenure, Mr. Fannon has been intimately involved with the growth and expansion of Screen Media from a home video company to a truly digital pioneer. Screen Media acquires the rights to TV series, films and other video libraries, and monetizes these assets by licensing those rights to companies that deliver video to their own audiences. The team sells the content worldwide across a comprehensive range of video platforms, including theatrical releases, cable TV, local TV, digital platforms, DVDs and CSS Entertainment’s own VOD/Online Networks.

Ashley Stern serves as President of Picture Perfect Federation, a joint venture by Picture Perfect Entertainment and top global studio Federation Entertainment, for which Stern continues to serve as President of the US division, Federation Entertainment of America. Alongside Chairman of Picture Perfect Federation Patrick Wachsberger, Stern develops and produces premium television and film content for both US and international markets with top talent from around the globe. Stern also oversees the company’s slate of high-profile projects, including the ongoing development and production of IMPOSSIBLE, written and directed by Siân Heder, the visionary behind the Oscar®-winning CODA, which Wachsberger produced. She will also produce the fully financed feature film “Bad Genius,” written by Julius Onah & J.C. Lee in collaboration with Erik Feig’s Picturestart.

Stern continues to acquire big IP for the company, such as Christian Jacq’s series of five international bestselling books, “Ramses,” which Stern is co-producing for television with frequent collaborator Anonymous Content; Amazon’s #1 psychological thriller, “A Perfect Marriage,” with William Broyles Jr. writing the feature adaptation; genre-bending “Rules For Vanishing,” set up with a top streamer for television adaptation; and financial thriller “Bad Banks,” alongside Rian Johnson’s T-Street.

Patrick Frater is Asia Editor of Variety, based out of Hong Kong and Bangkok, where he oversees a small team of Asia regional correspondents, in addition to reporting on the international film and TV markets. He was previously International Editor at Screen International and co-founder of Film Business Asia. Before focusing his attention on the entertainment sector, he worked for finance industry publications in London and Paris.

Martin Moszkowicz is the Chairman of the Executive Board at Constantin Film. In this capacity, Mr. Moszkowicz is responsible for the company’s film business, including worldwide production and distribution, world sales, marketing and publicity as well as corporate communication and legal affairs. On March 6, 2019 Martin Moszkowicz was appointed Honorary Professor at HFF Munich (University of Television and Film Munich). Commencing with the winter semester 2019/2020 he will also chair the degree program “Production & Media Economics” at HFF Munich.

As producer, executive producer, or co-producer Mr. Moszkowicz has been involved in well over 300 nationally and internationally successful feature films and numerous television shows. Recent projects include “What about Adolf?” (2018), “Polar” (2019), “The Collini Case” (2019), “The Silence” (2019), “The Perfect Secret” (2019), “Dragonrider” ( 2020), Monster Hunter (2021), Contra (2021), Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), The Last Name (2022) and Love Things (2022).

Ewa Puszczyńska is an experienced Polish film producer.
Since 1996, for over 20 years she has been working exclusively for Opus Film, starting with producing Tv commercials and later sucessfully leading international co-productions and executing projects for international companies like Sony, producing and co-producing films with international cast including Jim Carrey, Charlotte Geinsbourg, Marton Csokas, Stellan Skarsgard, Cedric Kahn, Jeanne Balibar and others.
She was the Polish line producer for David Lynch’s „Inland Empire“.
In 2016 she established her own company Extreme Emotions to develop and produce projects with Polish and international talents and crews.
She produced “Ida” by Pawel Pawlikowski awarded with five EFA awards ( Best Film, Best Director, Best Script, Best Cinematography, People Choice Award ) BAFTA, an Oscar for the best foreign language film. Ida was co-produced with Eric Abraham’s Portobello and Phoenix Film. She also produced Pawlikowski’s Cold War, which got “Best Director” award in Cannes 2018, five EFA awards ( Best Film, Best Director, Best Script, Best Editing, Best Actress ) was nominated for BAFTA and in three Oscar categories ( Best Foreign Language Film, Best Director, Best Cinematography ) and was a financial co-production with UK Apocalypso ,French MK2, Film4,BFI
Recently she was producing Joanthan Glazer’s The Zone of Interests. The film which was shot in Poland, currently being post produced in London, was financed by A24, Film4 and Access with Polish cash rebate, regional funds and TV pre-sales.
Her other recent titles are
– “Kill It and Leave this Town” art house animated project for grown up audiences by Mariusz Wilk Wilczynski “– premiere Berlinale 2020
– “Fools” a new film by Tomasz Wasilewski (Berlinale Silver Bear for United States of Love) planned to premiere in autumn 2022
– Jake Paltrow’s “The Oven” – executive producer
– Jasmila Zbanic “Quo Vadi, Aida?” – Oscar nominated for best Foreign Language Film – co-producer
– “Silent Twins” by Agnieszka Smoczynska, an English language film, produced together with Klaudia Smieja’s Madants, and UK 42 – the film to premiere in UCR Cannes 2022
She is a member of Polish Film Academy, of European Film Academy and of AMPAS and has been listed in Variety 500, an index of the 500 most influential business leaders.

In 2015 Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska together with Beata Rzeźniczek founded MADANTS, Warsaw-based production company with the aim to produce independent films with potential for distribution and international festival access. Since the moment of establishment it has become one of the most active Polish production outlets involved in such films as Claire Denis’ HIGH LIFE, Agnieszka Holland’s CHARLATAN, Icelandic hit LAMB by Valdimar Jóhannsson or OTHER PEOPLE, a dark rap musical produced in association with Warner Bros Poland. Currently Madants completed Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s first English language film SILENT TWINS and is working on James Napier Robertson’s JOIKA starting Talia Ryder and Diane Kruger and newest Brady Corbet’s THE BRUTALIST.

Diana has been working in global film journalism since 2005. Before returning to Deadline in 2021 to focus on features for international film and television, she was previously International Reporter for the site. She is based in London and has frequently covered all the major film festivals and markets including Cannes, Berlin, AFM, Toronto and Sundance. Prior to joining Deadline, Diana was the UK correspondent for Variety and also covered film news and box office at Screen International.

Please find his headshot attached and bio below:

Ben Pugh is a producer and founding partner of management and production company 42. Established in 2013, 42 is run by six partners: producers Rory Aitken and Ben Pugh; and managers Kate Buckley, Simon Beresford, Cathy King, and Josh Varney. 42 has offices in London and Los Angeles. In 2017, Ben Pugh moved from London to LA to open the US office of 42.

Past feature productions include THE SILENT TWINS, starring Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance (Cannes 2022, Focus Features); THE COURIER, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Rachel Brosnahan (Sundance 2019, Lionsgate); OUTSIDE THE WIRE, starring Anthony Mackie (Netflix); MILITARY WIVES, starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sharon Horgan (TIFF 2019, Lionsgate); THE WEEKEND AWAY, starring Leighton Meester (Netflix); and NIGHT TEETH, starring Jorge Lendeborg Jr. and Debby Ryan (Netflix). On the TV side, Pugh has executive produced THE GIRL BEFORE, starring David Oyelowo and Jessica Plummer (HBO Max / BBC); THE ENGLISH GAME, created by Julian Fellowes (Netflix); the Emmy Award-winning WATERSHIP DOWN, featuring the voices of James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega, Sir Ben Kingsley, Daniel Kaluuya, Gemma Arterton and Olivia Colman (Netflix / BBC); TRAITORS, starring Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma Appleton, Keeley Hawes and Luke Treadaway (Netflix / Channel 4); and WILD BILL, a six-part drama series starring Rob Lowe (ITV).

Prior to starting 42, Ben Pugh and producing partner Rory Aitken ran music video and commercial production company Between The Eyes, which represented a roster of directors for commercials, music videos, and branded content. Pugh and Aitken’s first feature, SHIFTY, was nominated for a BAFTA and 5 BIFAs, won Best Screenplay at the UK Writers’ Guild Awards, and was named by Empire magazine as one of the best films of the year. Their second film, London-based crime thriller WELCOME TO THE PUNCH, written and directed by Eran Creevy, starring James McAvoy, and executive produced by Ridley Scott.

Jeffrey Greenstein joined Millennium Media in 2010, handling more than sixty films during his tenure at the company, including The Expendables franchise, Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen, and Angel Has Fallen, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, Mechanic: Resurrection and Jolt with Kate Beckinsale and Stanley Tucci.

Greenstein has risen through the proverbial ranks of Millennium’s corporate ladder with lightning speed. Named President of International Sales & Distribution at Nu Image/Millennium Films in April 2015, Greenstein oversaw the sales and distribution of all Millennium productions. In 2016, Greenstein became President of Millennium Media. In this role, he manages all aspects of the independent studio. He is also a member of the PGA.

Millennium Media recently wrapped productions include the highly anticipated comic book adaptation, Red Sonja starring Matilda Lutz, Wallis Day, and Robert Sheehan, Subservience starring Megan Fox and Dirty Angels with Eva Green, Ruby Rose, and Maria Bakalova. Recent releases include the 4th installment of The Expendables franchise, The Offering with Paul Kaye, Till Death with Megan Fox, and The Enforcer with Antonio Banderas, Kate Bosworth, 2 Chainz.

Millennium Media’s upcoming releases include The Bricklayer with Aaron Eckhart and Nina Dobrev, and The Piper with Charlotte Hope and Julian Sands.

Howard Cohen is the Co-President and Co-Founder of Roadside Attractions, which devises innovative theatrical release strategies for outstanding specialty films. Roadside has released over 150 films in its 19 year history, with combined box office exceeding $500 million. Their films have garnered numerous Oscar® and other award nominations and wins. Roadside is partially owned by Lionsgate, who distributes Roadside films in aftermarkets such as VOD and television. Roadside recently announced a 3 year deal with Hulu for the post-theatrical streaming window on its theatrical releases.

