PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES Alexa Junge '85 Susan Rovner
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PANELIST BIOGRAPHIES Alexa Junge ’85 WRITER/EXECUTIVE PRODUCER/LYRICIST Writer/Executive Producer, Grace and Frankie (currently), Showrunner, Best Friends Forever, The United States of Tara. Writer/Producer, Big Love, The West Wing, Sex and the City and Friends (five years). Screenwriter/Lyricist, Lilo & Stitch 2; Lyricist, Mulan II. Writer/Contributor to NPR’s This American Life and live performer for TAL’s “What I Learned from Television” tour. Three Emmy and Writers Guild Award nominations for Friends: (Best Comedy Series (twice) and Best Writing for a Comedy Series; “The One Where Everyone Finds Out.”) Two Emmy and WGA nominations for The West Wing, (Best Drama Series and Best Writing for a Drama Series; “Disaster Relief.”) The world premiere of her play Fingersmith (from the novel by Sarah Waters) just completed a six-month sold-out run at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and, (having been optioned by producers, Harriet Leve, Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagoner) is headed for another regional theater in the fall of 2016. Junge’s Friends episode, “The One Where Everyone Finds Out” was recently used in a scientific study and cited in Atlantic Magazine as a proven “mood booster.” Education: MFA, New York University/Tisch School of the Arts, Dramatic Writing Program; BA, Barnard College. Susan Rovner ’91 EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DEVELOPMENT, WARNER BROS. TELEVISION CO-PRESIDENT, WARNER HORIZON SCRIPTED TELEVISION Susan Rovner has served as Executive Vice President, Development, at Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) — the division of the Warner Bros. Television Group (WBTVG) which produces scripted dramatic primetime television programming for each of the five broadcast networks — since March 2010. In March 2014, she was named Co- President of Warner Horizon Scripted Television, WBTVG’s division for scripted cable primetime programming, which she now co-runs alongside WBTV business/operations/production executive Brett A. Paul. In her role, reporting directly to Warner Bros. Television Group President and Chief Content Officer Peter Roth, Rovner is responsible for spearheading the creation of new scripted primetime programming for the broadcast network and cable marketplace, and overseeing WBTV’s drama and comedy development teams as well as WHTV’s scripted programming staff. For the 2015–16 television season, WBTV’s development team — under Rovner’s direction — scored scripted series orders for the drama Blindspot at NBC, drama Supergirl and action-comedy Rush Hour at CBS, as well as the dramas Lucifer at FOX and both Containment and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow at The CW. Blindspot ranks as the #1 new series of the season among Adults 18–49 and quickly earned its back-nine/full first-season pickup. Additionally, HBO ordered the drama series Westworld, Netflix picked up the half-hour animated comedy Green Eggs and Ham (in association with Warner Bros. Animation), and Showtime ordered the one-hour comedy Roadies. And the event series 11/22/63 will debut in 2016 on Hulu. Network shows developed by Rovner and her team for 2014–15 that earned second season renewals for 2015–16 include the one-hour dramas Gotham for FOX, The Flash and iZOMBIE for The CW, and The Mysteries of Laura for NBC. Other recent series developed by Rovner’s team include the comedies 2 Broke Girls for CBS and Undateable for NBC, as well as the following dramas: The Leftovers for HBO, Person of Interest for CBS, and The 100, Arrow and The Originals for The CW. Warner Horizon Scripted Television series now overseen by Rovner include the dramas Rizzoli & Isles for TNT, Pretty Little Liars for ABC Family and Harvest for Spike TV, two shows for Netflix — the drama Longmire and the upcoming comedy Fuller House — and the comedy Clipped for TBS. Before being named to her current posts, Rovner was WBTV’s Senior Vice President of Drama Development, overseeing the development of some of the company’s most important and successful programs, working closely with WBTV’s highly regarded stable of one-hour series producers, including J.J. Abrams, John Wells, Jerry Bruckheimer, Bruno Heller, Kevin Williamson and more. Series developed by Rovner during her tenure running the drama department include The Mentalist, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, The Closer, Gossip Girl, Fringe, One Tree Hill, Nip/Tuck, and many more. Rovner joined WBTV in 1998 as Director, Drama Development, and subsequently was promoted to Vice President, Drama Development, in 2001. During this time, she helped develop the long-running Cold Case, as well as The O.C., and the critically acclaimed Everwood. During her time with the company, 10 series developed by Rovner or that were developed under her leadership have reached the 100-episode milestone: 2 Broke Girls, The Closer, Cold Case, Fringe, Gossip Girl, The Mentalist, One Tree Hill, Person of Interest, Supernatural (200+), and The Vampire Diaries. Before WBTV, Rovner was Executive Director, Movies for Television, at ABC. Frankie Shaw ’07 ACTRESS/WRITER/DIRECTOR Frankie grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts and graduated from Barnard College with a degree in English literature. She’s an actress/writer/director and can most recently be seen on the hit show Mr. Robot on USA. In January she shot a pilot with Lauren Iungerich (the creator of MTV’s Awkward). Frankie was a series regular on the ABC show Mixology as well as on Spike’s Blue Mountain State. She is currently developing a TV series for Showtime based on her short film SMILF, which won the jury award at Sundance in 2015. Nina Shaw ’76 FOUNDING PARTNER, DEL SHAW MOONVES TANAKA FINKELSTEIN & LEZCANO Nina Shaw is a founding partner in the entertainment law firm of Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finkelstein & Lezcano. Her practice is in the television, motion picture, and live stage area. A native New Yorker, Nina was born and raised in Harlem and The Bronx, educated in the New York City public school system and is a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School. Among her clients are successful and award winning actors, writers, producers and directors as well as entrepreneurs and entertainment executives. She began her legal career in the Entertainment Department of the law firm of O'Melveny & Myers. Nina is a past Variety Dealmaker Impact honoree and has been named repeatedly to The Hollywood Reporter’s “Women in Entertainment Power 100” list. In 2012, she was included in Ebony Magazine, “Power 100, Most Influential African Americans.” She is a recipient of the WIF Crystal Award, and in 2013 was named Entertainment Lawyer of the Year by the Beverly Hills Bar Association. Nina has a long-standing commitment to the education of children and in particular is an advocate for the education of girls and women. She is currently a board member of the Independent School Alliance for Minority Affairs. Holly Frederick ’94 (Moderator) DRAMATIC RIGHTS AGENT, CURTIS BROWN LTD. Holly Frederick is a Dramatic Rights Agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. She specializes in selling the film, TV, and stage rights in books to producers for them to develop into filmed/staged projects. She was a development executive for Academy Award nominated director Alan J. Pakula and began her career selling foreign and film rights at the Susan Schulman Literary Agency. She attended Barnard College, USC film school, and is co-founder of Barnard Women in Entertainment. .