PIXAR ANIMATION WITH EMILY MOLLENKOPF
Emily Mollenkopf is the Development Executive at Pixar Animation Studios. Emily joined Pixar in 2011 as a story coordinator on Pixar's first TV special; Toy Story of TERROR! She began her career at G4 Television producing videogame-centric content for X-Play and Attack of the Show. As Development Executive Emily gives directors creative feedback as they begin the process of crafting their stories, helps to match them with screenwriters, and conducts research to help deepen the worlds of their films. She holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an MFA in producing from USC’s Peter Stark Program.
INTERNATIONAL TV WITH FELIPE TEWES
Felipe Tewes currently serves as Director of International Originals at Netflix, focused on growing the company's series production efforts across Europe and the Middle East. Previous to Netflix, Felipe worked in acquisitions at HBO and HBO Latin America, licensing international film and tv series for the services. Felipe started his career in the William Morris training program before joining Focus Features as assistant to the CEO. He holds a BA from Harvard College.
TV WRITING WITH PETER BLAKE
Peter Blake was a lawyer and management consultant before he started writing for television. He wrote for HOUSE, M.D. for eight seasons, and has written for THE PRACTICE, ELEMENTARY and BILLIONS, among other shows. He has also written screenplays for Universal, Warner Brothers and Paramount. He is currently a Co-Executive Producer on Fox’s GOTHAM.
Peter earned three Emmy nominations as producer for HOUSE, MD. His teleplays have won the PEN/USA literary award and the Edgar award, and have been nominated for the WGA and Humanitas awards.
Peter is from New York City and is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Law School. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife Jennifer and two-year-old son Sullivan.
COMEDY WRITING WITH COLLEEN MCGUINNESS
Colleen McGuinness has written for a number of television series, including NBC’s Emmy-winning 30 Rock. She has developed pilots with Tina Fey, Matt Damon, F/X, and HBO. McGuinness served as co-executive producer on the comedy Friends From College for Netflix and is currently a consulting producer on the Untitled Yang/Hubbard project starring Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen for Amazon. She recently sold a half hour comedy to CBS with CBS Studios and 3 Arts’ Dave Becky and Oly Obst executive producing.
TV DEVELOPMENT WITH NANCY COTTON
Nancy Cotton is Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs, at Fox 21 Television Studios, where she develops and produces television series including the acclaimed FX drama The Americans, starring Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys; two new FX comedy series, The Comedians, starring Billy Crystal and Josh Gad; and Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll, created by and starring Denis Leary; as well as the upcoming USA drama QUEEN OF THE SOUTH, starring Alice Braga, scheduled for early 2016.
Nancy oversaw the Emmy nominated series, The Killing, starring Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman, whose four seasons are now available on Netflix. She also oversaw four seasons of Saving Grace (TNT), starring Oscarwinner Holly Hunter, and The Riches (FX), starring Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver.
Prior to FTVS, Cotton was head of television for Mel Gibson’s Icon Productions. While there, she executive-produced three network series: Kevin Hill (UPN), starring Taye Diggs; Clubhouse (CBS) starring Dean Cain, Mare Winningham and Christopher Lloyd; and Complete Savages (ABC), created by Mike and Julie Thacker Scully, senior writers from The Simpsons. She also executive-produced the critically acclaimed 10-part documentary series, Carrier (PBS) which followed naval air craft carrier USS Nimitz on its six month tour to the Persian Gulf.
Cotton was Vice President of Programming for Mandalay Television, where she produced the WB series, Young Americans, starring Kate Bosworth and Ian Sommerholder, and worked on the original ABC series Cupid, starring Jeremy Piven and created by Rob Thomas (Veronica Mars.) Before Mandalay, she was Director, Drama Series at ABC, where she oversaw many series including David Kelley’s award-winning The Practice.
Cotton began her television career as an assistant in the television literary department at the William Morris Agency. Her first job, however, was waiting tables and singing show tunes at The Hollywood Savoy, a restaurant in Paris. She graduated from Harvard University with a degree in Art History.
Cotton serves currently on the boards of the I Have A Dream Foundation, Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE). She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, an attorney, and has two teen-aged sons.
