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.
Sean “Diddy” Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence
Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a new request for bail on Friday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.
Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.
In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a "far more robust" bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.
They also cite new evidence that they say "makes clear that the government's case is thin." That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government's claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced "freak off," a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.
They wrote that the encounter was instead "a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship" between Combs and his then-girlfriend.
The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional... Read More