CREATIVEFUTURE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Consultant, Community Outreach
- Well - Respected Executive
Adam Krentzman is a well-respected executive in the motion picture business. For twenty-five years, he has been involved with packaging, producing, and arranging the financing on over fifty feature films. For over twenty years at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) Mr. Krentzman served as a motion picture agent representing Hollywood's top directors, producers and writers. His clients included: Michael Bay, Francis Ford Coppola, Jerry Bruckheimer, Sundance Films, and National Geographic. Mr. Krentzman was also part of a three-member team involved in international financing and packaging for CAA clients. He has participated in transactions ranging from traditional talent employment and production arrangements to the worldwide distribution sales, as well as the structuring of international co-productions. Mr. Krentzman has lectured at numerous universities including: USC, UCLA, Loyola Marymount, University of Hawaii, University of Arizona, American Film Institute, Academy of Art University, National Film School of Florence, Italy, Beijing Film Academy, Boston University, and Columbia College Hollywood. He is on the board of Mavrick Artists Agency, is a past member of the Board of Advisors of the Telluride Film Festival, and is an active member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Albert Berger formed Bona Fide Productions with Ron Yerxa in 1993. Their producing credits include King of the Hill, Election, Cold Mountain, Little Children, Little Miss Sunshine, Ruby Sparks, and 2014's Oscar-nominated film Nebraska.
Berger's executive producing credits include the award-winning documentary Crumb, the Wilco documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, and the Levon Helm documentary Ain't In It For My Health. Berger and Yerxa are also co-executive producers on the new HBO series The Leftovers.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Writer / Executive Producer
Alec Berg's television work includes Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm and the current HBO series Silicon Valley …
Alec Berg's television work includes Seinfeld (writer/executive producer), Curb Your Enthusiasm (writer/director/executive producer), and the HBO series Silicon Valley (writer/director/executive producer).
He has also worked extensively in features, doing a great deal of rewrite work and co-writing screenplays for the feature films The Cat in the Hat, EuroTrip, and The Dictator. Berg has been nominated for seven Emmy® awards, four WGA awards, a Golden Globe®, and a Razzie®. A graduate of Harvard University, Berg resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Michele, his daughter India, two dogs, a hamster, a fish, and a rat.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Anne Marie Fox is a native of southern California, educated at private Catholic schools with the exception of the three years spent attending Helmholtz Gymnasium...
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Antoine Fuqua is the director behind such films as Training Day, The Magnificent Seven, The Equalizer, The Equalizer 2, Southpaw, Olympus Has Fallen, Brooklyn's Finest, and King Arthur. He directed and executive produced the documentary American Dream/American Knightmare on the legendary Marion "Suge" Knight and directed the blues documentary Lightning in a Bottle, executive produced by Martin Scorsese. Through his production company, Fuqua Films, Fuqua generates content for both film and television including serving as executive producer on the FOX medical drama The Resident.
Most recently, he directed and executive produced the critically acclaimed documentary What's My Name: Muhammad Ali, for HBO, which was a winner at the 2020 PGA Awards in the Outstanding Sports Program category and the 2020 Sports Emmys® in the Outstanding Long Sports Documentary category.
Fuqua Films also produced the Roku Original Series #FreeRayshawn, starring Laurence Fishburne and Stephan James, which won two Emmy® awards. The series also won a 2021 NAACP Image Award for "Outstanding Short Form Series - Comedy or Drama." Fuqua's most recent film is Paramount's Infinite, starring Mark Wahlberg. His upcoming projects include Emancipation, Bullet Train, The Terminal List, The Guilty, and the recently announced Mike Tyson limited series, among many others.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Job Titles:
- Executive Vice President, External Affairs & Public Policy
Brett Williams brings strong roots in the independent film community, a love for creators and their work, and a background in issue advocacy and coalition-building to CreativeFuture. Brett began his entertainment career in New York as an associate producer with celebrated documentary filmmakers Rory Kennedy and Liz Garbus. He later served as Vice President of Production at the independent film and video distribution company Hart Sharp Entertainment, where he oversaw numerous films from greenlight to release, including Golden Globe® and Academy Award®-nominated titles such as Nicholas Nickleby, A Home at the End of the World, Proof, P.S., The Night Listener, and Evening. More recently, Brett co-founded Edible Schoolyard NYC, the New York City affiliate of Alice Waters' groundbreaking educational program that partners with public schools to educate underserved children through an experiential, integrated, and interconnected seed-to-table program - and currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board. He grew up in Texas and Singapore and graduated from Georgetown University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Academy Award® - Winning Producer
- Member of the Academy
Bruce Cohen is an Academy Award®-winning producer of film, television, theater, and live events. He won an Academy Award® for Best Picture in 2000, alongside... Read more
Bruce Cohen is an Academy Award®-winning producer of film, television, theater, and live events. He won an Academy Award® for Best Picture in 2000, alongside producing partner Dan Jinks, for Sam Mendes' American Beauty, which took home a total of five awards at the ceremony. He earned additional Best Picture nominations for Gus Van Sant's Milk and David O. Russell's Silver Linings Playbook and also produced both the film and stage musical adaptation of Tim Burton's Big Fish.
Cohen produced the boxing drama Bleed for This, starring Miles Teller and Aaron Eckhart and directed by Ben Younger. He is a producer of Danny Strong's Rebel in the Rye, starring Nicholas Hoult as iconic author J.D. Salinger and Kevin Spacey, which had its World Premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.
In television, Cohen executive produced When We Rise, the eight-hour ABC miniseries, created and written by Academy Award®-winner Dustin Lance Black, tracking the LGBTQ rights movement from 1972 to today, that aired in February 2017. He was nominated for an Emmy Award® in 2011 for producing the 83rd Annual Academy Awards® and also served as an executive producer on the Bryan Fuller-created series Pushing Daisies, as well as the event specials Movies Rock for CBS and Broadway at the White House for TLC.
