The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has unveiled the first round of speakers for the 12th annual Produced By Conference on Saturday, June 11, and Sunday, June 12, at the FOX Studio Lot in Century City. After a two year hiatus, the Producers Guild returns with a weekend headlined by top producers and talent that will grant participants valuable insights and strategies for the future of production across film, TV and new media.
The confirmed speakers to date include: Academy Award winner Viola Davis (CEO and Co-Founder, JuVee Productions; The First Lady); veteran producer Julius Tennon (president and co-founder of JuVee Productions; The First Lady); animation stalwart Seth MacFarlane (founder/CEO, Fuzzy Door, The Orville, Ted & Ted 2, Family Guy); producer Charles D. King (founder & CEO, MACRO; Judas And The Black Messiah, Mudbound); tentpole-maker Dan Lin (founder and CEO of Rideback; The LEGO Movie franchise, Disney’s Aladdin, Netflix’s The Two Popes, The CW’s Walker); producer Stephanie Allain (Homegrown Pictures, owner; Hustle & Flow, Dear White People); Shondaland creative partner Betsy Beers; Funny or Die CEO Mike Farah; IP chief Jason Richman (co-head of Media Rights, UTA); producing innovator Mark Kimsey (co-CEO of Electromagnetic Productions); actor and producer Aml Ameen (EP/actor–The Porter; actor–I May Destroy You; producer/actor–Boxing Day) with more to be announced soon.
Produced By will feature panels, Q&As, a networking reception, its ever-popular Mentoring Roundtables, and the return of the Pitch Perfect session, during which a handful of pre-selected attendees pitch their projects live in front of an audience of leading producers and executives.
The confirmed participants in the Mentor Roundtables are: Insecure producer Deniese Davis (CEO, Reform Media Group); producer Gary Goetzman (producer, Playtone); Academy Award-nominated producer Fred Berger (president, Automatik; La La Land, Bad Education); Daniels producer Jonathan Wang (Everything Everywhere All At Once, Swiss Army Man); mover and shaker James Lopez (president/producer, MACRO); and the aforementioned Farah, with more to be announced.
New for this year’s conference is the Producers One-on-One engagement, which connects PGA members with an experienced producer for a one-on-one conversation. This is designed for members to seek thoughtful advice about specific projects they are producing. Additionally, for the first time, PGA Create, the Producers Guild’s program supporting emerging and mid-career creative producers from underrepresented backgrounds, will bring together its 35 PGA Create scripted and documentary fellows for a day-long set of networking opportunities supported by the program’s lead sponsor, Google.
Confirmed panelists and mentors to date are noted below in alphabetical order.
CONFIRMED PANELISTS
- Stephanie Allain (Homegrown Pictures, Owner; Hustle & Flow, Dear White People)
- Aml Ameen (Executive Producer/ Actor – The Porter; Actor – I May Destroy You; Producer/ Actor – Boxing Day)
- Trevor Baker (Producer/Editor – Twilight Zone, Outer Range, Castle Rock)
- Amanda Beggs (CAS, Production Sound Mixer – Lady Bird, Finding 'Ohana, Legion, Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story)
- Betsy Beers (Creative Partner, Shondaland)
- Xavier Bernasconi (Visual Effects Supervisor, DNEG)
- Rick Champagne (Industry Strategy and Marketing, Media & Entertainment, NVIDIA)
- Viola Davis (CEO and Co-Founder, JuVee Productions; The First Lady)
- Mike Farah (CEO, Funny or Die)
- Marsha Greene (Executive Producer, Co-Creator and Showrunner, The Porter; Ten Days In The Valley, Mary Kills People)
- Erica Huggins (President, Fuzzy Door; The End Is Nye, Books of Blood, The Spy Who Dumped Me)
- Steve Jelley (Co-CEO, Dimension)
- Valerie Johnson-Redrow (Virtual Production Producer, Monolith)
- Jennifer Kawaja (Executive Producer, Sienna Films/Sphere Media; Sort Of, Transplant)
- Mark Kimsey (Co-CEO of Electromagnetic Productions)
- Charles D. King (Founder & CEO, MACRO; Judas And The Black Messiah, Mudbound)
- Michael Minkler (CAS, Re-recording Mixer – Black Hawk Down, Chicago, Star Wars, Dream Girls)
- Karen Baker Landers (MPSE, Supervising Sound Editor – Skyfall, Bourne Ultimatum, Black Hawk Down)
- Dan Lin (Founder and CEO of Rideback; The LEGO Movie franchise, Disney’s Aladdin, Netflix’s The Two Popes, The CW’s Walker)
- Seth MacFarlane (Founder/CEO, Fuzzy Door; The Orville, Ted & Ted 2, Family Guy)
- Jason Richman (Co-Head of Media Rights, UTA)
- Curt Sobel (MPSE, Supervising Music Editor – Ray, Ghostbusters: Afterlife)
- Joel Sloss (Sr. Program Manager | Microsoft Azure M&E Security and Compliance)
- Christina Lee Storm (Director of Digital Production, Netflix)
- Julius Tennon (President and Co-Founder of JuVee Productions; The First Lady)
- Philipp Wolf (Executive-in-Charge, Corporate Strategy, DNEG)
CONFIRMED MENTORS
- Fred Berger (President, Automatik; La La Land, Bad Education)
- Deniese Davis (CEO, Reform Media Group)
- Mike Farah (CEO, Funny or Die)
- Gary Goetzman (Producer, Playtone)
- James Lopez (President/Producer, MACRO)
- Jonathan Wang (Everything Everywhere All At Once, Swiss Army Man)
The 2022 Produced By Conference is co-chaired by Beers, Farah and King.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More