Roadside’s recent releases include Call Jane starring Elizabeth Banks, Kate Mara, and Sigourney Weaver, The Good House starring Sigourney Weaver and Kevin Kline, and Emily the Criminal starring Aubrey Plaza. Upcoming releases including Sundance documentary To The End and Tribeca hit from Ray Romano, Somewhere in Queens. Notable releases in recent years include Benediction from director Terence Davies, The Courier, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Matteo Garrone’s double Academy Award® nominated Pinocchio, Academy Award® winner Judy, and the number one independent film of summer 2019: The Peanut Butter Falcon. Also in recent times were the highest-grossing independent film of 2018, I Can Only Imagine, the Spirit Award-nominated Beatriz At Dinner, and double Academy Award® winner Manchester by the Sea. Past releases include Hello My Name Is Doris, Love & Friendship, Dear White People, Mr. Holmes, Love & Mercy, A Most Wanted Man, The Cove, Margin Call, Winter’s Bone, Arbitrage, Mud, and All Is Lost.

Before running the show with Eric d’Arbeloff at Roadside Attractions, Cohen was also an Executive Producer on Mira Nair’s film Vanity Fair and was head of the Independent Film Department at United Talent Agency. Cohen’s early career included executive positions at HBO, Paramount, and TNT.

Cohen is a voting member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences(AMPAS), in the Executive Branch.

Cohen has a B.A. from Harvard College.

More speaker details coming soon…

Diana has been working in global film journalism since 2005. Before returning to Deadline in 2021 to focus on features for international film and television, she was previously International Reporter for the site. She is based in London and has frequently covered all the major film festivals and markets including Cannes, Berlin, AFM, Toronto and Sundance. Prior to joining Deadline, Diana was the UK correspondent for Variety and also covered film news and box office at Screen International.

Currently, Brian O’Shea is the CEO of The Exchange, an international sales company founded in 2011. The Exchange is currently selling and financing Meet Cute (Kaley Cuoco & Pete Davidson), The Independent (Brian Cox, Jodie Turner-Smith, Kathy Bates, & John Cena), The Inventor (Daisy Ridley, Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard, & Matt Berry), Violet (Olivia Munn) and Muti (Morgan Freeman). Past films include Universal’s 2 Guns (Denzel Washington & Mark Wahlberg), Netflix’s Shimmer Lake and Irreplaceable You; Sundance Award Winners Blaze, directed by Ethan Hawke, and We the Animals, directed by Jeremiah Zagar; Sundance and Independent Spirit nominees and winners, The Killing of Two Lovers, Spree, Dear White People, The Spectacular Now, Obvious Child; as well as, prominent documentary films including The Biggest Little Farm, Gleason, and Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street. Its first production, The Stand In, starring Drew Barrymore, was released by Saban in December of 2020, and its second production, The Independent, is currently in post-production and will be released by Relativity.

Prior to The Exchange, Mr. O’Shea was President of Worldwide Sales and Distribution for Affinity International, creating the entity five years ago then called Odd Lot International, turning it into one of the leading independent film production, sales, finance, and distribution companies in the United States.

In his role at Affinity, Mr. O’Shea was directly responsible for all international acquisitions, business affairs, sales, financing, and all distribution activities. Mr. O’Shea’s past success at Affinity includes the critically acclaimed Rabbit Hole starring Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart, Casa de mi Padre starring Will Ferrell, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Diego Luna, Beastly starring Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer from CBS Films and Drive starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. Mr. O’Shea was previously Senior Vice President of Worldwide Distribution at Media 8, Senior Vice President of International Sales at First Look International and Vice President of Legal Affairs and International Sales at Concorde-New Horizons. During his tenure at those companies, Mr. O’Shea was instrumental in securing, financing, and selling such films as Monster, Upside of Anger, Before Night Falls, and Waking Ned Devine.

Brian is also a member in good standing of the State Bar of California.

Guillaume has been an entertainment banker for 25 years, holding senior roles in commercial banks, private equity houses, and investment banks.

He post-graduated in French law in 1996, specializing in the entertainment industry, and started a Ph.D. in banking and media law at La Sorbonne in Paris.

After a short stint at a specialist law firm in Paris, he moved to media banking in London. Over the following period, he worked in London for 17 years and has been LA-based for the past eight years.

The Entertainment banking group he leads at Banc of California serves the Film, TV, Music and Touring industries.

Eric Paquette – CEO Meridian Pictures has over thirty years of experience creating content for some of the biggest media companies in the world such as CBS News & Sports, Metro Goldwyn Mayer, and Sony Pictures. Paquette, a well-respected executive and producer, is currently the CEO of the film and television company Meridian Pictures and is the Founder and CEO of the co-viewing start-up LetScreen. For the past fifteen years, he served as Senior Vice President of Production at Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Screen Gems where he supervised the development and production of feature films with budgets ranging between $10 million to $60 million. Prior to joining Sony in 2005, Paquette served in senior executive positions at Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Phoenix Pictures. He started his career in media as a researcher for CBS Sports and as an Associate Producer for Dan Rather and Connie Chung at CBS News.

Eric was recently appointed by President Biden to serve on the President’s Committee on the Arts. Established in 1958 by President Eisenhower, the President’s Advisory Committee on the Arts (PACA) has played a valuable role in sustaining the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Cultural Center. Members of the Committee are civic and cultural leaders who are selected by the President of the United States to serve as representatives in their own communities.

He is an advisory board member for The Johns Hopkins School of Education and is the former President and current Commissioner of The Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Paquette is also a member of The Academy of Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences and was a previous member of the International Feature Film Executive Committee.

He co-founded Tudela Futbol Club Los Angeles and has run twenty-six marathons, including the Boston Marathon three times. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jessica Postigo and their two daughters, Libby and Nina. He and his family are beekeepers.

Fred Milstein is the CEO of Media Guarantors, a wholly-owned SpottedRisk subsidiary that provides Completion Guarantees to the Film & TV production world. With an impressive career in international entertainment finance and risk management, Milstein’s experience includes roles as a senior talent agent, production executive, entertainment insurance broker, and a film finance and completion bond authority. Milstein brings four decades of expertise from his previous senior positions at the William Morris Agency, MiramaxFilms, Completion Bond Company, cineFinance, and Aon/Albert G. Ruben to his current role.

Alex Ferrari is an author, blogger, speaker, consultant, the host of the #1 filmmaking podcast on iTunes Indie Film Hustle Podcast, and an award-winning writer/director with 25 years of experience in the film industry. As a director his films have screened in over 500 international film festivals. Frustrated that his fellow filmmakers were being “chewed up” by the film business, Alex decided to start Indie Film Hustle®, a website dedicated to educating filmmakers and artists on how to survive and thrive in the film business. He also launched a podcast focused on filmmaking called The Indie Film Hustle® Podcast. Within three months of its start date, the show became the #1 filmmaking podcast on Apple Podcasts. He’s also the host of the popular screenwriting podcast Bulletproof Screenwriting® and the filmmaking business podcast Filmtrepreneur®. His new book Rise of the Filmtrepreneur®: How to Turn Your Indie Film into a Money Making Business rocketed to the top of the Amazon charts and became a #1 Best Seller as well. Alex currently lives in Los Angeles with his lovely family. He is a devoted practitioner of meditation and believes in how it aids the creative process. He also speaks regularly at screenwriting and film events, festivals and conventions.

Richard “RB” Botto is the Founder and CEO of Stage 32, a working screenwriter, best-selling author, actor and producer. As the CEO of Stage 32, RB oversees the world’s largest online tech platform connecting and educating the global entertainment industry with over 1 million members in the community. Stage 32 is the education partner of Netflix, the American Film Market, Canon and the Cannes Film Festival Marche du Film. As a screenwriter, RB has sold feature screenplays and recently set up a television series he created at Amblin. As a producer, his films have played at dozens of festivals including Cannes, Sundance, SXSW and Raindance. As an actor, his latest film On the Corner of Ego and Desire recently premiered at the Raindance Film Festival. RB’s book Crowdsourcing For Filmmakers: Indie Film and the Power of the Crowd, was published by Focal Press/Routledge under the American Film Market Presents banner and has hit #1 in 6 different film and business-related categories. The book can be found on Amazon and Audible, where it has garnered over 100 5-star reviews.

RB has been a keynote speaker and panelist all over the world at such festivals and conferences as the Cannes Film Festival (France), American Film Market (US), Tribeca Film Festival (US), Austin Film Festival (US), SXSW (US), Cinequest (US), Winston Baker (US), Hollyshorts Film Festival (US), Raindance Film Festival (UK), FOCUS (UK), Hamburg Film Fest (Germany), Trinidad & Tobago Film Commission (Trinidad), Fest Festival (Portugal), Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia), USC (US), Columbia University (US) and Harvard (US) on the business of the entertainment industry.

Jeff Annison is the Co-founder and President of Legion M, the world’s first FAN-OWNED media company that is using disruptive new equity crowdfunding laws enabled by the JOBS Act to create a film and television company built from the ground up to be owned by fans.

Prior to Legion M, Jeff was a cofounder of MobiTV, one of the world’s first live mobile television services. Jeff led engineering and product development as the company scaled from 3 cofounders to over 300 employees, won an Emmy Award for Innovation in Television, and grew to over 25MM paying subscribers.

He was also the co-founder and CEO of Underground Labs, a product development studio that built mobile apps, websites, and enterprise products for clients including AT&T, Sprint, NFL, SEC, ACC, Universal Music, Warner Music, Sony Music, Diet Coke, Paramount Pictures, and more. Underground Labs also created the New York Rock Exchange, a first-of-its-kind marketplace that allowed fans to own a piece of a song.

Jeff started his career designing toys for Hasbro and theme park ride effects for Universal Studios. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA.

Outside of work, Jeff is a dedicated husband, father, teacher, board/video gamer, and amateur auto racer.