Cohen is a devoted activist for LGBTQ and human rights issues. He co-founded Out There, a collection of Entertainment Industry Activists in 1995 with Nina Jacobson, and also served as president of the Board of Directors of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, the group behind the successful Supreme Court case to have California's Proposition 8 declared unconstitutional. He served as the entertainment industry liaison for Joining Forces, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden's initiative supporting service men and women and veterans, and is a founding steering committee member of Got Your Six. In 2016, he produced the "Fight Song" video for the Democratic National Convention and Holy Shit, You've Got to Vote! for Funny or Die, both with Elizabeth Banks.
Cohen also frequently produces off-screen live events, such as Andrew Lippa's concept opera I Am Harvey Milk; the Family Equality Council's Night at the Pier; and We Stand United, the pre-inauguration day rally this past January in front of New York's Trump International Hotel.
Having started his career as an assistant director under Steven Spielberg, Cohen is now a member of the Academy, the Director's Guild of America, and the Producer's Guild of America, having served two terms as Vice President of Motion Pictures. He is a four-time producer of the PGA Awards and produced the inaugural Governor's Awards for the Academy in 2009.
Cohen currently resides in New York City with his husband and their daughter.
Bryan Alkemeyer is a writer and literary critic from Bartlesville, Oklahoma. He first learned about copyright from DOS adventure games, which his family played on a Tandy 1000 computer. After completing a Ph.D. in English at Cornell University, Bryan published articles about animals in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries and earned tenure as an English professor. During 2019, he moved to Los Angeles on a research fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies. Following the pandemic, Bryan joined CreativeFuture so that he could help improve protections for intellectual and artistic expression. Although Bryan grew up without cable television, he has been delighted to discover a latent interest in the entertainment industry.
Director Carroll Ballard ‘s Wind was his first feature credit as Director of Photography. Other credits include The Rainmaker with director Francis Coppola, Almost Famous and Vanilla Sky with director Cameron Crowe, Gone Baby Gone for director Ben Affleck, Tropic Thunder with actor/director Ben Stiller, the TV pilot for Breaking Bad with Vince Gilligan, as well as Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending, and Sense8 with the Wachowskis, and The Matrix Resurrections with director Lana Wachowski.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Expert
Cassian Elwes began his producing career with 1983's Oxford Blues starring Rob Lowe and Ally Sheedy and …
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 12 years ago, Elwes has either produced or executive produced more than 75 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. On becoming one of the most celebrated independent producers, Elwes said to Screen International, "what people lose sight of is that these films cost a tenth of the films that they competed against at the Academy Awards®. The privilege was the recognition."
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 also distributed. In 2021, he executive produced Lee Daniels' The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, which earned star Andra Day an Academy Award® nomination for Best Actress. Best Sellers, starring Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza, and Medieval, starring Ben Foster, are currently in post-production. The Hollywood Reporter has said that Elwes was "involved in a virtual who's who of every great independent film of the last twenty years".
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Founder and CEO of MACRO
Charles King is founder and CEO of MACRO. Launched in 2015, MACRO is a newly formed venture …
Charles D. King is Founder & CEO of MACRO, a multi-platform media company representing the voice and perspectives of people of color. Mr. King casts the overall vision, mission, and strategic goals for the company's multiple business verticals, which include a film and television studio, talent and influencer management divisions, a branding and creative agency, and an affiliated venture firm.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Co - CEO of SK Global Entertainment
Charlie Corwin is Co-CEO of SK Global Entertainment. An entrepreneur with over 20 years of media experience, Charlie Corwin co-founded and led Original Media as... Read more
Charlie Corwin is Co-CEO of SK Global Entertainment. An entrepreneur with over 20 years of media experience, Charlie Corwin co-founded and led Original Media as its CEO until Endemol acquired a majority stake in November 2007. Subsequently, Corwin became co-CEO of Endemol Shine North America, the merged global independent content creator, producer, and distributor with a diverse portfolio of companies behind some of the most prominent hit television formats and series in the world. Corwin oversaw all of the division's unscripted programming, including hits such as CBS' Big Brother and FOX's MasterChef and scripted series from its Endemol Shine Studios, producers of AMC's Hell on Wheels, DirectTV's Kingdom, and HBO's drama Utopia.
An award-winning film and TV producer, and acclaimed for his box office successes, Corwin is widely considered an innovator for his creation of subculture specific docu-series such as Miami Ink (TLC) and its popular spinoffs, LA Ink and NY Ink, as well as the breakout successes Swamp People (History) and Storm Chasers (Discovery).
In 2016, Corwin served as IMAGINE Entertainment's CEO, co-founded by Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Corwin was brought in as part of a ramp-up of Imagine's executive ranks as the partners were starting to build an expansive independent studio with the $100 million investment the company received from Raine Group.
Corwin has produced numerous feature films that have been nominated for a total of 18 Spirit Awards, 4 Golden Globes®, and 5 Academy Awards®. Among them are The Squid and the Whale, Half Nelson, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, August, Twelve, Sunlight Jr , and Jackied.
He was born and raised in New York City and currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two children.
Connor Leak is a filmmaker from Los Altos, California. Coming from a background in media and design, he studied Screenwriting and Television Production at Chapman University in Orange County. While at Chapman, Connor worked on more than 50 student and professional productions in a variety of roles including directing, producing, acting, and writing. During that time, he also worked internships at several production companies in Los Angeles, such as one for DiBonaventura Pictures on the Paramount lot. Before coming to CreativeFuture, Connor worked as a Production Assistant for UrbanSamuraiCreative, a video production company based in San Francisco. He helped organize and produce a range of PSAs, commercials, and promotional material for some of the larger companies and political campaigns in the Bay Area such as Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, and Oracle.
Job Titles:
- Director, Communications
- Writer
Davis Read is a writer and filmmaker from Indianapolis, Indiana. While attending DePaul University, Davis was a part of Chicago's vibrant independent film community and held multiple internships in the news media and entertainment industries, including a summer development internship in Los Angeles with STARZ. Prior to joining the CreativeFuture team, he worked as a freelance journalist covering entertainment industry news for CBR and as a script reader for Coverfly.
