ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Transición 1/3 is one of three murals by street artist DOURONE, installed in Gare du Nord Paris. Fabio Lopez, aka Dourone, born in Madrid and self-taught, describes his works as inspired by sentipensante, a style invented by Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano. His murals offer beautiful portraits that draw on sometimes highly charged building blocks from the past. In the context of this conference, this artwork poses questions about whether we can transform entertainment through changing who constructs the stories and images, and what it will mean to work through the legacies of exoticism that still shape the conventions of popular entertainment.

For sponsorship of the 2017 Transforming Hollywood conference, please email Fred Bush at [email protected]. Visit us online at: www.transforminghollywood.tft.ucla.edu 7 D TRANSFORMING HOLLYWOOD 7

TH7_Program_1i.indd 4 10/10/16 6:58 PM DIVERSIFYING ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTED JOINTLY BY THE ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM AT OCTOBER 21, 2016 7THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN AND UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, FILM AND TELEVISION

TH7_Program_1i.indd 1 10/10/16 6:58 PM SUSTAINING SPONSOR

EVENT SPONSORS

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 2 10/10/16 6:58 PM OCTOBER 21, 2016 ANNENBERG AUDITORIUM (ASC G26) ANNENBERG SCHOOL FOR COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM (ASC) SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 3502 WATT WAY, UNIVERSITY OF , , CA REGISTRATION PANEL 1 PANEL 4 8:30 a.m.–9:00 a.m. WHY DOES INCLUSION MATTER? HOW DO WE MOVE WELCOME 10:15 a.m.–11:25 a.m. FROM STEREOTYPES TO Moderator: ROBESON TAJ FRAZIER, USC MORE COMPLEX CHARACTERS? 9:00 a.m.–9:20 a.m. 4:05 p.m.–6:20 p.m. ERNEST WILSON, Dean, Annenberg School PANEL 2 Moderator: MAUREEN RYAN, Variety of Communication and Journalism DENISE MANN, Head of the Producers WHAT ALTERNATIVES SPECIAL GUEST Program, UCLA School of Theater, Film DOES SOCIAL MEDIA OFFER? and Television 11:35 a.m.–1:00 p.m. A CONVERSATION WITH HENRY JENKINS, Provost Professor Moderator: DENISE MANN, UCLA TFT MELISSA ROSENBERG of Communication, Journalism, Cinematic 6:35 p.m.–7:15 p.m. Arts and Education, University of Southern LUNCH MELISSA ROSENBERG, Series Creator/ California 1:00 p.m.–2:00 p.m. Showrunner, Marvel’s Dining options available on campus Moderators: HENRY JENKINS, USC and STATE OF THE FIELD STACY L. SMITH, USC 9:35 a.m.–10:05 a.m. PANEL 3 STACY L. SMITH, Director, Media, Diversity, HOW DO WE CHANGE THE SCRIPT? RECEPTION & Social Change Initiative, Associate 7:15 p.m.–8:30 p.m. 2:00 p.m.–3:50 p.m. Professor of Communication, University of Wallis Annenberg Hall Moderator: HENRY JENKINS, USC Southern California

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 1 10/10/16 6:58 PM A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTORS

THE PAST FEW YEARS IN AMERICA have been marked by heated debates around issues of diversity — from the politics surrounding radicalized police violence and the struggles around immigration reform to the battle for marriage equality — that have placed renewed emphasis on who is being represented through popular media — and how. Social media has created a space where minorities of all kinds are organizing online to advocate for new forms of entertainment content that more fully reflects their lived experiences. The debate around diversity in cinema has come to be short-handed by the hashtag #oscarssowhite, which points to the failure of the film industry to expand the range of stories told and the people employed. It also calls out the industry’s unwillingness to respect and acknowledge the accomplishments of filmmakers whodo tell the stories of people of color. The hashtag #whitewashedOUT has similarly called attention to decisions that were made in Hollywood in 2015 to cast Caucasian actors in a number of high-profile Asian roles. One production even went so far as to consider using visual effects to make a white lead actress appear more Asian. (The idea was ultimately scrapped.) The response from the entertainment industry has been mixed:

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 2 10/10/16 6:58 PM On the one hand, industry numbers measur­ing diversity in front of and Rightfully, the quality of new representations is being hotly behind the camera have remained surprisingly static over time. On the debated, again taking advantage of the affordances of new media other hand, there have been many high-profile efforts to feature mixed- such as podcasts, blogs and social media. The struggles over diversity race and minority-centered casts on primetime television. are often brutal, whether it is the response of some white fans to the Kerry Washington, the star of ABC’s Scandal, was the first black news that last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens would feature a actress to be the lead in a dramatic TV series in three decades; her black stormtrooper or the thuggish #GamerGate backlash against success has led to the creation of more lead and supporting roles for feminist critics and programmers who were seeking to alter gender other black actresses in primetime serials. We are also seeing minority representations within computer and video games. experiences coming to the fore on sitcoms, including ABC’s Blackish and When more diverse representations do enter the mainstream , the CW’s Jane the Virgin and ’s Master of None. of the entertainment industry, older models of “narrowcasting” or We are watching major comics publishers DC and Marvel embrace more “window dressing” (in the case of LGBT representations) seem to no female protagonists, including, most dramatically, an American Muslim longer describe the choices being made or their impact. So, Fox’s youth of Pakistani descent becoming Ms. Marvel. At the same time, some Empire has been one of the most successful primetime programs in the are beginning to look toward social media performers and entrepreneurs past five years, showing that minority-focused content can have wide who are modeling an alternative pathway for minority voices to gain crossover appeal to majority audiences. greater visibility within the culture. While these steps suggest that gender Rather than simply celebrate those still-rare instances where and race may be on the minds of casting directors and showrunners, they diverse representations breakthrough into mainstream visibility, we often do not address people with disabilities or the LGBT community. need to continue to question the persistence of genre conventions and — continued on following page “CHANGING THE SCRIPT MEANS TELLING NEW STORIES.”