SHOWRUNNING WITH DUSTIN THOMASON
Dustin Thomason is the co-creator and showrunner of Castle Rock, forthcoming from Hulu in 2018. Dustin has written and executive produced numerous other series, including ABC drama The Evidence, Fox's Lie to Me and WGN America's Manhattan. He began his writing career as a novelist and was the co-author of NY Times Bestsellers The Rule of Four and 12.21. Dustin studied anthropology while at Harvard and received his M.D. and his M.B.A. from Columbia. For your own safety, please do not ask him any medical questions; he doesn't remember much and barely passed his board exams in the first place.
COMEDY WRITING WITH DANIEL CHUN
Daniel Chun is a television and motion picture writer. His first job as a writer was on The Simpsons in 2003. He spent six years at the show, rising to Co-Executive Producer of the series. While there, he won the prestigious Annie Award for Best Writing in a Television Production for his script, “The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror XX.” Daniel then joined the writing staff of another Emmy award-winning series, The Office; where he spent three seasons, including two as Head Writer. Daniel was Creator and Executive Producer of the FOX primetime series, Grandfathered, starring John Stamos. He has also written for Happy Endings, Trophy Wife, and Hello Ladies. He is Executive Producer on the acclaimed new series Speechless on ABC.
Daniel has been nominated for multiple Emmy and Writer’s Guild Awards for his television work, and was named by Variety as one of the “10 TV Scribes to Watch” in 2015.
In the motion picture space, Daniel has worked on film properties for such studios as Illumination, Paramount Pictures, and Warner Brothers. He has also been a featured speaker and mentor at schools and institutions such as University of Pennsylvania, Austin TV Festival, FAMU in Prague, Seoul Digital Forum, The Paley Center, The Sundance Institute, and Harvard University.
THE #METOO PHENOMENON WITH WINNIE M. LI
Winnie’s debut novel Dark Chapter was recently published to great acclaim, and is inspired by her own 2008 rape (but told equally from perspectives of victim and perpetrator). In the UK, it won The Guardian’s Not The Booker Prize by public vote, and will be translated into eight languages Prior to her assault, Winnie worked in the film industry as a producer in London and worked on six feature films and an Oscar-nominated short. She later moved into film festival programming and theme park design, before deciding to write her novel. She is also pursuing a PhD at the London School of Economics, on the impact of social media on public discourses about rape.
FILM FINANCING WITH VINCA L. JARRETT
Vinca L. Jarrett, Esq. is an entertainment lawyer and president of FilmPro Finance, a financial consulting service for investors and producers for funding one-off films and building film slates. She is currently writing the non-fiction work SHOW ME THE F#©K!NG MONEY (SMTFM): HOW TO INVEST, RAISE AND RECOUP MONEY IN THE FILM INDUSTRY, and launched the TV web series of the same name in 2014 in which she interviews A-list financiers, distributors, bankers, investors, attorneys, casting agents, and producers from around the world. SMTFM can be watched at www.showmethefkingmoney.tv.
Vinca is a regularly featured expert in the news, most recently featured in Deadline Hollywood as the curator and moderator of the ITV Fest panel, The Elephant in the Room featuring Bobby Farrelly on the Harvey Weinstein epidemic; on CBS (2016 and 2015) on the Massachusetts film tax credits, as well as NPR’s All Things Considered (2011) on the economic relevance of film incentives; Fox Business News (2010) regarding studio financing; and is featured in several film industry periodicals. She is on the Board of Directors of INTERLOCK MEDIA, a documentary film non-profit organization, and on the Board of Advisors to COMPANY ONE, one of Boston’s Best Theatre Companies and recipient of numerous Elliot Awards, and the ITV FEST, the U.S.’s largest independent television festival now in its 14th year. She has served as Chairperson of the Arts & Entertainment Committee of the Boston Bar Association, been a member and Board Chair of ImprovBoston, and been a Board of Advisor to the Golden Trailer Awards.
Prior to entering the entertainment field in 2000, Vinca served for more than a decade as an environmental litigator on behalf of the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the NY Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Division, prosecuting and negotiating Superfund and wetland cases. A native New Yorker, hailing from Manhattan and Roslyn, whose extended family is based in Los Angeles, she currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts. Please see www.filmprofinance.com and www.vincajarrett.com and www.showmethefkingmoney.tv for more information.