Since joining the former Wattpad Studios in 2018 as the Director of Content Development and Production, Ramey has been instrumental in building Wattpad WEBTOON Studios’ domestic and international development slate. Ramey was announced as the studio’s Head of Global Film in 2022, with her recent work including the upcoming feature film Float, based on Kate Marchant’s hit Wattpad romance of the same name, from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, Lionsgate, Collective Pictures, and Brightlight Pictures. Andrea Bang (Kim’s Convenience, Luce) will star alongside Robbie Amell (The Flash, The Babysitter, The Duff), who is also producing. Ramey also worked on the Netflix streaming sensation Through My Window (A Través de mi Ventana) based on the Wattpad novel by Ariana Godoy.

Prior to working at Wattpad, Ramey was the Vice President of Production and Development at some of the production companies in entertainment Doug Liman, Dave Bartis and Gene Klein’s Hypnotic and David Heyman’s HeyDay Films as well as the Director of Production & Development of Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group. Ramey is a graduate of Baylor University.

As Managing Director for Stage 32, Amanda oversees operations and partnerships for the global business. She has curated over 2,000 hours of online education created exclusively for Stage 32, and works with hundreds of entertainment industry executives from around the world to serve as educators and mentors. She has spearheaded partnerships with such prestigious organizations as the Cannes Film Festival Marché du Film, American Film Market, Netflix, SXSW, Austin Film Festival, Raindance Film Festival, Hollyshorts Film Festival, PGA, WGA and DGA, as well as brands such as AT&T, Peerspace, Pond5, Mandy, Bondit Media Capital and her personal favorite partnership, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, which is the official vodka of Stage 32.

As a film producer, Amanda has worked on the psychological thriller What Lies Ahead starring Rumer Willis and Emma Dumont, Metaphorms, a Hungarian film, which premiered at the Raindance Film Festival and Dolphin Girl which premiered at the Oscar qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival. She has also helped incubate Chick Fight, starring Malin Akerman, Alec Baldwin and Bella Thorne. She is an Executive Producer on Vagic with Amy Baer at Gidden Media, as well as My Clone’s an A*Hole with National Lampoon. As a television producer she recently sold a scripted drama series to a mini-major studio and a premium unscripted show to a major US network.

Amanda has spoken all over the world at the Cannes Film Festival (France), Hollyshorts Film Festival (US), Raindance Film Festival (UK), Hamburg Film Fest (Germany), Trinidad & Tobago Film Commission (Trinidad), Black Nights Film Festival (Estonia), Fest Festival (Portugal) and Harvard (US) on the business of the entertainment industry.

Ryan Koo’s directorial debut AMATEUR is a 2018 Netflix Original Film starring Michael Rainey Jr. and Josh Charles. Vulture called the basketball film “a scrupulously researched defense of player’s rights — that is, the rights of the working class — [which] scores.”

Koo’s screenplay for AMATEUR was selected for the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and received Sundance’s first Asian American Fellowship, as well as additional support from Tribeca, IFP, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. His Kickstarter campaign for AMATEUR was, at the time, the most successful narrative film in Kickstarter history.

His short version of AMATEUR won multiple film festival awards and was selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick.

For his web series THE WEST SIDE, Koo won the Webby Award for Best Drama Series and was named one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Film.

Koo is also the founder of the popular filmmaking website No Film School.

Alex Schmider is an Emmy®, Peabody, and Critics Choice Awards recognized producer and the Director of Transgender Representation at GLAAD where he educates, advises, and consults on transgender and nonbinary characters, storylines, marketing campaigns, and gender inclusion on digital platforms. A member of the Producers Guild of America and the Television Academy, his producing credits include Changing The Game (Hulu), Disclosure (Netflix), Framing Agnes (Kino Lorber), Stay On Board: The Leo Baker Story (Netflix) and Chasing Chasing Amy. Most recently, he was named one of DOC NYC’s 40 Under 40.

Andria Wilson Mirza is the Director of ReFrame, the screen industry’s gender equity coalition founded and led by Sundance Institute and Women In Film. Previously, Andria was Executive Director of Inside Out, Canada’s largest LGBTQ film festival. There, she established the world’s only LGBTQ Feature Film Financing Forum, launched two development funds, co-founded the North American Queer Festival Alliance (NAQFA), and spearheaded a multi-year partnership between Inside Out and Netflix. Named ‘one of 15 Canadian women to watch’ by the CBC, Andria has been a featured speaker at festivals including TIFF, Sundance, SXSW, Berlin’s European Film Market, San Diego Comic Con, Oslo Fusion, and the Iris Prize Producer’s Forum. Under her Baby Daal Productions banner, co-founded with her wife Fawzia Mirza, Andria produced their award winning film NOOR & LAYLA for CBC Gem and is in pre-production on Fawzia’s directorial debut feature ME, MY MOM AND SHARMILA. Andria and Fawzia served as advisors on the Sundance documentary SIRENS from Emmy-winning director Rita Baghdadi, and are Executive Producers of Sandra Itäinen’s upcoming queer Muslim documentary COMING AROUND.

Pamala Buzick Kim (she/her) is the Executive Director of FREE THE WORK, a nonprofit organization leading global companies to actively engage in equitable actions that bring opportunities to underrepresented talent behind the camera. Supported by a network of over 15,000 creators in 181 countries, FTW designs and implements winning strategies to help the world’s largest brands strategize their DEI (gender, ethnicity, orientation, military-veterans, and creators living with disabilities) milestones. Under Pamala’s leadership, we have supported partners such as P&G, Verizon, and Amazon Studios in their diversity goals. Prior to this, Pamala consulted for several successful creative tech marketplaces and owned her own commercial production talent agency. She has recently been honored by the oldest national feminist organization, Gloria Steinem’s Ms. Foundation, for her contributions.

Brian Beckmann is the CFO of Arclight Films and has two decades of hands-on, multifaceted executive finance experience. He oversees all legal, financial and accounting functions for Arclight including its production operations and its 300+ sales library of feature films. Celebrating their 20-year anniversary this year, Arclight’s current slate of production and sales titles include the fantasy-adventure film The Portable Door starring Academy Award winner Christophe Waltz and Sam Neill produced with the Henson Company; the thriller Poker Face, directed by Academy Award winner Russell Crowe who also stars alongside Liam Hemsworth, Elsa Pataky and rapper RZA; the thriller The Locksmith starring Ryan Phillippe, Kate Bosworth and Ving Rhames; the SXSW competition title Seriously Red starring and produced by Rose Byrne’s production company Dollhouse Pictures and featuring the music of Dolly Parton and the dark-comedy Big Gold Brick starring Andy Garcia, Emory Cohen, Megan Fox and Golden Globe winner Oscar Isaac.

Hamilton was named Chief Commercial Officer of Protagonist Pictures September 2021. He joined the UK based sales, finance, and production company in 2013, rising to the role of Head of Sales and became an integral part of the company’s work with producers to help structure and find finance for projects.

George began his career producing and directing digital content for a wide range of brands and agencies, as well as a number of short films through his own boutique production outfit.

He was named one of Screen International’s Future Leaders 2017: Sales and Acquisitions.

Miranda Bailey is a prolific producer, actor and director, known for producing high quality independent films. Her passion for bringing compelling, well-crafted stories to the screen has been the driving force in her distinguished 15-year filmmaking career. Bailey has produced over 20 films, among them the Oscar-nominated THE SQUID AND THE WHALE and the Spirit Award-winning THE DIARY OF A TEENAGE GIRL as well as James Gunn’s SUPER, the Sundance hit SWISS ARMY MAN and the critically acclaimed NORMAN.

Bailey’s directorial narrative feature debut YOU CAN CHOOSE YOUR FAMILY, an offbeat familiar dramedy premiered in the Spotlight Section at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival. She assembled a decorated cast including Grammy-nominated comedian, actor, writer, producer, and New York Times best-selling author Jim Gaffigan, two-time Emmy winning actress Anna Gunn, SAG-nominated Samantha Mathis and rising star Logan Miller. Karen Kehela Sherwood of Imagine Entertainment produced the film alongside Amanda Marshall of Bailey’s Cold Iron Pictures. The film was recently released theatrically.

In 2018, Bailey teamed with Gurl.com co-founder Rebecca Odes to launch CherryPicks, a groundbreaking aggregate movie review and rating service by female critics for the female audience, which they announced at the SXSW film festival and now boasts over 1000 female critics. The aggregate data service will also be useful to a wide range of studios, researchers and other data-mining customers for the purposes of determining ticket sales, box office tracking, and demographics.

Bailey’s cinematic voice was first heard when her directorial debut GREENLIT – a humorous documentary examining the hypocrisy inherent in Hollywood’s “green” movement – premiered at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival to critical acclaim and was acquired by IFC International. The documentary is available on iTunes, Amazon & Hulu.

Bailey’s second documentary entitled THE PATHOLOGICAL OPTIMIST which follows one of the world’s most hated & controversial people, Dr. Andrew Wakefield who lay claim to vaccines creating autism in children, was released theatrically by The Film Arcade and on VOD by Gravitas.

A production powerhouse, Bailey’s Cold Iron Pictures has amassed an extensive list of critical and commercial successes including SWISS ARMY MAN starring Golden Globe-nominee Paul Dano and Daniel Radcliffe was released by A24 in July 2016. DON’T THINK TWICE, directed by Mike Birbiglia, starring Gillian Jacobs and produced with Ira Glass (This American Life) premiered July 2016. NORMAN, directed by Joseph Cedar (BEAUFORD, a Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee) in his first English-language movie, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was released this past April by Sony Classics to rave reviews. Bailey’s I DO…UNTIL I DON’T directed by and starring Lake Bell and Ed Helms opened September 1.

Bailey look set to continue her success with producing projects including RAISED EYEBROWS and Camille Perri’s THE ASSISTANTS amongst other titles she is presently developing.

Pip Ngo is the SVP of Sales and Acquisitions for XYZ Films. He joined XYZ Films in 2017 as a Director of Sales and Acquisitions, later rising to Vice President overseeing XYZ’s robust domestic sales slate. He started his career in the independent film space after joining CAA’s Film Finance Group before moving over to Sierra/Affinity and later Vimeo.