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 3 10/10/16 6:58 PM “MANY OF TODAY’S GENRE CONVENTIONS STILL — continued from previous page CARRY TRACES OF THEIR stereotypes that were shaped by decades of straight, white, able-bodied male dominance PREHISTORY IN 19TH AND over the entertainment industry. Changing EARLY 20TH CENTURY the script means telling new stories, but it also means rethinking the tropes and conceits that FORMS OF POPULAR shape entertainment across the board. Many AMUSEMENT” of today’s genre conventions still carry traces of their prehistory in 19th and early 20th century forms of popular amusement — from freak shows to minstrel performances, from pulp novels to exotic nightclub performances — that reflect the colonialist and racist thinking of their era. Challenging stereotypes means not just getting rid of toxic representations but also creating characters that embody a range of different perspectives and life experiences. As with our previous Transforming Hollywood conferences, we want to focus our attention on where change is taking place, bringing together key thinkers from industry, academia and the public sphere who have something to say in helping us to make sense of those changes. We also wanted to bring together multiple struggles over representation and inclusion around issues of race, sexuality, gender, disabilities and religion. Diversifying Entertainment will be a daylong public conversation about diversity, inclusion and entertainment, one which spans developments in television, film, comics and other popular media, and one which pays particular attention to the relationship between social and mass media as spaces where these debates are being staged.

— Denise Mann, Henry Jenkins, Stacy L. Smith and Sangita Shresthova

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 4 10/10/16 6:58 PM In February 2016, the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative at USC Annenberg released the Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity THE (CARD). The CARD report examined films, television and digital offerings of 10 major media companies from 2014-2015. Looking across gender, race/ethnicity and LGBT status, the study provides a look at what its author, STATE OF Dr. Stacy L. Smith, calls an “epidemic of invisibility” in media. Dr. Smith will present findings from the CARD report and her most recent studies to give attendees a glimpse of the current state of entertainment media and the THE FIELD progress still needed.

SPEAKER STACY L. SMITH Director, Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Southern California

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 5 10/10/16 6:58 PM STACY L. SMITH (Speaker) Dr. Stacy L. Smith is the founder and director of the Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California where she is also an associate professor of commu- nication. Dr. Smith’s work examines gender, race, LGBT status and disability on screen and gender and race/ethnicity behind the camera in cinematic content as well as barriers and oppor- tunities facing women and people of color in the entertainment industry. She also conducts economic analyses related to diversity and the finan- cial performance of films. Dr. Smith has written more than 100 journal articles, book chapters and reports on content patterns and effects of the media. In terms of the popular press, Dr. Smith’s research has been written about in The New York Times, , The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Newsweek, , Variety, USA Today and fivethirtyeight.com, to name a few. She co-edited an essay in Maria Shriver’s book, A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything (2009). Dr. Smith’s most recent research reports include the Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity (CARD), multiple landmark studies with Sundance Institute and Women in Film Los Angeles and a study of 800 top-grossing films conducted at USC Annenberg. Her work is also generously supported by The Annenberg Foundation, The Harnisch Foundation, EPiX, LUNAFEST, The Jacquelyn and Gregory Zehner Foundation, and other individuals. In 2015, LA Weekly named Dr. Smith the No. 1 Most Influential Person in Los Angeles.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 6 10/10/16 6:58 PM After hearing about the dismal representation of marginalized groups in entertainment, one question remains: What can be PANEL 1 done? As the conversation on diversity and inclusion continues to escalate, several voices stand out from the crowd with solutions, strategies and attempts to address disparities. This session brings WHY DOES together industry members and experts to discuss four essential topics. First, the panel will address why inclusive entertainment INCLUSION matters. Second, individuals will discuss the underlying causes at MATTER? the heart of why under- or skewed-representation persists. Third, the group will overview what efforts are underway in Hollywood to effect change. Fourth, panelists will cover the challenges that remain and the work still needed to increase representation on screen and behind the camera.