COMEDY WRITING WITH DAN O'KEEFE
Dan O'Keefe has written for, among others, the Harvard Lampoon, the National Lampoon, Married...with Children, Seinfeld, the Drew Carey Show, The League, Silicon Valley, and now Veep. He lives in Los Angeles.
CHINA, HOLLYWOOD, AND MONEY
Robert Cain has worked for more than 20 years in Hollywood and the global entertainment industry, primarily as a production, finance, strategy and creative development expert. Rob has consulted to most of Hollywood’s major studios and talent guilds and worked as a senior executive at talent-based companies such as Danny DeVito’s Jersey Films and Aaron Spelling’s Spelling Entertainment in formulating and executing business plans to expand their operations.
His corporate clients have included Universal Studios, MGM, Sony Pictures Entertainment, DirectTV, NBC, the BBC, the Screen Actors Guild, Kodak, New Line Cinema, Mattel and others. Rob’s film experience extends from finance and distribution management to creative duties on more than a dozen successful films, including such critical and commercian successes as The Usual Suspects, Breakdown, Bound, Blade 2 and Cabin Fever.
Rob has been doing business in China since 1987, where his producing and entertainment management experience includes: Production of the TV broadcast Three Tenors in the Forbidden City; Development and production executive on the 2008 Academy Award nominated film Mongol; Consulting Producer on the film Shanghai Kiss, starring Kelly Hu and Hayden Panettiere; and consulting to major Hollywood studios, animation companies and talent agencies on China matters. Rob’s past Chinese consulting clients include Shanghai Media Group, CCTV, China Lion Films, and others.
Rob’s career highlights include IPOs such as MGM’s $180 million NYSE offering (while at JP Morgan) and $60 million Chinese company OTC listing; initiated $825 million acquisition of Rainbow Media; formulated U.S. entry strategy for BBC that resulted in $26 million in revenues within 6 months; created business plan that led to $100 million in startup funding for Big Ticket Television (Judge Judy); corporate strategy and business development advisor: Russia entry strategy for Sony Pictures TV; organization design/budget for MGM; VOD entry plan for Universal; and partnering strategy for DirectTV. Rob has successfully raised in excess of $200 million in funding for various companies with which he has been involved.
An award-winning screenwriter, Rob holds a bachelor’s degree with honors from Harvard University and an MBA with honors from the Wharton School of Business.
THE EVOLUTION OF ONLINE TV AND VIDEO
Ryan O'Hara - President, TV Guide Channel, TV Guide SPOT
Ryan O'Hara was named president of TV Guide Channel in August 2005. In this newly-created role, Mr. O'Hara oversees all aspects of TV Guide Channel and TV Guide SPOT, Gemstar-TV Guide's new on-demand network, including programming, marketing, advertising sales, operations, business affairs and finance.
Since early 2004, Mr. O'Hara has been president of TVG Network, Gemstar-TV Guide's interactive horse racing television network which is available in more than 15.5 million homes. With Mr. O'Hara's leadership, TVG's revenues grew more than 37 percent in 2004 and nearly 42 percent in the first six months of 2005, while its cable and satellite distribution has increased by 26 percent since Mr. O'Hara joined the network. In second quarter 2005, TVG Network set a record in wagering revenue for the network, and marked the first time the network's quarterly wagering revenue has exceeded $100 million. During Mr. O'Hara's tenure, TVG also expanded its unique brand of sports programming, and, in March 2005, the network launched a groundbreaking interactive sports television application with DISH Network.
Mr. O'Hara was appointed COO of TVG in February 2004. Prior to that he spent two years as the senior vice president of Business Development and Strategic Planning for Gemstar-TV Guide. In that role, Mr. O'Hara was responsible for business and operational planning, strategic development and corporate deal making for the Company's publishing, cable and satellite and consumer electronic offerings.