Sarah Gabriel is Head of Production and Development for Signature Films, the production arm of Signature Entertainment, which was founded in 2011 by Marc Goldberg and has become one of the leading distribution companies in the UK with an ever-growing presence across the globe. Gabriel joined the company five years ago and worked with Goldberg to set up Signature Films, playing an integral role in building it into the successful production division it is today.

Over the past few years, Gabriel has continued to cultivate Signature’s slate, alongside Goldberg. Her upcoming credits include Keir O’Donnell’s romantic heist Marmalade starring Joe Keery, Aldis Hodge and Camila Morrone, She Is Love with Haley Bennett and Sam Riley, and Bar Fight, starring Melissa Fumero and Rachel Bloom. Gabriel also served as producer on The Estate, starring Academy® Award-nominees Toni Collette and Kathleen Turner, Anna Faris, David Duchovny, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Ron Livingston which will be released theatrically in the U.S. on Nov. 4th.

Gabriel began her career in international marketing/servicing at New Line Cinema before pursuing a career in film sales at Lionsgate under Helen Lee Kim. She left the studio to build the film sales division for XYZ Films, a production company, where she helped to grow their slate and established strong relationships throughout the industry. As a Sales Executive she worked to finance and develop over 50 films. As her distinguished taste and strong script development analytics became widely recognized, she transitioned into the creative development and production side of film.

Signature Entertainment has released over 1,000 films in the UK and over 200 films internationally. The company boasts a diverse slate of films such as recent UK Box Office success Orphan: First Kill; horror breakout out hits Relic and Possessor; BAFTA award winner Paul Andrew Williams’ revenge thriller Bull; Roger Michell’s feature documentary Elizabeth: A Portrait in Parts; festival darling The Peanut Butter Falcon with Shia LaBeouf; and forthcoming features such as the Brian Epstein biopic Midas Man and John Cena actioner Freelance.

Mika Ronkainen is an award-winning film director and screenwriter from northern Finland. He started directing documentary films at the age of 26. After having created internationally successful documentary films that premiered at international film festivals like Sundance, Tribeca Film Festival, IDFA, and Karlovy Vary, Ronkainen ventured into the world of scripted drama in 2017.
Ronkainen’s latest work, psychological crime drama TV series All the Sins which he directed and co-created with Venla Aakko, has been highly successful both in his native country and around the world. The third and final season of All the Sins will be released in late 2022.

Antti Kaarlela is a Northern Finland based producer, screenwriter and former actor. In 2011 he co-founded the Oulu based film and television production company: Whatevergroup, transitioning into the role of CEO in 2017. The company’s latest productions include the Elisa Viihde Original series and MipDrama official selection Evilside and of the first ever Finnish cMore original feature film Roi The One And Only. Antti is an alumnus of Atlantic Theatre Company in NYC, Quantic School of Business and Technology in Washington DC and the University of Oulu.

Teemu Hostikka is founder and main-owner of NTRNZ media ltd located in Oulu Finland. He is a full time showrunner, creating and producing new audiovisual concepts and formats for international markets. His series have been nominated twelve times and won four times in Golden Venla Gala in Finland. Latest production “Untold Arctic Wars” was jury’s choice in Berlin International TV-Series festival and won the Best History-Documentary category in Worlds Media Awards in Hamburg.

Naida Valencia originally hails from the West Coast of the US, but holds a strong identity within her Chilean and Colombian heritage. A theater virtuoso from the age of 9, she attended The Northwest School of the Arts, as well as the acting division of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television. Since then her career has been an eclectic mixture of marketing, management, writing, event planning and overall industry involvement. She currently works as a marketing manager for Whatevergroup, a production company in Northern Finland.

Clay Epstein has over twenty years of experience as an Entertainment Executive. Since launching his own company in 2016, he is the President and Owner of Film Mode Entertainment, a worldwide sales and distribution entity with a producer friendly initiative. In addition to bringing films to audiences around the globe, Clay executive produces many of the company’s titles. As an Executive Producer, Clay is instrumental in working with filmmakers in the early stages of pre‐production to help build the financing, and creative elements to achieve these successes worldwide. To better help producers and directors who may be less experienced, Film Mode has an active consultancy division, offering producers expertise and guidance on financial models, marketing, and distribution strategies.

Film Mode represents over 50 independent feature films worldwide, with a client base that spans the globe. Recent successes include BREACH starring Bruce Willis, AS THEY MADE US starring Dustin Hoffman, and Candice Bergan, CRYPTO starring Kurt Russel, LITTLE PINK HOUSE starring Catherine Keener, and MONSTROUS starring Christina Ricci.

Prior to launching Film Mode, Clay was SVP Sales & Acquisitions at Arclight Films. He was instrumental in representing high profile films such as Paul Schrader ’s DOG EAT DOG starring Nicolas Cage, and the Spirig brother’s PREDESTINATION starring Ethan Hawke. Earlier in his career, Clay represented prestigious titles such as TSOTSI (2006, Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language,) and THE LAST STATION (2010, Academy Award Nominee for Best Performance by an Actress.) Clay earned a BA in Fine Arts, from California State University, Northridge majoring in Film Production and minoring in Italian Language.

In addition to his professional accomplishments, he holds the elected position of Chairman of Independent Film and Television Alliance. Clay is an instructor at UCLA Extension, and a frequent lecturer at film festivals worldwide., a member of PGA, FIND, BAFTA LA, and the Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts.

Delphine Perrier is the COO and founding partner of Highland Film Group (HFG), an independent worldwide sales, film financing, production, and distribution company launched in 2010 alongside Arianne Fraser. Known for success across a wide range of film genres and platforms, HFG recently launched The Avenue, the company’s US distribution division that handles all aspects of distribution, from theatrical through home entertainment to television/SVOD.

HFG’s diversified production and sales slate includes the crime-thriller Sleeping Dogs starring Russell Crowe; Land of Bad starring Russell Crowe and Liam Hemsworth; the action thriller Blood For Dust starring Scoot McNairy, Kit Harington and Josh Lucas; Neil LaBute’s Fear the Night starring Maggie Q; Tim Sutton’s fictional music biopic Taurus starring Colson Baker, Maddie Hasson, Scoot McNairy and Megan Fox; Daniel Casey’s Wardriver starring Dane DeHaan; Rusty Cundieff’s 57 Seconds starring Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson; John Stalberg Jr.’s Muzzle starring Aaron Eckhart; Andy Fickman’s One True Loves starring Simu Liu, Phillipa Soo and Luke Bracey; Savage Salvation starring Robert De Niro, John Malkovich and Jack Huston and Adrian Grünberg’s The Black Demon starring Josh Lucas.

Mimi Steinbauer launched Radiant Films International to bring quality commercial films to the worldwide marketplace. With well over 20 years experience in the film industry, Steinbauer brings knowledge and passion to the films that Radiant Films finances and/or sells.

Prior to launching Radiant, Steinbauer ran Hyde Park International where she was instrumental in acquiring, financing and selling such films as Academy Award nominated BLUE VALENTINE starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, Robert Rodriguez’s MACHETE starring Robert De Niro and Jessica Alba, and GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE starring Nicolas Cage.

Steinbauer was previously Vice President of Distribution at New Line Cinema, Sales and Distribution Consultant for Voltage Pictures, President of International Sales and Distribution at Franchise Pictures, and Head of International Television at Trimark Pictures. Over the course of her career Steinbauer has been instrumental in securing financing and/or selling over 500 films including THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy, THE HURT LOCKER, THE MATRIX, RUSH HOUR 2, THE NOTEBOOK and THREE KINGS.

Steinbauer, who began her career as an Assistant Director in Austria, has a Masters degree in Film Producing from the Peter Stark Program at USC, as well as a Masters in Alternative Dispute Resolution and International Peacekeeping from Pepperdine School of Law. She has served as a teaching assistant at the Harvard Program on Negotiation and is a certified yoga instructor.

Mary Jane Skalski’s career spans over 20 years as a producer specializing in taking projects from inception thru release. Credits include Bart Layton’s BIFA awarded American Animals, four films with Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent, The Visitor, Win Win and The Cobbler); Gregg Araki’s Mysterious Skin which premiered at the 2004 Venice Film Festival, Wilson directed by Craig Johnson, Todd Louiso’s Hello I Must Be Going which opened the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, Adam Salky’s Dare, Peter Callahan’s Against the Current, Julian Goldberger’s The Hawk is Dying, Jem Cohen’s Chain and Naomi Foner’s Very Good Girls. Mary Jane was an executive producer on Pariah, Trick, Putzel, Before You Know It and Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year. Mary Jane started her career at Good Machine, the production and sales company, where she was able to work on the early films of Ang Lee, Nicole Holofcener and Ed Burns, among others. She teaches in the Graduate Producing Program at Columbia University and is a member of AMPAS, serving on the Producers Branch Executive Committee. Mary Jane is currently the President of Production at Echo Lake Entertainment where she also represents a handful of clients.

Kyle Bowser serves as the Senior Vice President of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau. In this capacity, Mr. Bowser is responsible for advancing NAACP’s Hollywood projects, relationships, and overseeing NAACP’s Image Awards production.

For nearly three decades, Kyle Bowser has worked as an entertainment industry executive. His experience spans film, television, music, theater, radio, and digital media. This immersion within a vast sphere of media interests has provided Bowser with unique insight into the intersecting parameters of the arts, culture, business development, and emerging technologies.

Bowser’s career began in theater management and concert promotion. His involvement in television began with NBC Business Affairs in New York City. He later moved to Los Angeles to join Fox, Inc., where he developed television programming of multiple genres and creatively managed primetime fare aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company. Bowser next served as Director of Creative Affairs for HBO Independent Productions, where he developed new programs and creatively supervised content licensed to primetime broadcast carriers. Throughout Bowser’s storied career, his producing talents have been engaged by countless media companies, including NBC, Fox, HBO, Showtime, Starz, Comedy Central, Lifetime, Cooking Channel, PBS, iNDemand, Facebook, Warner Bros., Harper Collins, AEG, the NFL, and more.