MODERATOR PANELISTS ROBESON TAJ FRAZIER FANSHEN COX DI GIOVANNI MELISSA GOODMAN Director of the Institute for Diversity Head of Equity and Inclusion, Pearl Street Productions Director of the LGBTQ, Gender and Reproductive and Empowerment at Annenberg BERTILA DAMAS Justice Project, ACLU of Southern California (IDEA); Associate Professor, USC Actor and National Chair of the Ethnic Employment Annenberg School for Communication DANNY WOODBURN Opportunities Committee, SAG-AFTRA and Journalism Actor and Chair, Performers with Disabilities Committee, SAG-AFTRA

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 7 10/10/16 6:58 PM ROBESON TAJ FRAZIER (Moderator) FANSHEN COX DI GIOVANNI (Panelist) Robeson Taj Frazier is director of the Institute for An award-winning actor, producer and educator, Diversity and Empowerment at Annenberg (IDEA), Fanshen Cox DiGiovanni is currently touring and as well as associate professor at the Annenberg starring in One Drop of Love, the one-woman show School for Communication and Journalism at the she wrote. One Drop travels near and far, in the University of Southern California. His research past and present to explore the intersections of race, explores the experiences, intellectual history and class and gender in pursuit of justice and love. The political and expressive cultures of the people of the African Diaspora show is produced by , and Cox DiGiovanni. in the and in 20th and 21st century China. He has She was recently named head of strategic outreach at Pearl produced a diverse portfolio of articles, book chapters and cultural Street Films and has also been featured in The New York Times and criticism on topics including race and ethnicity, social movements, on NPR discussing the arts to explore racial identity. She served as a the politics of travel and mobility, hip-hop culture, urban history and Peace Corps volunteer in Cape Verde, West Africa, and has designed struggles over public space, African American and Chinese art, and curricula for and taught English as a Second Language to students technology and new media. Frazier is the author of The East Is Black: from all over the world. She has been honored with the Peace Corps’ Cold War China in the Black Radical Imagination (Duke University Franklin H. Williams Award, and with Peace Corps Fellows and Press, 2014), and is currently completing another book, From Hollywood Foreign Press Association scholarships. She holds a B.A. Mao to Yao: Culture, Media, and Black Life in China. He is also the in Spanish and education, an M.A. in TESOL, and an M.F.A. in acting co-producer of the forthcoming documentary filmThe World Is Yours, and performance in film, TV and theater. Cox DiGiovanni also serves and was on the Scholarship Steering Committee for the audio-visual on the board of the non-profit MixedRootsStories.org. and traveling art platform “Question Bridge: Black Males.”

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 8 10/10/16 6:58 PM BERTILA DAMAS (Panelist) MELISSA GOODMAN (Panelist) Bertila Damas is an American television, film and Melissa Goodman is director of the LGBTQ, theater actress. Her films include the cult favorite Gender and Reproductive Justice Project at the Nothing But Trouble and Mi Vida Loca; her perfor- ACLU of Southern California. She joined ACLU mance in that film was critically acclaimed inFilm SoCal as a senior staff attorney in October 2012. Comment magazine. Her most recent film,Dependent’s Goodman conducts legal and policy advocacy Day, is a wacky, wonderful indie comedy. concerning LGBTQ rights, reproductive rights, Her many TV credits include roles on The John Larroquette Show, gender equality and the rights of people with HIV. King of the Hill, NYPD Blue, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, NCIS and, Goodman’s cases include McKibben v. McMahon, a class most recently, Grimm, portraying the character Pilar. On international action case challenging discriminatory treatment of gay, bisexual television, Damas is known as the villainous Marta on Telemundo’s and transgender prisoners in San Bernardino County, and American Angelica Mi Vida. She has been seen and heard in dozens of commer- Academy of Pediatrics v. Clovis Unified School District, a case cials and voiceovers in both Spanish and English. challenging medically inaccurate, non-comprehensive and biased Her desire to make a difference coupled with her concern for the sex education. She leads the ACLU SoCal’s advocacy to end discrim- fair treatment of actors and better diversity on screen and in stories ination against women directors, to protect the rights of transgender led Damas to serve on the Screen Actor’s Guild Board of Directors students and adults, to expand access to quality and confidential (2010–2012) and also on the SAG-AFTRA Board (2012–2015). reproductive healthcare, to increase protections for working parents, She currently serves as the national chair of the SAG-AFTRA Ethnic to end bias and over-policing and over-incarceration of LGBTQ Employment Opportunities Committee (2010–2017). people and to improve healthcare for incarcerated women.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 9 10/10/16 6:58 PM DANNY WOODBURN (Panelist) Danny Woodburn is a veteran of more than two dozen films (Mirror Mirror, Watchmen, Death to Smoochy, Employee of the Month) and more than 130 television appearances, with regular and recurring roles on Bones, Tracey Takes On..., Murder She Wrote, Becker, Charmed, Baywatch and Passions. Woodburn is perhaps best known as Mickey Abbott, Kramer’s volatile friend on NBC’s Emmy- winning, history making sitcom Seinfeld. A graduate of Temple University with a bachelor’s degree in film and television, and a recipient of the university’s 2001 Alumni Achievement Award, Woodburn has performed in numerous plays including Indian Wants the Bronx, Scapino and Viet Rock, and continues his passion for live theater as a stand-up comic (18 years and counting), and as /coach, both independently and for the EDD Media Access Office, Actors for Autism, Meet the Biz and the New Freedom Theater of Philadelphia. Being in the public eye has afforded Woodburn the opportunity to speak on disability issues and raise awareness about disability as part of diversity inclusion in society and the media. He has done so as a comedian on the club circuit; as an interviewee on film, TV, radio and in print media (TCM’s The Projected Image: A History of Disability in Film; the 2013 documentary CinemAbility; CBS Sunday Morning; CNN-HLN News; CBC; MSNBC; KPCC; The Huffington Postand The Wall Street Journal); and as an orator at awareness events and fundraisers for Little People’s Research Fund, The Inclusion Network of Cincinnati, California RepectAbility Coalition and the Disability Rights Legal Center. While serving on the SAG-AFTRA Performers With Disabilities Committee, he helped negotiate better terms for disabled actors, co-creating the SAG-AFTRA/AMPTP Joint Task Force. In 2009, he received congressional recognition via the Disability Rights Legal Center’s DREAM Award. In 2010, Woodburn was honored with the Screen Actors Guild Harold Russell Award.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 10 10/10/16 6:58 PM This panel explores social media as a powerful tool for artists, activists and influencers to express their voices of diversity and dissent outside the Hollywood mainstream. Social influencers are a new breed of online creator whose ability to thrive in the platform economy depends on their PANEL 2 facility with social media connectivity to amass a dedicated following of online users. Fans who become invested in a favorite artist or musician can help spread their messages of change across an exponentially wider circle of social media communities. While guaranteed a paycheck WHAT via “work-for-hire” contracts, Hollywood talent lack essential power and agency because they ALTERNATIVES don’t control the copyright for their artistic work. In contrast, actor-creator-entrepreneurs such as Freddie Wong and are running mini-studios of their own making and retaining part or DOES full ownership of their creations; at the same time, they must use a variety of social media tools SOCIAL MEDIA to keep their voices heard above the din of clickbait and app fatigue. This new breed of online creator also needs powerful advocates: TV showrunners who understand how to navigate the OFFER? Hollywood system; talent managers who know how to connect creators with alternative voices to their fans; and tech experts who can tweak algorithms so that streaming content aggregators serve artists as well as platform founders. Welcome to the platform economy.