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Executive Vice President
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Elizabeth Frank is Executive Vice President and Chief Content & Programming Officer for AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC). She oversees the sourcing, scheduling, and promotion of... Read more
Elizabeth Frank is Executive Vice President and Chief Content & Programming Officer for AMC Entertainment Inc. (AMC). She oversees the sourcing, scheduling, and promotion of films and diverse content in all of AMC's theatres, including studio partnerships, film buying, specialty content development, and programming investments. In addition, Frank leads U.S.-based movie-related business development initiatives for AMC's parent company, The Wanda Group.
Frank began her AMC career in 2010 as Senior Vice President, Strategy and Strategic Partnerships, where she was responsible for developing and managing AMC's partnerships and business ventures, as well as setting the company's overall strategic framework and long-range vision and supporting the private equity owners.
She has more than 20 years of experience developing and implementing growth strategies for organizations such as Time Warner and Viacom. Prior to joining AMC, Frank served as Senior Vice President, Global Programs for AmeriCares, where she expanded the medical relief organization's program scope, globalized resource acquisition, and enhanced operational effectiveness. Before Americares, Frank served as Vice President, Corporate Strategic Planning for Time Warner, previously having spent nine years at McKinsey & Company as a partner serving media and consumer clients in the United States and Europe.
She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Open Road Films (AMC's joint venture with Regal Entertainment), Digital Content Delivery Coalition ("DCDC" venture with Warner Bros., Universal Pictures, Regal Entertainment, and Cinemark), and AmeriCares. Frank graduated from Lehigh University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and received her Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.
Eve Ensler, the founder of VDay.org asked Tena to write and produce their theme song for One Billion Rising, called "Break the Chain". VDay is the world's largest global activist movement to end violence against women and girls.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Gale Anne Hurd, known as the "First Lady of Sci-Fi," is a producer of Academy Award-winning films and ...
Gale Anne Hurd is one of the industry's most respected film and television producers. In 1984, after working in various capacities for legendary producer Roger Corman, Hurd produced and co-wrote her first feature film, The Terminator. The film was a box office and critical success, and has since become a genre classic. This success was quickly followed by Aliens, which received seven nominations and two Academy Awards®, followed by the Academy Award®-winning films The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and The Ghost and the Darkness.
Some of her additional credits include Armageddon, The Incredible Hulk, The Waterdance, which won Sundance's Audience and Screenplay Awards, and MANKILLER, the award-winning Native American PBS documentary. Hurd's most recent feature, the Lionsgate/CBS Films' Hell Fest, was released theatrically worldwide in 2018 and is now available on Netflix.
Along with The Walking Dead, Hurd is also an Executive Producer of the show's companion series, Fear the Walking Dead, as well as the third chapter in the ‘Walking Dead' series, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, which was just renewed for a second season. She also serves as a Consulting Producer on AMC's top-rated talk show, Talking Dead. A ‘Walking Dead' feature film was also announced and will premiere theatrically via Universal Pictures, with Hurd serving as a Producer.
Hurd's anthology series, Lore, based on the popular historical podcast of the same name, is currently streaming its first and second seasons on Amazon. Her recent Executive Producer credits also include two seasons of Falling Water for the USA Network and Hunters for Syfy.
A long-time former Board Member and Officer of the Producers Guild of America, Hurd received the organization's coveted David O. Selznick Award for Achievement in Feature Film. She has served as a Governor of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and on the Boards of the American Film Institute, the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Ocean Conservancy. Gale was inducted into the prestigious International Women's Forum Hall of Fame, and her Star can be found on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Weaned on the images of Kirby and Steranko in comics and Hammet and Himes in prose, Gary Phillips was born under a bad sign and... Read more
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of twenty thrillers including OUT OF THE DARK (January 2019). His novels have won...
Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times #1 internationally bestselling author of 22 thrillers including the ORPHAN X series. His novels have won numerous literary awards and have been published in 33 languages. Gregg currently serves as the Co-President of International Thriller Writers (ITW). Additionally, he's written screenplays and television scripts for many of the major studios and networks, comics for DC and Marvel, and political and culture pieces for The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Bulwark, and others. Gregg lives with his Rhodesian ridgebacks in Los Angeles, where he continues to play soccer, frequently injuring himself.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Harry Lennix is a distinguished film, television, stage actor, and producer. For the last seven seasons, he has starred as Harold Cooper, Assistant Director of... Read more
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Hawk Koch is a veteran movie producer, as well as the former President of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences and past President of …
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Hollywood Producer
Janet Yang is a prominent Hollywood producer with deep roots in China. She has worked with some of the most …
A Golden Globe® and Emmy Award®-winning Hollywood producer with deep roots in China, Janet Yang has worked with some of the most formidable directors and actors in the world. She came to prominence through her collaboration with Steven Spielberg on Empire of the Sun (Warner Bros). That was followed by a long partnership with multiple Academy Award®-winner Oliver Stone - where she served as Executive Producer on the iconic The Joy Luck Club (Disney), and as a Producer on the Golden Globe®-winning The People vs. Larry Flynt (Columbia Pictures).
Her most recent project, Over The Moon (Netflix), is an animated feature based on her original story inspired by the Chinese moon goddess. Iconic animator Glen Keane directs the movie.
Among her many other credits are: the Sundance award-winning Dark Matter with Meryl Streep and Chinese star, Liu Ye; The Weight of Water (Lionsgate) directed by Academy Award® winner Kathryn Bigelow; Fox's High Crimes with Morgan Freeman; a Chinese adaptation of the acclaimed Disney franchise High School Musical; and cult favorites Zero Effect, by Jake Kasdan, and Shanghai Calling with China Film Group.
Yang has been named one of the "50 Most Powerful Women in Hollywood" by The Hollywood Reporter.