A native of Philadelphia, PA, Kyle Bowser received his Bachelor of Science degree from Ohio University in Radio/Television Communications and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Widener University School of Law. He was admitted to the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Bar Associations and supports the Black Entertainment and Sports Lawyers Association and the National Association of Multi-Ethnicity in Communications (NAMIC) – for whom he founded the annual Vision Awards and received its coveted Legacy Award.

Ivan J. Juzang, Founder and President of MEE (Motivational Educational Entertainment) Productions Inc., has more than three decades of first-hand experience running a behavioral health communications business he founded during his final year at The Wharton Graduate School of Business. Juzang has used market research, culturally-relevant media and community engagement to address health disparities and mental health issues affecting low-income, underserved and devalued communities across the country and around the globe. He conducts qualitative audience research that provides an “insider’s view” of the challenging daily realities of urban living, and combines it with creative, “outside-the-box” media production and grassroots community mobilization strategies. His work speaks to and incorporates the oral tradition (oral communications culture) to shift attitudes and influence behaviors.

For more than 30 years, Juzang and MEE have been profiling the trendsetting culture of low-income Black youth and the ways that stereotypical mass-media images negatively impact an already-traumatized and marginalized Black community. MEE first gained national prominence in 1992, with the release of its primary research study, “The MEE Report: Reaching the Hip-Hop Generation.” Funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the report focused on the previously unexplored cultural and communications dynamics of urban teens. MEE’s 2004 youth sexuality study, “This is My Reality-The Price of Sex: An Inside Look at Black Urban Youth Sexuality and the Role of Media,” also received national media attention because it added young people’s voices to the dialogue about sex in America’s inner cities. MEE’s 2010 study, “Moving Beyond Survival Mode: Promoting Mental Wellness and Resiliency as a Way to Cope with Urban Trauma” explored issues related to stress, trauma and promoting mental wellness in low-income African American communities. Juzang’ s legacy of insightful focus-group research includes, “The Inner-City Truth 3 Survey” (2013), “Tackling America’s Opioid Epidemic From the Ground Up” (2015) and “Heard, Not Judged: Insights Into the Talents and Realities and Needs of Young Men of Color” (2016).

Juzang received his BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. While MEE has primarily been focused on health disparities, Juzang has extensive private-sector experience with some of the biggest and most successful entertainment media brands and makers of Hollywood content. His market research on more than 60 movie/TV projects for Hollywood has validated MEE’s model across sectors and over time.

Kelle Rozell is the founder of the Black Dollar Index and currently the Chief Marketing &
Storytelling Officer for Color Of Change, with over 19 years of experience in media and
entertainment. Throughout her time working for major record labels and television networks,
Kelle has established herself as a seasoned marketer and storyteller, creating award winning
campaigns for companies such as ABC News, A&E TV, truTV (Turner Broadcasting), and
VICELAND (Vice Media).
While navigating corporate America, Kelle has always championed diverse narratives and used
moments and positions of power to advance and advocate for underrepresented voices, from
pushing for multicultural intern classes to ensuring content reflects diverse demographics.
In February of 2021, Kelle and a team of other Black professionals launched the Black Dollar
Index (BDI), a Black consumer advocacy platform that sits at the intersection of economic and
racial justice, holding corporations accountable for their pledges to Black America by scoring
their efforts across critical factors. BDI was born out of a personal commitment to help end
systemic racism and a testament to the importance of corporate transparency and
accountability in the mission.
Kelle is a Cleveland native turned New Yorker (20 years!), who lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn with
her Miniature Pinscher Darby. When Kelle is not working, she enjoys connecting with her family
and friends, listening to a good R&B playlist, and attempting to play golf.
Kelle joined Color Of Change in January of 2022 and is leading the Marketing & Storytelling
team in building narrative power for the movement, creating tools to hold corporations
accountable, and elevating Black voices and communities.

Brandan “BMIKE” Odums is a highly sought after visual artist and filmmaker who uses these chosen mediums to tell stories and make statements that transform the minds of viewers as well as the spaces in which his work appears.
In 2016 Brandan debuted his first solo show in New Orleans in a 35,000 square foot warehouse named #StudioBe. Welcoming hundreds of visitors a week as well as school tours from around the region.
In 2013, Brandan completed a series of graffiti murals depicting iconic African American civil rights leaders at the Hurricane Katrina damaged Florida Avenue public housing complex in New Orleans’ 9th Ward. Given the name #ProjectBe, the space unexpectedly received national attention bringing spectators from all over to see the art before the deserted complex’s set demolition date.
Following the success of #ProjectBe, Brandan came across another abandoned five-story apartment building on the West Bank in New Orleans in 2014 and began working on #ExhibitBe. The completed space was the largest street art gathering in the South gaining national attention and welcoming over 30,000 visitors during its three-month opening.
Brandan’s other passions lie in the New Orleans community. He is the founder and director of 2-Cent Entertainment LLC – a New Orleans based youth education social enterprise that produces mixed media content and workshops in the overlap between pop culture and social awareness. Partnering with organizations like Scholastic and Better World Books to give away tens of thousands of books to local youth, 2-Cent services countless youth in New Orleans. 2-Cent Summer Session – media arts camp, in New Orleans currently entering its 4th year.
As a Filmmaker his directed music videos have appeared on MTV, VH1 and BET, Brandan has been honored as one of “20 Artist You Should Know” by Complex.com, Presidential volunteer award from the White House, and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Fellowship recipient.

ERIKA ALEXANDER is beloved for her iconic acting roles as Maxine Shaw (Living Single; garnering two NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Actress/Comedy Series), “Detective Latoya” (Get Out), “Cousin Pam” (The Cosby Show), “Perenna” (Black Lightning), “Linda Diggs” (Wutang: An American Saga), “Barb Ballard” (Run The World; nominated for NAACP Best Guest Actor), and most recently as “Meredith Lockhart” in (Swimming with Sharks), the critically acclaimed Apple+ series starring Elisabeth Moss, Shining Girls as “Abby Keegan.” Upcoming projects for Alexander include the independent films WILDFLOWER (set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival starring alongside Jean Smart, Kiernan Shipka and Alexadra Daddario), EARTH MAMA for A24, and T-Street / MRC’s “THE UNTITLED NOVELIST” project, directed by Cord Jefferson; with Jeffrey Wright, Tracy Ross and Sterling K. Williams.

Erika wears many hats; actress, trailblazing activist, entrepreneur, creator, producer and director — and is one of the country’s boldest, most daring, and powerful voices. As a creator, she recognizes the power of storytelling. And she believes that though content must be entertaining, when carefully constructed, stories have tremendous capacity to create impact and meaningful social change. As co-founder of Color Farm Media, she is on a mission to bring greater equity, inclusion, and diverse representation to both media and electoral politics.

Erika has boldly stepped into the arena of film director, with her debut film The Big Payback co-directed with Whitney Dow. The documentary chronicles the story of the first reparations bill in American history for African Americans.

A critical thought leader on racial and gender equity and leadership, Erika’s work in content reflects her deep commitment to social activism. She serves as a board member for One Fair Wage and Exponent, and is highly involved with many other social and racial justice orgs, including; The Poor People’s Campaign, Color of Change, NAACP, UNCF, and others.

Jennifer Vaux oversees content strategy, acquisition, programming and scheduling for the ad-supported component of Roku’s owned and operated channel, The Roku Channel.

She is responsible for sourcing and executing innovative programming acquisition deals across a range of content and business models. She works to license content for The Roku Channel in United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Prior to Roku, Jennifer served as VP of Network Business Strategy & Content Acquisitions for Turner’s entertainment networks forging deals for off-network television series and movie licensing.

Jennifer has also worked at NBCUniversal and The Walt Disney Company in the US and Hit Entertainment in the UK.

Heidi Chung is based in Los Angeles and joined Variety’s premium subscription service in July 2020. Previously, Chung was an on-air reporter for Yahoo Finance, covering the stock market and economy on the site’s daily livestreaming programming, and an associate producer at CNBC. In her role at VIP+, Chung focuses on the financials of the largest media and tech companies. She writes short-form commentary pieces and appears on camera for VIP+, often breaking down the ways in which broader market conditions and economic events impact the media and tech sectors.

Cameron Douglas is Vice President of Home Entertainment for Fandango, and is the lead executive for Vudu, the company’s transactional and ad-supported video service. Through various analytics and marketing roles at Disney, Fox, DreamWorks, and Paramount, he became an entertainment commerce and retail expert.

Douglas successfully transitioned into the digital entertainment space in 2013, serving as SVP of Content for M-GO, the DreamWorks Animation/Technicolor joint venture, prior to its ultimate acquisition by Fandango and rebranding as FandangoNOW in 2016. He oversaw multiple years of double-digit growth in this era, beating the market with a focus on content, including aggressive pursuit of 4K early in its adoption, and core consumer experience.

In 2018, Douglas was elected Chairman of OTT.X, the trade group for the home entertainment industry, and still holds that position today. With the acquisition of Vudu in 2020, Fandango solidly established itself as the #3 player in the competitive transactional space, offering hundreds of thousands of movies and TV series to buy or rent without a subscription.

As of 2022, Douglas and team are strategically positioned for the next phase of the premium video market.

Douglas is a Stanford University graduate, earned an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, and is a longstanding member of Mensa.

As Vice President, Content Acquisition and Partnerships, Samuel Harowitz leads all third-party licensed programming acquisitions with indie partners and major studios and brands for Tubi, including international content acquisitions, sports, and FAST channels. On the heels of a banner content year for FOX Entertainment’s streaming service, Harowitz is instrumental in helming the expansion of Tubi’s industry-leading content library of over 40,000 titles.

Harowitz most recently oversaw TV content acquisitions at Freevee fkna IMDb TV (Amazon’s AVOD service) where he led third-party licensed programming and optimized its first run licensing program. During his time, he also managed all aspects of content selection, financial analysis and forecasting, and led relationships with studios, global indies and third-party producers.