MODERATOR PANELISTS DENISE MANN TROY CARTER PRENTICE PENNY Co-director, Transforming Hollywood; Founder, Atom Factory; Global Head, Creative Executive Producer/Showrunner, HBO’s Insecure Professor and Head of the Producers Services, Spotify (based on Issa Rae’s web series, The Misadventures Program, UCLA School of Theater, Film of an Awkward Black Girl) and Television BAMBI HAGGINS Associate Professor, Arizona State University; FREDDIE WONG author Laughing Mad: The Black Comic Persona Director, Co-Founder and CEO, RocketJump; in Post-Soul America online video pioneer and VFX artist

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 11 10/10/16 6:58 PM DENISE MANN (Moderator) TROY CARTER (Panelist) Denise Mann is a professor at the UCLA School of A 20-year seasoned veteran in entertainment, Theater, Film and Television (UCLA TFT) and has Troy Carter is a pioneer for entrepreneurs, been head of the School’s Producers Program since investors and managers. Carter feeds his passion 1996. Mann is the editor of Wired TV: Laboring for culture and technology through his Cross Over an Interactive Future (2014); the author of Culture fund with more than 80 investments in Hollywood Independents — The Postwar Talent early-stage startups — including Spotify, Dropbox, Takeover (2008); and co-editor of Private Screenings: Television and the Uber, Warby Parker and Lyft. In 2015, Carter launched Smashd.co, Female Consumer (1992). She serves on the editorial board of Media a digital platform to inspire millennials, entrepreneurs and tech Industries Journal (2014-present) and was previously an associate enthusiasts by amplifying the art of hustle. editor for Camera Obscura: A Journal of Feminism and Film Theory (1986–1992). With Professor Henry Jenkins, Mann co-chairs the annual Transforming Hollywood conference (2010–present), which brings together scholars, industry professionals and creators to debate the future of entertainment. She is routinely invited to deliver scholarly talks at academic conferences and industry talks at international film festi- vals and conferences, including the Tokyo International Film Festival and Shanghai International Film Festival; and before major universi- ties in Asia and Europe such as Communications University of China, Beijing Broadcasting Institute, Shanghai University, Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne and Institut National de L’Audiovisuel (INA). Mann also serves as the principal investigator of the UCLA TFT Digital Incubator and Think Tank (DIT) funded by the Paris-based global media company Havas Media Group (2014–present).