Yang began her career by running the first distribution company to market Chinese films into North America. She also brokered the reintroduction of American cinema to the Chinese marketplace on behalf of several studios after a decades-long hiatus.
Committed to fostering global understanding, Yang has been a long-standing member of the Committee of 100, and an advisory board member of Asia Society Southern California where she also chairs its highly regarded Us-Asia Entertainment Summit as well as its nascent AWE: Asian Women Empowered Initiative. She is also a co-founder of #GoldHouse, a leading group of Asians in tech, media and entertainment.
Yang sits on the Board of Governors of the Motion Picture Academy and chairs its Membership and Governance Committee.
Yang has been featured in The New York Times, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Variety, South China Morning Post, Harper's Bazaar, as well as on numerous television and radio shows across the US and Asia such as CCTV and Beijing TV. She is frequently asked to consult on projects and sought after for public speaking engagements.
Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Yang holds a B.A. from Brown University in Chinese studies and an M.B.A. from Columbia University. She has also been appointed a Presidential Fellowship at Loyola Marymount University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Founder and CEO of Blumhouse
- Founder and CEO of Blumhouse Productions
Blum has been recognized by TIME magazine's 100 list of the world's most influential people and has appeared several times on Vanity Fair's "New Establishment List." In 2016, he received the Producer of the Year Award at CinemaCon. Jason is on the Board of The Public Theater in New York, the Sundance Institute, Vassar College and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Before founding Blumhouse, Blum served as co-head of the Acquisitions and Co-Productions department at Miramax Films in New York. He began his career as the producing director of the Malaparte Theater Company, which was founded by Ethan Hawke.
Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse, is a three-time Academy Award®-nominated, two-time Primetime Emmy Award-winning and a three-time Peabody Award-winning producer.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Communications
- Writer
JC Taylor is a writer and filmmaker from Champaign, Illinois. While studying Digital Cinema at DePaul University, JC worked on film sets and live television shows in Chicago, Atlanta, Lanzhou, and Beijing. From constructing practical effects for a tentpole Marvel film to producing and hosting his own food and culture show for Gansu TV, JC has worked in nearly every facet of the film and television industries. He was the Director of Marketing for Chicago Male Salon before moving to Los Angeles and joining the CreativeFuture team.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Producer
- Member of AMPAS
Sharp joined Independent Filmmaker Project (IFP) in March 2019 as Executive Director. Sharp is a member of AMPAS (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), BAFTA...
Jeffrey Sharp is an award-winning international producer and publishing entrepreneur.
Jeff Sharp and John N. Hart, Jr. formed Hart Sharp Entertainment in New York in 1996 where they developed, financed, and produced a series of Academy Award® and Golden Globe®-nominated and winning films such as Boys Don't Cry, You Can Count On Me, Nicholas Nickleby, and Proof. Additional feature films include Dark Harbor, A Home at the End of the World, Lift, The Night Listener, PS, Evening, and Revolutionary Road.
In 2009, Sharp co-founded the digital publishing and marketing company Open Road Integrated Media with former HarperCollins CEO Jane Friedman where he served as President. Open Road digitally publishes authors such as William Styron, Pat Conroy, and Pearl Buck and has raised $35M in funding with over 11,000 eBook titles in publication.
In 2013, Sharp served as President and CEO of Story Mining and Supply Co. The company produced the TV show Outlander (Starz) as well as feature films The Yellow Birds (Warner Bros./Saban Entertainment) and UFO (Sony Pictures).
Sharp formed Sharp Independent Pictures in 2016 to develop, finance, and produce feature films and TV shows for the US and China co-production market. Sharp Independent productions include My Other Home (Huayi Bros), hit TV show Wonderful Life for Tianyi Film & TV Co., and the $300 million box office hit Crazy Alien. Upcoming projects include The Great Banquet and The Baccarat Queen.
Sharp joined The Gotham Film & Media Institute in March 2019 as Executive Director.
Sharp is a member of AMPAS (The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences), BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), and the PGA (Producers Guild of America). Sharp is Chair of the Hamptons International Film Festival Advisory Board. Sharp graduated with a BA from Colgate University and an MFA in Creative Producing from Columbia University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Joana Vicente is the Executive Director and the Co-Head of the Toronto International Film Festival.
She previously served as the Executive Director of the Independent Filmmaker Project and the Made in NY Media Center by IFP. IFP is the oldest and largest nonprofit organization for independent storytellers in the U.S.
Vicente is an Academy Award®-nominated producer of over 40 feature films by such acclaimed directors as Jim Jarmusch, Brian De Palma, Steven Soderbergh, Miguel Arteta, Hal Hartley, Nicole Holofcener, Alex Gibney, and Todd Solondz. Throughout her career, she has produced innovative works by first-time filmmakers while championing the distinctive visions of established directors, ranging from auteur-driven projects to successful commercial box-office hits as well as award-winning theatrical documentaries.
Vicente's films have been selected to and won awards at the Sundance Film Festival, the Berlin International Film Festival, The Cannes International Film Festival, and the Venice International Film festival, including two Sundance Grand Jury Prizes and Venice's Silver Lion for Best Director. Her films have also been nominated for over 25 Independent Spirit awards.
Joana Vicente is also recognized as a leading figure of the digital film revolution. Her pioneering digital production companies Blow Up Pictures and HDNetFilms, which she launched with partners Jason Kliot, Mark Cuban, and Todd Wagner, ushered in a new era of digital filmmaking that radically transformed the landscape of American independent film production and distribution.