Previously, Harowitz served as Vice President, Digital Content Licensing at A+E Networks, where he was charged with licensing programming to SVOD and AVOD platforms and led partner management of digital and OTT platforms. Prior to that, he held roles as Senior Vice President, Development and Production at Lisa Kudrow and Dan Bucatinsky’s Is or Isn’t Entertainment and Vice President, Acquisitions and Co-Productions at FremantleMedia.

Kent Sanderson serves as President, Acquisitions and Ancillary Distribution at Bleecker Street, an independently financed studio based in New York City that was founded in August 2014. The company has released more than 50 films and established itself as a trusted label and champion of original cinema, cumulating an impressive and lauded slate. He is also co-President at home entertainment label DECAL, which Bleecker owns with NEON, which Sanderson championed as a way of creating versatility in an age of constant change. In his two-part role, Sanderson oversees both the creative and deal making process of building Bleecker Street’s slate of films – including investments at script stage projects and finished films alike – while also managing their life cycles after their theatrical releases across various platforms including digital distribution, physical home video, subscription video on demand, airlines, and television.

Over the past few months, Bleecker Street has been active on the acquisitions front, recently acquiring the U.S. rights to James Hawes’ acclaimed film One Life starring Academy Award®-winner Anthony Hopkins, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival; Waitress: The Musical, starring Sara Bareilles, featuring footage from the acclaimed Broadway reprise run in 2021; and Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s I.S.S, starring Ariana DeBose, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Bleecker’s wedding comedy The Fabulous Four, starring Bette Midler, Susan Sarandon, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Megan Mullally is currently in production under a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement.

Recent and upcoming titles for Bleecker Street also include: Meg Ryan’s What Happens Later, starring Ryan alongside David Duchovny; Marc Turtletaub’s Jules with Academy Award®-winner Sir Ben Kingsley; Golda from Academy Award®-winning director Guy Nattiv, starring Helen Mirren; Frances O’Connor’s Emily starring Emma Mackey; Alice Troughton’s The Tutor starring Richard E. Grant and Julie Delpy; and Catherine Hardwicke’s Mafia Mamma with Toni Collette.

Through the pandemic and beyond, Sanderson has enabled Bleecker to craft individualized windowing strategies for each of the company’s titles, with strategies ranging from nationwide releases leading into PVOD several weeks later, to more traditional theatrical rollouts, with each windowing strategy crafted to match every title. Sanderson also negotiated an exclusive multi-year output deal with Paramount+ with Showtime, which began with 2022’s Infinite Storm starring Naomi Watts.

Prior to Bleecker Street, Sanderson served as Executive Vice President, Distribution & Merchandising at GoDigital / Amplify Releasing. He also spent six years at Focus Features, where he guided their digital distribution strategy and ran the emerging Focus World alternative releasing label, which were the early adopters in playing with VOD strategies more aggressively. He started his career in the mailroom of WMA.

Nick Isaak joined Gravitas in 2021 as the Director of Sales. His previous experience includes managing worldwide digital sales for MGM Studios, business manager for Microsoft’s Xbox Movies and TV service, and head of content acquisitions for Amazon’s Prime Video US TVOD store. His passion is connecting the breadth and depth of cinematic libraries with digital platforms to delight an optimized audience. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in Business Management.

Stephanie Prange is Editor in Chief and Associate Publisher of the leading home entertainment trade Media Play News. She has been covering the home entertainment industry for more than 25 years, from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray Disc to digital delivery — including subscription streaming, VOD, TVOD, AVOD, OTT, FAST and PVOD.

She has a B.A. in English from Yale University and a Masters in Journalism from the University of Southern California.

With over 18 years of industry experience, Jason leads Well Go’s distribution initiatives across all digital channels including windowing strategies for transactional VOD and programming/promotions for the company’s O&O subscription and FAST channel. Jason oversaw the company’s transition from physical to digital distribution and continues to cultivate partnerships across the distribution landscape while remaining at the forefront of industry innovations and trends.

Whitney Skauge is an award-winning filmmaker dedicated to representation. They are Vice President of Development at Academy Award®-winning Breakwater Studios, dedicated to the craft of the short documentary. Their debut short film, produced by Breakwater Studios, premiered at SXSW and was distributed by LA Times Short Docs in 2021. Their films act as an extension of social and political activism with the hopes of helping audiences understand themselves and the world around them better.

Originally from Kansas, Sav Rodgers is a filmmaker and screenwriter whose work often centers on telling highly specific, surprising stories about queer people. He is the director/producer of Chasing Chasing Amy, a feature documentary about the complicated legacy of Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy (1997) among LGBTQ+ people and the profound impression on his own life. In 2018, Sav delivered a TED Talk on the subject titled, “The Rom-Com That Saved My Life.” His screenplay I Love You, Margot Robbie, co-written with Taylor Gates, was selected for The GLAAD List in 2022. His short screenplay Telethon: The Quest to Save Grease 2’s Reputation won the Grand Prize in the 2022 ScreenCraft Short Film Screenplay competition. In 2017, Sav graduated from the University of Kansas. He is an alumnus of the Outfest Screenwriting Lab, the Producers Guild of America’s PGA Create program, the TED Residency, and the Telluride Film Festival Student Symposium. Sav is the Founder and Executive Director of the Transgender Film Center, a nonprofit aiming to help trans creators bring finished films to audiences around the world.

One of Canada’s “5 to Watch in Entertainment,” Steph Ouaknine is an award winning producer and development executive well versed in queer stories and international co-productions.

Steph co-created and produced CARMILLA, the multi-platform scripted series that ran for 108 episodes and launched a global, engaged fan community. Financed by U by Kotex, the digital series topped 100+ million views, earning accolades from Cannes Lion, Rocky Awards, The Webbys, multiple Canadian Screen Award wins and MIPTV’s “Brand Content of the Year” 2018 Award.

Currently, she is a senior production executive on the commissioned originals team at Wondery and Amazon, managing a slate of premium audio documentaries and topical shows. Select credits: Time Magazine’s Podcast of the Year “9/12” in partnership with Pineapple Street Studios, “Persona: The French Deception” and scripted podcast “American Hostage” starring Jon Hamm.

Steph is a 2021 Film Independent Episodic Lab Fellow, with scripted projects supported by the CFC/Netflix Accelerator, The National Screen Institute, the IFP/Gotham Film Week and SeriesMania 2022.

Chester Algernal Gordon is a producer, costume designer and stylist with a passion for making powerful stories that capture the imagination and inspire. They began working in film production in 2016, and since then Gordon has costumed three Lionsgate feature films, 17 short films, and has produced award-winning films that have played in festivals worldwide including the New York Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, BFI, Outfest, Reykjavik International Film Festival and New Orleans Film Festival. Gordon’s latest film, Elegance Bratton’s THE INSPECTION, starring Jeremy Pope and Gabrielle Union, will be theatrically released on November 18. The A24 film centers around a young homeless gay man who joins the Marine Corps to win back his mother’s love, but learns how to respect himself at bootcamp. Gordon co-runs the production company, Freedom Principle, alongside Bratton.

Gordon has produced numerous acclaimed short films and the 2019 feature documentary, PIER KIDS, which won a Truer Than Fiction award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Best Poster Design award at the Indie Memphis Film Festival, the Jury Prize at the Sarasota Film Festival, amongst other accolades. They are currently in post-production on the upcoming feature documentary, HELLFIGHTERS, which highlights the story of African American Jazz pioneer and music mogul James Reese Europe, who was a lieutenant in the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

This self-taught Maryland native expertly straddles the world of high fashion and film. They were a producer for the MIPCOM 2018 winner, GLAAD-nominated documentary TV series MY HOUSE for Viceland. Gordon’s short, -SHIP: A VISUAL POEM, won best US narrative short at Sundance Film Festival 2020. They were named the winner of the Tribeca Film Institute’s 2019 TFI All Access Grant and TFI Pond5 Program and was a 2019 Film Independent Producing Lab & Fast Track Lab fellow. Their work as a stylist has been published in magazines such as Glamour, Galore, Esquire, and many others and they have worked with noted photographers Mick Rock and Pari Dukovic.

Martine Joelle McDonald is a film curator and teaching artist with experience working at the intersection of the socially engaged imagination in film and artist impact for the last decade. She is currently the Director of Artist Development with Outfest.

Her work centers creative equity by facilitating paths toward thriving leadership, social and cultural transformation for artists. As a curator, Martine has worked with independent film festivals including Tribeca and Outfest. She facilitates narrative arts programming for community learning centering historically excluded voices in film on screen and behind the scenes for a more just, equitable world.

As a cultural consultant, Martine guides film productions and arts education programs to facilitate culturally responsive creative initiatives. Cultivating wonder is an act of justice. Her curatorial practice focuses on mindful international children’s content, LGBTQ+, and women and non-binary storytellers with particular care toward climate justice, anti-bias education, racial justice and conflict transformation.

Lee Jessup is a career coach for professional and emerging screenwriters, a twice-published, best-selling author, whose consulting services have been utilized by Universal Writers Program, NBC International, and Final Draft’s Big Break contest. Lee’s clients include writers who have major spec, pilot and pitch sales under their belts, writers who have written major studio films, staffed TV writers on shows including DEAD TO ME, MRS. AMERICA, GOOD GIRLS, UNDONE and MANIFEST (just to name a few), TV writing program fellows, writers named to The Hit List, The Blood List, The Young & Hungry List and The Black List, major contest winners, as well as writers just beginning to chart their professional course.

Lee is the author of BREAKING IN: TALES FROM THE SCREENWRITING TRENCHES (Focal Press) and GETTING IT WRITE: AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO A SCREENWRITING CAREER (MWP). She has appeared in countless screenwriting conferences and panels domestically, abroad, and online.

Never too far from the industry, Lee resides in Los Angeles with her family.

Cassian Elwes is an expert in producing, arranging financing and finding distribution for independent films. He began his producing career with 1984’s “Oxford Blues” starring Rob Lowe and Ally Sheedy and quickly went on to make another 29 films, including “Men At Work,” with Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, and “The Chase,” again with Sheen.