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 12 10/10/16 6:58 PM BAMBI HAGGINS (Panelist) PRENTICE PENNY (Panelist) Dr. Bambi Haggins is an associate professor Prentice Penny is the showrunner and executive of Film and Media Studies at Arizona State producer of the new HBO comedy series Insecure, University. Her research explores representations starring Issa Rae. Previously, Penny was a of class, ethnicity, gender, race and religion in co-executive producer of the Fox comedy Brooklyn American film and television. Her book,Laughing Nine-Nine during its Golden Globe-winning Mad: The Black Comic Persona in Post Soul freshman season (he returned as a consulting America (Rutgers University Press, 2007) won the Katherine Singer producer in the show’s second season). He also worked on the Kovacs Book Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies. critically acclaimed ABC sitcom Happy Endings as a supervising Dr. Haggins was a writer for Showtime’s Why We Laugh: Funny producer and writer, and was twice nominated for NAACP Image Women (2013), as well as onscreen talent and a historical consultant Awards in the category of Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for HBO’s Moms Mabley: I Got Somethin’ to Tell You (2013), directed for his work. During this time, he also produced the pilot for the by Whoopi Goldberg. Her current project examines comedy and Fox series Breaking In, starring Christian Slater. Penny also created, blackness in the age of Obama. executive produced and ran his first series, the NAACP Image Award-winning show The Hustle. Billed as the first scripted hip-hop dramedy, The Hustle was a landmark show for Fuse Network. Guest stars included Jadakiss, Frenchie Gibbs and DJ Skee, among others. Penny’s additional producing credits include the hit ABC sitcom Scrubs and the Fox comedy Do Not Disturb, starring Jerry O’Connell.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 13 10/10/16 6:58 PM FREDDIE WONG (Panelist) Freddie Wong is a director, writer, actor and online video pioneer, bringing professional premium content to the YouTube platform via his RocketJump channel. Named one of Hollywood’s brightest stars by Forbes magazine in its 2015 “30 Under 30” list, his viral videos have spread across the global web, making Wong the No. 1 most subscribed to video director on YouTube, with more than one billion views. The success of the webseries led to a successful partnership with Lionsgate, which, in turn, gave birth to the recent launch of the action/comedy/docu series RocketJump: The Show on , and the upcoming sci-fi Dimension 404. With the launch of the online RocketJump Film School, Wong is excited to give a new generation of filmmakers the tools and abilities to share their own stories.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 14 10/10/16 6:58 PM Within the entertainment industry, genre conventions help to shape what stories get told and how productions get promoted and marketed. Many of today’s creators find themselves pushing against taken-for-granted assumptions and long-standing formulas, and as a consequence, PANEL 3 often fall back on old tropes and stereotypes. Both realist and fantastical genres offer opportu- nities for “changing the script” but they also bring historical baggage — old ideas about race, gender, sexuality and disability. The news media like to focus on the white male backlash in HOW DO WE fandom but many active fans are embracing these changes and, indeed, modeling through CHANGE THE their creative responses what more diverse genre entertainment might look like. Activists are asking critical questions about the ways even more diverse and inclusive productions fall short SCRIPT? of our hopes. So, how do we change the script? How do we embrace new stories? How do we tell the old stories differently? And what role can the fantastical or speculative genres perform in imagining alternatives to current racial realities?

MODERATOR PANELISTS HENRY JENKINS GRACE L. DILLON DODAI STEWART Provost Professor of Communication, Professor, Indigenous Nations Studies Program, Executive Editor and Director of Culture Coverage, Fusion Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Portland State University; Editor, Walking the Clouds: EBONY ELIZABETH THOMAS Education, University of Southern An Anthology of Indigenous Science Fiction Young Adult Writer; Assistant Professor, Graduate California JAVIER GRILLO-MARXUACH School of Education, University of Pennsylvania Writer/Producer, Lost, The Middle Man, The 100, PHIL YU Xena: Warrior Princess Founder/Editor: Angry Asian Man NAKUL DEV MAHAJAN Dancer/Choreographer, So You Think You Can Dance

