Trends in TV

Saturday, April 22, 2006
8:30am - 2pm
Luxe Hotel, 11461 Sunset Boulevard

Harvardwood and the HBS Association of Southern California invite you to join us for Harvard in Hollywood 2006! The event will be held on Saturday, April 22 at the Luxe Hotel in Brentwood, CA. This year's theme is "Trends in Television"; confirmed alumni speakers include Paris Barclay (Director / Co-Exec Producer, "Cold Case"), Rich Battista (CEO of Gemstar / TV Guide), John Bowman (Exec Producer, "Cedric the Entertainer Presents"), Albert Cheng (EVP, Digital Media, ABC / Disney), Carlton Cuse (Exec Producer, "Lost"), Susanne Daniels (President, Lifetime), Becky Hartman Edwards (Co-Exec Producer, "Invasion"), Jeff Melvoin (Exec Producer, "In Justice"), and Winifred White Neisser (SVP, Movies for TV and Miniseries, Sony Pictures Television). Moderators will be Michelle Kung (writer, Entertainment Weekly) and Andy Wallenstein (TV Features Editor, The Hollywood Reporter).*

Gold Sponsor: The Hollywood Reporter

8:30 - 9:00 AM | Registration and Refreshments
9:00 - 9:30 AM | Welcome and Opening Address: "Trends in Television"
9:30 - 11:00 AM | Panel: "Pushing the Envelope: Trends in Storytelling"
11:00 - 11:15 AM | Break
11:15 - 12:45 PM | Panel: "21st Century TV: Television's Evolving Landscape"
12:45 - 2:00 PM | Buffet Lunch

Speaker Biographies

Paris Barclay AB '79 currently serves as the Co-Executive Producer and principal director of CBS’ hit drama Cold Case. He received two Emmys for Outstanding Directing and a DGA Award for his work on NYPD Blue, and was Emmy-nominated for The West Wing. He received NAACP Image Awards for City of Angels and Cold Case and six DGA Award nominations for ER, NYPD Blue, House and The West Wing. As a producer, he has earned two Emmy nominations, a Golden Globe nomination, the Humanitas Prize, the Peabody Award and the Al ma Award. He directed the HBO film The Cherokee Kid and the feature Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. He also co-wrote and directed the pilot Hate for Showtime, starring Marcia Gay Harden. Other television directing credits include Law & Order, The Shield, Numb3rs, Huff, Clueless and American Dreams.

Rich Battista MBA '90 is Chief Executive Officer of Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., a leading media and technology company which develops, licenses, markets and distributes technologies, products and services targeted at the television guidance and home entertainment needs of consumers worldwide. Gemstar-TV Guide owns and markets the TV Guide brand, one of the most respected television brands in the world. Prior to joining Gemstar-TV Guide in December 2004, he served as Executive Vice President, Business Development & Strategy for the Fox Entertainment Group. From 1999-2001, Mr. Battista left Fox to become co-founder and CEO of iFUSE, a youth culture media company.

John Bowman AB '80, MBA '85 has won an Emmy, a People's Choice Award for Best New Show, and three NAACP Image Awards during the course of his eighteen year comedy career. He has written for Steve Martin, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Martin Lawerence, Candice Bergen, Garry Shandling, Damon Wayons, and Ben Stiller. As an Executive Producer, he has also had a major hand in denying roles to Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Paul Giamatti, and Peter Krause. Any of his pronouncements on the state of comedy should therefore be taken with the appropriate grain.

Albert Cheng MBA '97 is Executive Vice President, Digital Media, for the Disney-ABC Television Group, where he is charged with general management and strategic oversight of digital media, as well as development of ancillary revenue streams for Disney-ABC Television Group’s diverse portfolio of broadcast and cable networks, including ABC Entertainment, ABC News, ABC Daytime, ABC Family, Disney Channel and SOAPnet. To that end, he leads a newly formed digital media team that oversees product development, marketing and operations for the Group’s digital media content platforms, including video-on-demand, broadband, web-based and mobile platforms, as well as interactive television technologies.

Carlton Cuse AB '81 currently writes and executive produces Lost, which won both the Emmy and Golden Globe for Best Drama Series as well as the Best Series Writing award from the Writers Guild of America. He began his writing career on the Michael Mann series Crime Story. He co-created and executive produced the critically acclaimed Fox series The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. He created and executive produced all six seasons of Nash Bridges, which is currently in syndication on the USA Network. He also created and executive produced CBS’ Martial Law.

Susanne Daniels AB '87 was named President, Entertainment, Lifetime Entertainment Services, in August 2005. In this role, she is responsible for all programming on Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network, the two highest-rated women’s networks, as well as Lifetime Real Women. Before joining Lifetime, she was head of The WB entertainment division, which, during her tenure, became a creative magnet for prestigious feature film writers/producers, resulting in watershed programs like the critically acclaimed Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Joss Whedon), Dawson’s Creek (Kevin Williamson), Felicity (J.J. Abrams) and Smallville ( Al Gough and Miles Millar).

Becky Hartman Edwards AB '85 currently serves as co-executive producer of the ABC series “Invasion.” She has been nominated for three Emmys (“In Living Color,” “Larry Sanders”) and received an NCAAP award for “Living Single.” During her sixteen year career, she has written for sketch shows, sitcoms including “Sex and the City” and “Larry Sanders” and one-hour dramas including “Jack and Jill,” “Thieves” and “American Dreams.” Until now, she has also successfully avoided being on any panels.

Jeff Melvoin AB '75 is currently Executive Producer of the ABC legal drama In Justice. Prior to that, he was Executive Producer of ABC’s Al ias and Line of Fire, Showtime’s Going to California, CBS’ Early Edition and Picket Fences, and Supervising Producer of Northern Exposure, for which he wrote 18 episodes. Other credits include NBC’s Hill Street Blues and Remington Steele. For his work on Northern Exposure, he received an Emmy, two Golden Globes, a Television Critics Association award, and an Environmental Media Association award. He recently co-authored a WGA booklet, “Writing for Episodic TV” and founded the WGA Show Runner Training Program.

Winifred White Neisser AB '74 presently serves as Senior Vice President, Movies for Television and Miniseries for Sony Pictures Television. Prior to her work at Sony, she held a number of positions at NBC including Vice President, Movies for Television, NBC Productions and Vice President of Family Programming. She is a former member of the Harvard Board of Overseers and the Advisory Board of the Radcliffe Institute.

MODERATORS:

Michelle Kung AB '03 is a writer for Entertainment Weekly and frequent contributor to The Boston Globe. She also writes the Hollywood Reader column for Publisher’s Weekly and has appeared as an entertainment commentator on CNN and Fox News.

Andy Wallenstein is the Television Features Editor at The Hollywood Reporter. He also co-hosts the TV Guide Channel's "Square Off" and is the TV critic for the National Public Radio program "Day to Day."