In 1994, Elwes joined William Morris and headed William Morris Independent Film for 15 years. He arranged financing for indie hits such as “Slingblade” and “The Apostle,” both of which were nominated for multiple Academy Awards. “Monster’s Ball” was their historic follow up as Halle Berry became the first African-American woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. In the end he had arranged financing and distribution for 283 films during his tenure at William Morris.

Since leaving William Morris 10 years ago, Elwes has either produced or executive produced more than 70 films such as David Lowery’s “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”, which was nominated for a Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Feature, Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine” starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams, for which Williams was nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards, and the hit period drama “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” which featured an all-star cast headed by Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey.

He also executive produced J.C. Chandor’s “All Is Lost” starring Robert Redford and executive produced and arranged financing for the Academy Award winning hit “Dallas Buyers Club” directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, starring Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto and Jennifer Garner.

Most recently, Elwes produced both the multiple Academy Award nominated “Mudbound”, directed by Dee Rees, which Netflix distributed, and Dee Rees’ latest film, “The Last Thing He Wanted,” starring Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe, which Netflix will distribute. “Dreamland,” starring Gary Oldman, Armie Hammer, and Evangeline Lilly, and “Best Sellers,” starring Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza, are in currently in post-production.

Michael Ryan started his career working in the TV industry for Sir Lew Grade’s UK company, ITC. In 1978 he formed J&M Entertainment with a colleague, a distribution sales agent for independent films. As J&M grew, it developed its business model to also take responsibility for financing new films & providing production finance.

In 1980 Ryan and J&M were founder members of the American Film Marketing Association (AFMA) – later to be renamed Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA) – which was formed to provide an annual film market based in Los Angeles. Michael served two terms as Chairman of IFTA (2004-2008) and another three terms from 2015-2021.

In 2000, Ryan partnered with Guy Collins. Between them they have financed, sold and produced over 200 films, including The Wild Geese, The English Patient, The General, Whats Eating Gilbert Grape, The Osterman Weekend, the Highlander series, Planet 51 and more recently, at GFM Films with Fred Hedman, Toei Animations Harlock, Absolutely Anything starring Simon Pegg and Simon West-directed action thriller Stratton starring Dominic Cooper. On July 15, 2022, GFM’s Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, an independently financed and produced animated feature is based on Mel Brooks iconic Blazing Saddles that launched as a project by GFM Films at AFM in 2014, was released across 4,500 U.S. screens by Paramount.

A native Louisianan, Chris joined Louisiana Economic Development’s entertainment office in 2004. Under Stelly’s tenure and direction, Louisiana quickly became one of the top film production destination. Due to the trailblazing incentive program, Louisiana experienced exponential growth and the state became a powerhouse in the film industry.
As Executive Director of Louisiana Entertainment, a division of Louisiana Economic Development, Stelly currently leads a team of 7 business development and entertainment industry professionals promoting Louisiana as a holistic place to do business. Overseeing four unique statutory programs – motion picture, sound recording, live performance and digital interactive media & software development, Stelly is committed to educating community leaders and citizens about entertainment development opportunities. He also is committed to working closely with industry allies and economic development partners throughout the state to attract and nurture entertainment businesses.
“I am very proud of the work our office has done. We have poured the foundation for these industries to become major economic forces in Louisiana. Over the past few years, Louisiana has seen increased growth in all of these sectors and now boasts an industry which impacts the economy at over $1 billion a year. The excitement of the ever-evolving nature of this business drives me to work even harder to ensure the success and longevity of the entertainment industry in Louisiana,” says Chris, adding, “To compete in today’s ever-changing world, you have to be innovative and on the cutting edge. Through my work here in the entertainment sector, I feel like I’m doing my small part to ensure that Louisiana becomes a major leader in the industry, not only within the United States, but around the world. Louisiana is poised to become an entertainment industry engine for years to come.”
Stelly is a resident of Baton Rouge and shares his home with his wife Lindsey, & three children, Alexander, Isabella and Sophia.

Katie Patton Pryor was appointed executive director of the Baton Rouge Film Commission in April 2017 and is responsible for promoting Baton Rouge worldwide as a location for film and television. She works to attract, retain, and grow the creative economy and industry support. She is a Louisiana film advocate, an active member of The Association of Film Commissioners International, co-founder of the non-profit Film USA, and an adjunct professor at the LSU film program. Katie’s background is in marketing, political consulting, and film.

Meaghan McCormack is the Chief Executive Officer for the St. Bernard Economic Development Foundation. Her efforts center on business retention, expansion, and attraction, strategic neighborhood development, workforce development and marketing the parish as a great place to live, work and play. She has previous experience working for the World Trade Center New Orleans and the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program. Meaghan is a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Business Management and Marketing and minors in Sociology and Mass Communication.

Chevonne O’Shaughnessy began her career as the President of International sales for PM Entertainment. Her 10 years in the position resulted in the production and sales of over 176 feature films and two successful television series.

In 2000, Chevonne founded American Cinema International, along with George Shamieh, with the goal of distributing and producing high quality commercial motion pictures throughout the world. In less than ten years, ACI produced 20 feature films with international sales and domestic prime time broadcasts on USA, SyFy, and HBO Premier. She has also served as the executive producer of numerous films and TV mini-series including the Jack Hunter trilogy, El Dorado, Born to Race, and Love Finds You series.

In 2008, she co-founded Mission Pictures International with the goal of creating a brand of quality content to best serve inspirational and family-oriented market. During her time, MPI acquired over a hundred films for theatrical, home video and TV release, and became the international destination for films appealing to the family and faith market. With Chevonne’s departure from MPI in 2014, she created ACI INSPIRES with George Shamieh, the newest brand of inspirational entertainment focusing on family films for everyone. ACI Inspires premiered our movie Plus One at an Amish Wedding that was the number one movie for the year for UPTV. ACI has most recently started a brand of Finding Love in movies with four completed titles: “Finding Love in Mountain View,” “Finding Love in Big Sky,” “Finding Love in San Antonio” and “Finding Love in Sister’s.” ACI plans to make four more titles to add to the collection.

In addition to her corporate responsibilities, Chevonne currently sits on Board of Directors of the Bentonville Film Festival and her family’s I. A. O’Shaughnessy Foundation which gives generously to the University of Notre Dame, St. Thomas University, and numerous other philanthropic causes each year. Chevonne also served 15 years on the Board of Directors of the Women in Film Foundation. Additionally, she makes guest appearances at Chapman University each quarter teaching International Film Distribution.

Jennifer Westin is the SVP of Physical Production at Topic Studios, the award-winning entertainment studio from First Look Media. Topic Studios is behind such notable films as Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny, winner of the 2022 Sundance Dramatic Grand Jury Prize; Pablo Larraìn’s Spencer, starring Kristen Stewart as Princess Diana; the Academy Award®-winning Spotlight; and The Mauritanian, starring Jodie Foster (Golden Globe® winner), Tahar Rahim (Golden Globe® nominee), and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Previously, Westin was Director of Production Management, Original Independent Film, at Netflix, where she managed a team of executives to oversee production on a slate of romcom and holiday titles. Prior to Netflix, Westin was SVP of Production at MarVista Entertainment (now owned by Fox), where she oversaw the company’s physical production, post, and production finance teams. At MarVista, she managed delivery for a slate of 50+ titles per year, including Under Wraps (Disney), the GLAAD-nominated The Christmas Set Up (Lifetime), and Falling Inn Love (Netflix).

Earlier in her career, she founded Covert Productions, a production company that developed and produced such feature films as Caught, starring Anna Camp and directed by Maggie Kiley; and the dark comedy The Big Ask, starring Gillian Jacobs, Melanie Lynskey and Jason Ritter. While at Covert, she also produced a range of short-form content that played at major festivals including Sundance, Tribeca and London. Jennifer has a BA from USC, and an MFA in film producing from Columbia University.

Caddy Vanasirikul is a Producer and the current Head of Production & Acquisitions at The Exchange. Born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, Caddy began her entertainment career in unscripted television, serving as a Production Coordinator for popular American series such as The Bachelorette, The Amazing Race, and Dual Survival.

In 2012, she moved to Los Angeles to attend the UCLA Producer’s Program. During her time at UCLA, Caddy produced the institution’s first TV pilot, Doubleblind, which went on to win the Caucus Award for Best Television/New Media Program and the feature film KILLING ANIMALS starring James Franco. She also was awarded both the Audience and Judges’ Award at the 2014 UCLA Producers’ Marketplace for her thesis project, LADYBOY.

Caddy interned for The Exchange, while still enrolled at UCLA, and after graduation was hired full-time. Currently in her seventh year at The Exchange, she championed many indie darlings, including the Netflix Original films SHIMMER LAKE and IRREPLACEABLE YOU, as well as Good Deed Entertainment’s AFTER EVERYTHING. She and her team also regularly attend film markets and festivals to acquire finished films for international sales. Among their recent acquisitions are TRAGEDY GIRLS, THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM, Peabody-winner WELCOME TO CHECHNYA, and five-time Spirit Award Nominee WE THE ANIMALS.

Caddy also serves as president of NEXT Productions, The Exchange’s stand-alone development fund and production company found in 2021. In this role, she curates a slate of projects to be fully financed and produced in-house with a direct pipeline to The Exchange’s international sales operation. For the first film under this model, Drew Barrymore’s THE STAND IN, Caddy arranged financing and ran point as the creative producer on set. The film was released on Netflix in early 2021. Caddy recently served as EP on MEET CUTE, starring Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson, arranging financing for the production. Shortly thereafter, she developed, financed, and produced THE INDEPENDENT, starring Jodie Turner-Smith, Brian Cox, John Cena, and Ann Dowd as well as LAROY starring Steve Zahn, John Magaro, and Dylan Baker.