Mr. O'Hara joined Gemstar-TV Guide in 2002 as senior vice president, Business Development and Strategic Planning. In February 2004, he took on his current role at TVG. Prior to joining Gemstar-TV Guide, Mr. O'Hara was based in London with BSKYB, serving as director of Interactive Television Strategy. His affiliation with News Corporation began with the FOX/Liberty Networks in February 1999, when Mr. O'Hara served as director, Business Development for the joint venture, which operated sports and entertainment networks, including Fox Sports Net and FX. Prior to joining FOX/Liberty Networks, he served in entertainment management consulting with Price Waterhouse Coopers and in brand management at Nestle.
Mr. O'Hara holds a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Economics degree from Stanford University.
Dmitri Ponomarev - Vice President, On Demand
Dmitri Ponomarev oversees the development and programming of Gemstar-TV Guide’s new on-demand networks TV Guide SPOT and TV Guide Broadband. The networks feature original short-form entertainment programs that help consumers navigate their ever-expanding content choices by guiding them to the most compelling fare on TV. The network reaches over 25 million consumers and are available to digital cable subscribers of Comcast, Time Warner, Bright House, Cablevision, Cox, Charter and Insight, as well as Internet users through TV Guide Online and AOL Video and select TiVo customers. Previously, Ponomarev was General Manager of Interactive Platforms for TVG Network, the interactive horseracing network, where he was responsible for the development, day-to-day operations and marketing of TVG’s wagering platforms, including its web site, automated telephone betting system and iTV wagering application available on DISH Network. Ponomarev holds a BA in Economics from UCLA and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Hahn Lee - Director, On Demand
Hahn Lee is Director of On Demand for TV Guide Broadband and TV Guide SPOT. Mr. Lee transitioned into this newly created role after having served as Director of Finance for the TV Guide Television Group and TV Guide Mobile. Mr. Lee started his career with Gemstar-TV Guide as Director of Business Development for TVG Network, the Company’s interactive horse racing television network.
Prior to joining Gemstar-TV Guide, Mr. Lee worked in financial planning and analysis at Liberty Media’s Ascent Media Group, a provider of creative and technical media services to the entertainment industry. Mr. Lee assumed his role at Ascent Media after having worked in equity research at Jefferies & Company covering digital media and video game software companies. Immediately preceding his position at Jefferies, Mr. Lee was an investment banking associate at Bear, Stearns.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Lee worked in business development at FOX/Liberty Networks evaluating numerous strategic initiatives for Fox Sports Net and FX. Mr. Lee began his career with The Walt Disney Company in Corporate Alliances where he helped identify and execute long-term, global exclusive partnerships between Disney and other Fortune 500 companies.
Mr. Lee is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has studied numerous foreign languages including Korean, Russian, French and Japanese. Mr. Lee holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BA in Business-Economics from UCLA.
WGA Seminar: WRITERS ON WRITING, Sept. 16
Patric Verrone - President, WGA West; TV writer-producer
Patric M. Verrone is an attorney and television writer. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College where he was an officer of The Harvard Lampoon. He has a J.D. from Boston College Law School where he edited the Boston College Law Review. His TV writing credits include The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Larry Sanders Show, The Critic, The Simpsons, Pinky and the Brain, Rugrats, Muppets Tonight!, Futurama, and, debuting this fall on Cartoon Network, Class of 3000. He has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards in four different categories and won two. He is currently President of the Writers Guild of America, west.
Nell Scovell - TV writer-producer
Nell Scovell's TV credits include writing for variety shows ("Late Night with David Letterman"), sitcoms ("Newhart," "Murphy Brown), animated shows ("The Simpsons," "Space Ghost: Coast to Coast"), and hour-long dramas ("Monk," "NCIS"). She created and executive produced "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" for ABC. Her movie credits include "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves," which she wrote with Joel Hodgson, and "Hayley Wagner, Star," which she wrote and directed for Showtime. She worked hard on the punctuation of this bio, but still thinks she may have messed it up.
Melinda Hsu Taylor - TV writer-producer
Melinda grew up in Bangor, Maine, where the lack of anything else to do prompted her early interest in writing. After graduating from Harvard College, Melinda received an MFA in Film from Columbia University. A number of very lean years followed, during which time she wrote screenplays and prose, and also produced and performed a one-woman show about her relationship with her immigrant parents. Her nonfiction credits include the book Digital Cinema: The Evolution of Storytelling, which she co-wrote with her husband, Thom Taylor.