Before turning her attention to film, Vicente served as a press attaché for the Portuguese delegate to the European Parliament and a radio news producer for the United Nations.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
John Krokidas made his feature directorial debut with Kill Your Darlings, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, …
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Founder & CEO of Evamere Entertainment
John N Hart Jr has produced over 15 Broadway and Off Broadway shows, including the Tony Award-winning Once and …
John N. Hart Jr. is the Founder & CEO of Evamere Entertainment. With over four decades in the entertainment industry, John Hart has produced critically acclaimed feature films and Tony Award®-winning theatrical productions. His film credits include Boys Don't Cry, You Can Count on Me, and Revolutionary Road. His theatre credits include Once, 2012 winner of 8 Tony Awards®; The Band's Visit, 2018 winner of 10 Tony Awards® and the Grammy® for Best Musical Theater Album; A Bronx Tale; The Who's Tommy; Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Matthew Broderick; Annie Get Your Gun starring Bernadette Peters; and the record-breaking revival of Chicago. John is an alumnus of Dartmouth College.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
John Toll began his career as a filmmaker working on documentary films while attending college in Los Angeles.
He has earned two Best Cinematography Oscars® for his work on Braveheart and Legends of the Fall, also winning the American Society of Cinematographers Award and the BAFTA® for Braveheart. He was nominated for a third Oscar® and won the American Society of Cinematographers Award for The Thin Red Line.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Before becoming a full-time director, Jon Cassar had an extensive background working as a Director of Photography, Camera Operator, and Steadicam Operator on over 35... Read more
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Jonathan Yunger joined Millennium Films/Nu Image in 2011 and has worked on more than 50 films during his tenure at the company, including The Expendables... Read more
Jonathan Yunger joined Millennium Films/Nu Image in 2011 and has worked on more than 50 films during his tenure at the company, including The Expendables franchise ($800M), Olympus Has Fallen and London Has Fallen ($375M), The Hitman's Bodyguard ($175M), and Mechanic: Resurrection ($125M). Presently, Yunger is the Co-President of Millennium Media.
Millennium recent releases include; Ric Waugh's Angel Has Fallen starring Gerard Butler and Morgan Freeman; Rod Lurie's adaptation of Jake Tapper's Afghan war story The Outpost with Scott Eastwood, Caleb Landry Jones, and Orlando Bloom; and The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard with Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, and Salma Hayek. Yunger currently lives in Los Angeles and travels regularly to Millennium's studio in Sofia, Bulgaria - Nu Boyana Film Studios - for the productions of its films.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Producer
Karen Rosenfelt is a producer based at Paramount Studios. Her credits include The Book Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. She also produced Me Before You, Max and Max 2 for MGM.... Read more
Karen Rosenfelt is a producer based at Paramount Studios. Her credits include The Book Thief and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters. She also produced Me Before You, Max and Max 2 for MGM. Rosenfelt served as executive producer on Twilight and producer on The Twilight Saga: New Moon, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1, and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2. Rosenfelt has also produced The Big Year, Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief, and Marley & Me for Fox, and her executive producer credits include the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise, and The Devil Wears Prada. Rosenfelt also produced Yogi Bear for Warner Bros.
For 16 years, Rosenfelt was a production executive at Paramount, where she oversaw live-action features such as The First Wives Club, Indecent Proposal, Runaway Bride, Save the Last Dance, Coach Carter, and Mean Girls. She was instrumental in setting up Paramount's partnership with Nickelodeon Movies, overseeing film adaptations of the Nickelodeon television properties Rugrats and SpongeBob SquarePants, as well as Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, based on the bestselling children's books.
Rosenfelt began her career at ICM as an assistant to talent agent Sue Mengers. She went on to become a creative executive at Jerry Weintraub Productions and a senior vice president at MGM.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Costume Designer
Katie Irish is a costume designer, best known for her work on the award-winning FX series The Americans. She began as a shopper for the first... Read more
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Keri Selig is a Golden Globe® and 5-time Emmy®-nominated producer and the Founder and President of Intuition Productions, a feature film and television production company... Read more
Keri Selig is a Golden Globe® and 5-time Emmy®-nominated producer and the Founder and President of Intuition Productions, a feature film and television production company in Hollywood. Before forming Intuition, Selig spent over a decade as an executive at a number of production/finance companies at various studios. She was Executive Senior Vice President of Production at Bel-Air Entertainment, the Warner Bros-based feature film production and finance company, from 1999 through 2001, where she worked on films such as Collateral Damage and Pay It Forward.
Prior to her time at Bel-Air, Selig was Senior Vice President of Production at Kopelson Entertainment (Se7en, The Fugitive), based at Twentieth Century Fox, and Senior Vice President of Production at The Cort/Madden Company (Save the Last Dance, Run Away Bride), based at Paramount Pictures.
Selig continues to produce scripted and unscripted television and feature films. She most recently executive produced the four-hour miniseries After Camelot that aired on the REELZChannel April 2, 2017. It starred Katie Holmes and Matthew Perry, was written by Stephen Kronish, and directed by Jon Cassar (24, The Kennedys) and Katie Holmes. After Camelot is based on the acclaimed book by fourteen-time New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli.
Prior to After Camelot, Selig executive produced a four-hour miniseries The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe for Lifetime, based on the book by J. Randy Taraborrelli, written by Stephen Kronish (24, The Kennedys), and directed by Laurie Collyer (Sherrybaby, Sunlight Jr.). The miniseries stars Susan Sarandon, Emily Watson, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, and Kelli Garner. It received 17 nominations including three Emmys®, a SAG award, a DGA award, a Prism award, and Selig won the 2016 Women's Image Award for Outstanding movie.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Raised in the suburbs of Central New Jersey, Kurt Sutter spent most of his childhood indoors, avoiding people, three fee
Raised in the suburbs of Central New Jersey, Sutter spent most of his childhood indoors, avoiding people, three feet from a TV screen. That's where he learned the essentials of storytelling and that extreme violence, if performed by animated, slightly absurd characters, could be fun and informative.
After graduating from Rutgers University with a BA in Mass Media & Film, Kurt spent several years as an actor in NYC, performing in off off-Broadway theatres, meatpacking warehouses, indiscriminate lofts, and NYPD holding cells. His theatre training led to teaching and directing and, in the mid-nineties, he joined the faculty of The Gately-Poole Acting Studio on Theatre Row, teaching the Sanford Meisner Technique and directing productions at The Nat Horne Theatre.