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 15 10/10/16 6:58 PM HENRY JENKINS (Moderator) GRACE L. DILLON (Panelist) Henry Jenkins is provost professor of Grace L. Dillon (Anishinaabe) is a professor in Communication, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and the Indigenous Nations Studies Program, School Education at the University of Southern California. of Gender, Race, and Nations, at Portland State He joined USC from the Massachusetts Institute University in Portland, Oregon. She teaches of Technology, where he was Peter de Florez graduate and undergraduate courses on a range Professor in the Humanities. Jenkins directed of interests including Native American and MIT’s Comparative Media Studies graduate degree program from Indigenous studies, Indigenous Futurisms, science fiction, Indigenous 1993–2009, setting an innovative research agenda during a time of cinema, popular culture, race and social justice, and early modern fundamental change in communication, journalism and entertain- literature. She is the editor of Walking the Clouds: An Anthology ment. Jenkins has also played a central role in demonstrating the of Indigenous Science Fiction (University of Arizona Press, 2012) importance of new media technologies in educational settings. and Hive of Dreams: Contemporary Science Fiction from He has worked closely with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Northwest (Oregon State University Press, 2003). Her work appears Foundation to shape a media literacy program designed to explore in diverse journals including The Journal of Science Fiction Film and the effects of participatory media on young people and reveal poten- Television; Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction; tial new pathways for education through emerging digital media. Extrapolation; The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts; The Historical He is principal investigator on the Media Activism Participatory Politics Journal of Film, Radio and Television; Science Fiction Studies; Parabola; project. Jenkins’ most recent books include Participatory Culture in a and Renaissance Papers. Networked Society (with danah boyd and Mimi Ito) and By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism (with Sangita Shresthova, Liana Gamber-Thompson, Neta Kligler-Vilenchik and Arley Zimmerman). He is currently finishing a book on contemporary graphic novels and launching a new research initiative on the “Civic Imagination.” He blogs twice a week at henryjenkins.org.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 16 10/10/16 6:58 PM JAVIER GRILLO-MARXUACH (Panelist) NAKUL DEV MAHAJAN (Panelist) Best known as one of the Emmy Award-winning Nakul Dev Mahajan is known as “Hollywood’s writer/producers of Lost, and for creating the Favorite Bollywood Choreographer.” He opened comic book and ABC Family television series the first Bollywood dance company and school The Middleman, Javier “Javi” Grillo-Marxuach in the United States, NDM Bollywood Dance is currently developing Xena — a reboot of Productions and Studios, and since its opening, the classic Xena: Warrior Princess for NBC and it has been the leading authority on the art of working as a consulting producer on the hit MTV series The Shannara Bollywood dancing. Among Dev Mahajan’s credits are his work on Chronicles. Grillo-Marxuach is also co-host of the Children of Tendu the A.R. Rahman Jai Ho Concert: The Journey Home World Tour; podcast, an educational series that aims to teach newcomers how to Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri’s talent segment in the Miss navigate the entertainment industry. As part of his ongoing efforts America Pageant; bringing Bollywood to the White House for a Diwali to support and encourage emerging writers, Grillo-Marxauch is not celebration with First Lady Michelle Obama; Lifetime’s Dance Moms; only an avid participant of the Writers Guild of America’s Mentoring and Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance. Program, but also worked to institute the Grillo-Marxuach Family Scholarship, which provides financial aid and mentorship to students DODAI STEWART (Panelist) working toward masters degrees in screenwriting, with a focus on the Dodai Stewart is the executive editor of Fusion. Latino experience, at the University of Southern California’s School She was previously one of the founding editors of Cinematic Arts. Grillo-Marxauch can be found online at OKBJGM. and the deputy editor of Jezebel.com. She com and on at OKBJGM. attended NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts and has written for various outlets, including , New York magazine, Glamour and The New York Times. Stewart was raised in New York City, is a hardcore pop culture junkie, and her interests include Korean soap operas, vintage screwball comedies, karaoke and cocktails.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 17 10/10/16 6:58 PM EBONY ELIZABETH THOMAS (Panelist) PHIL YU (Panelist) Dr. Ebony Elizabeth Thomas is an assistant Phil Yu is the founder and editor of the popular professor in the Literacy, Culture, and International Asian American news/culture blog Angry Asian Education Division at the University of Pennsyl­ Man. Building a steady, loyal readership since vania’s Graduate School of Education. A former 2001, Angry Asian Man has been called by The Detroit Public Schools teacher, Dr. Thomas’ Washington Post “a daily must-read for the media- program of research is most keenly focused on savvy, socially conscious, pop-cultured Asian children’s and adolescent literature, the teaching of African American American.” Mixing humor with criticism, Yu’s commentary has been literature, and the role of race in English language arts classroom featured and quoted in the , The New York Times, discourse and interaction. A 2014 National Academy of Education/ The Wall Street Journal, BuzzFeed, National Public Radio and CNN, Spencer Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow and recipient of the AERA among others. Language and Social Processes SIG Emerging Scholar Award, her Yu worked previously at the Center for Asian American Media, forthcoming book is The Dark Fantastic: Race and the Imagination in as a content producer for Yahoo! Movies, and currently serves on the Youth Literature, Media, and Culture. Board of Visual Communications in Los Angeles. He also appears in the Sundance documentary Linsanity, about the rise of NBA superstar , and is executive producer of the action/comedy web series Awesome Asian Bad Guys. Yu graduated with a B.S. in radio/television/film from North- western University, and earned his M.A. in critical studies as a Provost Fellow from the University of Southern California’s School of Cinema- Television (now USC School of Cinematic Arts).

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 18 10/10/16 6:58 PM The challenge of creating more diverse representations often centers on the construction of characters. It is not enough to put diverse faces in front of the PANEL 4 camera: We need to depict those characters with nuance and complexity, in ways that audiences will recognize from their own lives, in ways that inspire their imagi- nations. Where does the responsibility rest for generating compelling characters in HOW DO WE MOVE contemporary popular entertainment? What roles do producers, writers and actors play in defining who these people are, what they desire, how they react, what goals FROM STEREOTYPES they pursue and what relationships they form? And how should we respond when TO MORE COMPLEX bad things happen to good characters, when subsequent production decisions undercut or marginalize characters whose presence is particularly significant for CHARACTERS? underrepresented segments of the population?