Prior to her work as a staff writer on Still Life (a one-hour drama for the FOX network), she was selected for the 2003 Warner Bros. TV Drama Writers Workshop. She was a staff writer and then story editor on the NBC drama MEDIUM before becoming an executive story editor on FOX’s new drama VANISHED.
Sean O'Keefe - Screenwriter-producer-videogame writer/producer
Sean O’Keefe graduated Harvard with a B.A. in English Literature and got his start in the film business working for Neal Moritz at Original Film. Sean left Original in early 1999 to join another Hollywood start-up, Artists Production Group, the feature film production division of Michael Ovitz’s new Artists Management Group. At APG, Sean produced GODSEND, a thriller starring Robert De Niro. In 2003, Sean co-founded a film and video game production company called Union with Richard Leibowitz. Union produced games based on Hollywood films such as SIN CITY, ICE AGE, and THE GRINCH.
While at Union, O’Keefe teamed with writing partner, Will Staples, and together they wrote the King Tutankhamen biopic for director Roland Emmerich at Columbia Pictures. They subsequently rewrote THE NORTHMEN for Morgan Creek/Universal Pictures, followed by an undersea epic entitled FATHOM at Fox for James Cameron. They are currently writing a pitch they recently sold to Paramount called GETTING UP and a spec they sold to Warner Brothers entitled L.B.C. On the video game front, they have written PURSUIT FORCE for the PSP, and they are currently writing a launch title for the Playstation 3.
FILM FINANCE: PRIVATE EQUITY, STUDIO, AND INDEPENDENT FILM, Sept. 23
Stacy Cohen - Independent Producer
Stacy Cohen spent five months on location in Africa producing DUMA (Warner Bros., 2005), a family adventure film about the friendship between a boy and the orphaned cheetah he rescues and returns to the wild. The film was directed by Carroll Ballard (The Black Stallion, Fly Away Home), and stars Hope Davis, Campbell Scott, Eamonn Walker and newcomer Alexander Michaletos. The film was shot at over 75 locations on every type of terrain across South Africa, and Cohen had the great fortune to direct 2nd Unit in the Okavango Delta in Botswana, one of the wildest and most remote places on earth.
Next Cohen was off to Kentucky to shoot DREAMER (DreamWorks, 2005), a family drama about a down-on-his-luck horse trainer, his young daughter and gruff father, who work together to heal a broken-down racehorse, thereby healing the rifts in their own family. The film stars Kurt Russell, Dakota Fanning and Kris Kristofferson.
Previous to that, Cohen served as Executive Producer on Warner Bros.' WHITE OLEANDER (2002), starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Renee Zellweger, Robin Wright Penn and Alison Lohman. From 2000 through 2004, Cohen served as Producer and SVP, Production at Gaylord Films/Pandora, a co-financing, co-producing partner based at Warner Bros. Pictures, where she oversaw development and production of a slate of feature film projects. Previous to her time there, Cohen worked with Hunt Lowry for four years at his Disney-based production company as VP, Development.
Before joining Lowry, Cohen worked in the independent feature world in various production capacities on such films as Robert Altman's THE PLAYER and Bryan Singer's Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury prize-winning PUBLIC ACCESS.
Cohen now works as an independent producer, developing a new slate of projects while continuing to nurture her existing Warner Bros. scripts.
Alissa Miller - Associate, Akin Gump, Strauss, Hauer, Feld LLP
Alissa L. Miller focuses her practice on entertainment matters. Ms. Miller received her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1998 and her J.D. in 2001 from the University of California at Berkeley, Boalt Hall School of Law. Ms. Miller is a member of the California Bar.