In 1997, Kurt was awarded an MFA Fellowship to attend Northern Illinois University. In Chicago, Kurt's exposure to the dramatic masters - Strindberg, O'Neill, Genet - inspired him, and he began writing unproducible plays and cultivating ideas for the screen. After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts, Sutter moved to Los Angeles where he began writing. In 2001, he landed a gig on FX's The Shield. Starting as a staff writer on the first episode, he stayed on The Shield until the end of the series, finishing up the last two seasons as an Executive Producer.
In 2008, Kurt created the critically-acclaimed drama series Sons of Anarchy. Its seven-year run has proven to be the most successful episodic series in the history of the network. Kurt followed up with a new series, The Bastard Executioner. Set in the 14th century and filmed on location in Wales. The pilot wrapped and went to series.
At the Producers' Guild, Koch and his former co-president, Mark Gordon, led the fight to preserve the producer's credit and restore its value to working producers. In 2013, they were able to secure all the major studios and major independents to agree to uphold the Producer's Mark, which unified the industry in a way that further reinforced the significance of the real producer. Now, only the producers that do the work and get the Producer's Mark are eligible for the Academy Awards®, the Golden Globes®, the Producers Guild Awards, and the BAFTA Awards®.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Mark Leibowitz graduated from Stanford University in 1998 with a degree in Economics. After working as an international business consultant in Los Angeles, Sao Paulo,... Read more
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Writer, Producer, and Director in Los Angeles
Marshall Herskovitz is a writer, producer, and director in Los Angeles who has won many awards for his work in …
In 2007, Herskovitz created the ground-breaking online series and social network Quarterlife, which at the time was the internet's most successful scripted series.
Herskovitz, a longtime environmentalist, has served on the board of several organizations dedicated to fighting climate change. He was a founding member of the 1Sky organization, which recently merged with the fast-growing 350.org.
Herskovitz is a past president of the Producers Guild of America.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Co - Founder of the West Hollywood
Marty Bowen is a co-founder of the West Hollywood-based film and TV production company, Temple Hill Entertainment. In 2012, Temple Hill began a new overall deal with 20th Century Fox. Their most recent release is the Fox 2000 Film The Longest Ride based on Nicholas Sparks' bestselling novel of the same name.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Member of International Thrillers Writers
A New York City native, Nina R. Sadowsky is an entertainment lawyer (in recovery) who has worked as a film and television producer and writer... Read more
A New York City native, Nina R. Sadowsky is an entertainment lawyer (in recovery) who has worked as a film and television producer and writer for most of her career.
Her debut thriller, Just Fall, was published by Ballantine in March 2016. Her second novel, The Burial Societ y, was published in 2018, and is the first of a series, with The Empty Bed following in January 2020. Her fourth thriller, Convince Me, released August 2020, and her fifth, Privacy, is expected in 2022, both stand-alones. Her books have been translated into German, Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, Turkish, and Serbian. The Burial Society novels are in development for television.
She has written numerous original screenplays and adaptations and done rewrites for such companies as The Walt Disney Company, Working Title Films, and Lifetime Television.
Sadowsky also wrote, directed, and produced the short film, The First Year's A Bitch, a darkly funny take on the first year of marriage starring Christine Taylor and John Livingston, which was featured in numerous film festivals and which won the award for best editing at the New York Short Film Festival.
She served as President of Production for Signpost Films, a film financier and foreign distributor, where she worked on such projects as the Academy Award®-nominated The House of Sand and Fog, starring Jennifer Connelly and Ben Kingsley.
Prior to joining Signpost, she served as President of Meg Ryan's Prufrock Pictures for over five years. During her tenure, Prufrock landed first look feature deals with Fox 2000 and Castle Rock Entertainment and an overall long-form television deal with Polygram/Universal Television.
Sadowsky served as executive producer for the hit film The Wedding Planner starring Jennifer Lopez and Matthew McConaughey for Intermedia and Sony; produced Desert Saints, an independent film starring Kiefer Sutherland which premiered on Cinemax; produced the supernatural thriller Lost Souls, which marked the directorial debut of Academy Award®-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminsky for New Line Cinema; produced the telefilm Northern Lights, starring Diane Keaton for The Disney Channel; and served as executive producer for the animated half hour comedy pilot Quints for UPN.
She also produced Jumpin' at the Boneyard starring Tim Roth, Jeffrey Wright, and Samuel L. Jackson for executive producer Lawrence Kasdan and Twentieth Century Fox, which was featured in the Sundance, Montreal, and Torino film festivals.
She also currently serves as Program Director for NYU Los Angeles, a "semester abroad" program geared toward advanced undergraduate students considering careers in the entertainment and media industries. Prior to joining NYU, Sadowsky served as part-time faculty at USC's School of Cinematic Arts program for over a decade, teaching both writing and producing. Her students have been the recipients of many awards and accolades, including best scripted series at the College Television Awards, inclusion in the Cannes Film Festival Shorts Corner, and the Student Academy Awards®.
Sadowsky is a member of International Thrillers Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the HUMANITAS Prize's Woolfpack - an organization of women writers, directors, producers, and showrunners). She also serves as Director of Educational outreach for The HUMANITAS Prize and co-leads the Woolfpack-sponsored screenwriting lab at Hedgebrook.
Sadowsky graduated cum laude from Connecticut College with a major in dance and a minor in creative writing, and in the top 10% of her class from The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she served as Articles Editor for the Arts and Entertainment Law Journal.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- As MGM 's Motion Picture Group President, Producer and Veteran Film Executive Pamela Abdy Oversees Development, Production, and Post - Production for All MGM and Orion Films
- As MGM 's Motion Picture Group President, Producer and Veteran Film Executive Pamela Abdy Oversees Development, Production, and Post - Production for All MGM and Orion Films. Most. Read
- Head of Film at Makeready
As MGM's Motion Picture Group President, producer and veteran film executive Pamela Abdy oversees development, production, and post-production for all MGM and Orion films.