MODERATOR PANELISTS MAUREEN RYAN EVELYN ALSULTANY LE BACKES Chief Television Critic, Variety; Associate Professor; Director of Arab and Muslim Vice President of Research and Development, Juror, Peabody Awards American Studies Program, University of Michigan; Wise Entertainment author of Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after 9/11 MELISSA SILVERSTEIN Founder and Publisher, Women and Hollywood DESMIN BORGES JEFF YANG Actor, You’re the Worst VP of Cultural Strategy, Sparks & Honey EFFIE BROWN Producer, Dear White People

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 19 10/10/16 6:58 PM MAUREEN RYAN (Moderator) EVELYN ALSULTANY (Panelist) Maureen Ryan is the chief television critic at Evelyn Alsultany is an associate professor in the Variety. Prior to joining Variety in 2015, Ryan Department of American Culture at the University served as the television critic for the The Huffington of Michigan, and Director of Arab and Muslim Post for five years and as the television critic for the American Studies. She teaches courses on media Chicago Tribune for seven years. She was a juror representations, U.S. cultural and racial politics, for the Peabody Awards from 2010 to 2016, and and Arab and Muslim Americans. She is the author she serves on the board of the Television Critics Association. Before of Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Race and Representation after being named TV critic at the Chicago Tribune, Ryan covered pop 9/11 (2012). She is co-editor (with Rabab Abdulhadi and Nadine culture, the Internet, the media and music for the newspaper. Earlier Naber) of Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence, in her career, she wrote frequently about music, worked for the film and Belonging (2011), and winner of the Arab American National and television magazine Cinescape and was the founding editor of Museum’s Evelyn Shakir Book Award. She is also co-editor (with Ella The Official X-Files Magazine. In 2011, she won the Los Angeles Press Shohat) of Between the Middle East and the Americas: The Cultural Club Award for Online Entertainment Critic of the Year, and in 2013, Politics of Diaspora (2013). She is guest curator of the Arab American Complex magazine named her best TV writer in America. She has National Museum’s online exhibit, “Reclaiming Identity: Dismantling moderated television panels at San Diego Comic-Con, at the Museum Arab Stereotypes,” that can be viewed at arabstereotypes.org. of Modern Art, at the Paley Center for the Media and at WorldCon. She has served on juries for the American Film Institute’s Top 10 Shows of the Year and for the New York Television Festival. She has done commentary about television for Slate, NPR, CNN, MSNBC and other media outlets. She is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and received her master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 20 10/10/16 6:58 PM DESMIN BORGES (Panelist) EFFIE BROWN (Panelist) Actor Desmin Borges can currently be Los Angeles-based producer Effie T. Brown received seen as Edgar in FXX’s unromantic comedy a degree in film production and theater from Loyola You’re the Worst, which was nominated Marymount University before going on to participate in Film for a 2016 Critics’ Choice Award as Independent’s Project Involve, an intensive fellowship for Best Comedy Series. Earlier this year, he people seeking a career in the film industry. She started her guest starred in Seth Rogen and Evan career at Tim Burton Productions as director of development. Goldberg’s new hit AMC series Preacher. After producing several feature films at various production levels, He will next be seen opposite Bel Powley in the film Brown founded Duly Noted, Inc. Together, they are the force behind such adaptation of Caren Lissner’s best-selling novel Carrie Pilby, critically acclaimed HBO films asStranger Inside, Real Women Have Curves which recently premiered at the 2016 Toronto International and Everyday People. Real Women Have Curves won the Sundance Film Film Festival. He will also be seen in Henry Barrial¹s drama Festival Audience Award and the Special Jury Prize in 2002. Working in DriverX opposite Melissa Numero, and Camille Thoman’s association with Sony Screen Gems and Pathe International, she also execu- thriller You Were Never Here alongside Mireille Enos and tive produced In The Cut, directed by Jane Campion. Brown’s filmRocket Sam Shepard. Science won the Sundance 2007 Grand Jury Prize for Directing and was Borges first gained recognition for his breakout perfor- also nominated for Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Actress by the mance in the dramatic comedy play The Elaborate Entrance of Independent Spirit Awards. Chad Deity, portraying a sweet Puerto Rican nebbish named With a love of multiple platforms, she focused on digital episodic Mace. Its successful debut led to a 2010 Pulitzer Prize nomina- content and produced more than 130 episodes of WIGS, an award winning, tion, a 2011 Obie Award for Best New American Play and a original content channel funded by Google/YouTube. Currently the No. 1 2011 New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award. scripted channel on YouTube, WIGS has recently been picked up for wider distribution via Hulu. Brown’s latest film, Dear White People, won the Special Jury Prize for Breakthrough Talent at the 2014 and was released theatrically in the fall of the same year. Most recently, Brown participated in the Matt Damon and Ben Affleck 2015 reboot of HBO’sProject Greenlight.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 21 10/10/16 6:58 PM KATHY LE BACKES (Panelist) MELISSA SILVERSTEIN (Panelist) Kathy Le Backes is currently the vice president of Melissa Silverstein is a writer and speaker with research and development at Wise Entertainment. extensive expertise in the area of women and She oversees integration of social issues into Wise Hollywood. She is the founder and publisher of Entertainment’s creative IPs, manages relation- Women and Hollywood, one of the most respected ships with nonprofit organizations that serve on the sites for issues related to women and film as well company’s advisory committees, and helps produce as other areas of pop culture. It was named one of transmedia and social media content. She is also a producer on the the top 100 websites for women by ForbesWoman in 2013, 2012 and five-time Emmy nominated Hulu original drama . 2011. She is the artistic director and co-founder of the Athena Film Prior to joining Wise Entertainment, Le Backes served as the Festival, a celebration of women and leadership at Barnard College digital campaign manager for the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s in New York City, now in its seventh year. Stand Up To Cancer program. In that role, she oversaw and produced She has written for the The Washington Post, The New York multi-platform digital and social media campaigns to help raise cancer Times, Forbes, More magazine and has been featured on CNN, the awareness and research funds. BBC as well as in Newsweek, Salon, the Chicago Tribune, The Wash- Before her role at EIF, Backes served as a program manager at the ington Post, The New York Times and many other publications. She USC Annenberg Norman Lear Center’s Hollywood, Health & Society was a contributor to The Tattooed Girl: The Enigma of Steig Larsson program, where she worked closely with writers and producers from hit and the Secrets Behind the Most Compelling Thriller of Our Time. shows on top networks to facilitate storylines that educate viewers on In 2013, she was one of the recipients of the Susan B. Anthony social issues. Award from the NYC Chapter of the National Organization for Women. Le Backes has also published articles in peer-reviewed journals, She is an advisory board member to Project Greenlight Digital Studios, presented at national conferences and is a routine guest lecturer at USC and is a member of the Alliance of Women Film Journalists and New and UCLA on entertainment education and health communications. She York Women in Film and Television. holds a M.P.H. degree from the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Prior to obtaining her master’s degree, Le Backes was a research associate at Novartis, Inc. She also holds a B.S. in biological sciences from UC Davis.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 22 10/10/16 6:58 PM JEFF YANG (Panelist) Jeff Yang is vice president of cultural strategy for Sparks & Honey, an Omnicom agency focused on helping brands align themselves with emergent trends in media, entertainment, technology and popular culture. A veteran cultural critic, he is a regular, featured contributor to CNN, NPR and Quartz, and a former columnist for The Wall Street Journal and The San Francisco Chronicle, but may currently be best known as the father of Hudson Yang, the young actor who stars in ABC’s ground- breaking Asian American sitcom Fresh Off the Boat.