Todd R. Steiner - Comerica Bank Entertainment Group
As an officer in the Entertainment Group at Comerica Bank, Steiner analyzes and structures financing packages for clients including film and TV producers, independent studios, and private investors. After a deal is approved by the Bank’s credit department, he works with, among others, sales agents, distributors, and additional financiers as he oversees and manages Comerica’s commitment. Steiner graduated this year with an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Prior to business school, he worked on the creative side of the entertainment industry while serving in various production capacities and as the Director of Development at The Shooting Gallery (Sling Blade, The Minus Man, You Can Count on Me). Steiner is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
David Valdes - Producer
David Valdes is one of the film industry's busiest and most respected film producers. During the course of his long and diversified career, he has enjoyed successful collaborations with such noted filmmakers as Clint Eastwood, Francis Ford Coppola, Frank Darabont, Kevin Costner and has helped launch the careers of a number of
popular actors.
As a producer, David is currently in post-production on a western for Warner Bros. entitled The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford starring Brad Pitt and directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper). He recently wrapped another western (independent) entitled Open Range directed by Kevin Costner and starring Robert Duvall, Annette Bening and Sir Michael Gambon that was released domestically by Disney. Prior to this project, David produced the re-imagining of The Time Machine based on the H.G. Wells' classic science fiction novel for DreamWorks and Warner Bros.
In 2000, David received four Academy Award nominations (including one for Best Picture) for The Green Mile. Other motion picture producer credits include Turbulence, featuring Ray Liotta and Lauren Holly; A Perfect World, starring Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood; and The Stars Fell On Henrietta, with Robert Duvall and Aidan Quinn. He successfully teamed Clint Eastwood and Charlie Sheen in The Rookie, and likewise paired Dudley Moore and Kirk Cameron in Like Father, Like Son. David served as the producer on Pink Cadillac and on the last of the popular series of Dirty Harry movies The Dead Pool, which marked the feature film debuts of Jim Carrey and Liam Neeson. In total, Mr. Valdes has collaborated on seventeen (17) films with Clint Eastwood.
David served as the sole executive producer on Clint Eastwood's acclaimed revisionist Western Unforgiven, which won four Academy awards, including one for Best Picture; and Wolfgang Petersen's multiple Oscar-nominated hit In The Line Of Fire, starring Eastwood, Rene Russo and John Malkovich. He was also the executive producer on Eastwood's critically acclaimed biopic Bird, starring Forest Whitaker, and White Hunter, Black Heart starring Clint Eastwood. Among the four movies he did with Francis Ford Coppola, most recently he served as the executive producer on the Vietnam War-era drama Gardens of Stone.
Among his extensive television credits David cites his tenure as a director of the innovative series Moonlighting, starring Cybil Shepherd and Bruce Willis, as his most challenging experience. He worked in all television formats; movies-of-the-week, series, commercials, and music videos before finding his niche as a producer of motion pictures.
Born and raised in southern California, David earned a Bachelor of Theatre Arts degree from UCLA graduating magna cum laude. He began his film career as an assistant director working alongside such esteemed directors as Martin Scorsese, Wim Wenders and beginning his longtime association with Clint Eastwood and Francis Ford Coppola. Some of the films on which he worked as an assistant director include The Raging BuIl, Oh God! Book II, Any Which Way You Can, Hammett, The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, Sudden Impact, and Tightrope. He later segued into producing as an associate producer on Eastwood's Pale Rider in 1984.
He is a member of many organizations including the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Directors Guild of America, the Producers Guild of America and the American Film Institute. Currently he sits on the Board of Directors for the Latino Theater Company (LTC) and is also a mentor to graduate students studying at the USC Peter Stark graduate producers program.
THE FUTURE OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY
Jay L. Cooper - Chair, LA Entertainment Practice, Greenberg Traurig
Jay L. Cooper's practice focuses on music industry, motion picture, television, multimedia and intellectual property issues. He represents individuals and companies on intellectual property matters including recording and publishing agreements for individual artists and composers; actor, director, producer and writer agreements in film and television; executive employment agreements; complex acquisitions and sales of entertainment catalogs; production agreements on behalf of music, television and motion picture companies, and all entertainment issues relative to the Internet.
Jay has guest lectured at Harvard Law School, UCLA Law School, USC Law School, USC Music School, Stanford Law School, Boalt Hall, Tulane Law School, the Florida Bar Association, the Texas Bar Association, the Practicing Law Institute, the California Copyright Conference, MIDEM, the American Film Market, the Cannes Film Festival, the American Intellectual Property Law Association, the U.S. Copyright Society, and the American Bar Association. He is also a former adjunct professor of Entertainment Law at Loyola Law School.