Most recently a Partner and Head of Film at Makeready, Abdy managed the creative team and all feature development, production, and post-production. During her time at Makeready, the company financed and produced Queen & Slim from director Melina Matsoukas and writer Lena Waithe and A Million Little Pieces from director Sam Taylor-Johnson.
From 2013 until 2016, Abdy served as President of Production at New Regency. During her post at the company, New Regency released Alejandro González Iñárritu's Academy Award®-winning Birdman, David Fincher's Gone Girl, Darren Aronofsky's Noah, Adam McKay's Academy Award®-winning The Big Short, Justin Kurzel's Assassin's Creed, and Gore Verbinski's Cure For Wellness. Abdy also oversaw the release of Iñárritu's The Revenant in 2016, which received twelve Academy Award® nominations including Best Picture and won two Golden Globe® awards for Best Picture (Drama) and Best Actor.
Prior to New Regency, Abdy was the President of Scott Stuber's Bluegrass Films where she procured, developed, and produced features for the company's diverse slate, including 47 Ronin, Identity Thief, Kill the Messenger, and Endless Love.
Abdy previously served as Executive Vice President at Paramount Pictures where she oversaw the development and production of a number of films, including Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, The Love Guru starring Mike Myers, Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss, the Judd Apatow-produced Drillbit Taylor, Oliver Stone's World Trade Center, Karyn Kusama's Aeon Flux, Richard LaGravenese's Freedom Writers, Alejandro González Iñárritu's Golden Globe®-winning film Babel, and Mark Waters' Mean Girls.
Abdy started her career as an intern at Jersey Films while participating in the Emerson College internship program. She was hired as the receptionist and went on to become Danny DeVito's assistant. From there, she rose through the company and ultimately became president where she associate produced Man on the Moon; co-produced Caveman's Valentine; executive produced How High; and produced the film Garden State, which won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Feature Film and a Grammy® award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, TV, or other media.
She is a member of the Producers Guild of America and serves as a member on the Executive Board of the Executive Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She also serves as a Board member of the Los Angeles Dance Project, founded by choreographer Benjamin Millepied.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- President
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
Robin Sax is an experienced litigator with an emphasis on criminal and family law. Robin has developed a special niche in the cases where criminal meets family law and vice versa. For example, these cases can involve domestic violence, child abuse, restraining orders, and sexual abuse. Robin has represented victims of crime, as well as the people who have been falsely accused of crimes in order to gain advantage in a family law case.
Sax is a nationally recognized expert in child sexual assault, domestic violence, and child abuse. She is an in-demand public speaker on topics where family law and criminal law intersect, such as child sexual assault, family violence, domestic abuse, stalking, and internet abuse. Sax regularly shares her valuable insight and expertise as a legal analyst for such networks at NBC, ABC, CNN, and CBS, where she analyzes high profile cases and causes.
Robin Sax is a former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney who focused on prosecuting sex crimes against children. As one of the prosecuting attorneys for the Child Sexual Assault division of the Los Angeles County Sex Crimes Unit, Robin worked with a multi-disciplinary team at UCLA's Rape Treatment Center/The Stuart House. While working with law enforcement, victims' advocates, social workers, and members of the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services, she investigated and prosecuted hundreds of child sexual assault cases.
Prior to focusing on crimes against children, Robin handled hundreds of other cases including driving under the influence, theft, murder, robbery, and the like. She has conducted hundreds of contested hearings and trials for both the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.
Robin has written six books that draw upon her vast experience as a criminal lawyer, legal commentator, child advocate, and parenting expert. The titles of her books include: The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Criminal Justice System and Predators and Child Molesters: A Sex Crimes DA Answers 100 of the Most Asked Questions - all of which draw on her vast experience as a prosecutor and victim right's advocate. Her powerful insights regularly appear in Huffington Post, Psychology Today, People Magazine, The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and The Los Angeles Times.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
His epic Civil War films Gettysburg (New Line Cinema, 1993) and Gods and Generals (Warners, 2003) have established Ron Maxwell as the cinema's leading interpreter of that complex, lethal,... Read more
Ruth Vitale has been at the forefront of independent film production and distribution for more than three decades, including as Founder and Co-President of Paramount Classics and as President of Fine Line Features. During her tenure at these companies, she launched the careers of many successful filmmakers such as Paul Greengrass, Sofia Coppola, Scott Hicks, John Hillcoat, and Craig Brewer. She has also worked with established talent such as Sam Raimi, Roger Michell, Jonathan Demme, Paul W.S. Anderson, Patrice Leconte, and Barbet Schroeder. Her films have won three Oscars® and received 16 nominations as well as 18 Golden Globe® nominations and two wins. At Paramount Classics, she released such award-winning films as The Virgin Suicides, Sunshine, You Can Count on Me, Sidewalks of New York, Bloody Sunday, Mostly Martha, The Singing Detective, Enduring Love, The Machinist, Mad Hot Ballroom, and Hustle & Flow. Fine Line produced and distributed such highlights of independent film as the Academy Award®-winning Shine; The Sweet Hereafter; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Twelfth Night; Gummo; and The Winter Guest. Ruth also served as President of UBU Productions' feature film division from 1988 to 1991. Among other positions, she was Senior Vice President of Production for United Artists, where she oversaw production on Child's Play, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, and Roadhouse. As President of Production for Vestron Pictures, she broke ground with the highest-grossing independent film of the time, Dirty Dancing. She was also Director of Acquisitions for The Movie Channel. Most recently, Ruth was President of First Look Pictures and the owner of The Film Collective, a consultancy business that helps financiers and companies with the strategic planning for their films in the worldwide marketplace from development and production through distribution. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences and Special Projects Mentor for The Peter Stark Producing Program, USC School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
"Samofftharecord" is CEO & Founder of Offtharecord.com, a creative content agency and digital magazine run by people of color with a focus on uplifting marginalized voices. She is also the founder of the Kick Ass Girl Pow Wow, a digital platform that celebrates and highlights girls and women who live OUT LOUD. Moreover, Samantha is an expert in multicultural communication for Latin and Hispanic audiences and recently launched a Hispanic-inspired version of Offtharecord called Mas OTR, which celebrates Hispanic creatives and communities, but also focuses on relevant social issues.