Ani Kevork serves as Senior Vice President, Production, where she oversees all aspects of the film and television production operations for MarVista Entertainment, a leading global entertainment studio, producing and distributing a variety of content across the world. With a library showcasing nearly 2,500 hours of content, and with an average of 80 new movies per year added to the company’s development and distribution pipeline, MarVista is one of the largest suppliers of movies to the worldwide marketplace. Since joining the company earlier this year, Kevork has been instrumental in the production of two major feature films: “First Time Female Director,” written, produced and starring Chelsea Peretti, and “Daughter of the Bride,” starring Marcia Gay Harden, Halston Sage, Andrew Richardson and Aidan Quinn.

Kevork joined MarVista from Mainstreet Production, an ITV Studios drama label where she guided and oversaw a breadth of projects, telling stories which span the globe. In this role she was an instrumental driver of five seasons of the BAFTA award-winning crime drama “Unforgotten”’ for ITV/PBS Masterpiece, which is among several shows she has shepherded to great critical acclaim. Prior to this, she spent over a decade working across a broad genre of scripted high end television production internationally, most recently producing “Gold Digger,” a six part series starring Julia Ormond and Ben Barnes.

Kevork currently resides in Los Angeles, has spent time living in the UK, and is from Toronto, Canada.

Michaela angela Davis is a writer, creative director, producer and image activist focusing on the intersections of gender, race, fashion, culture, beauty, and identity. She is the creator and executive producer of HULU’s The Hair Tales, a dynamic six part docu-series celebrating Black women’s identity, beauty, culture and humanity, uniquely expressed through the stories in hair featuring Ayanna Pressley, CHIKA, Marsai Martin, Chlöe Bailey and fellow executive producers Tracee Ellis Ross and Oprah Winfrey. Davis collaborated with Mariah Carey on “The Meaning of Mariah Carey” a memoir of her identity – an instant #1 New York Times Bestseller.

She has spoken globally and has been a cultural contributor and writer for The Atlantic, Allure, CNN, MSNBC, and The BBC. Her most recent project is another collaboration with Mariah Carey – a children’s book titled “The Christmas Princess” which is available now everywhere books are sold.

Maude Okrah is an entrepreneur who is passionate about bringing solutions to underserved minority markets. She has over 10 years of experience working in strategy with startups and Fortune 500 companies.

She is co-founder and CEO of BBR (Black Beauty Roster). Black Beauty Roster is a digital DE&I platform that connects the TV, Film & Editorial world with hairstylists and makeup artists trained in textured hair and darker complexions while also increasing education around textured hair and darker complexions to the industry at large. BBR has worked with industry leading companies like Warner Bros Discovery, Walt Disney, and L’Oreal. She has been featured in Forbes, Inc, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Allure,Insider and more for BBR’s work to bring more equity and opportunity into the industry.

She received the Women’s Ceiling Crashers award from AT&T. She has been appointed Commissioner for DC’s Commission on Fashion Arts and Beauty and also is a member of the Textured Hair Coalition. Maude is Ghanian American and originally from Boston, MA. She is an alumnus of Emerson College.

Yvette Urbina is currently Vice President, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – Pipeline and Content at Warner Bros. Discovery. In her current role, she acts as the bridge between the programs and content at the core of the company’s mission to build a more inclusive and innovative industry. Her focus is identifying diverse talent opportunities across the enterprise through cross-divisional relationships and collaboration that result in greater equity and inclusion

for all content. Maintaining centralized resources and providing content creators greater tools and ability to access new and established diverse voices via our Global Access Programs is a priority, while tracking the progress throughout the ranks of creative

talent across all Warner Bros. Discovery business units allow for ongoing assessment and improvement. Yvette is a proven programming leader with a producer background—the right mix of creativity and business, and a driving force behind iconic series like The O.C., That ’70s Show and King of the Hill as well as the Emmy Award-winning live-action Nickelodeon comedy, Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn.

Urbina most recently served as Vice President, Nickelodeon Current Series and Development. In this role, she was a member of the executive leadership team that sustained Nickelodeon’s position as the number one rated, ad-supported, basic cable network from 2011-2019.

Her early start at Nickelodeon included the management of Nick at Nite’s first forays into original scripted programming with the hit half-hour comedy Instant Mom, starring Tia Mowry-Hardrict, which also aired on TVLand. She also oversaw the production of the hour-long drama Hollywood Heights, which was adapted from the telenovela Alcanzar una Estrella.

Urbina was recruited in 2009 by Oscar-nominated actor, director, and producer Salma Hayek to join her production company, Ventanarosa Productions as the Vice President of Television Development. While there, she created Latino-culture and Spanish-language comedy and drama series concepts for an exclusive relationship with ABC Studios.

Prior to her work with Ventanarosa, Urbina co-produced the independent feature Beneath the Dark, which premiered at SXSW and was purchased by IFC.

Her career trajectory included working in programming at Fox. As she advanced into the role of Director of Drama Development, she developed content with noted writers and producers and was key in moving the network from #4 to the most-watched network in the A18-49 market for 3 consecutive years.

Urbina began her work in the entertainment business in the mailroom of a Hollywood talent agency and worked her way up to become a voice-over agent.

She serves on the board of Los Angeles Team Mentoring, an organization that guides middle school students growing up in challenging urban environments, and while she recently stepped down from the board of Colour Entertainment, a group dedicated to providing dynamic opportunities to network with senior level executives as they navigate the media landscape, she remains actively involved

Urbina was honored in 2022 with an Imagen Latino in Media Award. She has served on the board of Los Angeles Team Mentoring since 2014. Urbina is a Los Angeles native and has called downtown L.A. home for over twelve years.

Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is the National Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of SAG-AFTRA. In this capacity, he oversees the world’s largest and most influential entertainment union, comprised of more than 160,000 members worldwide who work in film, television, broadcast news, commercials, music, video games and more.

Crabtree-Ireland has played a critical role in many of SAG-AFTRA’s signature achievements over the past two decades, both in his current role and prior to that as long-time chief operating officer and general counsel. Notably, he was a key participant in the successful merger between SAG and AFTRA in 2012, and serves as the principal architect of SAG-AFTRA’s successful COVID safety response and return-to-work initiatives. Crabtree-Ireland is a strategic and creative lead negotiator, and has personally led or overseen negotiations for SAG-AFTRA’s Commercials, Music, Network Code, and Netflix contracts, among others.

Crabtree-Ireland is bilingual in English and Spanish, and has been the lead negotiator for SAG-AFTRA’s contract with the Telemundo network for Spanish language productions since its inception, oversees the union’s bilingual initiative, and is a co-host of the SAG-AFTRA podcast en Español.

Crabtree-Ireland formerly served as a criminal prosecutor for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office and has received numerous awards for his work and service throughout his career, including the Peggy Browning Award, the Corporate Counsel Award from the Los Angeles Business Journal, the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Samuel L. Williams Outstanding Trustee Award, the Profiles in Diversity Award from the Association of Corporate Counsel and the California Minority Counsel Project, the Co-President’s Award from the Los Angeles LGBTQ+ Bar Association, and the Labor Counsel of the Year award from the Association of Media & Entertainment Counsel. In 2019, he received the SAG-AFTRA George Heller Memorial Award for extraordinary service to SAG-AFTRA and its members.

He is the chair of the board of trustees of the SAG-AFTRA & Industry Sound Recordings Distribution Fund, the co-chair of the board of trustees of the AFM & SAG-AFTRA Intellectual Property Rights Distribution Fund, a member of the boards of the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan, SAG-Producers Pension Plan, the AFTRA Retirement Fund, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation, the Entertainment Community Fund (formerly known as The Actors Fund), and SoundExchange, and is a delegate to the International Federation of Actors where he serves as convenor of its North America and English Speaking groups and co-convenor of its Global Diversity Working Group. He served as a longtime adjunct professor at the University of Southern California Law School. He is a past chair of the Conference of California Bar Associations, a past treasurer of the Los Angeles County Bar Association, a past co-president of the LGBTQ Bar Association of Los Angeles, and has served by appointment as a judge pro tem of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Previously, Crabtree-Ireland served as Screen Actors Guild’s deputy national executive director.

Crabtree-Ireland received his Bachelor of Science in foreign service with a concentration in international relations, law, and organization from Georgetown University and his Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis, School of Law, where he was inducted into the Order of Barristers.

Crabtree-Ireland lives in Los Angeles with his husband, John, and their five children.

Ross Putman is part of Verve Ventures, the sales and finance arm of the agency, where he helps build feature films for the independent marketplace. Prior to Verve, Ross produced the Sundance 2020 hit DINNER IN AMERICA, the Tribeca 2019 Audience Award winner PLUS ONE, Independent Spirit Award-nominated comedy STRAIGHT UP, and the 2016 Sundance “Best of NEXT” winner FIRST GIRL I LOVED, among many others.

Scott Roxborough is the European Bureau Chief for The Hollywood Reporter. He has been reporting on the international film and television industry for more than 20 years. He lives in Germany.

Nick LoPiccolo co-runs the Content department for Paradigm. LoPiccolo’s clients include Harry Shum Jr., Mike Tyson, Thomas Jane, Hayden Christensen, Janet Jackson, and rising stars Darren Barnet (Never Have I Ever), Keith Powers (The Tomorrow War), and Lera Abova (Peacock’s Pitch Perfect); production companies Happy Place, Renegade Entertainment, Abstract Entertainment; and producers/financiers Pasaca Entertainment and Walk Like A Duck Entertainment, among others. In 2016, LoPiccolo was named to The Hollywood Reporter’s prestigious Next Gen list of “35 under 35” people to watch in the entertainment industry. A former two-sport athlete at the University of Delaware, LoPiccolo received his Juris Doctor law degree from Villanova University School of Law, and started his career at Paradigm in 2009.

A highly strategic and trusted attorney with 15 years of experience directing legal and business affairs for leading entertainment companies. Dimiter consults many of the leading independent companies in the film and TV space. His depth of expertise is in film and television foreign markets, film and television financing. He has a proven track record of ensuring entities proactively and legally evolve to leverage a rapidly changing entertainment landscape.