Robert Kraft - President, Fox Music
Robert Kraft has been the chief executive of Fox Music Inc. since 1994, becoming President in 1998. An award-winning songwriter, film composer, recording artist and record producer, Kraft supervises the music for all Fox Filmed Entertainment motion pictures and television shows, and oversees Fox Music Publishing, Fox Music Licensing, and foxmusic.com.
Kraft has supervised the music for more than 200 Fox features, including gold and platinum soundtracks for "Titanic", "Waiting To Exhale”, “Moulin Rouge”, “Garden State” and “Walk The Line.” Kraft also oversees the music for Twentieth Century Fox TV, including hits such as "Ally McBeal", and "X-Files”, as well as current shows “24”, “Family Guy”, and "The Simpsons".
In 1992, Kraft was nominated as a songwriter for an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for "Beautiful Maria of My Soul", from the Warner Brothers feature, “The Mambo Kings”. In 1999, with songwriter Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds and film composer George Fenton, Kraft was nominated for a second Golden Globe for co-writing the song, “How Can I Not Love You” from “Anna and the King.”
In 1989, Kraft co-produced the Academy Award-winning song, "Under The Sea”, plus all of the Grammy Award-winning songs on the multi-platinum soundtrack of “The Little Mermaid”. As a solo artist and with his band, Robert Kraft and The Ivory Coast, he has released four albums on RCA, RSO, and Sonic Edge Records.
Robert Kraft graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 1976. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Beth, and his two sons, Noah and Lucas.
Diarmuid Quinn - Executive VP, Warner Bros Records
CBS Records - College Dept
Epic Records - Product Manager
• Ozzy
• Luther Vandross
• Cheap Trick
• Cyndi Lauper
MCA Records – VP Marketing
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
• Elton John
• Lyle Lovett
Columbia Records – VP Marketing
• Harry Connick Jr
• Alice In Chains
• Barbra Streisand
• Toad The Wet Sprocket
Hollywood Records – SVP Marketing
• Queen
• Danzig
• Miramax
The Work Group – SVP Marketing
• Jamiroquai
• Jennifer Lopez
• Fiona Apple
Soft Machine - Consultant (with Jeff Ayeroff)
• Beatles 1 Worldwide Marketing Plan
Warner Bros Records – EVP / GM
• Madonna
• Green Day
• Josh Groban
• Mike Jones
• Linkin Park
• Red Hot Chili Peppers
• Faith Hill
• Seal
BOLLYWOOD DEMYSTIFIED
Arnold Peter, Hollywood’s resident Bollywood expert, took Harvardwood Salon participants through the inner workings of Bollywood. Participants learned more about how Bollywood operates and how to enter the market.
Arnold Peter is the founder of the Peter Law Group and Media Partners Global. He works with and represents some of the top studios and filmmakers in Bollywood and Indian cinema. His clients include Yash Raj Films, Reliance Mediaworks, Hyde Park Entertainment, Anurag Kashyap Films, Pvt. Ltd., Vinod Chopra Films, Jim Furgele ("Delhi Belly”), Rupak Ginn ("Royal Pains”), Pooja Kumar ("Bollywood Hero”), Mallika Sherawat ("Hiss”), and Bedo Pain ("Chittagong”).
Mr. Peter began his legal career in the entertainment industry as Director of Labor Relations for Universal Studios. He has negotiated more than 40 labor agreements with ten unions representing more than 15,000 employees. He was promoted to Vice President of Legal and Business Affairs and eventually led a 12-attorney team that negotiated most of the agreements for the expansion of Universal Citywalk. He became a partner and chair of the Entertainment and Media Practice at the international law firm of Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell LLP. He went on to co-found Peter Rubin & Simon, LLP, a full service entertainment boutique law firm.
Mr. Peter’s Media Partners Global LLC, is a marketing, branding, production, distribution and strategic consultancy serving the global media entertainment community. The company has a comprehensive India practice. Mr. Peter is a frequent commentator on legal and business related issues having appeared on all major media outlets including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. He was born in Goa, India.