Samantha has created content and told stories for some of the nation's biggest businesses and organizations such as Johns Hopkins Medicine; The Joseph and Evelyn Lowery Institute for Justice & Human Rights; Arndrea King; Ms.Foundation; Afropunk; NBC; and A3C Festival. In addition, she is a filmmaker, creative director, writer, mother, proud Mexico-born DREAMer, and a civil rights activist in her own right.
Job Titles:
- CEO
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- President
- President & CEO of Black Bear Pictures and Oversees All Operations
Teddy Schwarzman serves as President & CEO of Black Bear Pictures and oversees all operations of the company, including development, production, finance, and strategic planning.
At Black Bear, Teddy has produced a range of filmed content, including The Imitation Game, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley; All Is Lost, directed by J.C. Chandor and starring Robert Redford; Broken City, directed by Allen Hughes and starring Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe; At Any Price, directed by Ramin Bahrani and starring Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron; and Sundance comedy A.C.O.D., directed by Stu Zicherman and starring a comedic ensemble of Adam Scott, Richard Jenkins, Amy Poehler, Jessica Alba, and Jane Lynch.
Prior to Black Bear, Teddy worked at Cinetic Media, a New York-based film advisory company, where he focused on packaging films, single picture finance, and consulting for institutional and private film investors. Prior to Cinetic, Teddy was a corporate attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and prior to Skadden, was a financial analyst at Citigroup Corporate & Investment Bank.
Teddy earned a Bachelor of Arts, English, from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Duke University School of Law. A member of the Producers Guild of America, Teddy sits on the Board of Directors of Canadian distributor Elevation Pictures, the Board of Visitors of Duke University School of Law, and resides in Los Angeles with his wife, children, and dog.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- CEO / Chief Creative Officer for DMI Music & Media Solutions
A musical compass has guided Clark from rural Mississippi to Hollywood. Beginning at age five, she would visit New Orleans with her mother, a songwriter from the big band era, where she absorbed the city's intoxicating rhythms. Her first professional gig at 15 was playing drums at the Crescent City's famed Roosevelt Hotel. Since then, Clark has excelled in multiple genres across an astonishing breadth of mediums. Highlights include penning award-winning country hits, contributing to multi-platinum movie soundtracks including Hope Floats, The Five Heart Beats, Where the Heart Is, and My Best Friend's Wedding, writing for television shows like Desperate Housewives, and creating the instantly recognizable national campaign theme, "Have You Had Your Break Today," for McDonald's.
In homage to her musical and spiritual roots, Clark produced Church: Songs of Soul and Inspiration that included classic soul artists like Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan plus contributions from Pulitzer Prize winners Dr. Maya Angelou and Toni Morrison. A stratospheric anthem from this collection, "Way Up There," written and produced by Clark and performed by Patti LaBelle, was nominated for a GRAMMY® award. "Way Up There" was originally commissioned by NASA as their theme song.
She now adds to her illustrious resume as the composer-lyricist for Twist: An American Musical. Debuting at the prestigious Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, GA, and staged at the famed Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, CA (breaking all box office records), the Debbie-Allen directed and choreographed musical transposes the Charles Dickens tale of a street orphan to prohibition-era New Orleans.
Clark was commissioned to create "I Believed," a commemorative song to honor Secretary-of-State Hillary Rodham Clinton in celebration of the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day. The song was performed for an audience that included First Lady Michelle Obama among other eminent guests at the International Women of Courage Awards. Recent notable awards are C200 Entrepreneurial Champion Award and Mosaic Award at the Diversity Women's national conference in Washington, D.C.
Clark is CEO/Chief Creative Officer for DMI Music & Media Solutions, the company she envisioned 18 years ago. As pioneers, thought-leaders, and innovators, DMI is at the forefront of entertainment and music marketing, crafting strategies and activations for brands that include Build-A-Bear Workshop, Walgreens, AMC/Regal, General Mills, Kohl's, Fossil, and Lucky Jeans. From creating a brand's unique sound and driving audio strategy, to developing a brand campaign around a major entertainment property, DMI is a full service entertainment agency.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Independent Film and Television Producer
Independent film and television producer Wendy Finerman founded WENDY FINERMAN PRODUCTIONS in 1988. In 1994, she became the first solo female producer in the history... Read more
Independent film and television producer Wendy Finerman founded WENDY FINERMAN PRODUCTIONS in 1988.
In 1994, she became the first solo female producer in the history of the Academy to have received an Oscar® for Best Picture for Forrest Gump. The film won a total of six Academy Awards®, a Golden Globe Award® for Best Picture Drama, and is one of the highest grossing films of all time. Her extensive list of credits includes Fairy Tale - A True Story, which earned her a BAFTA Award® for Best Children's Film; P.S. I Love You; Drumline; Stepmom; and Academy Award® nominated The Devil Wears Prada.
Collectively, all of her films have grossed 1.5 billion dollars in worldwide theatrical release and earned 140 award nominations. Upcoming film projects include The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, based on the bestselling children's book by Kate DiCamillo, and Flawed, based on Cecilia Ahern's novel.
Wendy is a graduate of the Wharton School and has served on the Wharton School of Business Executive Undergraduate Board for over eleven years. She also works with the Gary Sinise Foundation honoring our country's defenders, veterans, first responders, their families and those in need by creating and supporting unique programs designed to entertain, educate, inspire, strengthen, and build communities.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Committee
- Producer
Wyck Godfrey (Producer) began his career as a creative executive at New Line Cinema after graduating …