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 23 10/10/16 6:58 PM A CONVERSATION WITH MELISSA ROSENBERG

MELISSA ROSENBERG is one of Hollywood’s most versatile, sought- after storytellers, and one of the most successful female screenwriters of all time. Rosenberg is series creator and showrunner of Marvel’s Jessica Jones, starring . Since the show’s debut on Netflix in November 2015, Marvel’s Jessica Jones has garnered tremendous response and critical acclaim, including a prestigious Peabody Award, for its genre-bending approach. Additional television credits in Rosenberg’s diverse range include four seasons as both head writer and executive producer of the Showtime original series , where her work on the show helped earn it a Peabody Award, three Emmy nominations, three Writers Guild of America Award nominations, and two Golden Globe nominations for Best Drama Series. Her additional credits include Ally McBeal, The O.C., Party of Five, Boston Public, The Agency, The Magnificent Sevenand most recently, ABC’s Red Widow, which she created and for which she served as showrunner. Red Widow was produced under her Tall Girls Productions banner. Her film credits include all five screenplays for The Saga, the vampire romance phenomenon that grossed more than $3 billion worldwide. She also wrote the hit dance film , which launched a multi-film franchise. In 2011, Rosenberg formed her own company, Tall Girls Productions, which is focused on developing and producing film and TV series with an emphasis on interesting, complex roles for women in front of and behind the camera. MODERATORS HENRY JENKINS STACY L. SMITH Provost Professor of Communication, Director, Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative, Journalism, Cinematic Arts and Education, Associate Professor of Communication, University of Southern California University of Southern California

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TH7_Program_1i.indd 24 10/10/16 6:58 PM THE CONFERENCE WISHES TO THANK THE FOLLOWING FOR THANK YOU THEIR SUPPORT OF TRANSFORMING HOLLYWOOD:

SPONSORS WE ARE TRULY GRATEFUL!

Sustaining Sponsor Sam Ford, Alan Friel, Will Gorges, Ben Harris, Jeffrey Jones, Thomas Jorion, Frederic Josue, Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation William Lepert, Hans-Martin Liebing, Katherine Marpe, Mauricio Mota, Katherine Pieper Event Sponsors CREDITS 18 Havas Fusion Media Group Co-Directors: Henry Jenkins, Denise Mann, Stacy L. Smith The George Foster Peabody Foundation Associate Director: Sangita Shresthova Sustaining Producer: Ben Harris USC ANNENBERG SCHOOL OF Associate Producers: Jocelyn Kelvin, Stasia Fong COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM Event Management: Helen Harbour, Kylie Mace Dean Ernest Wilson Director of Multimedia Services: Chuck Boyles Communication Chair Sarah Banet-Weiser Audio Visual Technologies Manager: Jim Yoder Production Supervisors: John Goldsmith, Tom Norris, Sebastian Grubaugh, Victor Figueroa UCLA SCHOOL OF THEATER, Live Event Coordinator: Gilles de Prevoisin FILM AND TELEVISION USC Student Technicians: Kacey Weiniger, Kyle Valdez, Lisa Parker, Natalie Laczewski Dean Teri Schwartz Web Content Manager: Reign Johnson FTVDM Chair Kathleen McHugh Catalog Editor: Noela Hueso Fred Bush, Karl Holmes Graphic Designer: Beth Escott Newcomer 7 OCTOBER 21, 2016 C

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